Learning languages always entails certain difficulties, even though there are people with great ability to assimilate learning. Persistence and practice are two essential factors to master a new language, but due to the natural tendency of the brain, more work is needed if you want to think in a language that is not yours.
Once you manage to change the chip and think in different languages, such as English, the mastery of the language is absolute. You will not need to translate the sentences, you will gain time for action and conversation. Well, thinking in English is a highly demanding process, but it is within the reach of anyone. Discover how to think in English and the best tricks to achieve it by reading this article.
Single word learning
If you wonder what to do to think in English, a good way is to familiarize yourself with the vocabulary present in your day to day. So a good way to start is by naming the objects and elements of your environment in English to gradually exercise reflections in the same language. Subsequently, gradually increase the difficulty and learn simple phrases. When you go to bed or when you wake up, talk to yourself saying ‘good night’ or ‘good morning’. To make the task easier, use Post-Its to mark the objects around you: from the rooms of the house to study, work, or kitchen tools.
The environment with stimuli in English
Surrounding yourself with different stimuli to learn English is a good solution. It is not necessary to travel to the United Kingdom or to an Anglo-Saxon-speaking country: listening to music, watching movies, and series, reading the news, or reading a book in English will help you end up thinking in this language naturally. In addition, try to talk frequently with friends, co-workers, study colleagues, and English teachers. Thus, you will be able to improve your way of expressing yourself and you will think in this language with greater agility when establishing conversations on a variety of topics.
Impromptu conversations
If you think that it is difficult for you to think in English, try to imagine dialogues or conversations framed in situations other than everyday life. When you go to a supermarket, think about those keywords to communicate in that place or the name of the products you are going to buy. To attend a restaurant, imagine sentences in English and the conversation held with waiters and even with your companions. It is about maintaining small dialogues with yourself in these types of circumstances. We point out that at first, you will feel strange, but after a month you will notice a noticeable improvement.
The narration of the day
At the end of the day, put yourself in the place of a writer and try to narrate in English everything you did during the last 24 hours. To put less pressure on yourself and make it a personal exercise, explain it to yourself without any rush. To increase the complexity, use the third person in the narration. This way, you will be using simple words and difficult sentences at the same time along with other personal and subject pronouns. You can also improvise conversations you’ve had with people on the street, a friend you’ve had coffee with at the bar, and even with colleagues at work. In this way, you will make it a good way to think in English to speak.
Mobile configuration
Another trick that will help you think and speak in English is to configure your mobile in this language. By using many devices in English, you force yourself to understand what you read at all times. The tablet, the television, and writing notes and letters in English will help to exercise the brain and reflect with great skill in this language. In this way, the brain will get used to understanding that English is part of your life, automatically thinking in the same language.
Motivation
Do you have trouble thinking in English? Well, setting yourself daily challenges and goals is the best way to encourage your interest in thinking in English. Learning the language is a very important step, but acquiring it and treating it as if it were native supposes a fundamental growth in language proficiency. By meeting these objectives, such as thinking about the shopping list or narrating in English everything you have done during the day, you can give yourself some prizes. Everything will depend on you, so it is essential to maintain discipline and achieve achievements without cheating.
Translator forbidden
Do you want to know how to think in English without translating? It seems obvious, but it is still a reality: renounce the use of the translator in any of your readings. Use monolingual dictionaries to find out the meaning of a word in the same language. When you come across a word that you don’t know how to express, try to look it up in that dictionary to understand it. Thus, you will learn to use it and it will improve the way you think in English. With this habit, you will avoid the constant use of the translator and you will read faster and faster. In this sense, there are many tools that will be of great help: virtual dictionaries like the one in Cambridge are a good example. With time to acquire these tips, you will know how to read in English without translating.
