This is part 2 of the series “How to Stop Translating in Your Head” that I have written with the purpose of giving you the tools and/or techniques that you need to both understand and produce a foreign language without translating.
If you haven’t read part 1, I recommend reading it first before you continue with part 2. You can access part 1 here.
Lost in Translation
Have you ever found yourself thinking in English and then attempting to translate to Spanish (or another target language)?
It might look something like this:
Someone asks you, “¿Dónde estás?”
You think to yourself, “Ok. This person wants to know where I’m at. I’m at home, so let me break that down piece by piece:
I am = Yo soy
At = a
Home = la casa
Perfect. The person who I am speaking to is looking a little impatient but here goes …”
You respond, “Yo soy a la casa.”
You are so proud of yourself, but unfortunately your Spanish speaking friend has a strange look on their face. You detect that something has gone wrong, but you are not sure what.
Welcome to the struggle. I’ve been there and still go there from time to time, and dare I say that the majority of people learning a foreign language have also been there, especially during the beginning stages.
However, it doesn’t have to be that way and this post will take you through the 3 step process that will have you speaking automatically and intuitively instead of through translation.
Is Language a Skill?
Before I get into specific activities that you can do to think in the target language while you are speaking it, I want to talk a bit about language learning as a skill versus as knowledge.
Is language knowledge or skill?
If language is knowledge, then it is something that you will need to study and to some extent, memorize.
If language is skill, then it is something that you will need to practice and practice often in order to master.
Perhaps it is a little of both; however, those who are successful at acquiring a foreign language treat it more like a skill than needs to be practiced – like learning how to play a musical instrument, dance, or play a sport.
In my experience, it is about 80-90% practice versus 10-20% knowledge.
Let’s say that you wanted to learn how to dance the tango. The first thing you would need to do would be to observe someone else performing the basic steps.
Next, you would try to perform the steps yourself and practice those steps over and over again until you didn’t have to think about where to put your feet and when.
Over time, you would be able to turn on music and dance more through feeling rather than through thinking.
You’d follow a similar process if you were to learn how to play a musical instrument and we can do it with language learning as well: observe first, then practice, practice, practice and finally, produce freely without thinking. Let’s take a closer look at each of those steps.
Step 1: Observe
The first step is to observe how language is used in context by consuming or exposing yourself to an abundance of comprehensible input.
You can’t produce language without first having been exposed to it. I know that it is tempting to turn to tools like Google Translate to learn how to say something, but this is kind of a “quick fix” that avoids the type of thinking that your brain needs to do in order to be able to think in the target language.
TIP: Lean towards choosing stories for input versus textbooks or language apps (unless they include stories). The entertainment value alone will keep you more engaged, and you will achieve better retention of vocabulary, groups of words and grammatical structures if you are engaged in a story.
Before moving on to the next step, review the language that was used in the comprehensible input and choose 1-3 useful phrases, groups of words or grammatical structures that you could see yourself using in real conversations.
Step 2: Practice
Now that you’ve made your selection of useful phrases, it’s time to practice. It’s always best to practice with a partner, but if you don’t have one, don’t let that stop you.
Talking to your pet
Believe it or not, my Spanish really took off when I started talking to my cat Luna in Spanish.
This might not be suited for everyone, but if you are like me and get nervous to speak in the target language, you might want to consider talking to your pet in the target language.
Of course your beloved cat or dog or guinea pig will not speak back to you, but that’s not the point.
The point is that you can practice using your useful phrases, knowing that he or she will be listening to you without critiquing or laughing at you.
Practicing with a tutor or certified teacher
Practicing with a partner (ideally a native speaker, but not mandatory) will give you a better feel for how things are when you reach the final step.
Practicing with a real live person versus on your own would be like the difference between shadow boxing and sparring with a partner to a boxer. Shadow boxing is not a waste of time, but on its own, it is not enough to prepare a boxer for the fight.
And so it goes with language acquisition – you must practice with a real person, and the sooner you incorporate this into your practice, the better.
We are lucky to be living in a time where there are platforms like iTalki.com that connect language tutors and licensed or certified instructors with language learners all over the world.
If you are ready to take the plunge, I invite you to follow this link and take advantage of a special offer in which you’ll receive a gift of $10 in iTalki credits with an initial purchase of $20.
https://www.italki.com/affshare?ref=af4345836
Step 3: Automatic and Intuitive Free Production
What’s the difference between Steps 2 and 3? The difference is that in this step, there is nothing planned. There is no lesson objective or learning target.
To the boxer, this is the fight. To the dancer, this is the performance. You might also call this step “live practice” because there is adapting that takes place here too.
You can perform this step with anyone – native or non-native speakers, trained or untrained. The conversation will start with a greeting and then flow naturally and unpredictably into the open waters of communication.
Over time, your investment in steps 1 and 2 will allow you to slowly but surely navigate into previously unexplored territories.
Wrapping it all up
In this post, you learned that language learning is a skill and requires practice to become proficient. Consuming an abundance of comprehensible input in the target language provides the foundation for being able to produce later on without translating back and forth from your mother tongue.
Once you have identified key words and phrases through written or spoken material, you will then practice using them either by yourself, using one or more of the techniques that I have mentioned above. The final ingredient is consistency and repetition.
Just like with any other skill, the more time you spend practicing, the closer you’ll arrive to being able to perform that skill automatically and intuitively without the effort that was required in the beginning.
What other techniques have worked for you that are not mentioned in this post? Please share with me in the comment section, and if you found the information in this post useful, consider sharing it with your friends on your social media accounts.
