How to Think in English

Hello everyone! In this video I'm going to give you some tips

on how to start thinking in English, which is the first

step towards fluency. If your English is slow, if your English

is broken, it might be so because you're still thinking

in your native language and you need to develop that

ability to switch and think in English. I promise things will

be so much easier once you make that step. But how do we do it?

How do we make that step? First of all some important things to keep in

mind. This is not something that happens overnight. I'm not

going to lie to you. Thinking in English is like a habit and

like all habits it requires some getting used to. Also, this

will only be possible, and I cannot stress this enough, if

you truly want to, if it's something that you truly want

to achieve and if you are willing to put in some effort

at first. With that being said, how do we start thinking in

another language? Well, the most important thing in my opinion is

to surround yourself with the language. People who live in an

English speaking environment are usually able to start

thinking in English very early on in their English learning

journey, because you just cannot avoid English when

you're in an English speaking country, but not everyone can

move abroad, not everyone can have that experience. I myself

did everything from the comfort of my home here in Italy. So

what you need to do is you need to create those conditions, that

environment as much as you can and nowadays, fortunately, it's

very easy to do so. What you need to do is watch movies and

series in English with English subtitles. No translations,

please! Because we want to keep our mind focused on one

language at a time. And a translation in that case would

be a distraction. It needs to be 100% English. Do this

whenever you can, it doesn't matter how busy you are.

Whenever you have time, in your lunch break, when you come home

from work. Watch something that you like, something that you

enjoy, that makes you laugh, that keeps you interested, and

even if you don't understand everything, don't worry about

it, don't feel discouraged, it's perfectly okay, it's

normal. Just keep going. You can also watch vlogs, YouTube

videos, listen to podcasts, just anything really, as long

as it's in English. I usually recommend long series like "Friends", "The

Office", you know, those series with a lot of seasons because

that way they will keep you company for a really, really

long time and you will also get used to the character's accents

because sometimes it can be difficult to learn when there

are so many different accents. You watch a movie and it's a

completely different way of speaking from the other ones,

which is still good, don't get me wrong. It's good exercise to

learn new accents but, you know, a series with a lot of seasons

will make sure that you really take your time and get used to

it. Another thing that you can do to help you enter this

mindset is to change the language of your devices to

English, because, let's face it, we use them every day. Whether

it's our phone, our computer, our iPad, our Apple Watch...Set

the language to English. You'll be surprised at how much

vocabulary you can learn by just using your phone and

playing around with the settings for example, with the camera

adjustments and so on. It's such an easy thing to do, but it

really does make a difference. Even just reading the date and

seeing "oh it's Wednesday" it helps your mind switch. Now, once

you've created this kind of artificial English environment

and you do it consistently, you should already notice a big

difference. This is when I started to notice a difference

this is how I did it. I would watch many series, videos. I would

consume so much content in English and then without even

realizing it, I was thinking in English. My inner voice was

saying things in English and I wasn't even doing it on

purpose. It was just so natural. Another very important

thing is to stop translating everything. If you want to say

something, if you want to think of something in English, Do it

already in English even if it's just your inner voice. Don't

think of the phrase or the word in your native language and

then you try to translate it in English. That's not going to do

anything for you, that's not going to help you. It's only

going to take too much effort and too much time and we don't

want that. Try to think it already in English. Don't worry

about making mistakes. Don't worry about your pronunciation.

You're just getting used to thinking in English. No matter

how incorrect it may be. No one can hear you. During the day keep

this going. Keep your mind active. Try to name what you

see. Try to describe what you see and at the end of the day

think of what you did, of what needs to be done, of what you

will do tomorrow in English. Have small conversations with

yourself and if you don't know the words for something, try to

find alternative ways of saying it. My tip for you is to keep

your sentences short and simple. You don't need to use

complicated structures. Only use what you feel comfortable

with in that moment. For example: Wow! Today was very

tiring. I worked hard, I went grocery shopping, I cooked for

my family and now I would just like to relax". It's short, simple,

basic, but effective. Do this every day. Keep track of

everything you're doing and then, when you feel

comfortable, add new things. Describe what you're doing: "Oh,

let's see. What's on the TV tonight? Hmm, I don't really

want to watch this show. I find it silly. Let's change the

channel. Oh, maybe this documentary will be more

interesting. Let's watch this instead". It's important that

you be consistent with this exercise. It's really, really

helpful and I know what you might think. This is too easy.

It cannot be that easy. Well, trust me, it is. You don't need

to spend hours on grammar books and be desperate and miserable

to start thinking in English. Thinking is the easiest

activity. It comes naturally and that's how it should be in

whatever language. Again, it does not happen overnight. It

does require some practice because, like all things, your

mind needs to get used to it, but it will be super easy and

effective if you practice consistently. Alright, guys.

These were my tips. If you have any questions, any doubts or if

you just want to share your experience of how you started

thinking in English, leave a comment and I will be happy to

read them. If you enjoyed this video, send me a Super Thanks to support my work

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and, as always, thank you so much for watching!