7 Smart Ways to Think in English

- If you can think in English and stop translating,

then you can answer questions more fluently,

and participate in conversations more easily.

Let's find out how to do it.

(upbeat music)

Hi, this is Keith.

I run the website, the Keith Speaking Academy,

and the YouTube channel here, English Speaking Success.

By the way, if you want to build up your fluency,

check out my Fluency course on Udemy.

It'll help you naturally use your grammar,

improve your pronunciation,

and help really build your fluency

so you can move from being a struggling English student

to a successful English speaker.

Now then, talking about Thinking in English,

it's a challenge for some students, right?

And I think this is because

in many schools across the world,

students are taught with what we call

the grammar translation method, right?

We're taught to translate.

When I learned Chinese, right?

The teacher would say, "Okay, Keith.

To say hello in Chinese, you say, ni hao.

Great, to say, how are you?

You can say, ni zen me yang?"

And to say, and so on and so on.

And so it seems natural, right?

And logical at a beginner level,

you're translating to learn the language.

However, the problem is this becomes a habit

that is very, very hard to break as you move up the levels.

But it's essential that you break this habit

because otherwise, you're not going to build up

the fluency you need, right?

When you can start thinking in English,

then you can really answer questions more easily.

And in IELTS Speaking, that's really important, right?

So in this video, I'm going to show you seven smart ways

that you can start thinking in English.

Let's begin.

So I would say the first step to thinking in English

is to surround yourself with English.

Now that does not mean you have to go and live

or visit an English-speaking country.

Although it's great if you can, you don't have to.

No, you can do this in your own home

by giving yourself even just 10 minutes a day of English

and you can build up to 20 minutes,

30 minutes a day, build up slowly.

And it's important to see this English time

as fun and enjoyable, not study time, right?

So I'm talking about things like listening to podcasts,

listening to the internet radio, listening to songs,

reading some books, novels, magazines, blogs,

things that you like, maybe watching TV series

or films in English, right?

But having this moment

when you are surrounded in English and during this moment,

there are three things you can do, right?

First of all, you can listen passively.

That's fine.

Secondly, you can repeat words that you hear or see.

Third, you can repeat phrases that you hear or see, right?

Now, listening passively is great

because when you listen passively,

you're reducing the stress and the pressure.

And we know from research,

this can help us learn more deeply.

Repeating words and phrases is also fantastic

because then, you're starting to activate the vocabulary

which means you can start to use it more fluently.

So by, I wouldn't say creating an English environment

because that sounds very big, right?

And very difficult.

It's very hard to have an English environment in your home.

I prefer to call it English moments.

By creating these English moments,

maybe 10 minutes or 20 minutes,

then what you're doing is you're enabling yourself

to start thinking in English

because you're surrounded in English for that moment.

(chuckles) Great, let's move on to number two.

Okay, the next one is to only use words

that you already know.

So when speaking in English,

sometimes students want to express an idea

but they lack the vocabulary.

So they go to a dictionary and they look up the word

or they ask somebody the translation, right?

(speaking in Spanish) in English.

Ah, (speaks in Spanish), right?

And so you're getting a translation.

Now, that's great for building your vocabulary, yes,

but it is not good for your fluency, right?

A great way to improve your fluency

and to start thinking in English

is to only use the words you already know

when you're speaking.

Now I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking, hang on, Keith.

Come on, that's too simple.

I'm just going to be speaking simple English.

Yes, and that is the beauty of it.

It's simple.

And you can focus 100% on fluency

because you're not translating.

And so you're starting to think in English.

Now, if you come across an idea you want to express

but you lack the vocabulary when speaking,

there are two things you can do.

Not two (rude sign in Britain), two things you can do.

Number one, you can either try and find a way round it

to say it in another way.

Paraphrase it.

Essential for IELTS Speaking, right?

Or number two...'ding'... is that

you can let the idea go.

Say something else.

Stay with the words that you know.

