Speaker A
you're never going to become fluent in English if you keep making this mistake you need to stop translating in your head from your own language into English you need to start thinking directly in English and that's why in today's video
Learn why translating from your native language slows English fluency and how to think directly in English by immersing yourself in the language like a native speaker.
Key Takeaways
- Stop translating in your head and start thinking directly in English.
- Immerse yourself in English by changing everyday activities like phone settings, news, and podcasts.
- Consistency over several months is key to making English feel natural.
- Fluency is the ability to express ideas freely, not to be perfect.
What the video covers
- Translating from your native language into English in your head slows you down and creates an unnecessary step in speaking.
- Some grammar structures and vocabulary in other languages have no direct English equivalent, making translation unreliable.
- The 'fake it till you make it' approach means living your daily life as a native English speaker would.
- Native speakers are surrounded by their language from morning to night, which makes it feel natural and automatic.
- Traditional school methods that confine English to one hour of study prevent the language from becoming part of your life.
- Replace activities you already do in your native language, such as reading recipes, news, or to-do lists, with English versions.
- Using time you already have, such as commuting or cooking, for English exposure is more effective than finding extra hours.
- Speaking practice is essential alongside immersion, and online platforms or clubs can connect learners with others.
- Consistent habits over several months are needed before speaking feels natural and language stops burdening your thoughts.
- Fluency means expressing ideas freely without feeling restricted by language, not achieving perfection.
Chapters
- 00:00Why you must stop translating in your head
- 01:02The problems with translating from your native language
- 03:10Fake it till you make it: live like a native speaker
- 05:10Why school English methods hold you back
- 08:00Replace native-language habits with English
- 10:40Speaking practice and resources
- 13:20Fluency as freedom of expression
- 16:00Closing remarks
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
I want to talk to you about why this happens why it's a bad thing to translate from your own language into English and how you could start thinking directly in English now before we start let's talk about why this is actually a
Speaker A
problem why shouldn't you translate from your own language into English now think about this if you're like most students you have translated you have done this before you want to say something you have an idea you translate that idea into
Speaker A
English you look for the correct grammar you look for the correct vocabulary maybe even pronunciation and then finally you say it you say it out loud in English and what happens is it slows you down it's unnecessary you're creating this
Speaker A
unnecessary step and we don't want that because you should should be able to speak just like that right without having to actually think about the mechanical side of the language you want to get rid of that extra step because
Speaker A
it's not natural it's not a natural way of speaking you don't do this in your native language you don't even think about language when you're speaking your native language so why should it be any different in English and obviously there is the
Speaker A
problem of well grammar in certain languages is completely different from grammar in English some words in other languages don't have a translation in English so yes it's obviously going to slow you down if you translate but in some cases
Speaker A
it might not even be possible to translate from your your own language into English it might be totally incorrect so forget translation forget that you need to think directly in English without worrying about the mechanics of the language now I want to
Speaker A
talk to you about how you can actually do this how do you think directly in English how do you make speaking English something natural something comfort comtable something that you don't need to think about well in English we have an
Speaker A
expression fake it till you make it fake it till you make it it means you pretend to do something until eventually after you do it a lot you got it you've made it you've succeeded okay fake it till you make it
Speaker A
we say and what I want you to do is fake being a native speaker fake being a native English speaker now the reason why your native language is so natural to you is because your whole world when you grew up was in
Speaker A
that language your whole environment was in your native language and when you learn a second language or a third language which might be English or another language suddenly you have a different environment it's not the same your parents might not speak it your friends
Speaker A
might not speak it you still do things in your native language and when I say fake it till you make it I mean pretend you're a native English speaker and live your life like a native native English speaker
Speaker A
would surround yourself with the English language think about what a native English speaker would do in the morning when he or she wakes up they turn on their phone their phone would be in English put your phone in
Speaker A
English they would go get ready for the day maybe they would watch YouTube as they brush their teeth in English maybe they would turn on the radio as they prepared breakfast the radio would be in English everything in their life would be in
Speaker A
English because that's their native language and since they're exposed to the language since they're surrounded by the language it's natural to them they don't need to think about it they just speak and that's the key that is the key
Speaker A
to becoming fluent in a language surrounding yourself with the language making the language part of you part of your life if you don't do this it will always just be a school subject it will always be something that you have to study that
Speaker A
you have to think about it will never be part of you so as I said fake it till you make it do do the things that a native English speaker would do in their life it's not rocket science if you do
Speaker A
the same things a native English speaker does to learn the language to live their life then you can achieve the same results it's very simple and I think a lot of students forget this they're too focused on the
