How to Think in Spanish (and Stop Translating in Your Head)

Comments · 983

• TR

  @TruthIsAnathema · 4 years ago

  I think it’s the ‘wrestling with a new way of thinking’ that puts most students off of learning another language. They don’t seem to understand that the whole point of learning another language is to discover how a different culture communicates and sees the world. It’s a sympathetic study, not an egocentric one.

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• BE

  @beesely1762 · 3 years ago

  When I asked my language teacher  “why” She told me: “I’m not teaching you Spanish in English, I’m teaching you Spanish” I thought it’s a great explanation and stops the “why” questions.

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• MO

  @MonkeySin12008 · 4 years ago

  To help with avoiding asking why questions, I used to tell my friends that you need to approach learning Spanish/new language like learning a new sport. You can’t apply the rules of football to rugby or vice versa. They’re similar but different sports with different rules. You need to learn the rules of said sports separately to play it correctly. Same thing with languages. :)

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• 1R

  @1realtruthrightnow742 · 3 years ago

  My biggest problem with Spanish especially conversational Spanish is when it's being spoken to me.  Everything I learned goes out the window for some reason.  I can't understand what's being said and draw a complete blank.

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• BR

  @brucestevens7723 · 4 years ago

  On a Mexican holiday, I was trying to speak Spanish to a beach venor who knew a bit of English and  in reference to my telling her I was trying to learn Spanish she said "You are making good" -- it was at that moment, and when I was explaining this to her in broken English/Spanish  that she really meant to say "You are doing well", when I realized how the double meaning of Hacer made it hard for her to translate accurately into English.  When I saw your video on this today it made me think of this experience ... Thanks, Bruce

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• AL

  @alankkoc · 4 years ago

  I found that stopping using a translator when writing forced me to remember words and phrases. I now can turn on thinking in my head by seeing Spanish words not English and connecting them. And I speak to native speakers each day so no time to translate. Great video....I do hate ser...haha

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• SR

  @srbaruchi · 2 years ago

  Was chatting with a Mexican woman who has lived in the USA for close to 30 years, was married to a gringo, and works as a translator (English/Spanish). When she told me that she "took a decision" (translating literally from "tomar"), I corrected her ("made a decision"). She dismissed my correction, and argued with me. It was a lesson TO ME in how one should not let one's ego get in the way of learning a language or anything else.

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• ZB

  @zbrownbb · 4 years ago

  What has made learning Spanish easier for me is first I accepted that languages literally make you think differently than your native language. 2nd I got it in my head that learning new ways to think and express yourself is the honestly one of the best parts of learning a language. I guess I just had the motivation to learn. The struggle is fun hahaha

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• TR

  @trvrw · 4 years ago

  I learned to think in Spanish when (a) I realised that I had thousands of thoughts in English all day, every day and these needed to be quiet to let Spanish speak to me - a lot like calming your thoughts in meditation, and (b) reaching a stage where I didn&apos;t need the <b>live interpreter</b> in my mind to convert everything from Spanish to English

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• JA

  @jamesmills6379 · 4 years ago

  Great video! I finally &quot;broke&quot; the logic based thinking by just saying the first word that comes to mind and if someone corrects me then I learn

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• GA

  @galaxyskyzziy2438 · 3 years ago

  This is one of the reasons kids learn new languages faster than adults. They don&apos;t think logically and just repeat what they hear.

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• AL

  @alfacentauri3686 · 3 years ago

  In school I studied German some years. After finishing school I went to Germany with a class mate and visited some of his relatives. At first I struggled with the grammar, but the second day I ditched all my grammar considerations and without hesitation used the vocabulary and grammar that first appeared in my mind. This was well received by the family as communication now began to flow. I got some corrections, usually as a confirming repetition of what I had said, but in a correct way. Trial-and-error-and-adopt.

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