French by Association (Link Word)

This is a really enjoyable way to learn French. It is great for acquiring a basic vocabulary which is one of the main problems faced by a beginner such as myself. There are helpful suggestions for learning some of the basic grammar as well. The author Michael Gruneberg is justifiably excited about his method and it made me wonder why this is not used in schools. I believe it would significantly improve foreign language learning and teaching outcomes. How it works is by inviting the learner to form a picture in the mind. For example the French for hen is poule, so you picture a hen sitting in a pool. You are also taught the gender of the words by associating with a masculine image, a boxer, or a feminine image, a bottle of perfume. Poule is 'la poule' so you are asked to imagine a hen pecking a bottle of perfume. The actual words are taught first and then the gender is taught afterwards. I am sure the author has thought all this out carefully but I would prefer it if he had taught the gender along with the word at the same time rather than going back to it later. My reason for suggesting this is that the human mind is restless and tends to fill in the gaps for itself. What I mean is that when I am introduced to a word I automatically start to think about its gender and in French this is often little better than 50% chance of being the correct gender! To summarise however, this is a way of learning French that is fun and most importantly, it actually works for a change!

French by Association is ideal for beginners and false beginners - those who did some French ages ago and are now picking up the threads again. On first meeting the book, it seems full of words you already know like cheval, restaurant, and so on but if you study the book from start to finish you will find that you quickly have a wider vocabulary and a much better idea of how sentences are built in French. And it makes it very easy to remember new words and whether they are masculine or feminine. There are loads of exercises that are easy to understand and complete. It all speedily reinforces what you have learned in a very natural way so that you are amazed at how proficient you have become. I suppose the technique is limited to basic words and grammar - I can't imagine that it is useful to anyone with a reasonable level of French but French by Association is ideal for a weekend study as a refresher just before visitng a French-speaking country or beginning a course in French. It would be good for children too. I recommend it for anyone who, like me, knows a few words but has difficulty remembering the in-between bits.