How To Think In A Foreign Language | My BEST Tip
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- čas přidán 24. 05. 2018
- Let's tackle one of the most frequently asked questions in the world of language learning: How to think in a foreign language?
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I get how talking to yourself gets you thinking in another language but if you’re a learner like me how do I know that the wording is correct ? Wouldn’t I then be repeating my own errors all the time ?
I think this is actually a core misconception about language learning, I'm glad you brought it up! In my experience and those of all the people I've worked with, very few things are "permanent" in language learning - far from it. I never worry about repeating my own mistakes because I'm getting soooo much value from practicing and becoming more and more comfortable with the language, and any mistakes can be corrected later. The tradeoff is just not getting practice, being afraid to speak (in case you are repeating your mistakes), and I think that is far more damaging than it is helpful.
Another important thing to note is that the better you get at a language, the EASIER it becomes to correct mistakes. I can make a whole video about this if you would like 😊 I have many stories and examples and I think this worry is something that burdens soooo many learners. Keep up the great work on your languages and please don't worry about your mistakes. It's a lot better to be someone who can speak comfortably and confidently with some mistakes, rather than not speak at all 🙂
It's not a misconception at all. Fossilisation is a thing. That being said, as long as talking to oneself is not all the practice one gets with the target language (i.e., you get a lot of input as well), and that one is aware that the words, phrasing, etc. one is unsure about are likely incorrect, that goes a long way to minimising the chances of fossilisation occurring.
Thanks for your input, @Arctagon 😊 Please don't take my response as being combative, as that is not the intention. Simply stating the fossilization "is a thing", however, isn't a terribly strong argument, and just because something exists it does not mean that there aren't misconceptions around it. I happen to be quite familiar with fossilization -- referred to in many studies as interlanguage fossilization -- and even helped to conduct a small study around how it pertains to foreign language instruction, as well as having discussed it at length with a number of linguistic professors and researchers over the years while I was studying, teaching designing curriculums for private Japanese courses through my university, and later teaching in schools before finally starting my business teaching privately which I did for about 3 years after that. Throughout all of those different experiences and interactions where I was able to learn about and discuss fossilization, as well as observing the results of working with hundreds of students directly over about 10 years, I found that when learners express the concerns discussed in this comment thread, their true concerns are usually not actually concerns of fossilization.
I have found over and over again that people throwing around terms such as fossilization and "permanent interference" (often used when talking about learning multiple foreign languages at once) without being specific often does more harm than good, as it stokes these worries in learners that end up preventing them from actually learning (such as people being terrified that practicing speaking will just cement their mistakes and so they don't end up speaking at all).
If you're interested in looking more deeply into what fossilization really is as well the linguistic system it produces (interlanguage, approximative system, idiosyncratic dialect, or transitional dialect), I recommend looking into the work of Corder, Selinker, and Nemser.
You may also be interested in an experiment I did where I decided to try to develop a degree of fluency in Swedish without talking to a person. I made a video speaking somewhat fluently in Swedish for a few minutes and got surprisingly great feedback from native speakers when at that time, I had never spoken to another person in Swedish, and even to this day I have had extremely few interactions in that language. This was just to show that you can indeed develop surprisingly good levels in a language through lots of input, repeating aloud, and talking to yourself.
czcams.com/video/ZU5mYFuYRrg/video.html
@@RobinMacPhersonFilms You are right, it's not a strong argument, but it wasn't really meant as an argument to begin with. I merely wanted to point out that it exists, because my impression from your earlier comment was that you thought it didn't.
You bring up a good point in your second paragraph. I've seen people with many followers talking about fossilisation in this manner and made a big deal out of it, which I feel have only ended up discouraging the learners following their approach from experimenting and trying things out for themselves because they are so afraid of doing something that will be harmful. (These same people recommend not speaking until you are just about fluent. On the other hand, I do think it's okay for someone to choose not to speak for a while if they don't feel like it.)
I have a bachelor's degree in linguistics, but I haven't read on fossilisation in-depth, so thanks for the recommendation!
