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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