10 Ways to Stop Translating in Your Head

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hi everybody my name is Alisha welcome

back to top words today we’re going to

talk about 10 ways to stop translating

in your head let’s get started

identify objects around you in English

the first way to stop translating in

your head is to identify the objects

around you in your target language so if

you’re studying English that means you

look at the objects around the room look

at the things in your life don’t think

of them in your native language first

think of them in your target language

first so if I look around the room I see

a computer I shouldn’t think my native

language word I should think my target

language word so start with the items

and the situations in your everyday life

if I say computer in English maybe I

should say computer in Japanese I should

say not I don’t know water in English I

should say Oh Mesa in Japanese so start

associating the words in your target

language with your everyday life now so

if you’re studying English that means

start getting familiar with the things

in your everyday life in English repeat

phrases you hear native speakers use tip

number two is to repeat the phrases that

you hear native speakers use so if

you’re watching this channel for example

or you’re watching a TV show or a movie

listen for the way that native speakers

make those phrases if you hear a phrase

you have never heard before or you hear

an interesting combination of words try

to repeat them yourself don’t just

listen try to save them yourself if

you’re in a public space and it’s

difficult for you to do that fine

practice in a place where you feel more

comfortable maybe if you have some

private space to practice just repeat

them get your mouth used to saying the

words the way that the speaker’s the

native speakers do so if you never

actually say words if you’re only taking

in if you’re

listening and you’re not actually

producing the language it’s it’s kind of

hard to to practice and to to really

hone your pronunciation to improve your

pronunciation so when you listen to

native speakers try to repeat after them

so for example if you’re studying

English

you can try to repeat after this video

you can repeat after the things I’m

saying because maybe I’m using an

expression or I’m using a certain series

of vocabulary words together the way a

native speaker would and it’s maybe a

good idea to try to practice the ways

that native speakers put their words

together so try to repeat after native

speakers especially when you’re looking

at media and you can do this when you’re

reading books too you can try to read

out read out loud interesting lines of

books that you find or something that

maybe is difficult for you

very nice practice to make a situation

where you can’t escape into your native

language make a situation where you

can’t escape into your native language

essentially means immerse yourself of

course going to that country are going

to a place where you can speak only that

language is very difficult for some of

you totally understand but if in your

life you can create a situation in your

library in your room in your house

somewhere for just an hour or I don’t

know maybe a day I don’t know what your

schedule is like but if you can create a

situation or create an environment where

you have no choice but to use that

language and you cannot escape meaning

you cannot go back to using your native

language as a crutch you can’t use the

native language at all it forces you to

use the language that you’re studying so

of course if you are lucky enough to

live in the country or to live in a

place where people speak the language

you’re studying great but you have to go

out and interact with people you have to

put yourself in a place where you have

no choice but to speak it’s very hard

and it’s very scary and it’s very

embarrassing at first but if you take

time to find places and to make and

that are comfortable for you where you

feel comfortable making mistakes and

asking questions it’s very valuable for

your learning process this is actually

something that I did totally I totally

did this

my Japanese wasn’t very good for a long

time but then I started making friends

who could not speak English actually I

just did this through finding hobbies

there was a hobby that I had I joined a

group I joined actually a school to

where I could learn how to do that hobby

and everything was taught only in

Japanese and the people in my class only

spoke Japanese mostly and then maybe we

would go out for drinks and food late at

night or on the weekends and everybody

spoke only Japanese and if I couldn’t

communicate even simply in Japanese I

had no hope of keeping that friendship

together so it forced me to study it

forced me to think about the words they

were using and to try to learn those

words those patterns as well as how to

produce them naturally myself so I was

learning the vocabulary words the people

around me were using and learning how to

apply them on my own that was only

possible because I had no escape in

those situations so try to do that even

if you can do it yourself in your house

it’s super helpful I think watch TV and

movies in your target language without

subtitles tip number four is to watch TV

and movies in your target language

without subtitles without subtitles so I

think that watching with subtitles can

be very beneficial so if I’m watching

something or if you want to watch

something with subtitles on great let’s

I sometimes find that I can in my case I

think too much about reading the

subtitles and I forget to listen so

maybe if you’ve seen a movie in your

target language a few times with the

subtitles on try turning the subtitles

off and think about the like character’s

body language the words they’re using

you can always look that up later look

up the you know the words you don’t know

in a dictionary but try to do it where

you’re focusing completely on the way

that people are using