That is indeed an interesting experiment, as most people naturally end up speaking way before reaching fluency. I myself am experimenting a bit with trying to 'throw myself in harm's way', seeing if some things are really as harmful as many make them out to be, such as with fossilisation. (When I learned English, I outputted from an early stage and made mistakes left and right, which doesn't seem to have made much of a negative impact, as I have been mistaken for a native on a few occassions, though only in verbal conversations, so I don't think fossilisation is as much of a danger as it is made out to be, but I think it also depends a lot on the individual's attitude and goals.) Without knowing whether the answer can be found in another video of yours, did you practise outputting in Swedish to yourself during this experiment? If so, how much?
I never expected such a thorough response, let alone a response at all. Rather uncommon on CZcams. I appreciate it.
There was something I wanted to comment on while watching this video, but since you've now taken the time to reply to me, perhaps you could also take a look at this if you have the time. I don't believe we think in language at all, but in concepts and ideas. Were that the case, we would never have any trouble expressing anything, but we often find ourselves stopping up, hesitating ('uhm', 'ehh', 'ahh', ...), thinking about how to express what we want to express. What's happening is that we have to translate our thoughts into language before outputting it with our hands or speech apparatus whenever we want to express something. This is different from our internal monologue, which provides a running commentary of whatever is in our field of consciousness, whether it be something we're looking at to thoughts we have. So it has to be this internal monologue that people are referring to when they are talking about 'thinking in a language'. With this in mind, one could pose the question: What are the benefits of deliberately changing one's internal monologue into one's target language, and is it really necessary, or even all that helpful, when acquiring a foreign language? I haven't thought too much about this myself yet, but I think it would be interesting to hear your take on it. It seems to essentially be output practice.
@@Arctagon Your last paragraph was a revelation to me. I was convinced that I was thinking in English, but you are completely right when you point out moments that people have when they have an idea for which they can't find the word.
I talk to myself all the time. I live alone, which helps a lot. There are two main things I do when I'm still at beginner level:
1. Practice new vocabulary: If I've just learned the colors, I'll go around the house and describe the objects (e.g.: My chair ir brown, the walls are white)
2. Practice useful phases based on my experience of the day: If I had to go to to a restaurant that day, I will check how to order food in the language I'm learning.
Video speed on 1.5x : comfortable listening + time saving !!
Thanks!
You're welcome Deep Matey! :)
At first I thought your comment made no sense but actually you are so very right. Thank you 👍🏾😊
That's totally real...I speak 3 languages and I really felt that I was fluent when I start that inner voice in the language I was practicing..
To start thinking in a foreign language you still need to have some basic vocabulary. A useful trick for stepping forward i used I had to deliver a lecture in English, so I wrote the text and memorized it by heart and was repeating it in my head. This was my first successful attempt, and it went from there.
I am going to do same thing for Spanish - memorize a text that I understand completely, and repeat many times in my head.
I used to speak to myself at all times in my mother language; so, when I started learning English it was easy to maintain this habit and identify my weaknesses.
My current project for Korean is to memorize (with paper flashcards) words related to my life: objects I encounter while hiking or driving, terminology from my hobbies, words I would use to choose what clothes to wear today, etc. I have a lot of words to learn, but I pick them carefully so I don't try to learn words that would be useless to me. Meanwhile, when I take walks, I carry a pocket notebook full of beginner-level Korean grammar constructions. While I'm walking, I create sentences aloud using the vocabulary that I'm memorizing and the grammar that's in the notebook. In this way, I internalize both. Eventually, I will be able to use them easily when I talk to myself. My goal is to talk to myself fluently by the end of the summer. This fall, I'll work on improving my pronunciation (intonation, rhythm, etc.), and then my listening skills in the winter. I'm too stressed out and busy from work to practice conversation with tutors on Skype, but by next year, when my work load is lighter, I should have a really strong foundation for conversation practice, and I should be able to hit B1 really quickly.
