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 4 · 4-6
～やすい / ～にくい: Easy or Hard to Do
Attach やすい or にくい to a verb stem to describe how easy or difficult an action is.
- Verb ます stems and い-adjective behavior.
Excellent professional Japanese for usability and maintainability: easy to read, hard to use, easy to understand, difficult to change.
1. Verb stem + やすい / にくい creates an adjective-like expression
読みます→読みやすい, 使います→使いやすい, 変更します→変更しにくい.
2. Evaluate technical artifacts by action difficulty
[{'label': 'This code is easy to read.', 'sample': 'このコードは読みやすいです。', 'reading': 'この コード は よみやすい です。', 'natural': {'en': 'This code is easy to read.', 'es': 'Consulta el significado natural en español.'}, 'literal': {'en': 'this code topic — easy-to-read', 'es': 'Observa la estructura literal japonesa y el orden de sus componentes.'}, 'note': {'en': 'Code readability.', 'es': 'Observa la forma que precede al patrón y la función que cumple dentro de la oración.'}}, {'label': 'This screen is easy to use.', 'sample': 'この画面は使いやすいです。', 'reading': 'この がめん は つかいやすい です。', 'natural': {'en': 'This screen is easy to use.', 'es': 'Consulta el significado natural en español.'}, 'literal': {'en': 'this screen topic — easy-to-use', 'es': 'Observa la estructura literal japonesa y el orden de sus componentes.'}, 'note': {'en': 'UX.', 'es': 'UX.'}}, {'label': 'This configuration is hard to change.', 'sample': 'この設定は変更しにくいです。', 'reading': 'この せってい は へんこうしにくい です。', 'natural': {'en': 'This configuration is hard to change.', 'es': 'Consulta el significado natural en español.'}, 'literal': {'en': 'this config topic — hard-to-change', 'es': 'Observa la estructura literal japonesa y el orden de sus componentes.'}, 'note': {'en': 'Maintainability.', 'es': 'Observa la forma que precede al patrón y la función que cumple dentro de la oración.'}}, {'label': 'This text is hard to read.', 'sample': 'この文字は読みにくいです。', 'reading': 'この もじ は よみにくい です。', 'natural': {'en': 'This text is hard to read.', 'es': 'Consulta el significado natural en español.'}, 'literal': {'en': 'this characters topic — hard-to-read', 'es': 'Observa la estructura literal japonesa y el orden de sus componentes.'}, 'note': {'en': 'Readability.', 'es': 'Observa la forma que precede al patrón y la función que cumple dentro de la oración.'}}]
3. The result behaves like an い-adjective
読みやすくない, 読みやすかった, etc.
4. Usability review worksheet
Evaluate eight interfaces, code samples, tasks, or processes. Write four ～やすい and four ～にくい statements.
INTERACTIVE WORKSHEET
4. Usability review worksheet
Write 8 usability/maintainability evaluations. Underline the verb stem and box やすい/にくい.
Tip: on a foldable or tablet, use your pen directly on the page. Your strokes are saved in this browser as you work.
4. Usability review worksheet
Write 8 usability/maintainability evaluations. Underline the verb stem and box やすい/にくい.
5. Use developer tools where this grammar is strongest
Language IDE makes the transformation visible; Side by Side Reader makes reading difficulty personal.
Language IDE
Why here: The expression is a stem-based derivation.
How to use it for this lesson: Refactor 読みます→読みやすい and 変更します→変更しにくい, then make full sentences.
Build usability forms →Side by Side Reader
Why here: Use actual reading difficulty as input.
How to use it for this lesson: Choose one Japanese sentence that feels 読みやすい and one 読みにくい. Note why.
Evaluate reading difficulty →Mastery checkpoint
Answer from memory. If you miss one, identify whether the failure was vocabulary, conjugation, particle choice, or meaning before retrying.
