My mother tongue is spanish, so I always think in spanish. Even when I try to think in english, after a little while I find myself thinking in spanish again. What can I do to learn to think in english?
How can I learn to think in english?
Imagine you are posting here on Antimoon every time you think about something. Imagine posting your thoughts here. You will be forced to come up with sentences in English. So you just need to practice posting or writing. You will find that your thoughts are slow though, especially at first, but that's a way to start.
For me, it worked that way. After posting for some time in English on a forum, I realized that my mind kept trying to come up with sentences in English to express feelings or situations, like I was ready to post again. It works well before going to bed. You might even dream in English.
Other than that, thinking in English will come natural to you once you get "used to it", and use it a lot during the day. As an example, if you only write for five minutes a day in English, only read for ten minutes, and never listen to anything in English, chances are you will never think in English, as it would only be seen as "minor" language by your mind.
Good luck. :-)
For me, it worked that way. After posting for some time in English on a forum, I realized that my mind kept trying to come up with sentences in English to express feelings or situations, like I was ready to post again. It works well before going to bed. You might even dream in English.
Other than that, thinking in English will come natural to you once you get "used to it", and use it a lot during the day. As an example, if you only write for five minutes a day in English, only read for ten minutes, and never listen to anything in English, chances are you will never think in English, as it would only be seen as "minor" language by your mind.
Good luck. :-)
People should write here posts when they think they can write with a few minor mistakes or no mistakes at all or do proofread with the help of excellent dictionaries and Google search before posting. It would enforce good habits of not making mistakes and at the same time it'd allow other learners to get the accurate and neat input of the language. Saying like never write posts at all when you are not comfortable with the language in my humble opinion is not correct saying. By the way, I learned how to operate computer all by myself. Just played with it, made mistakes and corrected them and then finally learned them. Have you ever seen an ant walking on the wall? How does she move on? Slipping again and again but never loses hope and finally reaches to her exact destination. The point is, never lose hope, make mistakes but don't be frustrated, point them out and rectify them.
Imagine that you are at the place where is none who can talk in your mother language. What you are going to do? You are going to start to talk in english. Imagine you are watching movies with no subtitle in spanish. You have to listen english and to understand what is said. Imagine you are shopping there and nobody speak your mother's language. What you are going to do? You are going to activate that part of your brain which knows english. How can we help . If you hang at forums that's the first step, but from the other side ... it's a bit lonely way to communicate. So I suggest you to find a friend with which you can talk to only in english, not even a word spanish. The other way is watching movies with no subtitles, talking on the phone in english, listening to english radio, reading of english newspapers.
No no, if you are in the circumstances which I explained you will start to think in English after few months, the other question is your accent. It's not so easy to get rid of your accent.
Laura Braun's advice sucks.
"Imagine that you are at the place where is none who can talk in your mother language. What you are going to do? You are going to start to talk in english."
I would just shut up and not talk to anybody.
"Imagine you are watching movies with no subtitle in spanish. You have to listen english and to understand what is said."
I would just not watch the movie or watch translated version.
"Imagine you are shopping there and nobody speak your mother's language. What you are going to do?"
I would just not go there or instead ask somebody else who can speak both languages to go with me for translation help.
"Imagine that you are at the place where is none who can talk in your mother language. What you are going to do? You are going to start to talk in english."
I would just shut up and not talk to anybody.
"Imagine you are watching movies with no subtitle in spanish. You have to listen english and to understand what is said."
I would just not watch the movie or watch translated version.
"Imagine you are shopping there and nobody speak your mother's language. What you are going to do?"
I would just not go there or instead ask somebody else who can speak both languages to go with me for translation help.
I lived in Canada for over 10 years, but I'm still thinking in my own native language despite doing everything mentioned above for several years. I just gave up now.
∆ Guest, you are probably not totally immersed in the language. You have to quit using your native language completely.