Your tips in this video were really good--and tips I don't recall ever hearing before. As you said, people tend to be vague on this topic.
Andy Roberts Korean is easy for me. But I simply have no any motivation for leaening it. Since there are't many great books or movies or tv series in Korean. So What is your motivation learning this language?
First, I love the language itself, especially its grammar. Just like with Japanese, when I speak it, I have to express myself in a completely different way than in my native English. I enjoy that intellectual challenge. And I love the expressiveness of its intonation when I hear Koreans in conversation.
Second, I love the Korean-Americans I've met in my city. I want to spend more time with them. I could do so in English, but it would be a richer experience if I did so in their language, since they often speak Korean among themselves.
Third, I would like to use my languages someday either in a career or in volunteer work. I'm considering becoming a tour guide. My city gets a lot of Korean tourists and also has a lot of Korean immigrants. So whether I become a tour guide or do volunteer work, I'm likely to find Korean useful.
My motivation to learn Korean has grown over many years. Initially, I didn't want to learn the language. Then I had a love-hate relationship with it because I found it fascinating and too difficult at the same time. Gradually I came to love it so much that it's very difficult for me NOT to study it.
Andy Roberts Good luck to your Korean learning. I'm a Chinese, and I find Korean culture is somewhat similar to Chinese culture, I find it not so very much interesting learning Korean then. I have just started learning Malay and I feel so good. I'm just the same as you that I want to learn a language that is very different from my mother tongue and the culture behind the language should be different from mine too.
Robin MacPherson Yeah, that's right. I just don't find that interesting. Too similar to my own culture, I'm a Chinese, I personally learnt Japanese and Korean for a short while, both languages aren't difficult to me. But again, Korean is not interesting for me. Japanese is too much to me, because that I'm Chinese, I do find both language very familiar. And the reason that I am so interested in some European languages is simply I consider learning those language is an escape to me. My culture is too overwhelming, too heavy and too comprehensive TO ME. And I certainly know that many westerners prefer Korean and Japanese, and that's perfectly ok. But you want to go deeper exploring the core of the estern asian culture, trust me Chinese is a must.
Robin MacPherson Malay people are comprehensively different from Chinese. They are deeply religious, while most Chinese aren't. They are so open in mind and their cultrue is not as heavy as mine for me. And Malay language itself is easy. Again, as a Chinese who lives in a communist country, I feel both restricted and so depressed sometimes. The government is certainly too much. Especially we have a government that always cersors everything. So many book, movies and tv series would be amended or often banned by the govert. and it makes me feel very shitty. And the traditional Chinese culture itself is too much complete and overwhelming…… It can make you really tired trust me. So learning languages like Malay or French or English or Spanish will certainly make me stop thinking about my country and my culture, and that's a good escape, very chimmy-chimmy I' d say.
I've been thinking about this exact thing so much over the past few years, Robin 😁 i've actually started dreaming in spanish these past few months ☺ and i keep answering my parents in spanish even though they dont understand anything, because even within german conversations i sometimes keep thinking certain parts in spanish 😂 i could make myself think fully in german obvs, but once i get to a point where i start thinking in the language my knowledge really starts to accelerate and i dont wanna stop my progress 😊 so i just told them that they'll have to remind me to say things in german whenever i just speak in spanish to them 😂
Robin MacPherson It's so fascinating to me how you talk about so many things some of which have been on my mind for years and others only for the past few months 🙄 i feel like i keep commenting 'i have been thinking about this' 😂 but its genuinely always true 😄
I am actually so happy that i am at this stage right now and i thunk you are right, i am really gaining momentum! 🙄 I feel like i am finally getting further out and theres less and less waves pushing me back 😍 i'm so happy i'm finally at the stage where i feel like my hard work is paying off and i am starting to gain confidence with spanish☺
All the best, Robin! I hope you are alright... take care and please look after yourself ❤☺
Robin MacPherson also, fun fact, many people around me have told me that their english has improved a lot, because i sometimes just speak in english to them in everyday conversations and it is so nice to see how i have helped others, through my passion 🙄 some even came to really like english, even though they didnt "like languages" (as they said) beforehand 🙉
Yes! I think it starts with thinking, continues into speech and then both. Good advice!
