Hey, Naturals. What's up? It's your favorite American English teacher Gabby here with a Go Natural English lesson to help you to stop Translating everything from English into your native language in your head in your mind and your brain in your noggin and to start thinking only in English it is Possible believe me no matter what level you're at right now It's possible to think in English And I'm gonna show you how I'm gonna give you 9 Tips that will help you on your journey to thinking just like a native English speaker So if this is interesting to you, then keep watching So first of all, what's the problem with translating everything Into your native language before you come up with a response in English. Well if you're in a Conversation or some situation where you need to really process information quickly and be able to respond rapidly in an appropriate timely manner Then you really don't have time to translate Even if you're super smart which I know you are and you're really good at English. Which I know you are it still takes time to process all the information you're getting in English into your native language and then Think in your native language, okay, what am I gonna say how am I gonna respond and then translate that Back into English it's a lot of work for your brain to do and no matter how Awesomely intelligent you are it's gonna take too long in a native speed kind of fast back and forth conversation so if you are in a social situation if you're in a meeting at work if you are at a Presentation and you want to ask questions You really need to be able to think in English So the problem started with the way that we learn Foreign languages this happened to me when I was learning Spanish in the classroom How did we learn we learn through translating with Spanish I learned that one is Uno and two is dos and Let's see coffee is Cafe and So on so of course it's easy, and it makes sense to begin this way because we know vocabulary in our native language but it actually is hurting us once we get into Conversational English or in my case conversational Spanish, so when I left the classroom When I left my English sorry my Spanish classroom And I tried to have a conversation with native Spanish speakers I was like in total shock my jaw hit the ground because I Couldn't understand anything and I definitely couldn't respond because I was trying to just Identify a few words that I could recognize that I could hear that I could listen to that I could comprehend and then Translate those into English and then think in English to translate back into Spanish And I was a wreck so I don't want that to happen to you Maybe you know how that feels already let me give you some suggestions to get you started thinking in English first let's start small Understanding everything in English and being able to respond in English is like a big meal. That's a lot of vocabulary or a lot of food to digest right so let's start by taking small bites and digest thoroughly so start by doing small daily activities in English so for example Every day, I take my dog for a walk or sometimes we go for a run so sometimes I talk to him usually in English, but sometimes just to really confuse him I talked to him in Spanish and instead of saying come let's go I'll say ven, vamonos right so you could do this in English Maybe if you have a pet or if you don't have a pet there's other ways, too I bet you have a phone if you have a smart phone you could set that in English so that every time you open up your phone there's English vocabulary For you to work with this is an example of an everyday Activity probably multiple times a day you're looking at your phone that you could do in English And maybe there's other things that you can think of too So what are some other suggestions of small daily activities that you could do in English? Comment let me know what you think Okay, next listen to more English this doesn't even have to take up more of your time You can give yourself an immersive experience in English no matter where you are Open up your laptop or your smartphone and download Some podcasts in English or listen to internet radio or put on a video on YouTube or on Netflix in English and play it in the background while you're doing other work that doesn't require intense focus I love doing this when I'm just doing housework or like organizing stuff around my room or my office or whatever I will listen to music and other languages because I love learning the lyrics to songs in Spanish or in Portuguese or in other languages that I want to learn so most recently I was Listening in Spanish to the song called Lloraras Which is a famous salsa song I highly recommend it if you'd like to get into Salsa But anyway, let me continue with tips for thinking in English 3 try Guessing or Planning what native English speakers are going to say in that next Conversation or in that presentation or whatever situation that you're going to be in in English so when you predict based on your life experience what you think people are going to say You will be more prepared and more confident You're preparing your brain to receive that information And you'd be surprised probably like eight out of ten times You're going to be correct now. Don't get too attached To your prediction because of course other people don't know that script that's going on in your head So be prepared for something different to come out of people's mouths but just by exploring the different options or your Prediction or guess of what you think will happen you're gonna feel way more Confident, and you're gonna be able to process that information Faster and to think in English yourself because you're already thinking when you predict what's going to happen in a conversation four stop learning exclusively through translation Especially once you're out of your beginner English class we have to learn through association through Experience through observing watching listening through touching through your life experience you have to Associate the word with the meaning and not the