Train your brain to think in English

This is for all of us, who lives in the country where most of the people do not speak the language that you need to learn and need to use for all official purposes.

So, you may need to start thinking in that language. Your mind does not recognize the new language, it is the second language for you, you take a lot of time to understand and then translate the words from this language to your native language.

Yes, you have understood it right. I am talking about learning the English language by Indians. We all live in the place where English is not the main language. This is true for us as we do not get any chance to practice English. Even, what and where we are learning might not be correct. We all try to self-learn and self-taught.

When we speak, we might speak slower or in non-fluent manner. This is simply happening because mind is busy in translating the sentences from our first language or native language. We need to understand that just like any other language, English also has its own structure, rule. It should come naturally and for this the brain needs to be trained in English.

Do not worry, I have got a good news of for you. The only step which can make a great change in bringing you one step closer to fluency of language is that the brain thinks in English. You, simply need to make a conscious effort and practice.

There are few things which can help you to make your brain think in English.

• Make your brain think in single words

This is the most important small change which can make a huge difference. This small step is to think in individual word.

Just start looking around. What are you seeing? In your brain, try to name each object in your surroundings.

This activity needs to do every time, our surrounding changes. The surrounding can be just your room, a hotel, a park, a shop or a bus. Just use the formula – look around and observe the things around, name them in your head.

This if continued for a minimum of 21 days, it will start becoming your habit. After this, the words will automatically pop up into your head. Do not stop this habit, continue with this. It will help you to recognize nouns as these objects are nothing but nouns.

With time, you will have to add verbs to the list. This you can do observing actions near you and naming them in the head. This simple step is really important and easy to do as it can be done at home or even watching T.V.

This exercise helps and is recommended by many teachers across the world.

This is also another exercise that is recommended by experts and teachers across the world. The exercise is describing the unknown objects, words that you do not know.

For example – If you are not able to think of the word “garage” in the below situation.

Suppose if you are at someone’s house and you need to park your car, but you cannot see the garage. Also, you are not able to think of the name in English. You will say “the place in the house where I can park my car”. You can also say “It is a place where we can put extra things of our house”.

So, in this way, if we are not sure of the word or we do not know the word, then you can describe the word. This technique will help you not to fumble and do not engage your brain to unwanted thinking and finding the correct word.

• Start thinking in sentences

This is another exercise which can really impact your English learning. This is required as we talk in sentences and not in words. Example of this can be – If you are at a restaurant, you can talk to yourself things like, “It is such a lively place.” or “People sitting here are so happy.

Try these in various situations and various places. This will help you gain confidence in yourself. Once you practice it often, you will be able to talk to others fluently.

When you are confident with easy sentences, move to the difficult sentences. You can also do this later on by saying these sentences to others.

• Describe your day

One more interesting exercise, again suggested by many experts and it is to describe your day. This is a simple activity, yet helpful. Few ways of doing so is as mentioned below.

Beginners can describe using simple and short sentences like “I start my day at 7 A.m. I got up and did daily tasks like bathing, brushing etc. I went to the college. “. This way you can write minimum 5 sentences every day. Gradually can start writing 10 sentences.

Once you are confident with easy sentences and then can move to some difficult sentences. This activity needs to support from anyone, but you need to be determined and consistent with the practice. This can make a lot of positive changes in your English language.

• Think in conversation

This is also one of the exercises which can really help. The exercise is to think in conversation.

Whenever you think in conversation, you are imagining yourself speaking to someone else. This is done by asking questions and replying the answers. This is same ways we do conversation.

The example of the same can be imagining you are at some award show then how would you do the conversation.

 “You to someone – What do you think of the award show? “

“Someone to you – It is a great show! Which actor do you think will win the award?”

“You to someone – I think SRK as he had good films.”

Same ways we can go on. In this way you will have better control on thinking in English and it will gradually help you to learn English better.

You can do in silence or loud.

Two things which you need to do with above activities for better learning and making your brain think in English are:

• Take notes

All the above exercise will be helpful if you take notes as in one attempt you may not be able to remember the things. You will need a dictionary, online or offline. 

If you feel you are able to manage with English-to-English dictionary, then it is ok else you can use English to Hindi dictionary.

Having a notebook will help you to remember the situation and if you need to recall the same, then also this notebook will also be helpful.

• Practice daily

One question which can come to your mind is how much time to spend on the exercises?

The answer to this is practice little everyday – 10 to 30 minutes every day.

If you practice every day, again and again, little by little, then it will become your habit. If you do so, your brain is trained to think in English. When you will talk, the words will pop up into your mind without putting a lot of effort. You without knowing will train your brain to think in English.

One thing also which can help anyone to train their brain in English is Taking up a training program. In case you are looking forwards to this kind of training program click the link.

Check the series for tips on learning English.

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