My French Language Learning History

2026-04-02

Author’s Note: As a researcher specializing in descriptive linguistics, my linguistic interests extend beyond my primary field of study to include the historical and structural aspects of European languages. For more details on my academic background, please visit my About page.

Studying French in Japan

France has long enjoyed steady popularity in Japan, and I had assumed that French as a language remained popular as well. However, I have heard that in recent years, researchers specializing in French have faced even greater difficulties in the job market than those in German.

How I Began Learning French

I began studying French in my first year of university. At the time, I watched the NHK television course on French taught by Professor Mitsuru Ōki.

Later, in my third year, my academic advisor happened to be a graduate of the French Department at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, and his French proficiency was exceptional. Unfortunately, mine was not. I struggled even to read French passages cited in academic papers.

I began studying French more seriously after entering graduate school. Even then, my efforts were modest: reading lecture notes by Saussure, the founder of structuralism, and working through an undergraduate French textbook given to me by a French instructor. I was also given a copy of The Little Prince in French and read through it.

It was only after I started working that I truly began studying French in earnest. On my commute each morning, I read Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days. At first, I could barely manage one page per hour. Eventually, I reached a pace of four pages per hour.

Today, the full text is available on Wikisource, and it is easy to convert it into a PDF and load it onto a Kindle. Back then, however, there was no such convenience. I bought a physical copy of the book and read it with a dictionary at hand.

• Jules Verne (Wikisource)

After being transferred to a new position and becoming busier, I gradually drifted away from French for a while.

Looking Ahead

By chance, I have made friends from Belgium and France. I would like to improve my French in order to communicate with them more naturally. Of course, their English is far better than mine—but even so, I would like to speak with them in French.

There are still many books—especially works of French literature—that I want to read. My interest in French continues to grow.