Trust me, I've done this with Spanish.

I've even dreamt, not only thought in Chinese,

but I've dreamt in Chinese. (speaks in Chinese)

(laughs) This is a game changer, right?

Try this one out.

It seems strange, but try it.

I think you'll like it.

Let's move on.

Right, the next one is to start small and build up.

So it's probably very hard

to try and think in English the whole day long, right?

(laughing) Not easy at all.

So don't think big, start small.

Just start even thinking single words in English, right?

And remember to always use words

that you already know, right?

So a common technique is to look at a picture,

and as you look at the picture,

you think of the things that you see.

Try this, have a look at this picture and just don't speak.

Just think one word of the different things you can see.

Try this.

Great, now you probably all thought different things, right?

I was thinking yoga, plants, T-shirt, lights, mat, right?

Those are the things that I thought of.

This is a great and simple activity, right?

You can do this anywhere.

You can just do it for a few minutes

when you're waiting in line,

if you're queuing in the bank or commuting on a train.

You can use a picture, but probably more natural

is just to look around you

and describe the things that you see in your head, right?

So you're queuing in the bank,

and you look around and you go, bank, queue,

security guard, gun, lights, camera, noisy,

and so on, just going on in your head, right?

Very, very simple.

Remember, with words that you already know.

The secret is to do this as a daily habit, right?

Even just for a minute,

but to do it every day and it's starting small, right?

"Atomic habits," have you read that?

James Clear?

Come on.

If you haven't read it,

go and check it out, "Atomic Habits."

So you build up this small habit every day, right?

That's the first thing.

And the second thing is to start small and build up.

So in my previous example,

we started with individual words, right?

But then, you can move up to collocations, right?

Two words or three words, chunks or phrases.

So when we look at the yoga situation, right?

Whether it's a picture or your yoga class,

you might say yoga mat, blue T-shirt,

bright lights, indoor plants, right?

Thinking, right?

Not saying, but you're thinking these,

and then you can build up and you can start making phrases.

Oh, there's a yoga mat.

She's wearing a blue T-shirt.

Those indoor plants are nice, right?

Have a go.

Here's the picture again.

Either try collocations or short phrases, have a go.

Right, nice.

So you can see you're starting small

and building up with this daily habit, thinking in English.

Lovely, next!

Right, next up is talk to yourself. (giggles)

So in the last activity, right?

Start small and build up,

we were focusing on just thinking, right?

Those words and phrases in your head.

Now we're going to extend that

to actually talking to yourself, saying the words out loud.

Again, the goal is not to build vocabulary, right?

The goal is to work on fluency.

The reason for this is I turn to the Russian psychologist

and educator, Lev Vygotsky, right?

And he said that the inner voice, your thinking comes

from the internalization of your outer voice,

the speaking, right?

If you think about it, right?

That inner voice in your head,

it's the same voice as when you speak,

the only difference is your muscles,

you're not using these muscles.

So this cycle of thinking, speaking, thinking, speaking,

through practice, we can reinforce it

and help us to think more in English.

Now we're not here engaging with other people, right?

It's just talking to yourself, right?

So maybe as you're walking down the street,

you go, ooh, silly hat. (laughing)

That's a silly hat.

What a lovely day.

I love the sun.

Ooh, I'm getting hungry, right?

You're saying little snippets, little phrases to yourself

and reinforcing that thought in English, okay?

Some simple activities you can do here are maybe,

and then you may want to do these at home

if you're not comfortable speaking out loud in the street.

To be honest nowadays, right?

Lots of people talk to themselves in the street, right?

Potatoes, carrots, peas.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I think I've got everything, Julie.

Yeah, yeah, I'll be back home shortly.

All right, Darlene.

Cheers, bye-bye.

Or so we think, sometimes they're speaking on the phone.

But if you're not comfortable talking to yourself outdoors,

just do these at home.

So for example, in the morning,

you could talk about your routine for the day

or your plan for the day.

