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If you watch ONE video about thinking in English, it should be this one. Call them tricks, hacks, strategies, or advice, I’m going to help you to stop translating and start thinking in English right now. A lot of the reasons why you’re not becoming fluent in English, or not able to think in English, come from the way you think in general. At Go Natural English, I show you mind tricks for fluency.
Clear your mind and forget what you know about the world in your native language, and try learning vocabulary through meaning not through translation. For example, I was learning Portuguese in Brazil, and I went to a dance club. Someone asked, “Quer dancar?” so I could make an educated guess without pulling out my dictionary to translate that they were asking me to dance.
Try listening to talk radio stations in English (on the internet if you don’t live in an English-speaking country), and just listen even if you don’t understand what they’re saying. I did this for fun with a Norwegian station, and could instantly pick out that “yaah” meant “yea.” Your brain wants to pick out patterns and similarities, so let it do it’s job without thinking too hard about it!
Similarly, consuming any kind of content in English will help trick your mind into thinking more in English. Try watching programs in English (TV programs, Netflix, Hulu, Pluto etc). I prefer realistic shorter programs rather than fantasy movies, because they show more real-life conversation, and you can watch one in a shorter amount of time. See if you can identify some key phrases, their meanings, and then repeat them a few times to yourself to remember them!
When I was invited to give my TEDx talk in Portuguese in Portugal, I was so scared. Here’s what I did to prepare. Imagine with me for a moment that you are already fluent in English. Envisioning yourself in situations speaking fluently can actually build the confidence and motivation needed to improve your skills. So take a moment and see yourself doing something difficult all in English, like a presentation in front of hundreds of people!
Do LESS. Think in terms of doing or learning just ONE thing in English each day. Sometimes when we try to do too much, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and then you want to give up! It’s too stressful! So try doing the opposite. Tell yourself to do less.
Thinking in English means that you have INTERNALIZED the language. This is unlike translating, which means you are still approaching English as something outside that can only be accessed through translating your native language. If your goal is to think in English, you need to completely let go of translation and start learning through more organic, natural ways. Next week I’m going to make a video for you to test your fluency and see if you can really think in English, so be sure to subscribe to @gonaturalenglish