Tatsuo lives in Tokyo where he works for a public organization. He’s passionate about the French language and culture, and plans to get even more involved when he retires in a year’s time, in 2026!!!! He shares with us the keys to his learning and the immersion stay that changed everything on his way to passing his exam.
“After 3 unsuccessful attempts, I finally passed the level 1 bis exam on the scale for learning French in Japan, called Diplôme d’Aptitude Pratique au Français (DAPF). This is the most authentic system for measuring French language proficiency in Japan. I’m going to tell you how I did it, because it wasn’t as easy as I thought. ”
私は仏検（実用フランス語検定）の準１級試験に3回失敗し、今回ようやく合格することができました。ここまでの道のりにはいろいろありましたが、その一部をご紹介したいと思います。
“In 2018, I started learning French again after an absence of some thirty years since my time at university, where I had worked on it for two years. This was because I had a dream of becoming a volunteer French guide at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. First, I started listening to a daily NHK radio program, a French course that seemed the cheapest way to master it.”
2018年、私は、2020東京オリンピックでボランティアガイドをしたいと思ったのがきっかけで、大学生のときに2年間習ったフランス語の勉強を30年ぶりに再開することにし、とりあえず一番お金のかからないＮＨＫラジオ講座を聴くことから始めました。
“Even though I wasn’t able to realize my dream, being too busy with my work for the Government during that period, I passed the French exam; DAPF level 3e an spring 2020.”
仕事が忙しくてボランティアガイドはできなかったものの、2020年春の仏検3級を受け、合格することができました。
“I have to say that I wouldn’t have been able to accompany the French-speaking visitors during the Olympics, since they were delayed by a year to 2021 and therefore reconducted without spectators due to the pandemic, even if I had become a volunteer guide.”
まあ、もしボランティアガイドになれていたとしても、東京オリンピック2020は一年延期され、かつ無観客開催になったので、フランス語圏からのお客さんの案内はできなかったことでしょう。
“However, I’ve got the energy of my exam success to continue listening intently to the radio show on my own with my sights set on the next exam, which took me to Diplôme de niveau 2e bis in autumn 2020, and to Diplôme de niveau 2e in spring 2021. I think I benefited from working on a single learning medium, avoiding the use of too many materials. I’ve concentrated on a single method.”
私はこれに気を良くして一人でラジオ講座の勉強を続け、2020年秋の準2級、2021年春の２級までは順調に進むことができました。ここまでは、あれこれ手を出さず、一つの学習手段だけで勉強していたのがよかったかなと思っています。
“Nevertheless, I failed the 1st stage of the Level 1 bis 2021 test in the autumn, with a mark nowhere near that of success. That’s when I was forced to question my learning method, which had become insufficient to reach a higher level.”
しかし、2021年秋の準１級試験では1次で落ち、合格点にとても及びませんでした。
“After that, I made dictations for myself using the show’s streaming service. In addition, I bought a specific exercise book for the Diplôme, called “Le guide officiel de DAPF – sélections”, which was full of explanations of the questions asked in the past tests and good instructions. Following the advice in this book, I started using my first French dictionary, “Dictionnaire du français langue étrangère Niveau 1”. It contained a lot of basic vocabulary with some humor, but there weren’t many words, approximately 2100. On the whole, they were all good working material that I collected a lot. But my progress wasn’t obvious and I failed the exam again in autumn 2022.”
以降、ネットの聞き逃しサービスで中級編テキストの書き取りなどをやったり、検定協会の発行している問題集を買い（「セレクション」というシリーズで解説が充実しています）、そのアドバイスに従って「ラルースやさしい仏仏辞典Niveau1」を買って勉強したり（生きた用例が学べるよい辞書ですが、収録語彙数が少ない）しましたが、なかなか力が伸びず、2022年秋の試験も同様でした。
“In the summer of 2023, I was able to take a vacation for almost 2 weeks. The pandemic was no longer a barrier to travel beyond the sea. Previously, on business, I’d been to Geneva and Brussels several times, where my practical inadequacy of French was keenly apparent, but I’d never been to France once. So why not? I decided to go to France and quickly look for a solution to spend a week of intensive learning there.”