words try not to use the subtitles so

kind of play around with it a little bit

if there’s a word that’s difficult for

you to hear you can actually turn on the

subtitles in like the in the native

language of the movie as well that’s

something that I’ve done like if like if

I wanted to study Japanese it’s very

useful when the actual words spoken in

Japanese appear on the screen sometimes

it’s easier for me to catch a word if I

see it visually and I hear it at the

same time so another way to kind of

explore how you can use TV and movies is

to actually turn on the closed captions

like the the words on the screen in the

native language of the movie so so this

is sort of two points in one so one

watch movies without subtitles

meaning subtitles in your native

language and hint to is to watch movies

with closed captioning on but the closed

captioning is in your target language

not in your native language so you can

try those two things with TV and with

movies don’t bring a dictionary to your

lesson tip number five is don’t bring a

dictionary to your lesson okay so give

me a second here so I understand the

dictionaries it was especially

electronic dictionaries we have them on

our phones now are very very convenient

of course it’s important to use them and

it’s a they’re a great resource to have

however one thing that really bothers me

and that I think is detrimental it’s not

helpful for students is when students

are in a lesson and they’re practicing

conversation and they reach a point in

the conversation where they don’t know

the word they want to use they know it

in their native language and they don’t

know how to say it in their target

language they pull out their dictionary

they say to this the person listening to

them their practice partner in their

lesson where they have a limited period

of time just a moment and then they look

it up on their phone it takes a few

seconds the flow of the conversation

stops and then they say a word it’s like

wow no that’s not you

have that ability you don’t have the

ability to do that in a conversation

with a native speaker most people like

if you go to a bank and try to open a

bank account are you really gonna pull

out your dictionary and sit there and

try to communicate you know just a

moment just a moment as you look up each

word you don’t know know or if you do

that’s not a real conversation

so instead try using a different

strategy by that I mean if you find a

word you don’t know in conversation

explain the word to your conversation

partner maybe they know the word if

you’re speaking with a native speaker

this is a chance for them to teach you a

word I find that when people take the

time to teach me a word

I remember the word much better than

just looking it up on my dictionary so

try to resist maybe you can bring a

dictionary to your lesson but don’t use

it or try not to use it in your

conversation practice it’s just it

destroys the flow of a conversation

so instead practice the skill of

describing the vocabulary word you want

to use and learn how to ask the meaning

of a word or learn how to ask for a

vocabulary word from your partner so you

can use an expression like ah what’s the

word that means pop habla or you know

it’s this thing that does this and this

and this so this is an opportunity for

you to describe characteristics of

something or find a different way you

can use your body language you can use

whatever you have a lot of tools but try

not to use a dictionary in a

conversation because it’s not realistic

train responses to common questions

number six is a quick one I think number

six hint number six I have is just to

Train responses to common questions

train responses to common questions so

for example a very common question in

English is hey how are you you should

know how to answer this question just

have a default response hey how are you

I’m good I think if it takes you a long

time to answer the question hey how are

you you need to practice I think that’s

a pretty good

a pretty good indicator so for example

sometimes I ask students a question like

that they haven’t quite gotten the idea

of how to respond just yet they’re not

so quick at responding I say hey how are

you and they say yes and then they think

and they go I am I’m good and it’s like

that’s a very common question so think

about just a default response that you

can spit out that you can quickly say if

it’s how was your weekend or hey what’s

up or what do you want to do for dinner

tonight think about like just a handful

meaning just a few responses to those

questions and train them quickly just

how are you I’m good how are you I’m

okay

how are you not bad there’s three so

it’s just training responses to those

questions there’s no reason to be

surprised by a question like how are you

like that’s a very common question so

for those common questions train

responses so that we’ve got a bunch of

videos especially beginner level videos

for some example responses you can do so

don’t get stuck with these little

questions just train a few responses

practice a few responses till they feel

natural to you it’ll save you time and

it’ll help the person asking the

question to to move forward in the

conversation okay study with materials

that don’t provide a translation the

next tip is to study with materials that

don’t provide a translation so by this I

mean if you’re using worksheets or some

kind of textbook or whatever and it has

your target language the language you’re

studying and it has your native language

next to it while this can be useful I

feel that if you can studying your

materials only in your target language

and then simplified explanations for

more detailed points also in your target

language can be a little bit better so I

should I don’t want to say like you

should only study things in your target

language and nothing from your native

language because of course like it’s it

can be helpful sometimes to look up a

word or to understand