Absolutely! Thanks for commenting and supporting 😊
(all of my thousands of comment replies got deleted when changing my "channel type" 😞So reposting them little by little)
I find this to be true. The more I talked to myself in said language, the more fluent I became. Not only because I am more comfortable with the language and more natural, but also because you find out what words you don't know and so I look them up and accumulate more vocabulary.
Thats a great way to support studying the new language. Just need to learn more vocabulary to describe and talk (to myself).
Exactly! I think this method is a wonderful way to find out exactly what vocabulary you need to learn next, and words that are meaningful to *you* - which will be easier to remember since they are meaningful and will now have this unique context 😄
(all of my thousands of comment replies got deleted when changing my "channel type" 😞So responding to them all again, little by little)
Totally agree! I speak out loud to myself ALL the time in Portuguese and Spanish! I consider myself fluent in both as a result. Of course, I have been speaking both for the past 30 yrs!
Glad that you've had the same experience, Joaquim! And WOW, 30 years!! One of the reasons I learned so many languages in such a short space of time (and was determined to reach very high levels in them and maintain those levels) is that I thought to myself how WONDERFUL it would be to then have those beautiful languages with me and all the enrichment they bring to my life for the rest of my life. I often wondered what it would be like to have been speaking all these languages for 20, 30, 40 years 🙂
I talk to myself a lot and it's really really helpful. I describe what I'm experiencing at a given time, I create imaginary people to talk to me, I create stories and play all of the characters in that story, when I'm listening to a podcast or a video I pretend someone in there asked me a question and answer them, etc .. besides of people who feel uncomfortable or awkward doing it, there are a lot of people afraid that by doing that without another person to correct them they would end up repeating the same mistake, for that people I would say that we have a very good app for self correction installed in our brain. Whenever you reach what I call struggling point, moments you struggle funding or recalling a word, moments you are not so sure if it's the right or conventional way of saying something, it will open a gap in the perception of your skill and the next time you come across a word or structure that close that gap you will get it right away. If you eventually get to a point you have trouble recalling a certain word you will probably find another way of saying it and in the next time you encounter this word you would be like "THIS# THIS IS THE WORD I ALWAS LOOKING FOR!" And I would say that most of the times it happens in a subcontinent level. The only thing you must do to keep this app working in your head is very simple: get a lot of input. This is the raw material for this app to work. And I'm using this general "you" because I believe that it really works for everyone. I'm fact just by writing it I could spot some struggling points, weakness points, I'm pretty sure there is better ways if saying what I just said and just by doing this output I activated my sensibility to notice similar patterns in my input sections and next time I need to say or write anything like this I will form better sentences. The combination between output and input is miraculous.
I realize this is an older post but still, I wanted to say that this is such a great piece of advice and than you!
Thank you for this encouraging feedback Annette! I'm really glad that this was helpful for you! 😄
BLUE is GREAT for you... Heart from INDONESIA... Keep on awesome working!
Good stuff Robin, I agree on everything here. Talking to yourself has been kind of my go-to tip on helping people to start thinking in their target language.
Just to think aloud what ever comes to mind in the target language, ie. vocalizing the things you'd think anyway and then eventually making the monologue internal (while keeping it in the target language). After building a habit eventually it will come automatic and it will just feel natural. In that phase every though in target language is essentially language practise.
I've noticed a similar things like the ones you mentioned, eg. I speak to myself and wonder why I'm doing it in swedish, then I realize that the last song I had on my playlist was in Swedish. It's a really good feeling when you notice that language switching happens without thinking.
In a previous video you mentioned you read aloud a lot in a foreign language - I'm not sure, but you probably mentioned also shadowing. I think talking to myself, reading aloud and shadowing have been my main methods for achieving better speaking skills before I speak with actual human beings. I think you demonstrated the effectiveness of these techniques really well with your speaking skills in your Swedish video.
