On the basis of the archival data of the Central State Archive of the TASSR published for the first time, the active work of the world famous scientist and teacher Jan Baudouin de Courtenay, who worked at Kazan University for more than ten years, was analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the attitude of Jan Baudouin de Courtenay for teaching foreign languages at Kazan University. Strict control was noted in connection with the reactionary charter of 1884 over the course of teaching at Kazan University. Archival data made it possible to highlight the participation of Jan Baudouin de Courtenay in a discussion of various issues related to the teaching of foreign languages. He made his proposals for monitoring students and for the first time suggested that students of the Faculty of History and Philology should know at least two or even three foreign languages. He was the first to voice the requirement for students to translate texts in their specialty (as extracurricular reading), followed by a report to the lecturer of a foreign language and a professor of a special department for communication with them. It turned out that Jan Baudouin de Courtenay taught Italian at the request of students and German for two years free of charge.