How to think in English? | Eight Important exercises | Ranjan Shekhawat

Hello friends! A warm welcome to this  channel. Watch this video attentively.  

It may be a turning point in your life  towards learning English. You will learn  

how to tame your mind to think in English. I  will start with a short story. I assure you,  

you will definitely learn the nature of our mind,  and you know the whole game is all about our mind.  

So, let's start the story.

A man had two buffaloes. He used to graze them  every day. In the afternoon, he used to tie them  

up and take a rest so that they won’t wander off.  In the evening, he used to untie them and bring  

them back. One day, it so happened that one  of the ropes in the buffalo’s neck got lost.  

It might have fallen off somewhere. So he started  wondering how to tie the Buffalo. In a small hut,  

there was a Swami. He went to the swami and  asked, “Do you have a rope? I need a rope  

to tie a buffalo.” After I finish doing it, I  will return it to you. Can you please lend me  

a rope?” The Swami said, “If I had to have ropes  and bondages, why would I be here? I don’t have  

a rope.” The man said, “Look, this is my problem.  I want to tie a buffalo. But I don’t have a rope.  

What do I do?” The Swami said, “Do you tie the  buffalo every day?” The man said, “Yes, Of course,  

I tie it every day.” The swami said, “Then,  tie it like every day!” The man said, “But  

I don’t have a rope.” The swami said,  “That’s it. You know you don’t have a  

rope. But the Buffalo doesn’t know. Just do what you do every day.” The man did whole thing like ta-ta-ta-ta,  

and he did the whole thing, and to his  utter surprise, the Buffalo sat down  

like every day. He thought, “This must be  some kind of magic of the Swami. Anyway,  

it doesn’t matter. I’ll go and take a rest.”  So he started resting. After the rest,  

he got up and released the one he actually  tied. But the other buffalo didn’t get up.  

He went to the Swami and said, “Please release  that Buffalo. I want it back. What did you do?  

Some mantras or some kind of magic. The buffalo  is not getting up." The swami said, “See, you  

have tied it. Now go and untie it.” The man said, “Arey,  Mane to aise hi dong kiya tha. I just pretended  

to tie it.” The Swami said, “Then just pretend  to untie it. Just go and do it.” The man did the  

same thing. And to his surprise, the buffalo got  up and started walking. We laugh at the buffalo.  

But we are also exactly in the same state. It is  exactly over here. It is all about mind. The  

control of the mind is with you. If you think  you don’t have control, it means, in reality,  

you don’t have control. This is a fact. If you  think you have control, it means you have control.  

Friends, your own mind is your best friend,  and your mind itself is your worst enemy.  

All the bondages are from your mind, and  liberation is also from your mind. So, friends,  

this is all about the importance and role of the  mind in our lives. Everything starts from here,  

from our mind. If you want to speak English, the  first step is to generate the sentences in your  

mind before it reaches your mouth or tongue.  So, start doing some kind of exercises which  

would help you to think in English. But the  question arises. What are those exercises? So,  

my dear learners, today in this video, I am  going to present you a few exercises which  

will definitely help you to think in English. So, let’s talk about those exercises. Do you mentally translate  

from your native language to English, and the  sentences come out incorrect or unnatural when  

you speak? If yes then watch this video till the  end. I am sure it will help you a lot. Thinking  

in the English language is essential. It increases  fluency. If you live in a place where most people  

speak their mother tongue, it will be difficult  for you to think in English and, in turn,  

difficult to learn English. Generally, what does  your mind do while speaking English? Your mind  

becomes busy trying to translate things from  your native language into English. This is  

what is happening with you. Right? You don’t have  opportunities to practise English. If you want  

to eliminate these problems and become fluent  in English, the secret is learning how to think  

directly in English! When you speak, your speech  might be slower than you would like. This is  

because your mind is still translating from your  native language, which can also sound unnatural.  

English, like every other language, has its own  sentence structure. But do you know that thinking  

in English can bring you a huge step closer to  fluency? It is not very difficult, but it needs  

conscious effort and practice. You probably  don’t know enough English words. You think in  

your native language and then translate it into  English. The problem with thinking in your native  

language and then translating is that it doesn’t  give correct sentences. Right? Because the grammar  

and sentence structure in English is entirely  different from your native language. Also,  

it takes too much time to think and translate.  Isn’t it? It leads to pauses, hesitations,  

and in turn, your inability to speak fast and  fluently. Right? Moreover, if you translate,  

this creates a habit that would be hard to break  later on. However, it is essential for you to  

learn to break this habit. In this video, I will  share some exercises that would help you to think  

in English. 1. The first exercise is to Think in  single words. It’s always best to start small. So,  

the first step is to think in individual words.  Look around me. What do you see? Try to name the  

things that you see around me in English. For  example, you can name sand, tree, sky, man/boy,  

stick, stone. That’s too simple! It is simple,  and that is the beauty of it! Also, you never  

need to translate because you are using words you  already know. You just practise using words  

you know in sentences and conversations. These  things are around me. But you can also name the  

things around you. Okay, whatever it is, wherever  you are. Do it regularly. Do this exercise. You  

can also do it when you wake up and before you  go to sleep. As you continue this practice,  

it will become a habit. Eventually, things will  pop up in your mind. 2. For the next exercise,  