2023年、職場で2週間近い夏休みが取れることがわかりました。コロナも落ち着いていたし、それまでジュネーブやブリュッセルには出張で何度も行きましたがそのたびにフランス語がしゃべれないことを痛感していて、かつフランスに行ったことはありませんでした。これはもう、フランスに行くしかないと思い、1週間語学滞在できる先を探しました。
“The Centre Culturel Franco-Japonais website seemed the right place for me to find out about a language immersion stay. I wrote to them looking for accommodation in Provence or in some of the southern provinces of France. But they told me it was too late and that the only one left was Nantes. Nantes! It just so happened to be one of the cities I’d wanted to visit in France. I had no other choice, but it gave me the real opportunity to meet Pascal and Séverine.”
日仏文化協会のサイトにてホームステイ先を探し、最初は南仏を希望したのですがタイミングが遅くてナントしかないと言われ、ただそれは一度行ってみたいと思っていた街でもありました。このように選択の余地なく申し込みましたが、それがパスカル先生との出会いでした。
“First of all, in the accommodation, we had two tests to measure my language skills and abilities, both written and oral. For example, there was a comprehension test on a video relating to my professional speciality – trees and climate change – in order to assess me in a familiar context. Following this diagnosis, Pascal suggested specific grammar exercises to strengthen my weak points, vocabulary input adapted to my level and a whole series of activities to boost my confidence.”
ホームステイでは学力測定から始めて、ビデオを見て内容が理解できるか、文法では質問に答えながら弱点を潰していく形で進んでいきました。フランス人からフランス人の家で直接教わる語学は迫力があります。
I had a bit of a cold during my stay, but Pascal didn’t hesitate; he continued to teach me, carefully adapting to me with a shared passion.
実はホームステイ中に風邪をひいてしまいましたが、パスカル先生は全く臆することなく熱心に個人指導をしてくれました。
“And above all, it was a great memory for me that Pascal and Séverine guided me to discover beaches, large tree-lined gardens, artistic and historical monuments. We also walked around their little village, with their dog, through fields and canals where we enjoyed the tranquility of their companion and the reflection of the sun’s rays on the surface of the water. In their garden, we tasted the local seafood that we went to buy at the fishing port and in the salt marshes.”
先生が付近の海岸や庭園、屋外アートを案内してくれたり、地元の牡蠣や塩を港や塩田に出かけて買って先生のお宅の庭で食べたり、飼い犬と一緒に近所を散策して農地の静けさ、水路に反射する光などを感じたことも良い思い出です。
“We also visited some important historical sites. It was also very impressive to see the names of all the victims on a church wall in a small village during the civil war that followed the Revolution…. ”
とりわけ、隣町の小さな協会の壁に刻まれ数百年を経た、フランス革命期の戦争で犠牲となった村人全員の名前には強い印象を受けました。
With these courses and experiences I became able to speak French at a certain everyday level. These are the benefits of total immersion, as I had no opportunity to speak anything but Japanese or English. I had to express myself in French, so I was able to use all my skills in real-life situations.
これらの経験を通じて、私はいつの間にかフランス語がそれなりにしゃべれるようになっていました。私はこれらが包括的浸透法の良いところだと思います。私はそれまで日本語と英語しか話すことがない人間でしたが、このホームステイは私に強制的にフランス語で自分の意思を表現させることで、言語にかかる全ての能力を、現実の生活環境の中で目覚めさせる効果があります。
“But after returning to Japan, my French skills began to decline. Even though I had received some articles and grammar exercises that Pascal had sent me, and I had tried to do some small writings in response to Pascal, I failed my level 1re bis exam the following autumn.”
