hi there I'm Drew Badger the world's
first and number one English Fluency
Guide and in today's video what I'd like
to do is answer a question from sheila
and this is how do I stop thinking
hesitating and translating in my head
before I speak English now this is a
very very common problem so if you also
have this one we are going to give you
the solution right in this video but
also remember that it takes time you
can't just learn a tip or some knowledge
about how to do something you have to
practice it practice practice practice
and the reason we practice is so we can
develop habits hopefully you're learning
these things and remembering this with
me each time I'm teaching these things
it's all about developing the habits of
a native speaker so if you learn like a
like a student you're going to speak
like a student if you learn like a
native speaker you're going to speak
like a native speaker it's very
obviously very simple anyway so first
let's talk about learning the wrong way
if you want to be a good speaker
learning the wrong way if you want to be
a good speaker now there are two ways to
learn a language the first way is the
classroom way where they give you lists
of information you do drills and
hopefully try to push and force
information like you're going to hammer
it into your mind so that when test day
comes you can practice these things and
be able to use them and pass the test
but the problem with taking a test is
that you have time to answer questions
so if i get a question it's like which
is bigger this or that and it's going to
give me four different things so i have
to understand what the sentence is
asking me and then choose the right
answer then I've got time to do that
while I'm taking a written test but in a
conversation I don't have time to do
that I can't sit and think like way
we'll wait give me time to think and try
to say this thing in my head I'm going
to translate it so all of that like all
of the kind of tools that you use the
ways of learning to teach you through
the non-native way of learning a
language and this is typically I would
give you like if I'm a Spanish speaker
learning English I would learn like red
and then I would
earn you know like the English word for
red but I'm learning it through Spanish
and again learning a language through
another language you're trying to make a
connection there that does help you for
test but it does not help you when
you're speaking it actually just makes
you more and more frustrated so every
day that you're continuing to learn more
you're watching YouTube videos online
like if I'm from the Ukraine and I'm
trying to like watch and learn with
English videos online I should not be
listening to like you know a Ukrainian
person is trying to teach me English
like you can learn a little bit from
that but really you're just going to
hurt yourself and I hate to say it but
really is true like if I'm trying to
learn Japanese from an American English
speaker like yeah they might know a lot
about that but if they're telling me
things in English that I'm making that
subconscious connection in my mind
between the thing that they're saying in
English and then Japanese and then when
I have to go into a conversation I also
have to make that same step in my mind
so I have to listen to something and
then try to translate it in my head and
then maybe it's correct and then maybe I
try to speak and this is what people get
worried about because they don't even
know if they're using this thing
correctly or not and this is because
they're learning a language for tests
and not to become a confident speaker so
if your goal is to become a confident
speaker you have to stop learning like a
student and start learning like a native
speaker and now this is a perfect way to
do it see right now the way I'm speaking
this is the same thing that a native
speaker would be learning if they're
trying to learn like gardening for
instance or they're trying to learn
science or technology or anything else
whatever they're studying their
listening to a native speaker tell them
things and explain things in a simple
easy way that hopefully helps them
connect information so getting back to
this stopping translating things in your
head before you speak you have to
instead of learning things through your
native language which is again what's
causing you to translate you have to
learn things all in English and even if
maybe your understanding level is up
here if you're speaking level is down
here you have to bring your level of
understanding back down here and start
learning things and practicing with
things that you can maybe more easily
understand so as an example like my kind
of conversation ability in Japanese is
just fine but years ago when I was
trying to
think I had to like read books for
little kids or watch TV shows for little
kids even I still go back and learn
things when I'm watching TV shows with
my daughter who's about she's almost two
years old now but we still will watch
some TV shows in the morning and I'm
always surprised at some new things that
I learned from that but I can learn all
of it in context because i'm learning it
all in japanese and so if there's maybe
one or two words that i don't understand
i understand at least eighty to ninety
percent of what i'm learning but because
it's all in japanese and i can maybe ask
a question or something like my daughter
will back oh you know I'm like hearing a
word from her like oh wow where did she
learn that from like I'm even learning
new words from her already which is
amazing but all of these things happen
because I'm number one learning it in