a grammar point in your native language

but where possible if you can find

something that provides simplified

explanations in your target language it

can be really really helpful because

again you’re thinking you’re learning to

think on like a simpler on a more basic

level about the language you’re studying

in the language that you’re studying so

this can be really really good so

finding some materials to use where

there’s no translation maybe you can

practice of course with with books and

with written materials but also with

like video materials as well so there

are a variety of different ways that you

can find materials in your target

language like in video and TV so some

things to think about there are the

level of vocabulary words people are

using in the media content you’re

watching who the media content is

intended for children young adults

adults the speed at which the speaker is

talking so like I have the ability to

change the level of difficulty of videos

based on the rate of speech the

vocabulary words that I use and how many

like idioms and things I use so I could

make a video very difficult we could

make a very like a very difficult video

series by leveling up our vocabulary use

or by speaking very quickly or as you

might see in like our English and three

minute series we can also use very

simple vocabulary and speak at a low

rate of speech so maybe right now this

is a very intermediate level video so

please think about that so not just for

written materials but also for your

audio and visual materials think about

who your audience is the level of the

material and so on it can be really fun

and it can be helpful to think about

your your target language in your target

language alright we’re almost them study

phrases in addition to single vocabulary

the next tip is study phrases in

addition to single vocabulary words so

yes of course vocabulary is important

but I find it personally very very

useful to look at how a vocabulary word

is

used in a phrase because sometimes using

it in a phrase helps you understand the

nuance of that vocabulary word really

really well so if I like we’re like

crazy for example in English depending

on the situation where the word crazy is

used it could mean something different

it could mean like a person who is

mentally confused or mixed up it could

also mean something really good it could

mean something really bad so if we look

only at the word crazy it’s quite

difficult to understand really the

meaning of the word but if you look at

the way the word is used in a phrase you

can get a lot more information so take a

look at the way people use words in

phrases not just a single vocabulary

words you can learn a lot more that way

I think do your daily activities in

English where possible the next step is

to do your daily activities in your

target language so if you’re studying

English that means try to do some daily

activities in English if possible so

this can be very very boring stuff but

just think about it when you’re doing

the activity so like right now I’m

filming a video for English class

101.com or I’m going to work I’m cooking

breakfast I’m doing the laundry what do

I have to do tomorrow so try thinking

about your everyday life in English if

you’re studying English try thinking

about your everyday activities the

people that you meet what are you doing

so this is a way to help you practice

your verbs so if you don’t know if

you’re I don’t know you’re doing

something at work and you’re like oh my

gosh how do I explain the what’s the

verb for you know a picture like I want

to blah blah blah a picture what’s the

word you can check a dictionary at that

point and go up its draw like I need to

use the verb draw or draw a picture so

you can find these little gaps in your

everyday life these little gaps in your

knowledge if you think about your

everyday activities in your target

language if you don’t think about it in

your target language you might not

realize you have vocabulary gaps or

phrase gaps here and there so this is a

really good and kind of funny actually

way to study use a learner’s dictionary

for

words the last tip is to use a learner’s

dictionary for new words so in English

there are learners dictionaries

available in English so my favorite my

personal favorite is merriam-webster

merriam-webster is a fantastic

dictionary resource they’re so

interesting and they have tons of like

historical information I really do just

sit and like readings on the dictionary

page lately it’s true but of course

there’s a definition there’s a meaning

for words there are example sentences

for words but merriam-webster also has

what’s called a learner’s dictionary if

you find a word that you don’t recognize

you can check it in a dictionary in a

learner’s dictionary and it gives you a

simplified a simple explanation in

simple English of that word so instead

of checking it in your native language

you can check it in your target language

so again this helps you to understand

the word that you are that you’re

focused on but you understand it from

the language you’re studying not from

your native language so using a

learner’s dictionary can be really

really useful as well yeah all right so

those are ten tips those are 10 tips to

help you stop translating in your head I

know it’s very difficult but it’s it

takes time and it takes practice and I

hope that these are a few strategies

that can help you as you study any

language of course this is an English

language channel in English language

learning channel but I think these tips

are pretty good for learning just about

any language really so I hope those are

useful for you if you have tried these

strategies or if you have any other

comments or other tips please let us

know in the comment section below this

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for more good stuff as well thanks very

much for watching this episode of top

pours and I will see you again soon

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