hi i'm vanessa from speak english with
vanessa calm how can you stop
translating in your head when you speak
english let's talk about it i recently
got an email from a student from Vietnam
who told me Vanessa I can't stop
translating in my head I want to stop
and I don't think it's good to translate
but what can I do to stop translating so
this is a question that I want to answer
for him today and also for all of you
who feel like you're translating in your
head and you want to stop but first of
all I want to talk about something
heart-to-heart with you this is a lot of
English learners make rules for
themselves about what they should and
shouldn't do I shouldn't use subtitles I
shouldn't translate I shouldn't use a
dictionary this is really stressful on
yourself because not the same method
works for everyone it's sometimes useful
to use a dictionary sometimes you're
gonna translate in your head it happens
so I want to say to you first if you
feel like I shouldn't do this or I
shouldn't do that take a step back and
think about why do you feel like that is
it actually useful for you if it's
useful for you don't stress about it
follow that method if it is working for
you
now that I've talked with you about not
stressing when you're using English
let's talk about how you can start
thinking in English more so that you'll
stop translating all the time my first
tip is to listen to English a lot in
surround yourself with English for me
when I'm learning French and I watch a
French movie after I watch the movie my
brain is going going going in French and
I really just want to use it and speak
because it's in my head a lot in the
same
happen for you if you're listening to an
English podcast or watching the TV show
even if you're using English subtitles
hearing and surrounding yourself with
English is gonna help you transform your
brain into English and that's gonna be
the step to help you stop translating
all the time the second thing is to use
an English only dictionary do you ever
use a dictionary to translate words that
you're not sure about well something
that's useful is to get a dictionary
that is completely in English the
definitions are in English and
everything is in English
this way when you read the definition
you're also learning new words you're
learning how to describe that word in
English this is just another method for
surrounding yourself with the language
the third tip to help you stop
translating in your head is to use
sticky notes do you know what these are
these are little pieces of paper that
are sticky on one part so that you can
put them somewhere on the wall on your
book anywhere
well these pieces of paper are great for
surrounding yourself with English how
can you do this well you can take a
little piece of paper and write a
sentence on it with expressions or words
that you want to learn I recommend
making a full sentence like this one
here I like to drink tea in the morning
maybe if you're learning in the morning
in the afternoon at night this is a
great way to learn this in context and
if you like to drink tea in the morning
you can tape or stick this piece of
paper close to where you make tea so
that in the morning when you make tea
you'll see this and you'll think oh yeah
I like to make tea in the morning and
this is something to help surround you
with English no matter where you are
even if you're not living in an
english-speaking country I did this when
I was learning French at the very
and it was so helpful and pretty fun to
think about where could I put another
note or another idea so that I could
improve some expressions and learn
naturally I hope that these three tips
listening using an English dictionary
and making sticky notes has been helpful
for you and giving you some ideas about
how to surround yourself with English
because in the end this is the goal you
want to surround yourself with English
as much as possible and now I have a
question for you
that I'd like to ask you and you can
write your answer in the comments below
my question is what are some other ways
that you can surround yourself with
English no matter where you live let's
give each other ideas and you can share
with each other I'm looking forward to
seeing what you have to say and talk to
you later bye if you enjoyed this video
be sure to download my free ebook where
you can learn 5 steps to becoming a
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so much for learning with me bye
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you