Japanese for French Speakers: What’s Easier and What to Watch
French speakers start Japanese with real advantages: you already use different words for different levels of politeness (tu and vous), Japanese has no grammatical gender or articles to learn, and many Japanese vowels are close to French ones without nasal sounds. What takes practice is mostly pronunciation (the h sound, the Japanese r, and long vowels and double consonants), putting the verb at the end of the sentence, and of course kanji, which are new for everyone.
What’s easier for French speakers
- Politeness levels. The idea of choosing between casual and polite speech is familiar from tu and vous, although Japanese has more levels. See casual vs polite Japanese.
- No gender, no articles. There’s no le or la, and adjectives don’t agree.
- Clear vowels. Japanese a, i, u, e, o are short and pure, close to French a, i, ou, é, o.
- Some loanwords from French, written in katakana.
| Japanese | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| アンケート | ankēto | Survey (from enquête) |
| アトリエ | atorie | Studio, atelier |
| デッサン | dessan | Sketch, drawing (from dessin) |
| グルメ | gurume | Gourmet, foodie |
| シュークリーム | shūkurīmu | Cream puff (from chou à la crème) |
More in katakana loanwords.
What to watch
| Area | What to practise |
|---|---|
| The h sound | French speakers often drop it, so はい (hai) becomes “ai”. Breathe it out clearly. |
| The r sound | Japanese r is a light tap of the tongue, not the French throat r. It sits between l and d. |
| The u sound | Japanese u is closer to ou with relaxed lips, not French u as in tu. |
| Long vowels and double consonants | おばさん (aunt) vs おばあさん (grandmother). Length changes meaning. |
| Stress | French puts stress at the end of a phrase; Japanese uses pitch, and every syllable gets the same length. |
| Word order | Subject, object, verb: 私はコーヒーを飲みます (I coffee drink). |
See our Japanese pronunciation guide and Japanese sentence structure.
Particles and kanji
Particles such as は, が and を do the job that word order and prepositions do in French, and they take time for everyone. See Japanese particles explained. Kanji are new whatever your first language, so start early with a little every day: how to learn kanji.
How Hanabuddies can help
Our native tutors teach one-to-one online and can focus on what French speakers find hardest: clear pronunciation, natural rhythm, particles and polite speech. Lessons follow your goal, whether that’s travel, the JLPT or work with Japanese colleagues.