Learning French Words Through Etymology and Mnemonics

Learning French Words Through Etymology and Mnemonics
A New Approach to Vocabulary Study

Learning French Words Through Etymology and Mnemonics is the second book in the “Learning Foreign Language Words Through Etymology and Mnemonics” series (the first being Learning Spanish Words and the upcoming third Learning Italian Words). It makes use of etymology to help you remember French words, and failing that, suggests a mnemonic. This is the only book on the market that combines these two approaches. The amount and depth of etymology is carefully chosen to be practical and not overwhelm an average reader. The suggested mnemonics aim to help an educated English-speaking person. An adult or young adult who likes learning vocabulary with some word analysis instead of rote memory will find this book helpful and a joy to read. With about 2800 words selected from 7200 in the Lexique corpus sorted in frequency order, this book can be used either as a dictionary or for leisure reading. The mnemonics for the words are particularly helpful for short-term memory needed in taking an exam, while the etymological, cultural, or other interesting information provided for most of the words will serve you for years to come.

Different Study Methods

⎢                                ⎡ Etymology ⎤
               ⎡ Word analysis <-⎢           ⎥-> this book
               ⎢                 ⎣ Mnemonics ⎦
Study method <-⎢
               ⎢
               ⎣ Rote memory (e.g. flash cards)

Sample Pages

The main text of this little dictionary arranges the words in the order of their usage frequency per Lexique.org word frequency. Sample pages 1 through 8 below are in this order as well. The book is being updated on a daily basis. As of December 2024, the book has 459 pages (excluding index).

Introduction and Notes
Sample pages 5 from pp.220-223, 2 from pp.67-71
Sample pages 4 from pp.172-175, 1 from pp.14-20
Sample pages 3 from pp.119-122, 6 from pp.272-275
Sample pages 7 from pp.323-326, 8 from pp.(399-402)
Sample page miscellaneous
Appendix: Tips on Creating Mnemonics

The word frequency data generated from the Lexique corpus is in this file. (This data can also be used to help with word choice in writing. For example, if you prefer a more common word for the sense of "to try", essayer at the frequency position 313 is definitely better than tâcher at 2595.)

Author Biography and Contact

I have a Ph.D. in Chemistry and M.A. in Philosophy. I have taught myself linguistics with an emphasis on morphological and phonological changes in the history of Romance languages, and have learned to read in multiple European languages. Please contact me by email to yong321@yahoo.com or by filling the form with comments or corrections.

Availability

This book will remain unpublished indefinitely. In the meantime, the full manuscript can be requested on a donation basis. With a $15 or more donation through Venmo (use my venmo username @Yong-Huang-13 or email yong321@yahoo.com), Zelle or Quickpay, Paypal, or by other means, you will receive a copy of the e-book, on the condition that the received copy is only shared within your immediate family. In the future, a few days before Christmas, you will receive an indexed, updated version of the book for free, every year.

Brief Timeline and Blog

2016-10 Book project started.
2019-01 After several readers' inquiry, I started to make the manuscript available on donation basis.
2020-02 Started the general Learning Foreign Language Words blog, focusing on French and Spanish, but occasionally about Italian, and German.
2020-10 Started to systematically add example sentences or phrases to headword entries, providing literal translations along with natural ones for difficult expressions in an attempt to bridge the semantic gap.
2020-12-20 The first indexed edition is sent to all donors as year-end distribution. The book has 356 pages (including the index).
2021-12-16 The 2021 indexed edition is sent to all donors as year-end distribution. The book has 390 pages (including the index). Many basic headword entries have been reviewed, supplemented with examples and more usage notes.
2022-12-15 The 2022 indexed edition is sent to all donors (except one whose email no longer works). The book has 427 pages including 18 for the index. Pages up to p.283 have been revised and the headwords are better explained, and supplemented with carefully selected or constructed example phrases and sentences. Many example phrases have their frequency checked with Google ngram.
2023-12-13 The 2023 indexed edition is sent to all donors. The book has 447 pages (18 for the index). Pages up to p.372 have been revised with more example sentences and phrases. Part of Introduction and Appendix are updated as well.
2024-12-17 The 2024 indexed edition is sent to all donors. The book has 459 pages (20 for the index). All entries created in the first draft have been reviewed and revised. New entries up to the 7746th word (sourdre) in the Lexique corpus have been created.

Beginning February 2020, I regularly post thoughts to my author blog on Goodreads. Note: It's a blog not about this single book, but about the Learning Foreign Language Words series.

Yong Huang
October 2016 — December 2024