So learn it. You'll get to practice it with every sentence you ever use.
Conversely, you'll only use 'ballon' when you take about un ballon. I hope that's frequently enough for you to remember the word & its gender. At least it looks like the word 'ball', something you don't get with Vietnamese's 'bóng' or Chinese's '球[1]'
And you'll still get funny looks if you say you're getting ready to go to the New Year's ballon, because substitutions fail with homonyms in both directions. And you'll have to learn and relearn about ten thousand of these substitutions.
Conversely, you'll only use 'ballon' when you take about un ballon. I hope that's frequently enough for you to remember the word & its gender. At least it looks like the word 'ball', something you don't get with Vietnamese's 'bóng' or Chinese's '球[1]'
And you'll still get funny looks if you say you're getting ready to go to the New Year's ballon, because substitutions fail with homonyms in both directions. And you'll have to learn and relearn about ten thousand of these substitutions.
[1]maybe?