Join the channel for daily lessons: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Pbt3q-ihROg1lmmmQdU2w/join Or join the podcast for audio lessons on your favorite podcast platform: https://gne.supercast.com Gabby (00:00) If you still struggle to think 100 % in English, then this is for you. If you're new here, hi, I'm Gabby, your American English fluency coach here at Go Natural English. And today we're talking about something that can completely change your English fluency. Stop translating in your head and do this instead. Maybe this happens to you. Someone asks you a simple question in English and inside your brain, there's a whole emergency meeting happening. You hear English, you translate it into your native language, and you think of your answer in your native language, you translate it back into English, then you check the grammar, then maybe you wonder, you doubt yourself, is this natural? Is this how people really speak in real life or is this just... what I learned in my textbook, but by the time you're ready to answer, the conversation has already moved on. You lost your chance. If that sounds familiar, you are not the problem. You're not bad at English. You just were taught the wrong way. You're using a process that you learned in your classroom from your textbook that is too slow for real conversation. So today, I'm going to show you how to start thinking more directly in English. Not by forcing your brain, not by memorizing more grammar rules, but by building an English environment around your real life. And I think this is actually really fun because here's the truth. You don't start thinking in English by translating faster. It's always going to slow you down. You start thinking in English by living more of your life through English. So here, the obstacle is the way. The obstacle, English fluency, is the way. Living your life through English is the way to fluency. So now I'm gonna share concrete, specific examples that you can use to start thinking in English today. This is going to improve your fluency so much, and I'm so excited. Just before we jump in, I want to let you know about a special project that I've started and I want to invite you to join and go deeper in your fluency with me. If you enjoy these free lessons and you want daily private English lessons, join as a YouTube channel member or a private fluency podcast member, whichever you prefer. Some people prefer watching on YouTube. Some people prefer listening to the podcast. The link is in the description. You'll get short, about 15 to 20 minute daily private English lessons designed to help you immerse yourself in real English. They're conversational lessons with real learning and everyone, we do talk about vocabulary to expand the way you express yourself and real life English. This will help you to start thinking in English more naturally. And there's no big commitment. You can just try it for a month and see for yourself. Also, we've kept this super affordable because we want to help as many people as possible around the world to improve their fluency and confidence. So this is honestly one of the best ways to make English part of your everyday life. It's easy. It's simple. All you have to do is watch along with the videos that I make for you and repeat after me. Just copy and repeat me. Repeat after me. Even if you're busy, you can do this. Okay. So now let's talk about why translation keeps you stuck. This is important to understand the problem. Most people learning English were trained to treat English like a school subject. You study vocabulary, you memorize grammar rules, you translate sentences, you fill in the blanks, you answer textbook questions. Can you relate to any of this? Did you have to do this? All of that can help you build a solid foundation, but real English conversations do not sound like a textbook. And when you go from the classroom and your textbook to real life English, you can feel overwhelmed, stressed out, and honestly feel kind of bad about your English because there is a big gap. But again, it's not your fault. See, native speakers do not usually speak like your teacher. And that's why I'm here to help you understand how to bridge that gap between your old English class and real life English now. So your teacher might say, for example, what are you doing? But in real life, especially in casual American English, people often say, what are you doing? Or what are you up to? Or even what you doing? These are all ways to ask the same thing that you might not have heard or learned, but this is important to start getting familiar with how natives really speak. If your brain is waiting to hear that perfect, clear textbook English, you may not recognize real life English when you hear it. That's one reason you feel like I know English, but I still can't understand people. You may know the clean version of English. The real life gives you the connected version. So let's compare. Textbook English. What are you going to do? Real spoken English. What are you going to do? Textbook English. I do not know. Real spoken English. I don't know. Textbook English. Did you eat yet? Real spoken English. Geet yet? That one sounds funny, but yes, some people really do say it that way. Textbook English. Do you want to? Real spoken English. You wanna? Textbook English. I am going to. Real spoken English. I'm gonna. Now I'm not saying you always need to speak this casually, but you absolutely need to understand it. Because if you only study perfect textbook English, Real English will sound blurry, messy, confusing, and too fast. But it's not random. It has patterns. Native speakers connect words. We reduce sounds. We drop sounds altogether. We blend words together. So part of thinking in English is training your brain to recognize English as it is actually spoken, as you hear it, not just as it is written and as you know how to read it. So here's the big mindset shift for today. Fluency is not translation. Fluency is direct connection. You want to connect an English word with the real meaning, an English phrase with the feeling, an English sound with the situation, an English expression with real life use, not English to your native language to the meaning to your native language to English. So that middle step is what slows you down. So instead of asking, how do I translate this or how do I say this in my native language? Ask, when would I use this in English? For example, don't just translate, I'm running late. That could mean something very different if we translate this directly, literally. Connected to the situation, you're leaving the house, you're stuck in traffic. You're texting someone, you're five minutes behind schedule, that's when you say, I'm running late. Now the phrase is not just a translation, it's connected to your real life. That's how you start thinking in English, connecting real life phrases with real life situations. So now maybe you've heard people say, just immerse yourself in English, and maybe you think, okay, Gabby, but I don't live in the United States. I don't have English speaking friends. I don't work in English all day. It's okay. I get it. Immersion does not have to mean moving to another country. Immersion means creating more English contact points throughout your day. And I think this can be fun. I want you to remember this phrase, start slow and grow. You don't need to change your whole life overnight. Start with small, repeatable habits. Five minutes of journaling. listening to a song in English, one Netflix scene with English subtitles, one voice note to yourself, one short conversation, one private podcast lesson a day. The goal is not to study English for three hours once a week. The goal is to touch English every day in ways that feel meaningful, meaningful to you. Now, let me teach you five useful phrases for this topic because even as we talk about learning to think in English, we can improve your vocabulary. So number one, of course, think in English. This means you connect ideas directly in English without translating every word. For example, and please repeat after me. I'm trying to think in English instead of translating everything. Next, real life English. This means English as people actually use it in normal conversations. For example, I want to understand real life English, not just textbook English. Next, word for word translation. This means translating each individual word instead of understanding the whole idea. For example, word for word translation makes me speak too slowly. Next, daily immersion. This means surrounding yourself with English a little bit every day. For example, daily immersion helps my brain get used to English. Next, natural expression. This is a phrase that sounds normal to native speakers. For example, instead of translating from my language, I want to learn natural expressions. Now, repeat after me. I want to think in English. I want to understand real life English. Moving away from word for word translation. Daily immersion helps me improve. I'm learning natural expressions. Beautiful. Great job. Now let's learn five phrasal verbs that connect beautifully to this topic. First, to pick up. Now this has many meanings, but today we're talking about the meaning to learn something naturally. often without formal study. For example, you can pick up natural English by listening every day. This is what children do. They pick up language from hearing it again and again. Next, get used to, to become comfortable with something over time. For example, at first fast English sounds difficult, but you'll get used to it. This is huge. You don't need to understand everything in English immediately. You need repeated exposure. Next, tune in means to listen or pay attention, especially to audio or video. For example, tune into English podcasts while you're cooking or walking. Next, speak up to say something more clearly, confidently or publicly
