How to THINK IN ENGLISH and STOP TRANSLATING IN YOUR HEAD

Today, we’re taking more scenes  from TV and we’re using them to  

practice our English. You can train  your mind to think in English so  

you can recall the words faster and stop  translating in your head in conversation.

First, we’ll take a scene from a show ‘The Black  Lady Sketch Show’. The scene is on mute because  

it’s not about watching the clip for fun and  the audio can distract us from thinking. It’s  

about describing the clip in English. So as you  watch it, you’ll be thinking in English. First,  

you’re going to see about 10 seconds of  a clip. Think all the nouns that you’ll  

see. If you see a banana, think banana.  You’re just naming objects. We’re going  

to watch this scene later with a different  focus. But this is just objects. Here we go.

I thought lots things.

refrigerator

Cabinets

Belt

Necklace

Buttons

Mug

Counter

Or maybe you though island or kitchen island

Computer or tablet

Keyboard

Again, lots of objects in this shot.

Stool or chair

Table

Lamp

Picture

This piece of furniture can  be called lots of things

Buffet

Side board

Console

Laundry basket

Drawers

In this wider, we see a fruit  bowl with apples and bananas,

a picture on the wall

The back door

This short little drapery at the top  of the window is called a valence

Shirt

Jeans

Now, let’s look for adjectives. What words can  you think of to describe this scene? It’s okay  

if you only come up with one or two. The more  you do this, the quicker your brain will be  

able to recall words in English. If a word  comes to mind that you don’t know in English  

as you’re doing these sorts of exercises, take  the time to stop and look those words up. It’s  

a great way to learn new words because you’ll  have a visual to go with it which will help  

you remember the words. Okay, ready? The  same clip. Think of a couple adjectives.

Silver, the color of the refrigerator

Green, the dress

Gold, the jewelry

To me, the scene seems kind of  dark like it’s in the evening.

Purple for the shirt

Yellow for the chair

Red for her hair or curly

Here, the mom looks excited to me.

Now, let’s see if we can come up  with a few verbs to describe what  

we see. Watch one more time and let  your mind think of a verb or two.

Talking

Pointing

She’s leaning on the island. It also  likes she’s mousing on the trackpad.

We’re any of these words new?

Let’s take a look at another scene.  This is from the show ‘Platonic’.

To start, think of the word for any of  the objects that you see in English.

Safes

Dog, of course.

Doberman, that’s kind of dog.

Collar

Tag or charm

W

Spikes

Behind him, tiles

Ears

Eyes

Nose. Or for a dog you can say snout to describe  

the part of the face that juts  out with the nose on the end.

A lot to look at in the second scene.

Hat

Glasses

Necklace

Man

Woman

Jacket

Windows

Again, hat

Glasses, it’s hard not to see that beard isn’t it?

Guitars

Rings

Display case

This is a pawnshop

Now, see if you can come up  with some adjectives as you  

watch the scene again. Think the words in English.

This dog is serious. Unmoving

Stoic

His ears are pointy

Clipped

Here, you could have thought of colors.

Green

Black and yellow for the hat

Brown for the color of her hair

Maybe you thought pretty

Attractive

This man is older

The glasses reflective

The guitars are kind of shiny

His beard is long

Now, some verbs. What action can you describe?

He dog isn’t moving much is he?

Sitting

Staring

Pointing

Standing

Talking

She’s gaping. That means  to stare at something with  

your mouth open in surprise or interest. Gaping.

This man is also pointing, talking  and nodding his head a little bit.

Let’s do one more scene. This one  is from the show Acapulco. First,  

just think of the objects you see.

Two men

Sunglasses

Belt

Chairs

Pillow

Cactus

Ocean or Sea

Rocks

Patio

Tables

More men

Beers

Sunglasses

Shirts with collars

Pants

Shorts

Bowls

Trees

Now there’s a lot of bright color in this scene.  

Let’s name some colors and other  adjectives that come to mind.

Such vibrant colors. Yellow.

This could be called pink magenta or maybe Fushia.

White

Red

Green

Blue

This man is thin.

This man is bigger, you could  say medium build. I wouldn’t say  

he’s overweight but maybe you  could say a little heavy set.

Their outfits are matching.

Here, I see the plants blowing,  it makes me think windy.

Sunny

The shore is rocky.

Everyone is dressed in a way that’s very preppy.

The overall style of this  location is mid-century modern.

The bottles are brown.

This bowl is teal.

The tables are orange.

These pillows are striped.

His pants are pleated.

His collar is popped.

Let’s look for some verbs to describe  what’s happening in the scene.

He’s touching his shoulder.

He’s talking.

They’re standing.

In the background, someone is walking by.

The breeze is blowing.

The men are sitting.

He’s pointing.

They’re waving or gesturing.

They’ve just been introduced to this guy. So you  could say, ‘This guy in white was introducing.’

I hope you had fun working on your English  skills with these scenes from TV, I know I  

did. Check out all my videos designed to help  you think in English. They give you the tools  

and the training to increase your vocabulary and  to start thinking more in English. And please,  

do subscribe with notifications on,  I absolutely love being your English  

teacher. That’s it and thanks so  much for using Rachel’s English.