If you're translating in your head, then you know that's a frustrating way to speak English.
But the good news is, there are concrete things you can do
and practice to stop translating in your head and start thinking in English. In this video,
we're going to use the holiday of Valentine's day, and we're going to give you tips and
strategies to start thinking in English, stop translating in your head, and increase fluency
speaking English. As always, if you like this video, or you learned something new,
please like and subscribe with notifications. And come back here next Tuesday for our next video.
Today, we're going to take you through two steps in training your mind to think in English.
The first step is simple. Naming objects in English. Just one word descriptions.
Then you'll see short videos that you'll describe in sentences, in your head, in English only. And
as we go, we're going to go over how to keep your mind in English. So clear your mind, take a
breath, you'll see an image with an outline of an object for a couple of seconds. There's plenty of
time to name the object if you know it in English, just say it in your head. If you don't know it,
no worries, we're going to go over everything at the end of the video. It's a simple exercise, but
when you put yourself in the English mindset, and let your mind go to English first, it builds that
habit of your mind to think in English when you need it in conversation. So you'll see a photo,
and there will be different objects circled in it. You'll see each one for three seconds. Relax
and put your mind in the English mindset. Think of the English word. If you don't know it, just
wait for the next slide. Let me show you what I mean. See the picture, think the word in English.
When you saw this, did you think strawberry? Or maybe you even know this would be called a
chocolate covered strawberry. What's circled here? Did you think bowl?
And do you know this word? Did you think of stem? If you ever see something and
you don't know what the word is, see if you can think of a word that describes it, like
small or green, or even a related word like plant, but just try to keep your mind in English.
At the end, we'll go over the words so you'll learn them if you don't already know them. So here
are a few more images with circled objects. Take a breath, ready? You're going to think in English.
Is your mind going in English? One of the things I like about this exercise is that
you can do it anytime, anywhere, because it's all in your head. You can be at work,
take 30 seconds to name things around you in English, or to think through sentences, describing
your environment or what you'll do next. Thinking in English is effective English practice.
We'll go over some possible answers for those pictures at the end of the video.
Now we're going to watch some video clips, then you'll have 10 seconds in your head to describe
what you've seen in English. If that's too much for you, just name objects, actions, adjectives.
Let me show you an example of the kind of clip you'll see.
How do I look? Oh, um, I don't care.
These are all from the Friends, Valentine's episode from season one. So you might think
Joey's holding a knife, or maybe you can go deeper, Joey is looking at his reflection in
a knife, or Joey's worried about how he looks. Maybe you describe his clothing. He's wearing
a turtleneck and a jacket, or maybe you describe this setting, they're in a restaurant, it's busy.
And if you feel overwhelmed, just make it simple. Don't try to think a sentence, just think a word,
like plate, knife, or a very simple sentence, like, there's a plate, or there are two people.
So you'll see the scene, then you'll have 10 seconds to describe in English what you saw.
You can just think it in your head. Here are five scenes in a row.
There are no wrong answers. Just think in English, whatever comes to mind.
How do we end up with these jerks? We're good people.
I don't know, maybe we're like some kind of magnets.
I know I am, that's why I can't wear a digital watch.
And here we have the last of Paulo's garapa. Wait, Rachel isn't that almost pure--
Hello, funny valentine. Hi, just Janice.
Hello, Joey, our little matchmaker. I could just kiss you all over, and I'm gonna!
It's all right, it's all right, you don't have to explain. This isn't the first boyfriend bonfire
that we've seen get out of control.
You're our third call tonight.
What did you think? Did you put together sentences in English?
Let's go back over each scene and i’ll describe things that you may have said. But remember,
there are no wrong answers here. If you thought of anything in English, that's excellent!
How do we end up with these jerks? We're good people.
I don't know, maybe we're like some kind of magnets.
I know I am, that's why I can't wear a digital watch.
Monica opens the refrigerator. She takes out salad dressing. They're making salad. Rachel
is peeling a carrot. Phoebe's drinking beer. Her hair is curly. They're in the kitchen.
Here's the next clip.
And here we have the last of Paulo's garapa. Wait, Rachel isn't that almost pure--
Rachel has a bottle of garapa. She pours it into a fire. There's a small fire in a
trash can on the coffee table. They all jump back when the flames get higher.
Here's the next clip.
Hello, funny valentine. Hi, just Janice.
Hello, Joey, our little matchmaker. I could just kiss you all over, and I'm gonna!
They're in the coffee shop. Joey's sitting on the arm of the orange couch.
Janice walks in and kisses Chandler on the cheek. She's wearing a red
jacket. She kisses joey all over the face. Chandler is smiling.
Here's the next clip.
There at a restaurant. The chef is cooking at the table he flips some food into the air and Ross
catches it in his mouth. It's hot so he spits it out. Everyone claps for him. Here's our last clip.
It's all right, it's all right, you don't have to explain. This isn't the first boyfriend bonfire
that we've seen get out of control.
You're our third call tonight.
Some firefighters are at the apartment. They're in full uniform with hats. Monica
and Rachel are a little embarrassed. One of the firefighters is holding a clipboard and pen.
Phoebe's sitting on the couch. Of course, there are a hundred different sentences
you can come up with for any of these scenes. If you find you really needed a word that you didn't
know in English, then go ahead and look it up, watch the video again, and think your sentence
with the new word. Do it again tomorrow, and the next day. I bet you won't forget that word.
Let's go on now to the photos.
A box of chocolates. This along with roses is the most classic valentine's day gift. You
might have even said a heart-shaped box. Okay, it's making me very hungry looking at this.
Here, roses, the other classic gift. Petal, cake, wow, that's a really pretty cake.
Frosting. Or you might hear it called icing. But icing is a little different. It's usually
thinner and stiffer, whereas frosting is usually fluffy like this. Cake stand. Straws. Candy,
or maybe you said heart. Jar. This kind of jar is a mason jar. Wrapper with a silent W.
Here, I was trying to get you to think the color pink, but maybe you said background, or wall.
If any of these slides were hard, hopefully this one was easier for you. Blue, green, orange,
purple, yellow. Do you know this kind of bird in English? Flamingo. Feather.
For this, maybe you said heart, or maybe you said engraving, lock, fence. Cookies. Now these cookies
have icing. Thinner, harder, different from the frosting on the cake. Mmm. I'd eat that cookie.
Doily. This is a paper doily, and they're popular for making valentines or
cards to share with others. But this is a real doily. This one was made by
one of my ancestors, a great, great grandmother, or maybe a great, great aunt,
probably a hundred to 120 years ago. But they're used to decorate flat surfaces,
like you might put a lamp or something on top of a doily that's on a table. It's pretty, isn't it?
Mug. Handle. Whipped cream. If you've seen my video on ED endings, then you know why we
drop the ED ending in the pronunciation, and just say whipped cream, even though it's spelled with
an ED ending. If you haven't seen it and you want to know why, then click here for that video.
The more you train your mind to think in English, the faster you're going to be able to express
yourself in English. And that's going to make you more confident speaking English,
engaging in conversation. If you haven't already seen it, check out this video that goes over
other tips, things you can do every day to get you thinking in English more and more.
If you've seen that one, then keep learning now with this video. I also have a bunch of courses
in my online school Rachel's English Academy where you can train to take your English communication
skills to the next level. Check it out at rachelsenglishacademy.com and don't forget to
subscribe. I make new videos every Tuesday. That's it and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.