English word with your native language word Okay, words are just where they're just letters, okay? The real true meaning is what you understand and then you can attach that to the word okay? So book is not necessarily livro in in Spanish or Portuguese It's a thing with pieces of paper and writing that I can read and learn from so I hope this is making sense But you have to stop learning exclusively through Translation and next very closely related number five is to stop using a bilingual dictionary the best use of your bilingual dictionary where there's English and then your native language is actually as like a Coaster where you put your coffee cup on On top of your table, so it doesn't leave a circle on your table That's the best use for it because if you continue to use this bilingual dictionary to learn vocabulary In English you're always going to be practicing translation so just use that thing as a coaster or whatever and use a monolingual dictionary instead monolingual means one language so English to English and you're going to exponentially expand your English language vocabulary when you do this next number six label objects in your environment in English you can just do this in your head It's super simple super fast and easy doesn't cost anything or you could actually write the words on paper and tape Those labels right to the objects or use sticky notes or something and for example if I see a book and I'm learning Spanish Then I would write on my sticky note libro And I think I said Livro before, but that's actually portuguese I get confused between Spanish and portuguese I will tell you honestly it is not always easy to learn both at the same time so anyway Libro is booked if I'm learning Spanish Maybe livro if I'm learning Portuguese hey if I'm learning Arabic It's kitab you can help me with my pronunciation in the comments, but put a label on everyday objects This is really especially helpful for beginners intermediate Level English learners, but it can be fun to do just to remind yourself to think in English at any level Number 7. Talk to yourself in English when you talk to yourself out loud It does so many good things for you Not only are you going to practice your pronunciation your speaking your vocabulary your fluency But you are developing that thinking and English skill so what kind of things should you say when you're talking to yourself out loud in English and When should you do this well first of all I would suggest doing this perhaps in the privacy of your own home Maybe not around your co-workers or people that might think you've gone crazy So what do you tell yourself? Well, you could ask yourself questions for example right now I'm thinking what am I going to eat for lunch today? So if I am trying to improve my Portuguese I might think to myself and say out loud "O que vou comer hoje no almorco?" Yeah, think that's right. If it's not you can tell me in the comments but it's okay if you make a mistake talking out loud to yourself if your grammars not perfect if your pronunciation is not perfect it's okay because the point is not to be perfect the point is for you to develop that habit of Thinking and speaking the language so it's totally okay Just make a mental note of what you're not sure about if you are not sure if you're supposed to use like the article the or whatever it is you're not sure about and then you could ask someone just like I asked you in the Comments, you could ask your native speaker friend your teacher or do some research online Another way, I really love to talk to myself out loud in languages I'm learning is to sing a song so I mentioned earlier that I was Listening to a song called Lloraras, which means you will cry it's kind of a sad song actually, but I love to actually sing that song when I'm Just you know doing house chores or walking my dog I'll just be like yeah se que tu no quieres que yo a ti te quiera So I'm not a great singer so I'm gonna stop but just to give you an example That is what I love doing and I might even mix in some Salsa dance moves. Well, I'm singing eight just start thinking in English with a Mantra or a motto or some phrase that just gets you started like on autopilot Automatically so my phrase might be I am improving my English every day And I would say that in English out loud to myself or just think it okay if I'm learning Portuguese I might say to myself Bom dia, a cada dia estou melhorando meu portugues. Yes, okay like with Emotion is really important really really important even if I look crazy It doesn't matter it does help you and it lifts your spirits, and it gives you energy to improve your language skills finally number nine Our last tip to help you think in English is to just do a little bit each day So don't force yourself to think in English all day every day from the get-go or from the beginning just start with 30 seconds, I'm sure that you can think in English for 30 seconds. You could set an alarm Maybe every day at 9 a.m.. You're going to think in English for 30 seconds So you know on your phone put an alarm for 9 a.m. And you can title it think in English And then set your timer for 30 seconds and just think in English no matter How simple or how silly it is You can just say hello to yourself over and over and over for 30 seconds. If that's the best you can do I know you can do better. I know But it's just an example that it doesn't matter how complicated your English is when you train to think in English What does matter is that you Start and that you are consistent. So do a little bit every day And you're going to be thinking in English all day long in no time if you loved these suggestions Let me know in the comments share this video with Your friends who are learning English or maybe your friends who are learning other languages because these tips totally apply to any language you are learning Thank you so much for watching be sure to subscribe to Go Natural English here on YouTube visit the website at GoNaturalEnglish.com and Thank you mwah. Love you guys. I'll see you again soon. Bye for now