For me the pronunciation, intonation and flow are always the first things I try to focus to really get the unique musicality and tone of the language. I feel that a strong knowledge and feel for the sounds of a language gives a solid foundation upon which to build other skills. It might also be connected to the fact that music (playing, singing and listening) and thus sound is really important to me.
I'm a native Finn and my stack is Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, French and Russian. I'm pretty comfortable speaking in them and I can switch pretty easily, but there are always some random common word / expression that just does not want to come in the language that I'm speaking. I want to get rid of that, feel confident that I am over the so-called barrier and have a better command of the vocabulary. You've inspired also me to focus more on the languages I know and to get them to a higher level before jumping to the next shiny linguistic adventure.
Jami Haavisto what an amazing comment! 🙄 really interesting ☺
Robin MacPherson Me, too, Robin! I love how many people really take their time to respond to your ideas and to ad to them with their own personal experience and wisodm! It's really astonishing 🙄 I always try to read all of the other comments as well actually 🙈😀
Excellent explanation. First time I can say I understand what it means to think in another language
I learn whole sentences saying them aloud. 5 days - 300 repetitions per day at least. Later I don't need to translate. I know the meaning of words straight away like in my native language. And also I remember the meaning longer than by learning separate words. This method is called: chunking. It was a real game changer in my learning process and communication skills in English and other languages.😊
Thank you so much for your advises and tip, I just discovered you, and when I'm thinking about it I do it already with English, even when I write a comment, I also read it out loud to see if it sounds natural and If I'm able to pronounce correctly, I actually trying to do it with the language I'm currently learning, and when I try by myself to express my ideas I naturally tend to try to find how can I say it, and the funny thing is that I have to think in many different ways before finding the good sentence in the target language. It helps to force myself to use words I already know, simplify and improve understanding the target language
I love your way of thinking, thanks for sharing
I have been talking to myself for years...lol...so have no problem now doing it in Spanish. It really has helped me. If I get stuck on some grammar or a word, I'll look it up and find the correct grammar structure or word. Yes, it does get easier over time talking to yourself in your target language.
Haha it certainly helps for those of us who already have lots of practice talking to ourselves 😆 I'm glad that you've found this technique to be really helpful, too 😊
Oh my gosh! This is genius! I am starting this TODAY. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Rewatching today and still I can't shake off the fear that you will smash this cup of tea to the floor ;-)
In other words: Brilliant video, one of the most valuable on your channel!
Hahaha the other day I was thinking I should re-introduce the worryingly placed tea cup into a video or two ;-) Thank you for your feedback about the value of this video @Roman, I really appreciate it and want to make a lot more content like this now 💪🏼
(all of my thousands of comment replies got deleted when changing my "channel type" 😞So reposting them little by little)
I keep talking to myself, like all the time and I do it in four languages. So yeah! Great piece of advice 😀
Just, when I was watching the video, I thought: yes I do think sometimes in German, my best foreign language. But this was while I was watching your video! That means I did it also in English! And, because I am learning now Italian, who knows, when I am at that point again!
This is literally the only video that got me thinking in english... Thank you so much!
amazing advice! :-) thank you very much :-)
Hey Robin! I just watched your video where you told how you learned german by answering a podcast. I enjoy that video and I am going to have fun today in my own “sprachpraxis” :) cheers!
This is amazing! This is the first time I've ever heard of this advice. It makes so much sense and I'm going to do this every day. Thank you so much. You're wonderful.
