How to stop translating in your head Speak English Fluently
Hi.
I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
How can you stop translating in your head
when you speak English?
Let’s talk about it.
I recently got an email from a student from
Vietnam who told me, “Vanessa, I can’t stop
translating in my head.
I want to stop, and I don’t think it’s good
to translate, but what can I do to stop translating?”
This is a question that I want to answer for
him today and also for all of you who feel
like you’re translating in your head, and
you want to stop, but first of all, I want
to talk about something heart to heart with
you.
This is, a lot of English learners make rules
for themselves about what they should and
shouldn’t do.
“I shouldn’t use subtitles.
I shouldn’t translate.
I shouldn’t use a dictionary.”
This is really stressful on yourself because
not the same method works for everyone.
It’s sometimes useful to use a dictionary.
Sometimes you’re going to translate in your
head.
It happens.
I want to say to you first, if you feel like
“I shouldn’t do this” or “I shouldn’t do that,”
take a step back and think about why do you
feel like that.
Is it actually useful for you?
If it’s useful for you, don’t stress about
it.
Follow that method if it is working for you.
Now that I’ve talked with you about not stressing
when you’re using English, let’s talk about
how you can start thinking in English more
so that you’ll stop translating all the time.
My first tip is to listen to English a lot
and surround yourself with English.
For me, when I’m learning French and I watch
a French movie, after I watch the movie, my
brain is going, going, going in French, and
I really just want to use it and speak because
it’s in my head a lot.
The same will happen for you.
If you’re listening to an English podcast
or watching a TV show, even if you’re using
English subtitles, hearing and surrounding
yourself with English is going to help you
transform your brain into English, and that’s
going to be the step to help you stop translating
all the time.
The second thing is to use an English-only
dictionary.
Do you ever use a dictionary to translate
words that you’re not sure about?
Well, something that’s useful is to get a
dictionary that is completely in English.
The definitions are in English and everything
is in English.
This way, when you read the definition, you’re
also learning new words.
You’re learning how to describe that word
in English.
This is just another method for surrounding
yourself with the language.
The third tip to help you stop translating
in your head is to use sticky notes.
Do you know what these are?
These are little pieces of paper that are
sticky on one part so that you can put them
somewhere, on the wall, on your book, anywhere.
Well, these pieces of paper are great for
surrounding yourself with English.
How can you do this?
Well, you can take a little piece of paper
and write a sentence on it with expressions
or words that you want to learn.
I recommend making a full sentence like this
one here.
“I like to drink tea in the morning.”
Maybe if you’re learning “in the morning,”
“in the afternoon,” “at night,” this is a
great way to learn this in context, and if
you like to drink tea in the morning, you
can tape or stick this piece of paper close
to where you make tea so that in the morning,
when you make tea, you’ll see this, and you’ll
think, “Oh, yeah.
I like to make tea in the morning.”
This is something to help surround you with
English, no matter where you are, even if
you’re not living in an English-speaking country.
I did this when I was learning French at the
very beginning, and it was so helpful and
pretty fun to think about where could I put
another note or another idea so that I could
improve some expressions and learn naturally.
I hope that these three tips, listening, using
an English dictionary, and making sticky notes,
has been helpful for you and giving you some
ideas about how to surround yourself with
English because, in the end, this is the goal.
You want to surround yourself with English
as much as possible.
Now, I have a question for you that I’d like
to ask you, and you can write your answer
in the comments below.
My question is, what are some other ways that
you can surround yourself with English, no
matter where you live?
Let’s give each other ideas, and you can share
with each other.
I’m looking forward to seeing what you have
to say.
Talk to you later.
Bye.
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Thanks so much for listening with me.
Bye.