How To Think In English?
How to Think in English?
Have you ever thought about the reason for the pauses and intense need for vocabulary that you experience as speaking in English? If a sentence in the language you are aiming to speak undergoes a translation process in your mind before it leaves your mouth and prevents you from speaking fluently and being comfortably involved in a conversation like this, you should know that this problem you are experiencing is quite common. The good news is that with a number of exercises that you will practice, it is possible to get rid of this translation process in the mind and speak without thinking in the language you are aiming for.
Match the objects around you with their English.
Its application is an exercise that requires minimal effort, and all you have to do is to look at objects at home, at work, at the market and repeat their names in English with a proper pronunciation, so that you invest in yourself to improve your pronunciation. At this stage, you can use a dictionary to look up the meanings of objects that you don't know and that you encounter every day and you can also learn how to pronounce these words. By exercising this way, your mind can create a relation between an object and its English. In time, you will be using these words more practically.
Think simple sentences
You start with choosing the beginning of a sentence. Your sentence can be about the city where you live or yourself “I am ________”; your boyfriend “My boyfriend is______”; a plate of food that you ate yesterday “The dish was __________”.
“Istanbul is _________”
Practice retelling the rest of the sentence as much as you can with structures that come to mind and are not complicated.
“Istanbul is crowded.”
“Istanbul is beautiful.”
“Istanbul is my hometown.”
“Istanbul is close to Tekirdağ.”
“Istanbul is a great place to live.”
“Istanbul is full of historical buildings.”
After practicing the same beginning for a while, turn your eyes around again and start practicing with one sentence about what you see around you.
“The couch is comfortable.”
“The table is tidy and clean.”
“These pillows are really soft.”
Now you know what to do when you encounter something that you have not managed to describe! Take notes and check the meaning from the dictionary. So, keep learning new ones while practicing the words you know.
Use an English-English dictionary
Using an English-English dictionary in which you will learn a word that you don't know based on the English description, so you actually remove the native language factor without noticing it and this way you don't even need to translate the sentence in your mind as using the words you have learned.
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/
It is very helpful to learn English with this method because the meanings of the words in the Oxford Learners’ Dictionary are explained and exemplified in a simple way. You can also use the “Learners’ Dictionary” sections of other sources such as Cambridge, Merriam-Webster.
Chat with yourself in English
Since you will not be under pressure or stressed as talking to yourself, you can practice speaking in the most comfortable way. You can tell yourself what you need to do while throwing your laundry in the machine, cooking so you can explain the things you are doing out loud. At first, you may not think of anything to talk about, but don't get stressed, it will get better over time, just like a muscle, and you will notice how enjoyable it is when you start being able to comment, chat for a longer period of time. What is essential in this exercise is to strengthen your reflex to speak without thinking, so try to talk without planning, based on your stream of consciousness.
Do something you do every day, in English
Your shopping list? Your to-do list? The dates you have set? These are just some of the things you do in your daily life and can keep these in English. You can do your Google searches in English and follow the news by reading or listening to international sources such as NPR.
Learn how to do something in English
Do English search for activities such as cooking a meal, making an origami, or drawing something, and then try to understand the English instructions and follow them. This exercise will increase your motivation to understand and will be very useful.
Review your day in English
The best part of this exercise is that it can be practiced every day and everywhere! Telling your day as if there were someone in front of you is one of the most effective things that can be done to be able to speak English without thinking.