Thanks so much for this encouraging feedback, Marian! One of my absolute favorite things with my content is when I'm able to provide some genuinely original advice or a new perspective on something that a lot of people struggle with. So I'm soooo glad that you found that in this video! 😄 I hope you will find more helpful advice in my other videos. I'm SO so excited about making lots of content in 2020 so please let me know if there are any topics you need help with and I will do my best 😊
I agree. I’m currently learning Spanish and my biggest challenge was learning how to learn. Great advice; I putting it into practice immediately. Thanks.
wow love this
OH MAN !! I HAVE JUST DISCOVERED YOU 5 MINUTES AGO AND WHAT YOU 'VE JUST SAID IS SO TRUE. IT ALSO WORK WITH MUSIC, FOR EXAMPLE AFTER HAVING PLAYED AROUND A SPECIFIC CHORD PROGRESSION, I KEEP HAVING NEW IDEAS POURING EVEN WHEN I AM AWAY FROM THE INSTRUMENT. THE SAME PHENOMENON APPLIES TO LANDUAGE LEARNING.YOU JUST GET NEW HABITS BY OVER-PRACTICING.
I LIKE YOUR APPROACH, YOU JUST GOT A NEW SUBSCRIBER.
Dear Robin, I love your videos, you pass a vibe idk explain, but, I'm learning English by myself and to watch this content make me improve myself.... so thanks, I wanna become a polyglot and you inspire me!
hello! i met your channel through steve! i have an exercise that i do, when i listen to a song in my native language (portuguese) i try to translate simultaneously to my target language ... this has helped me a lot to think about my foreign language
Hello Guilherme! That's a cool exercise, I actually do this sometimes while just listening to people chatting around me. Sometimes it's very difficult but it's a fascinating exercise to try simultaneous translation in real-time like that. Thanks for your input!
Consejo excelente-gracias por eso 👍
De nada @peter! Me alegra que haya sido útil 😄
I totally do this! However, I haven't systematised talking to myself in the way you describe. I find it really does help show how deep my knowledge of the language is and where I can deepen it further. Merci pour cette vidéo et votre conseil.
Merci beaucoup pour ce commentaire @fluntimes! It's a great point how this helps you to find those gaps in your vocabulary, grammar, colloquialisms, etc. and shows you where to improve!
(all of my thousands of comment replies got deleted when changing my "channel type" 😞So reposting them little by little)
Superb video! I adore languages because each language has its specialities but also limits. English as a vehicular language, which we used as a 1980's reflex via USA, is still interesting but quite limited as by only by speaking enough of an official or similar status language of a country not using English as such, opens far more artisanal commerce, cultural holistic secrets and diplomatic multi leveled doors to mention a few, for sure. I was born in France and previously lived in the USA more than 12 years and 17 in the UK so appreciate the English/American languages BUT my French, Latin American Spanish (Mainly some Mexican and Costa Rican) made me attract far more incredible rich experiences and remarkable positive opportunities than English alone. I am going for Hebrew learning now. Anyway, merci for such a cool video as, indeed, talking to yourself is extremely efficient.
When you mentioned the driving example, it occurred to me that actually this could also be a meditation practice. If I'm walking down a road, it's easy for me to be lost in my own thoughts. But if I consciously describe what I see in a foreign language, it will help me stay focused on the present moment. Thanks for the video and i'll definitely give it a try.
It is a great tip! I practice talking to myself in the target language every day and sometimes I even record those too. However, I know I am making mistakes but what I try to get right is- say the verbs, nouns, adjectives...and their pronunciations- in that sentence without giving much thought to the grammar ( If I know the grammar then I know).
Me recuesto en mi silla. Ahora, estoy bastante comodo. This was a great piece of advice.
Gr8..its working it
대박👏😲 고마워요!!!
Hi bro!! My name is Terricce, I am from Venezuela but I am living in Colombia right now, I want to thank you for thinking in our!! Sometimes I try speaking myself and I feel how my brain remember the sentences. Anyway, thanks for your advice
I notice I find myself translating when I read certain things now. Still beginner for me but I’m immersing myself as much as I can in my target language “French” 😃
And I agree with you about talking to yourself out loud albeit in private lol 😂
But yeah.. If you’re not in that country to really converse with the natives you really don’t have a choice if you want to learn to speak the language fluently 😃
Still difficile but it’s a process. Just really started immersing myself a couple of mois ago so.