Speaker A
textbook they're too focused on conjugation tables they're too focused on all these academic things and I think a big problem or a big part of this problem is the school system because in school when you learned English you
Speaker A
probably learned in a very unnatural way you probably divided your day into one hour of English and you sat down you read a textbook you did some exercises for that one hour and then after the the class was over you switched into your own
Speaker A
language which is fine of course it's obvious why but that method of compartmentalizing English or just blocking it off in a way won't help you become fluent because it doesn't allow the language into to your whole life if you're serious about becoming
Speaker A
fluent you should allow the English language to consume you to be part of everything in your life as much as possible obviously some things you can only do in your native language but the point here is that you
Speaker A
need to pretend you're a native speaker let's say you like to cook a student came to me recently and she loved cooking she loved reading recipes and I asked her okay what language do you read those recipes in and she read them in her native
Speaker A
language so that's a simple change I told her read them in English you're cooking you're doing something you love and you're also improving your English at the same time we say you're killing two birds with one stone maybe not a very nice idiom but we
Speaker A
say that in English you're killing two birds with one stone you're doing two things at the same time and you're getting double the benefit for Less the time so it's not about creating extra time it's not about trying to find extra
Speaker A
hours in the day it's about using using the time you have in the 24-hour day and replacing some things replacing things that you're already doing in your native language with things in English maybe you're on the bus maybe you're commuting to school or
Speaker A
to work and you like to scroll through the news in your native language well that's another great fix you can make you can you can make that change you can now start to read the news in English or maybe you like to listen to
Speaker A
podcasts you can listen to the podcasts in English maybe you like to create a to-do list before bed every night you can create this list in English maybe you have a calendar you write things in your calendar you can do this in English once
Speaker A
you've allowed English into your life and of course you need to speak too it's great to surround yourself with the language but you also need to speak if you don't have anybody to speak to you can speak with yourself but there are so
Speaker A
many resources online you can find people to speak to on on various platforms one of those by the way is the English at the ready Club if you are interested in learning more about the club click the link in the description below it's
Speaker A
an amazing opportunity to meet people to practice speaking to have live classes and to study English every week but as I was saying the key is speaking and surrounding yourself with the language now eventually when you make this a
Speaker A
habit don't do it for a week don't do it for two weeks you need to do it for a month two three or four months to actually see a difference but if you do this if you allow English into your life
Speaker A
speaking is going to feel so much more natural eventually you're not actually going to have to think about language you'll just be able to speak you'll be able to express your ideas without allowing language to slow you down or to burden you and when we
Speaker A
talk about fluency that's the key to fluency fluency doesn't mean being perfect it doesn't mean being able to conjugate verbs in all 12 tenses on the back of your hand 50 times because honestly most native speakers probably couldn't do that either fluency in a
Speaker A
language whether that's English or your native language just means that you can express your ideas you can communicate your thoughts without allowing language to slow you down or to burden you or to be a problem for you I'll give you an
Speaker A
analogy think about when you're sick think about when you have a bad cold and your nose is really really stuffed you can't breathe through your nose all you can think of in that moment is ah I can't breathe my nose is so
Speaker A
stuffed but then think of the remaining time in your life 99% of the time when you can breathe just fine you're not actually thinking about your nose it just happens so when you're allowing yourself to translate from your own language into
Speaker A
English it's like you have a stuffed nose because that's all you can think of now but if you clear your nose and you think directly in English you won't even think about the language everything will just flow it
Speaker A
will be in the background operating while your ideas while your thoughts that you're communicating are in the front and that's what fluency is that's all it is allowing yourself to express your ideas without feeling restricted by language so what I want you to do now if
Speaker A
you've made it this far into the video I want you to create a plan sit down take 10 minutes 15 minutes come up with a list of things in your life maybe that's reading recipes maybe that's creating a to-do list a
Speaker A
calendar your phone your computer anything but create a list of things in your life that you can change into English because remember fake it till you make it pretend you're a native speaker do that for a while and I'm very
Speaker A
confident you will be surprised at how much progress you can make and how confident you can feel with the English language I hope you found this video useful if you want to support the channel make sure to leave a like let me
Speaker A
know in the comments what you are going to do to make English a part of your life let me know I'm curious to read your list of things that you created don't forget to subscribe to English at the ready here on YouTube so
Speaker A
you you don't miss any future lessons and videos on English if you want to learn more about how I can help you improve your English this year then click the link in the description below to learn more I hope you have a great
Speaker A
day and I'll see you in the next class bye for now
Topics:think in EnglishEnglish fluencystop translatingimmersion learningfake it till you make itEnglish speaking practicelearn Englishlanguage immersionEnglish habits