Oh, today I'm going to go shopping.

I've got to pick up some vegetables, right?

You can describe an activity you're doing, right?

For example, I'm cooking.

So I need two eggs.

I need a bit more flour, more salt,

oh I think. (lips smacking)

Or you can just review what you've done today, right?

So today was a good day.

In the morning, I did this and that,

and oh, that was a good idea.

And so you can do simple things

where you're actually just talking to yourself

and reinforcing this thinking as well.

Right, let's move on.

Next is to write in English.

So when it comes to thinking in English,

I think the active skill of writing compliments

the active skill of speaking

in helping you create this English environment

or what I called English moments throughout your day

that will help you think in English.

Now, of course, the way that we speak

and write are very different, right?

And I do not, do not encourage you

to speak the way you write.

They are two separate forms of communication.

However, there is some research that suggests

that writing and speaking are connected

and actually influence each other.

So I think by writing things in English,

we can also help start thinking in English.

Remember, only use the words that you know

and start small and build up, as before.

Some simple activities could be right,

writing your shopping list in English,

leaving a message to the family,

pick up John at six o'clock, right?

Or putting a post-net, a post-net?

No, a post-it (laughing) on your computer.

Remember to email Udemy, and you can build up, right?

Maybe then you write a diary in English

or a blog post or a complete blog in English, right?

But all of these are creating moments of English

that are gonna help you start thinking in English.

Let's move on.

Now, listen, we have an expression in English

which is the proof is in the pudding, (chuckles)

which means you can say the pudding

or the dessert is delicious, but only when you taste it

do you know if it's delicious.

The proof is in the pudding, right?

So only when you do something can you know if it works.

So so far, we've been looking at thinking

in English to yourself, talking to yourself,

writing notes to yourself, it's all about you, right?

Next is to practice with others

because you need to be able to think in English

when you're communicating with other people as well.

So I think it's really important to practice speaking

with other, and as you're doing that,

to practice this thinking in English

as you're doing it, right?

In fact, the more you engage in conversations

in English with your teacher, friends, students, colleagues,

the more you're going to have the chance

to practice thinking in English as well.

And when you're practicing,

have some conversations where you just focus

on thinking in English, right?

Keep it simple.

Use the words that you know,

simple conversations you may want to tell the other person,

you're actually practicing thinking in English

so that they've got patients with you,

and have specific conversations just focusing on that.

Try it out and see.

Let's move on.

My next and final tip is to be monolingual, monolingual.

Let me explain.

So one of the biggest game changers for me

when I was learning French in particular

was to move from using a bilingual dictionary,

so French-English,

to using a monolingual dictionary, French-French.

So when I went to look up a word in French,

it didn't translate to English.

It gave me a definition in French.

Mind-blowing, game changer.

Absolutely brilliant.

This was a critical step because it forced me

to start thinking in French.

Yes, it was more difficult.

Yes, It took more time.

It was an effort, but really the change

over several months was huge.

Now another expression we have in English is

there's no such thing as a free lunch, right? (chuckles)

Meaning that really, you have to pay

to get some benefit, right?

So like using the monolingual dictionary,

it's hard, it takes effort,

but by paying, using that time and effort,

you get the benefit and you get big, big rewards.

So you won't make the change or transformation

from thinking in your native tongue

to thinking in English overnight, right?

It just won't happen overnight.

It takes time.

It takes effort.

And, but the rewards are huge.

And I think the monolingual dictionary is a great one to do.

All of the steps above,

I think, can be really, really useful.

Try them out, and let me know in the comments down below

which ones work for you or any other tips that you may have.

Do remember, check out my Fluency course

if you want to improve your fluency

and help you thinking more and more in English.

In the meantime, turn on the subscriber button.

Don't turn it on, press the subscriber button,

turn on the notification button.

And I look forward to seeing you very, very soon next time.

Take care, my friend.

Bye-bye.

(upbeat music)