See I’m even starting to translate some words when a write now.. lol 😂
Awesome advice given lad.. Thx so much 😊👍
Is that a cup of...tea?? 👀
Thank you for all your inspiring content, I get something out of every video 👍
You're awesome, Robin, and I am so grateful that I bumped into your channel and videos. Now let me ask you a question: I have been talking to myself learning like Icelandic e.g, a very difficult language, but my question is, how do you know what you are saying while talking to yourself in a foreign language is correct and that you are not saying everything wrong? Thks for your input.
Saludos Mr Robin 🤝
Great 👍👆😍. Is the best way think in foreign language for advance and understand better. When i walk in my city I think in english, and I talk to my self my plans or another ideas...best wishes, Karina
I do talk to myself, but my difficulty is that I am concerned that it may not always be grammatically correct. I am constantly checking to ensure that it is on point.
Hi Danny! Thanks for your comment 😊 I think that it is good to be concerned with being as accurate as you can be and you can use this to your advantage if you control it. I actually discussed this in a recent video interview I did with Steve Kaufmann on his channel that you might be interested in! I'll add a link below.
But I think you don't need to be TOO worried about being correct when talking to yourself. When you speak with native speakers, you won't have time to be so worried about being correct and checking each word you say - so it could be a really helpful activity for you to practice becoming comfortable with simply speaking and focusing on simply expressing yourself in the best way you can. This will make it much smoother when you talk to people and will improve your ability to express yourself.
But I do think from time to time you can record yourself speaking and then go back and analyze it, learn from mistakes or look up words you struggled with, and things like this. Just don't let the concern of being correct stop you from actually practicing :)
czcams.com/video/JMibKG_eWIY/video.html
That's interesting. I kind of got the impression that most people didn't deliberately think in a target language but it sort of happened sometimes as a result of immersion or a lot of studying maybe. I've tried deliberately thinking in Korean but I'm still not conversational so it's no shocker that my one person conversations didn't last too long. If I were in a position where I would need to actually speak Korean soon (like for a job or if I were going to Korean maybe) then I think it would be worth the effort. It seemed helpful just tiring.
Very very nice...
Thank you @M. R.S! 😄
(all of my thousands of comment replies got deleted when changing my "channel type" 😞So reposting them little by little)
actually I have never thought of myself thinking in German ,will start now
Im in love with your voice lol
haha thank you @Débora! I'm very pleased to read that :)
This is exactly what I have been doing in learning foreign languages. This method goes so far that you start dreaming in that language. However there is a drawback to it: In order to think properly, you need to have a grasp of the grammar. So the method forces you to first master the grammar and to move from there.What is wrong with it? Nowadays there are new approaches to language learning, based on imitation of native speakers, on replicatlng their sound bites thus concentrating primarily on prononciation. The focus on grammar on the other hand is detrimental to that approach. Do you have the same feeling? Or is there a way to combine these two approaches in an efficient way?
I don’t talk to myself when thinking. I think in images and ideas like I’m watching a movie. I haven’t been able to learn Portuguese after studying and practicing every day for 8.5 years. My girlfriend only speaks Portuguese and we’ve been practicing for over 5.5 years now. I can’t understand her yet and I have to translate everything into English to understand.
Found this after leaving a comment about struggling with thinking in my target language 😅
I speak a lamnguage besides English fluently and when I went to visit my family in the country that it is spoken I thought in the language but now I cannot because I can never speak it.
I mix it in with my own language when I am thinking to myself. If do it out loud in front of other people, they get confused so I try to avoid that.
This is part of what is helpful about speaking/thinking to yourself. Usually, the times when you switch to your own language are when you aren't sure to say something -- so it can be really helpful to take notes when you discover these things and then learn how to say them for next time 😊
Robin MacPherson Sí claro. Muchas gracias.
nicedog1 de nada! 😊
if i get a grammar book, how will i understand its context. if im new to the language. What should i do to understand that book.
So this is what proctor from power has been up to since being killed off the show
You found me! 🤣
Jokes on you, I have ADD, I think so fast that I don't pick up certain words.
