Building blocks for learning new languages
Consider the following ten French words:
1. Un poisson – fish
2. Un chat - cat
3. Une souris – mouse
4. Un oiseau – bird
5. Un cheval – horse
6. Un singe – monkey
7. Une baleine – whale
8. Plein à craquer – full to breaking point
9. Garder à l’esprit – bear in mind
10. Desserrer son angoisse – de-stress
Unless you have a natural talent for languages,
Repetitive, drill-to-kill, read-again-and-again rote learning has never quite worked for languages.
After all, how can you link "poisson" with a fish? The two words really don't have anything to do with each other when you're first trying to learn them.
That is, unless you use your natural skill - your creative juices and your imagination - to get the words linked and the images flowing.
For example:
Our first word is fish – or “un poisson”. Imagine a fish squeezing itself into a bottle of poison.
Second word is cat – “un chat”. Imagine a cat shattering a mirror. Maybe it’s teeth are chattering.
Third up is mouse – “une souris”. Just imagine a mouse eating a sour lemon and turning yellow.
You are limited only by your choices, you can use as many senses as you want, you can visualize what is happening, your sense of touch to feel the fish, the sloppy wet sounds the fish is making. Create a small video clip in your mind’s eye if you want.
It takes a bit more up-front effort -
But the long-lasting benefits of a sustained link between the words are 100% worth it.
To watch a video on how to learn all ten French words, including idiomatic expressions you might use on a French exam, click here: