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Product Description
Product Description
Introduces a basic French vocabulary and the first principles of French grammar through word-association techniques.
About the Author
Dr. Michael Gruneberg is an internationally respected authority and author on memory enhancement. He is the president of the American Society for Applied Research in memory an Cognition.
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The short answer is that By Association books are for anyone and everyone who wants to learn the basics of a language in a hurry. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The short answer is that By Association books are for anyone and everyone who wants to learn the basics of a language in a hurry. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
46 of 46 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
9 reviews
40 of 40 people found the following review helpful
The most effective way to learn a language
8 Aug 2000
Format:Paperback
I was first introduced to the concept of learning a language 'by assocation' by a friend in my French class. Having experienced it's effectiveness I promptly bought the book 'French by association'. The book has completely transformed and re-invigorated my desire to learn the French langage. The method used in the book has removed all stress of learning the language and has allowed me to apply the principal method of association with every day learning of the language. The book is very easy to read and follow. Unlike any other language book - it bring's alive the words and keeps one's interest sustained. The book is very well structured allowing one to develop their vocabulary and grammar as one progresses through the book. What is normally a diificult subject in any language - the grammar is very easily explained and very easy to understand. One can work their way through the book quite easily within a week and certainly a weekend if the time is set aside. The book simply associates an English word to a French word through images in the mind. Some of the images are truly bizarre but have that added effect of maintaining one's interest and has the effect of relaxing the reader whilst learning the language at a rapid pace. I would describe the book as being totally unorthodox and totally different to traditional ways of learning the language. This is very refreshing. I would truly recommend this book and it's other language equivalent books to anyone learning a foreign language of whatever level. Having found the effectiveness of this technique I intend to apply it to Spanish and German in the near future when I hope to have the oppurtunity to study them as well. One the principal difficulties of learning a language is the inability to switch from English to French. There is no so trouble with this method as it utilises one's own knowledge of the English language to vividly capture those French word's and grammar which were previously difficult to learn. Another of the principal failures in the French language is 'memory loss' and the incorrect use of gender. This can be embarrassing and very common! The book largely overcomes these problems by allowing the learner to readily conjure up those words that were previously difficult to learn along with the correct gender if necessary. It puzzles me that this method of learnig is not more widely used. Having myself studied the French language using various techniques and even had one to one lessons with French speaking teachers - I can truly say that is by far the most effective way of learning a language.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Teach an old dog
25 Dec 2002
Format:Paperback
I have tried many books and tapes to learn French as I vacation there every year. Most are as forgetable as the french you are trying to learn. French by association by comparison has worked wonders, I actualy use the french I have learned in this book and It's very rewarding. This book has built up my french vocabulary wonderfuly.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
A New Exciting Approach To Learning A Foreign Language
15 Aug 2003
Format:Paperback
I have taken many French courses and purchased many French language books but have had difficulty retaining want I had learned. Learning through memorization became tedious and started to feel more like a chore. However French By Association offered a different approach. Through its "learning by association" principle, I have been able to learn new words very quickly in a fun way and more importantly, I have been able to retain the information. I have learned to create a mental image of the words so that when I am thinking of a word a mental image appears, the wackier the better. This is my first review of a book on Amazon. I thought it would be important to share my view with people who may be experiencing difficulty in learning another language. I highly recommend it. Best of Luck!
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