GUIDED PATH · PHASE 5
Guided Japanese Course
A mastery path for complete beginners and technology professionals.
HOW THIS COURSE WORKS
Follow the path. Advance by mastery.
The primary path tells you what to do next. You can still open any available lesson, but completion is based on checkpoints rather than calendar days.
FULL TARGET CURRICULUM
Tracks 0–10
TRACK 1 · 1-5
Age, Years & Personal Numbers
Ask and state age politely while learning that Japanese numbers often change behavior when a counter is attached.
- Numbers 1–100.
Counters are one of the places where 'I know the number' is not enough. Age gives you an early controlled example of number + counter pronunciation.
1. Age uses the counter 歳（さい）
To state age, attach 歳 to the number: 25歳 = にじゅうごさい. Ask politely with 何歳ですか（なんさいですか）. For adults, おいくつですか is a softer alternative you may also hear.
Natural: I am 30 years old.
Structure: As for me — 30-years — am.
Notice the sound change in じゅっさい.
Natural: How old are you?
Structure: what-age — is — question?
Use with appropriate social judgment; age can be personal.
Natural: How old are you?
Structure: honorable-how-many — is — question?
A more polite/indirect age question.
2. Counter pronunciation can mutate
One year old is いっさい, eight is はっさい, ten is じゅっさい / じっさい, and twenty has the special reading はたち. This is your first warning that counters may modify sounds. Learn these as fixed high-frequency forms, not as failures of the number system.
3. Personal-information practice
Write five fictional employee profiles with name, role, and age. Use X は Y です for role and X は N歳です for age. Avoid using real personal data if you do not want it saved locally.
INTERACTIVE WORKSHEET
3. Personal-information practice
Create five fictional profiles. Each needs a name, role, and age sentence. Include ages 20, 28, 30, and two of your choice.
Tip: on a foldable or tablet, use your pen directly on the page. Your strokes are saved in this browser as you work.
3. Personal-information practice
Create five fictional profiles. Each needs a name, role, and age sentence. Include ages 20, 28, 30, and two of your choice.
4. Store exceptions, not every easy form
The regular forms do not all deserve flashcards. The exceptional counter readings do.
Japanese Adaptive Recall
Why here: Counter sound changes are exactly the kind of small irregularities spaced recall can stabilize.
How to use it for this lesson: Add 1歳, 8歳, 10歳, and 20歳 if they hesitate. Use a prompt that requires you to say the full age expression, not just recognize it.
Review age exceptions →Mastery checkpoint
Answer from memory. Use the explanations after checking to debug any miss before moving on.