Why is the Tasting Bread book in the video a lot 😃
I think you want me to think but I think thinking too much makes me think I am crazy, well that's what I think the most now
What does it mean to think in a language? I don’t think in any language now. I don’t have voices in my head. I’ve been studying Portuguese for over 8.5 years now but I still can’t converse or read. I’ve visited Brazil 18 times.
how many languages do you speak
Sir how many languages do you knw???
Hi @Zaid! I speak 8 languages and am currently learning my 9th, although I've also spoken another (Dutch) somewhat fluently in the past but no longer claim to speak that one for now 🙂
(all of my thousands of comment replies got deleted when changing my "channel type" 😞So reposting them little by little)
4:40
Eu sou no maloco
I'm a theatre kid. No problem with talking to myself 😂
I would like to hear your views of Krashens opinion that it doesn't help us to speak out loud while driving the car and that talking is not practicing.
Seems to me that modern polyglots speak as early as possible going against Krashen's views.
First off: I like your solution to learning to speak in a foreign language (provided you have enough of a passive vocabulary). However, the basic question you ask (how to think in a foreign language) I feel differently. The best I can do is refer you to the video of Matt vs Japan of 2019, one year after you recorded this one: czcams.com/video/CRmxNFv04ao/video.html. I tend to agree with the question that Matt starts with: do we think in a (known) language at all? Or are we constantly translating thoughts to words when we need to? Your technique of learning to speak in a foreign language seems excellent, as an answer to a different question (how do I learn to speak in a foreign language more easily).
How do I stop translating things in my head while speaking and listening
Shaylan Roy exposure. listen and read things enough, and eventually you’ll just start to respond in your target language without the need to translate
@@ian-hm6cx thanks I'll try that
Hi @Shaylan Roy, thanks for the great question 😊 Let me try my best to give you something more directed and actionable to try that has always helped me a lot.
I think if you can work on building the automaticity with which you're able to craft sentences, I often describe this as feeling like I'm "increasing my language processing power", as if I were a computer. I often think of this idea of 'processing power/time" both in terms of input (listening & reading) and output (speaking & writing).
I'd love to think more and make a whole video about this, but one thing I recently recommended and always helps me is reading and also repeating a lot of different phrases out loud, and transforming those sentences in any way I can - so switching the words or changing the nuance with a different verb tense or injecting an idiom, etc... It feels like this really improves the automaticity with which I can construct and comprehend thoughts in that language, and also feels like it reduces that 'lag' we sometimes feel between thinking of a sentence and translating it into speech. You will find that as you gradually decrease this "lag time", eventually it finally becomes zero. Does that help give you something concrete to work with? 🙂
Thanks for your input as well, @lemon 😊💪🏼
@@RobinMacPhersonFilms thank you I will definitely try that
One question I have all the time whenever I think about the topic is “Will thinking in a foreign language impact our fluency in our native language?”
It could impact it if you don’t use your native language at all.
@@user-pf5yd2zd1oLol if I forgot my native language I would be completely alienated from everyone around me.
beautiful man? handsome... xD
@@RobinMacPhersonFilms no, theyre talking about how you called a man beautiful lol
Robin is handsome
BTW what is your ethic background?
haha thank you for this correction xD
(all of my thousands of comment replies got deleted when changing my "channel type" 😞So reposting them little by little)
@@lisettelachat1870 Aw thank you @lisette 😊 My mother is half Iraqi, half Syrian, and my dad is Scottish
You don't think in ANY language. You think in concepts and communicate those concepts through language.
Why are you so nice?
Am I the only one who is not talking really to himself but just on very specific cases?
ich müss üben
How can I determine my English grammar mistakes when I think in my head?
many of you make up some silly stories when you see a movie, anime... just try to make it in another language.
@Robin MacPherson @RobinMacPhersonFilms
u hav 1 inchrisdingly mixd-seeming inglish diyilekd (hav u livd in multipil kunchreez e.g. U.S.A South Afrika, UK)? 😯