Japanese and number two it's because I
already understand maybe eighty to
ninety percent of what I'm learning so
all of the things when you're first like
to first speak properly you have to
understand things and be able to
understand like you know what it is
people are talking about now from that
you can start copying the things that
you here so instead of saying things
like I'm going to translate it in my
head just try to speak quickly let's say
something very basic that you can say so
if I if I don't know how to say some
more difficult thing again you bring
your level of understanding in your
ability level back down to where you are
so you can build it up again and so this
means like I can just say a basic
sentence like my name is Drew but I can
maybe improve that to say like her name
is Drew or her name is Sally or you know
whatever so I'm just taking that and I'm
slowly changing one or two things and
i'm adding maybe a little bit more and
this is the second part of that which is
like you expand on the things that you
say over time so you're practicing the
same thing but you build a kind of
slight variation on to that thing and
again my way of learning the language is
really simple you're basically just
doing it the same way a native speaker
does a native speaker learned something
and then they think okay how can i
change that so i could use it in a
different context so i say wow it's hot
in here but maybe I walk outside i don't
like oh it's hot out here oh wow look at
that i can i can take that and like
that's how a native speaker begins to
play
the language and start starting to use
the language in English like that
without thinking about it so you're
taking something and because you
practiced it then you can apply that in
a different situation and as you start
doing that more and more you translate
less and less what's really happening
here is you have bad habits that cause
you to translate so now you need to
remove those bad habits and replace them
with good habits that actually get you
speaking fluently and confidently
without having to think and hesitate now
it really does feel amazing right now I
can speak in Japanese like I even just
think in Japanese if I'm trying to think
about what I want to say and that's fine
maybe I don't know some words or I'm
trying to think about it different or
better way to explain something it's
okay to think about things before you
speak but what you don't want to do is
think about things in a different
language and then try to translate that
in your head so go back to the level
where you can understand at least eighty
to ninety percent and you can actually
speak that so even if it's a simple
thing practice saying that introduce
some variations into that thing like
that sentence so instead of I go to the
park my friend goes to the park
something like that but this is what's
going to help you develop the habit and
it's not about information you learn
like more war words more phrases the
same way that you've been learning the
language before you need to learn it all
in English and then practice it's the
practice that develops the habit of
fluency and if you're not willing to do
that really there's no help there's
really nothing you can do there's no
lesson no program that's going to help
you if you're not willing to actually
just get out in practice but the way you
make practice fun is by changing things
around practicing things like I go out
and say like hey how's it going to
somebody in English that's like a very
common greeting hey how's it going how's
it going or I could say hey how are you
or how are things how's life how's
everything what's up these are all
different ways of saying hello how are
you but when you go out and practice
these things again you're learning
greetings and you're learning to say
things in different ways so it's taking
one idea in introducing some variation
to keep it interesting for you but as
you go through the different variations
you develop the habits could help you
use them automatically well I hope that
explains for you how you should be doing
it so if you're using diff
language to learn English right now stop
do not do that just learn everything in
English but if you have to take it down
to a more simple level that you
understand at least eighty to ninety
percent of whether that's reading or TV
shows or music or anything so that you
can build up the habits that help you
speak confidently well I'm getting hot
over them and speaking speaking too much
always trying to give too much
information but that's how you do it if
you have enjoyed this video do click
that like button become a subscriber to
the YouTube channel and tell tell like
30 people about this if you've got a
classroom where you're learning with
other people that are also like trying
to learn it through your native language
say say hey don't do that anymore go
watch this guy drew it'll explain you
exactly what you need to do and that's
what I will do so I'm happy to do that
but anyway have a fantastic day and
finally the most important part of this
is if you really want to improve not
only the way you sound the way you speak
and you know go into other things that
help you speak automatically take our
free English fluency quiz by clicking on
the link in this video it will share
exactly what you need to do in order to
become a confident fluent English
speaker specifically for the problems
that your most frustrated with and we're
happy to help you do that right now at
English anyone calm absolutely free so
click on the link in this video to begin
doing that and I will see you in the
next video bye bye