しかし、日本に帰ってから、私のフランス語能力は落ちました。週に１～２回、読み物やビデオのリンク、文法の練習問題などが送ってもらい、暇を見ては短い感想コメントを返していたのですが、その秋の準１級試験の筆記では失敗しました。
“I informed Pascal of my failure and he offered to give me a one-hour remote lesson every Saturday. He sent me a text to read or some exercises to do in advance, and we corrected them using a system of screen and file sharing. When I told him I wanted to have a French-speaking job after I retired, he advised me to reinforce my practice with a grammar exercise book every day. ”
先生に相談すると、毎週土曜日、１時間のオンライン授業を提案されました。テキストや文法の演習問題を事前に送ってもらい、グーグルの画面共有システムに回答を書き込み、レッスンで添削してもらいます。更に私が退職後はフランス語を生かした仕事をしたいと伝えると、文法学習が不可欠（私の弱点）であるとして、文法の練習問題の本を紹介してもらいました。
“I don’t know why or how, but by doing Pascal and Séverine’s immersion program every day and by doing the exercise book of grammar every day, my ear comprehension and speaking ability increased without me realizing it. And it stayed with me months and years later.”
不思議なもので毎日やっていると次第に聞き取りと喋りが少しずつ改善してきました。
“So I took my fourth test in the fall of 2024. After passing it, I told him I wasn’t too confident in the result.”
２０２４年の秋に４回目の試験を受けましたが、合格の自信はなく、先生にもそう話していました。
“Listening to me, he insisted that the exam wasn’t the most important thing, it was all about improving my French, and to do that, you have to diligently practice 6 areas at the same time: 1) listening to French 2) reading texts aloud 3) speaking 4) practicing writing 5) practicing grammar 6) acquiring vocabulary every day.”
すると先生は、試験は最重要ではない。フランス語そのものを上達することこそ大切だ、それには1）聴くこと、2）文章を大きな声で読むこと、3）話すこと、4）文章を書くこと、5）文法の練習、6）日常使う語彙を身につけることの各要素が重要と力強いアドバイスをもらいました。
“On his advice, I started reading texts he sent me in a low voice on the train I took to my office every day. (A mask helped me to do it as low as possible) And I worked with a grammar book on my way back.”
それから私は通勤電車で先生が送ってくれた記事の音読を小声で（マスクが役に立ちます）、また帰宅後に文法を少しずつやるようになりました。
“After days and days of such hard work, clear notification of passing a first stage came to me and, with the help of private lessons I took at a small French school in my neighborhood, I then passed a 2nd stage that was oral only.”
この勉強を続けるうちに１次試験合格の知らせが届き、近所のフランス語教室で個人レッスンを補助的に受けながら、２次口頭試問に合格することができました。
“The most effective means of facilitating my progress, in my opinion, were the regular use of a grammar exercise book adapted to my level, the news articles Pascal sent me each week which I read aloud, the writing assignments he gave me to produce short texts. For example, I had to write my impressions of the articles and podcasts I listened to.”
私が最も効果を感じたのは、文法の練習本、先生が送ってくれる雑誌記事の音読、作文の宿題や先生への感想メール、ポッドキャストの４つでした。
“These are just some of the activities Pascal recommended to me to conquer new skills and serenely confront my weak points.”
これらは全て、先生が私の目標を聞いた上で弱点克服ポイントとして教えてくれたものです。
“If I’d persisted in working alone, I’d probably have lost my way and failed to direct my efforts correctly. That’s the whole point of being able to benefit from the expertise of a real “educational coach . ”
もし自分一人で続けようとしていたら、どちらへ向かって努力すればいいのかわからずに挫折していたと思います。これが言語教育の専門家の手を借りることのメリットだと思います。
“And above all, throughout this period of intense learning and even after my return to Japan, since the summer of 2023, there was always before me, in my mind, the Pays de la Loire landscapes that helped me to continue my work with perseverance.”
滞在中ずっと、そして帰国後も、私の前には（脳裏には）常に２０２３年夏のペイ･ド･ラ･ロワールの風景があり、単調でつらい語学ｆ学習を続ける助けになってくれました。
“Finally, the “Learn French with Pascal and Séverine” method is a great way to learn French! I invite you to try it too. ”
パスカル先生のフランス語学習はとてもよいフランス語学習法です。あなたにもお勧めします。
Thank you Tatsuo for your lovely feedback!!!!