JAPAN and the WORLD Magazine OCTOBER ISSUE 2015 #Issue 13 | Page 14

JAPAN
FRANCOPHONIE
The Japanese booth at the French Language World Forum in Liège, July 2015.
The second round of the French
Language World Forum, held in Liège
from July 20-23 July 2015, will be
remembered as a successful experience
by members of the Japanese delegation
attending the event.
第2回世界フランス語フォーラムが
2015年7月20日～23日にベルギーの
リエージュで開催されました。参加し
た日本代表団のメンバーの心には、
記念すべき成功体験として長く刻ま
れることでしょう。
FMLF 2015
Sayuko YAMANAKA
Cette expérience à Liège m’a permis de faire une
expérience très précieuse. En effet, j’ai pu rencontrer
des personnes de divers endroits et statuts, à ce
forum. J’ai été vraiment surprise par le nombre de
francophones, notamment ceux qui l’ont appris en
tant que langue étrangère. J’ai réalisé l’influence de la
langue française dans le monde entier, et l’ampleur
du réseau francophone au niveau mondial.
今回リエージュで行われたフォーラムに参加したこ
とで、様々な地域や、
ステータスの人と出会え、大変
貴重な経験をすることができました。
フランス語話
者、
とりわけフランス語を外国語として学んだ人の
数に驚愕し、世界におけるフランス語の影響力や、
フランス語ネットワークの広さを実感しました。
13 // OCTOBER 2015
WHY LEARNING FRENCH MAY BE A
REWARDING EXPERIENCE FOR JAPANESE
なぜフランス語を学ぶことが日本人に
とって実りある体験となり得るのでしょうか？
S
even young Japanese worked hard in
preparing for a 90 minute presentation
on Japan. Each of them presented on
a topic of their choice related to Japanese
culture, economy and society. The audience for
this well attended session was mostly native
French speakers from all parts of the world.
The following examples show the originality of
topics on Japan, chosen by each participant. In
their talks, each presenter mentioned what they
had gained from studying the French language.
Learning a foreign language is both rewarding
and can provide a greater understanding about
how Japan is perceived from abroad, as well as
the role it plays in the world.
02
03
SEVEN EXAMPLES
01
On the eve of the Olympics, one participant
from Kobe mentioned that she wants to
become a Japanese / French interpreter
during the 2020 Olympic Games in
Tokyo. French is an official language of the
Olympics and a third of all participating
countries are members of the International
Organisation for La Francophonie.
04
Another student drew inspiration from
her knowledge of the efforts being made
to promote French language studies
in Japan, to describe her vision of how
to improve the teaching of Japanese
abroad. She stressed the lack of qualified
Japanese language teachers to respond to
the demand, as there are currently four
million people learning Japanese abroad.
A Japanese participant who wants to
promote tourism in Japan, asked young
francophone people what type of activities
they would be looking to do if they visited
Japan. He mentioned that Japan aims
to attract 20 million tourists by 2020.
However, he argued that in order to
achieve this goal Japan needs to be able
to communicate its message in many
languages, including French language,
which is spoken on all five continents.
The role of women in the economy as
well as corporate governance reforms
have become hot topics of debate in
Japan. A Japanese participant suggested
that it would be beneficial for young
francophone to know about these issues.
JAPAN AND THE WORLD MAGAZINE