I once knew a Jewish-German woman who'd immigrated here in the 1940s. With no exposure to German whatever, there came a time when she began to forget her German and think in English. This occurred after a few years--possibly a decade--of complete immersion. She told me,"I cannot think in German anymore, so speaking it is a struggle." In spite of this, she still spoke in a rather heavy German accent. Odd, isn't it?
Most immigrants whom I know won't do that--they continue to converse in Spanish, and watch Spanish-language TV; that approach will never work.
Total immersion--and no exposure to the native tongue--will eventually do the trick.
I once knew a Jewish-German woman who'd immigrated here in the 1940s. With no exposure to German whatever, there came a time when she began to forget her German and think in English. This occurred after a few years--possibly a decade--of complete immersion. She told me,"I cannot think in German anymore, so speaking it is a struggle." In spite of this, she still spoke in a rather heavy German accent. Odd, isn't it?
Most immigrants whom I know won't do that--they continue to converse in Spanish, and watch Spanish-language TV; that approach will never work.
Total immersion--and no exposure to the native tongue--will eventually do the trick.
I'm a native speaker of English, but let's just say that I really like learning and speaking foreign languages. I usually start thinking in another language on a basic level right away. There are some things that "may" help you.
Take at least fifteen minutes a day and work on imprinting English (or your target language) in your mind. You can do this many ways and you can try one idea one day or stick with a suggestion that works, but I like to mix things up and keep language learning exciting.
a. Copy short passages from magazine interviews by hand and read aloud as you copy. I like interviews where the question and the answer are seen, not a summary of what was said.
b. Sing along with lyrics. You can try Youtube. Try karaoke.
c. Listen to language recordings in the background or spend time listening to interviews/excerpts from TV shows on the internet.
d. Have the TV/Video playing something in your target language as you do something like straighten up your room/apt/house.
e. Listen to something in your target language AS YOU RELAX, so you can focus on the sounds. Lean back and close your eyes if you like.
d. Think about how great it would be to talk to someone who is enthusiastic about the sames things as you are. See if there is an internet forum where people are discussing the same things you enjoy in ENGLISH or the target language.
e. Listen to the language before you go to bed. Someone mentioned this, and I've mentioned this before. I do it, but I actually don't like to have new words swirling through my head while I sleep because I don't find it restful. On the other hand, you may start dreaming right away with the vocabulary you know.
There are many, many things you can do, but if you aren't able to "think" in the language, you probably need more regular exposure to the language.
Take at least fifteen minutes a day and work on imprinting English (or your target language) in your mind. You can do this many ways and you can try one idea one day or stick with a suggestion that works, but I like to mix things up and keep language learning exciting.
a. Copy short passages from magazine interviews by hand and read aloud as you copy. I like interviews where the question and the answer are seen, not a summary of what was said.
b. Sing along with lyrics. You can try Youtube. Try karaoke.
c. Listen to language recordings in the background or spend time listening to interviews/excerpts from TV shows on the internet.
d. Have the TV/Video playing something in your target language as you do something like straighten up your room/apt/house.
e. Listen to something in your target language AS YOU RELAX, so you can focus on the sounds. Lean back and close your eyes if you like.
d. Think about how great it would be to talk to someone who is enthusiastic about the sames things as you are. See if there is an internet forum where people are discussing the same things you enjoy in ENGLISH or the target language.
e. Listen to the language before you go to bed. Someone mentioned this, and I've mentioned this before. I do it, but I actually don't like to have new words swirling through my head while I sleep because I don't find it restful. On the other hand, you may start dreaming right away with the vocabulary you know.
There are many, many things you can do, but if you aren't able to "think" in the language, you probably need more regular exposure to the language.
The English do tend to be a bit on the boring side, but I can't blame them with their atrocious weather and what not. I wasn't particularly interested in this rubbish before but now I can see the funny side of it. Just don't bring up any quotes that insinuates that Spanish is vulgar French which is what I expect an ignoramus to believe. The Queen's English is essentially Modern Anglo-Saxon as passed on by generation after generation of stiff necked Norman nobles with their noses in the air.