I suggest using collocations. For example, what  do you see around me? You can say brown sand, a  

tall tree, a young boy, small stones, a strong  stick. We  

used individual words, and in this exercise,  we used collocations, or, I would say, a group  

of words. Gradually you need to improve your  exercise. 3. The next exercise I would suggest is  

thinking in simple sentences. For example, let’s  take the objects which we named just now—sand,  

Tree, Sky, Stick, Stone, Boy. Now, we will  make sentences using these words. I am standing 

on the sand, or I would say I am standing on a sand dune.

There is a tall tree. There is a  boy/man standing behind me. There is a stick  

on the ground. I can see a beautiful sky. There  are many stones on the ground. Let’s take another  

example. If you are at dinner, then think, I am  eating rice. My brother is eating ice cream. This  

table is not enough for four people or this table is big enough for four people to have their food.

This place is excellent for get-together.  

When you’re walking, think: This road has many  potholes. The trees are tall. People should walk  

on footpaths. It’s OK if the sentences are  very simple. The most important thing is to  

practise and develop the habit of thinking in  complete sentences in English. I sometimes use  

this exercise to think about what I want to say to  people in Kannada. I definitely try to say these  

sentences in my head without thinking about whether the sentence is absolutely correct  

or not. 4. Another exercise that will be helpful  is describing things or objects you don’t know.  

You don’t know what you call those in English. For  example, if you can’t think of the word “stairs,”  

you can always describe this using other words  you know. For example, you can say the thing which  

has a set of steps, and you use to go from the  ground floor to the first floor. And if you don’t  

know the word floor. You could always describe  like the flat surface of a room on which you walk,  

lie down, sleep on, keep things on. Doing this  kind of exercise will help you to think in English  

and Learn English. I have done it myself many  times. This is really a good exercise. It helps  

me when I don’t know some vocabulary. I am still  learning, and I will keep on learning. 5. Another  

exercise I would suggest is to describe your  daily activities. If you are a beginner, try to  

describe your day using simple present tense.  For example, I put on my shoes. I ride a cycle. I  

watch TV. I go to a market. If you are an advanced  learner, try to plan mentally in the morning when  

you wake up. For example, after taking a shower, I  will have a cup of tea. I will go to my college by  

bus. After college, I will go to my friend’s house  to play chess. If I win the match, my friend will  

take me to a movie. 6. Now, the next exercise  I would suggest is thinking in conversation.  

You need to imagine yourself speaking to someone  else. You need to ask questions to yourself and  

think of the replies to those questions. This  is a great way to practise the thing which you  

might say in a real conversation. For example,  let’s say the imaginary person, which is you,  

asks you questions like, “What do you think of  the movie Bahuballi?” or “What do you think of  

the cricket match between India and England.” How  would you answer it? Imagine the conversation and  

practise it in your mind. You can say this loud or  in your mind, in silence. You can talk to yourself  

in English. When I was learning English, I used  to describe to myself whatever happened during the  

day. Let me tell you. I still do this wonderful  exercise. This will give you extra practice before  

you start explaining things to other people. 7.  The next thing I would suggest Use English to  

English Dictionary. I am sure there will be some  words and phrases that you do not know while doing  

these kinds of exercises. So, you will need to  use a dictionary. But what kind of dictionary,  

Your native language to English or English to  English? I suggest using an English-to-English  

dictionary. It will help you to absorb more  English and think in English. Just write down  

five to 10 new words and phrases each day and  learn them. This will help you and will be easy to  

recall the words when you are in such a situation.  8. The next thing I suggest is to practise  

these exercises daily. But the question is, how  much time should you spend on these exercises?

I would say do it a little every day. When you start  doing it every day, over and over again, little  

by little, it will become your habit. And then it  would just pop up into your mind without thinking.  

And you won’t know when you started thinking in  English. Thinking in English is the biggest tip  

for increasing your fluency because it makes you  more confident and helps you speak more easily  

without hesitation. Always remember, many a little  makes a mickle. Even the smallest things can make  

a big impact. HAMESHA YAAD RAKHIYE BUND BUND  SE GHADA BHARTA HAIN. Remember, keep it simple,  

and only use words you already know, as you start  small with words and build up to phrases. So start  

trying some of the steps and see the change start  to happen. Let me know in the comment box below your  

experience with thinking in English! Stay blessed!  Thank you so much for watching this video!