THINK IN ENGLISH | 5 Exercises To Stop Translating in Your Head

Let’s think in English. When you can build  a habit for your brain thinking in English,  

it’ll make expressing yourself, English  conversation so much easier and faster.

There are steps you can take to  build this habit in your brain  

and today we’re going to do exactly that.

I’m also going to give you an assignment  so you can keep going with this practice.  

Together, we’re going to make  awesome things happen for you.

And don’t forget, if you like this  video or you learn something new,  

please give it a thumbs up and don’t  forget to subscribe with notifications.

Did you know that there are actually  step by step exercises that you can do  

to build your brain’s habit of thinking in  English. You can practice anywhere because  

well, it’s thinking, it’s in your head. It’s  not like you need to practice out loud. Today  

we’re focusing on training your brain to  quickly go to English by focusing on words.  

Sometimes we do whole phrases but today we’re  just doing words. And if ever you can’t think  

of one of the words, you don’t know it,  no problem. We’ll go over everything.

Let’s just start with me. For ten  seconds, think of every word you can  

that describes what you see in English.  They can be very basic words. Ready? Go.

There’s so many things you could have said.

Woman, hair, gray hair, gray streak,  shirt, white with blue pattern,  

plain background, eyebrow, hairline, nostril,  ear, ear lobe, neck, chin, jaw, lips, smile.

Maybe you went into words that describe things  you can’t see like teacher. Maybe even you use  

the word friend. Were any of these words new to  you? Watch this part again, pause at the new word  

and make up a sentence using it. Close your  eyes, think of a sentence, think the picture.  

This will help you remember. Now, the same  thing only not me, do yourself. Think words in  

English that describe your  appearance. What you’re wearing. Ten seconds. Go.

Now we’ll look at my environment, where I am now,  my office. It’s a little bit messy, it always is  

no matter how hard I try. So this is a little  seventeen second clip, a scan of my office.  

Let your mind bring up all the  English words for what you’re seeing.

Now let’s go over some of  the words you may have said.

Tree, window, window sill,  window pane, office chair,  

storage cube, light switch, blinds, power  lines, tree, shelves, books, plants, planters,  

cactus. I have a lot of plants don’t I? Maybe you  notice I have some of them up on two yoga blocks.  

And some on mixing bowls I turned upside  down. I even have a pair of tiny dumbbells  

so I can do a quick little ten-minute arm  workouts when I need a break from work.

Laptop, door, door knob. What’s this?  It’s a sign I put outside my door when  

I don’t want to be disturbed.  It’s like a do not disturb sign,  

only since my kids can’t read,  it’s just an X. What else?

Hinge, floor, baseboard, corner, rug,  lights, equipment, cords, outlet, ring light,  

overhead lights, pull cords for my ceiling fan,  magazine, glasses case, poster, flowers, vase,  

desk, stamps, tissues, papers,  calendar, water bottle, hard drives,  

candle, lamp, coaster, computer, daybed,  pillow, duvet, vent, wall, ceiling, fan.

And maybe you saw some things  that I didn’t even notice.  

Maybe some of the things you saw,  you didn’t know the English word for.  

And now you do. Now, you’re going to do  this for yourself, your own environment.

An exercise like this is great because it’s simple  and it can have a couple of benefits. First,  

when you tell yourself I’m going to think  of these things in English. It trains your  

brain to do just that. To think in English without  having to translate from your own native language.

The other benefit is you’re building  vocabulary that is incredibly useful  

to you. Because you’re using words in your  life relevant for you. For example, the word  

ring light. From my office is  not relevant to most people.  

But around you, everything is a word that it  would be useful for you to know in English.

First, do the exercise for just ten seconds  where you name things in English, go!

Now take a minute to look around your environment  more, is there anything that you don’t know how  

to say in English? Think just three of these  things and look them up in a translator. Get  

the English word, think it a few times or say  it. Look at the object. Close your eyes and  

visualize yourself making the scan around your  room again. And thinking the word in English.  

If you have a method of tracking and learning  vocabulary, add these new words to your list.

Now, let’s take a scene from a movie. We’re  going to watch it together. It's a short scene,  

it’s full of objects. Tell your mind now, name  the things you see in English. Let’s watch.

Oh, hello.

Oh, hello.

Hi, how are you?

Fine.

This scene by the way is from the movie “Good  Will Hunting”. A few days ago, I posted on  

Instagram asking you to suggest movies, TV,  even specific scenes to use to learn English  

and Good Will Hunting is a movie that came  up. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Let’s go back now and name some objects.

Okay, we have a lot of people. They all  seem to be men in this shot. We’re in a bar,  

I see a lot of baseball caps or baseball  hats. He’s wearing a jacket, these are taps,  

they’re for pouring draft beer out of a keg.  We have a lot of glasses. This looks like it  

might be an ashtray. You can’t smoke in doors  in the US anymore but this movie is pretty old.  

Pendant lights. There are a couple of neon  signs. A string of colored lights. This  

guy has on a watch. He just grabbed a glass of  beer. We start to see another character. Woman.  

She’s wearing a tank top. It could also be called  a camisole. When a shirt or dress has really thin  

straps like this, we call them spaghetti  straps. She has her hair on a ponytail.

Now we see another character. She has  a bar barrette and you can see the part  

of her hair. She has on a T-shirt, it’s  striped. The flag above also has stripes.  

He has a cut on his face. He has a logo  on his shirt. You can see her collarbone.

You can get very detailed. And don’t  forget to look up words you don’t know.  

This is such a great way to build  your vocabulary. Your assignment is:

Do this at least once tomorrow whether you’re  at home or somewhere totally new. Take a minute  

to think of the names of things around you In  English. Then put in the comments below where  

you were when you did this exercise. And  if you love it, do it every day. The more  

consistent you are with asking your mind to think  in English, the easier for your mind to go there  

and respond in English. Now, we’ll review all  the words we went over together. See the object,  

read the word and think the word in  your head. Build that connection.

Thanks for learning with me, I really love  teaching you. Keep your learning now with  

this video and don’t forget to subscribe with that  notification bell, I make new videos every Tuesday  

and I love to see you back here again. That’s it  and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.