[vidarh]

My first French class did dive into French long before we were at 1,000 words, and we were strictly not allowed to use anything but a same-language dictionary.

We of course did have the benefit of a teacher who would translate if absolutely necessary, but she also insisted on sticking to French in the lessons wherever possible from the very first day. It was far more immersive in my first year of French than e.g. my fourth year of German.

It seemed to work quite well.