167: How to stop translating in your head

Arnie asks: "How can I stop translating in my head when people speak to me in French?"

Episode Summary: See episode 87 for a previous answer to this topic Translating in your head is a very common problem There's no quick fix I can give you, only some encouragement and a helpful way of thinking about the problem To state the obvious: When you understand what's being said in French, you have no reason to translate Therefore, the more you improve, the less you translate This is good to remember, as it helps you realise it's a gradual process For me, translating tends to be a grammar issue My Cantonese right now - often I'll understand something in Cantonese, with no translation. Sometimes, I'll come across a sentence that's grammatically different and I'll need to translate it in my head in order to make sense of it. This dies away over time, as I improve.

Key points:

Spend more time listening and reading Grow your vocabulary Start using monolingual dictionaries Do more of your daily activities in French

Some deeper approaches to studying:

When you learn new grammar, focus on grammar patterns, not individual verbs With these new grammar patterns, try to get into the head of a native speaker, and feel the way an idea is being expressed - the attitude or feeling - rather than focus on the English translation Work with full sentences in your study, not single words Today's Quote: “You don’t learn a language, you get used to it.” – Katsumoto Start speaking today:

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