How to think in English?

[Riaz]

people say that I should think in English in order to learn it. How could I think in English when my mother tongue is not English?

Can anybody tell me?

riaz

[Stefanie]

I was lucky and able to think in English right from the beginning, means, I never had to translate between my mother tongue and English (actually, when I start to think in German and then try to translate into English it definitely doesn't work out).

Here are some tips that might help you (I haven't tried but that's what other people told me)

- learn vocabulary in phrases, not only the single words (record not only the new words you come across but also a sentence that is meaningful for you - if you can't think of any use for example Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary and copy the samples it gives)
- try to read passages you already know - and try not to translate them into your mother tongue but to understand them directly in English - you might to have to read them several times, so don't worry!
- try to "talk to yourself" in English from time to time - for example, when it's very cold think "oh, it's cold" instead of thinking of the phrase in your mother tongue
- if your level allows don't use a bilingual dictionary

And of course - use English as often as possible - reading, listening, speaking...

Good luck

[Cesar]

I learned English all by myself, and I speak just like a native American (I'm not interested in the British accent ). I am learning Italian and I speak that language the way Italians do. The good thing is that I think in Spanish (my native tongue), English, and now Italian.

The most important thing that I believe you should do is to separate language from ideas. I mean, you can have a visual idea (in your mind) about a situation, something you want to do, or something you saw, etc; here is where you need to stop "listening" to yourself speaking in your native language.

My advice is that, for example, when you learn vocabulary you learn the word of the new language and the equivalent of your native language. But right after that, you need to imagine the object, or a situation and link the word to it.

If I am told that the italian word for "window" is "finestra" then I build the relationship, I learn the correct pronunciation (very important) and then I imagine a window and mentally repeat the italian word "finestra".

Next step? Start using the vocabulary as soon as possible! The moment you see a window, mentally repeat to yourself "that is a finestra". The trick is that you do not link the new language words or phrases directly to your native language, so you start getting rid of the "translation" problem.

You can do this with phrases; just imagine situations where you can apply them (those things tend to be "personal", because nobody thinks the same way) and, again, start using them inmediately (at least in your mind).

Additionally, listen to audio files of natives speakers as often as you can. You need to get used to hearing the language instead of listening.

What's the difference? When you hear, you generally do not pay attention, but you can get the idea of what was said. If you need to listen, it is because you need to focus in order to understand what's being said. Needless to say, we always hear but sometimes need to listen when it comes to our native tongue.

Things like this have helped me a lot, and I hope this makes your learning approach much easier.

Best regards,
C?sar

[Anton]

I would suggest two types of exercises:

-o- Substitutional tables

On a sheet of paper (you can as well do this in your word processor), paint a table for a given sentence pattern, for example:

subject_____verb______object1_____object2______adverb
---------------------------------------------------------------------
he__________loves_____parties__________________at midnight
my dog______brought___a bone______to me________yesterday
etc.

Of course, although the words in my example are English, you should use words in your target language.
Use this table playfully and make all possible combinations. The silliest the sentences, the better!

This method is very useful to get exposure to the vocabulary, especially if you are learning an inflected language, like German or Russian.

-o- Flashcards

Instead of using paper flashcards, you can use them on your PC and let a "flashcard trainer" sort them out for you.
The ones you know well should be set apart, so you can progressively concentrate on the more difficult flashcards.

I recommend VTrain (Vocabulary Trainer), which seems to be quite popular among universities. It includes a scheduling facility that keeps the number of necessary repetitions to a minimum.

You can download it from http://www.vtrain.net/home.htm

Good luck!

[sinan19]

.. and also if you do not know eng.word, look it up in an english to english dictionary instead of bilingual one.

[Spearhead]

You can start thinking in English right away. You don't need to know all the English words for this. (there are how many 200000 words in the English language so you can't know all of them anyway). I used to work with engineers from the UK and Ireland and of course we would speak English all the time. So, some of the phrases we used every day went into my head very soon and I would use them not only to speak but also when I was thinking. For example, when I got up in the morning, in my mind I went through the day ahead and I would think in English. And then when something went wrong on the building site I would start swearing in English because theren't many swear words in Swedish and some of the phrases my British colleagues used every day became part of my vocabulary too.

[Marlls1989]

Try to watch movies without glasses, or if you can, turn off the subtitles.

I improved my english alot after doing so.

Also when googling for something, try googling first in the international version of google in english. As it does not make any biased judgement about which language you might want your results in.

The idea of thinking your normal daily thoughts in english is also great, but it is better if you do it naturally, not forcing your self to it.

Like youtube? Have a fast inet? So, quit your national TV shows, and try to have fun with youtube, or if you have cable or dish, try american sitcoms, they are much better then most crap you might have on public TV broadcast (I know, cause I am Brazilian and I hate those Globo's Soap Operas)

Have fun!!!

Make english your most used language daily will sure help alot.