AEE 2649: 3 Tips to Start Thinking in English
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2649. Three tips to start thinking in English.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection. With your American hosts, Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, coming to you from Arizona and New York City, USA. To get real-time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list, try the All Ears English app for iOS and Android. Start your seven-day free trial at allearsenglish.com forward slash app.
Do you find yourself translating from your first language into English? Today, we'll share three tips to help you think in English instead to improve vocabulary, grammar, and connections.
You've studied English in school. You've taken courses, watched videos, listened to podcasts. So why does speaking still feel difficult sometimes? Because knowledge and fluency are not the same thing. You can know hundreds of grammar rules and thousands of words, but still struggle to use them quickly in real conversations and to connect. Our free two-minute fluency quiz helps you discover where that gap exists and what to do about it. Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allearsenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e.
Hello, Michelle. How are you today?
Hi, Aubrey. I'm good. I'm good. Aubrey, what do you think is the best way to teach your brain to stop translating from your first language?
this is such a good question and we have students ask us this a lot and it's to start thinking in English or for me thinking in Spanish thinking in French any language you're learning you need to think in that language instead of first thinking it in your first language and then translating into your second language but the trick is how do we do that what do we need to do in order to start thinking in English and that is what we are diving into today I'm excited
Yes. And that's because we have a wonderful listener question from, it looks like it's from, oh, sorry.
I think it's Shinri Wu, J8B. Yes. We apologize if we are not pronouncing your name correctly. Hopefully we are. Yes. Do you want to read the question for us, Michelle?
Sure. This question comes to us from YouTube. So it says, Hello, Lindsay and Michelle. I love your podcasts a lot. And they not only accompany me along the way to classes, but also really teach me many things. A big thanks. Oh, I love that. You are welcome. Thank you for letting us know. Yes. It says, but I find it challenging to speak English and connect with other people in a natural and spontaneous way. I mean, I'm always having to prepare for a long time to speak. Could you please share some suggestions? Thank you so much. Have a nice day. Thank you so much. This is a really great question. I mean, this is one of the biggest issues ESL speakers face in English, and it's a huge part of connection.
Exactly. Because when you're speaking spontaneously, you're not just talking, you are reacting to the other person. Or people, if it's a group, expressing yourself, joking, keeping the conversation alive and building that connection. That's a lot to think about. And constantly stopping to form sentences or think about what you want to say can make all of that very difficult.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, I mean, speaking spontaneously is really tricky, Aubrey. I mean, it's all about what's going on in your brain. And if you're translating, for example, from your first language, how quickly you can think of the words that you need.
How does the episode introduce the problem of translating from your first language?
So what happens is you're translating and this ultimately slows you down.
And not only that, we talk about this a lot on the podcast. It slows you down and it causes errors that you wouldn't make if you are instead observing English and thinking in English. Because when we translate between languages, the grammar is always different. The vocabulary is always different. And we make these mistakes when we're expecting it to work differently in our first language and in English.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–4:31
2
How does the episode introduce the problem of translating from your first language?
4:31–11:17
3
What listener question motivates the tips for thinking in English?
11:17–16:26
4
Why is translating slowing down your English fluency?
16:26–17:25
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from All Ears English Podcast
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