Think In English | Here’s Exactly How To Stop Translating In Your Head!

We're doing it again.

Building your skill to think in English so you can join the conversation with confidence,

stop translating in your head

and be more effective in communication.

If you feel like it takes too long to express yourself in English, or you feel nervous speaking English,

this video is for you.

Thinking in English and getting your mind to go to English quickly is a skill you can build on.

In today's video, we're working with flash cards to focus on words. We're going to do nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

And we're going to build the English image association,

skipping your native language. There might be some words you don't know.

Great! Then you get to learn new vocabulary too.

As always, if you like this video or you learned something new,

please like and subscribe with notifications, it really helps.

In doing this, we want to use words you already know.

Learning vocabulary is different.

This is a skill where we're building the skill to think in English first,

building those pathways in your brain, so hopefully many of these words will be words that you already know.

Before you start the exercise, say to your brain: we're going to think only in English.

You'll see a prompt, and you'll think the word.

If you want to say it out loud, go ahead. If you don't know the word, don't worry,

we're going to go over everything at the end of the video.

First, you'll see a picture with different sections highlighted like this.

And when you see it, you'll think in your head: wing.

Then something else will be highlighted and each time you see a different highlight, think the English word.

If you don't know it, don't worry just wait for the next one.

Let's keep going with that image.

Then you'll see this.

And you'll have three seconds to come up with a verb to describe anything that's happening in the picture.

Any verb, any action that's happening.

And then you'll see this.

And you'll have three seconds to name an adjective.

An adverb would be fine too.

Then at the end, we'll go over everything like this.

Wing, beak, claw.

Or maybe you just said foot.

Flying or landing.

White, or maybe you said graceful.

I'll suggest verbs and adjectives that you could have said,

but of course you may have come up with something totally different from what I say, and that's okay.

There are no wrong answers here if what you're saying describes anything that's happening in the picture.

Now if you saw that image, and you said something like drinking Coke.

Then that doesn't actually describe what's happening, but hey,

if your mind said that in English, that's something!

We're going to move pretty quickly. So just relax,

open up your mind, and let the English come in.

Remember, you want to direct your mind to go to the English word first.

You should know most of these words already, we're building the skill of recall.

We're going to do a bunch of pictures and then we'll go over all the words.

Okay we're halfway through, and I’m checking in on you.

How are you doing? Is it fun? Stressful?

Let's take a minute to reset our minds,

clear it out, think English only, keep going.

Great!

Were the verbs and adjectives harder?

It was less about naming something you see, and more about making a decision about what to say.

That's definitely a little bit more challenging.

Let's go over some possible answers now.

Knees.

Hair.

Grill.

Did you know this part of the car is called a grill?

I didn't know that until I was older.

Probably high school.

I have a whole video that goes over vocabulary for the car. I'll link to it at the end of the video.

Windshield.

Notice here the D comes after an N before another consonant sound.

It's very common to drop that D sound and I did.

Windshield.

Windshield.

Laying. Chatting. Maybe you said laughing.

Friendly.

Wait, what happened there?

Again the D comes after an N, before a consonant,

very common to drop that D.

I didn't say friendly, but there's no D, friendly.

Or maybe you said dirty, talking about the truck, old,

or maybe happy talking about the girls.

Swimsuit.

Maybe you said swim trunks, or just trunks, or maybe you said shorts.

Rock.

Bowl.

Or maybe you said container.

Splashing.

Covering.

Playing.

Fun.

Playful.

Or maybe you hate being splashed, so the word you thought was: mean.

Bench, hat, book, ear, finger.

We call this smallest finger, the pinky.

Laughing, reading.

Sunny, happy.

Masks, scrubs.

We call this kind of clothing, which you'll see a lot on doctors, nurses, dentists, and veterinarians.

Scrubs.

There is a TV show in the US called Scrubs that ran in the 2000s.

Light switch.

Mirror.

Tray.

Cleaning. Fixing. Working.

Focused.

r maybe you said: blue or yellow, describing a color in the photo,

or scared because maybe you hate going to the dentist.

Laptop. Or maybe you said computer.

Braid. Or maybe you just said hair.

Hair tie. We're getting detailed here.

These are also called elastics.

Stripes. This pattern is called stripes.

Or maybe you said shoulder since that's the part of the shirt that I circled.

Playing. Pointing. Winning.

Maybe you said cheering.

Excited. Elated.

Vest.

This article of clothing is called a vest.

I have a whole video that goes over vocabulary words for clothing.

I'll link to it at the end of this video.

Bubble. Sleeve.

This part of the shirt is called the sleeve,

or maybe you said arm since that's the body part that goes in the sleeve.

Zipper. Polka dots.

This pattern is called polka dots with a silent L.

Blowing. Playing. Trying.

Concentrating. Young. Engaged.

We use the word engaged to describe committing to marry someone,

but we also use it to mean engrossed in something, really concentrated in it.

Paying full attention.

Quartet. When I drew this, I was thinking quartet, but maybe you said men or players or musicians.

Violin.

Viola.

This instrument that's a little bigger than a violin is called a viola.

Cello.

Bow.

There's another word spelled the same way but pronounced: bow with the OW diphthong.

That's something that a performer might do at the end of a concert.

Performers will bow during the audience applause.

Stand or music stand.

Column. This word has a silent N at the end.

Smiling. Formal.

Musical. Coordinated.

Watch. Belt. Collar. Lapel. Tie.

This can be called a jacket or blazer.

Handshake.

Again the D after an N before a consonant.

That D will usually be dropped. Handshake. No D sound.

Shaking hands. Making a deal. Agreeing. Committing.

Professional. Pleased.

Teddy bear. Tablecloth.

Or maybe you said lace, since that's what it's made of, or table since that's what it's covering.

Balloon.

Cake.

Celebrating.

Playing.

Pink.

Silly.

Gloves.

Or maybe you said hands.

Again D after an N before a consonant in the word hands. We usually won't say that D sound. Hands.

Apron.

Scissors.

Spatula.

Notice the letter T here makes a CH sound.

I think a lot of people would probably misspell this word putting in a CH.

Spatula.

Cooking.

Working.

Making.

Preparing.

Grilling.

Korean.

Tasty.

Luggage. Or maybe you said suitcase.

Umbrella.

Sign. Or menu.

Waiter, or server.

Eating. Dining. Talking. Working.

Busy.

Full. Crowded.

Hungry.

Or if you're describing the two umbrellas maybe you thought open and closed.

The more you do this kind of thing where you walk into a room or look at a picture

and try to describe everything in English in your head,

the quicker you'll be able to think in English when you're in a conversation.

You're just simply training your brain to use English for thoughts.

You can do this by doing some every day. I challenge you every day this week, pick a photo.

When you see in the newspaper or on social media, try to name as many objects as you can,

then choose a verb or an adjective to further describe what you see.

Go on describing what you see in full sentences.

We have a video where we practice doing just that together.

It's in our Think In English Playlist. Be sure to check it out.

And here are those vocabulary videos I told you about.

I make new videos on the English language every Tuesday.

Be sure to subscribe.

I also run an academy online to help you train and take your English communication skill to the next level,

Rachel's English Academy, be sure to check it out.

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