Hello, good morning. Good evening. Good afternoon
wherever you're watching or listening from.
I'm Adriana from englishteacheradriana.com and today I want to talk, well, teach you how to
train your brain to think fast in English. We're going to go through three steps
you need to be taking on a daily basis to be able to think fast in
English and then we'll be going through some tips to start training your brain
To think fast when speaking, when writing, when communicating in English.
Now why am I going through this question answering this question, how to train your brain to think fast in
asked this question two days ago on my Instagram story over my Instagram, you can search for me English with Adriana,
I'm regularly asking you questions about video ideas, about how I can better
help you improve your speaking skills, and this was the most requested question.
So I thought I'd go into detail about that today.
Please make sure to be joining the chat as I have asked you a very important question there, answer that question.
I will be going through some of your questions towards the end of this video lesson, if you are watching the replay I
have also asked the question in the comments below this video. It's not too late.
If you're watching the replay read the question, answer the question
during the discussion in the comments below
I am trying my very best to answer your questions, so that we can support each other and just improve your English speaking skills
remember friends to hit that like button to support my channel and to tell me that you enjoy these live streams. If you don't like
this video lesson, please hit that dislike button so that I know that you don't like these video lessons.
Also, don't forget to subscribe and to turn on notifications
so that you get the next lesson that I post here.
Also, if you haven't, sorry, I'm losing my voice, quite cold here.
But if you do have a friend learning English, sharing is caring, share this video
with them. So, I'm just going to get straight onto it and
talk a little bit about how to train your brain to think faster in English. Now as you know, I've mentioned in previous
lessons that I do suggest that you suggest...
I do suggest that you spend about 30 minutes, 30 minutes a day to
actively improve your level of English and this will also help you train your brain to think faster in English.
These three steps I'm going through is something you should be doing on a regular basis.
changing it, doing something different every single day so that your brain doesn't get bored, so that you don't get demotivated
and so that you actually enjoy learning, you enjoy
improving and you can see the results.
These tips we're going through have enabled me to think fast,
in my second language, which is Croatian, and I don't stop and stutter as much as I used to.
Sometimes it's even hard for me to... If I'm talking about one topic in one language
and have to talk about in another, in English, it can be a little bit challenging. This is what I want.
I want you to get at that level so that when you're talking to somebody in English, you're clearly thinking in English.
You're only using the vocabulary that you know, and it's not hard for you to speak, it just comes out naturally.
Also, I do, I do want to start with my one top tip.
And just give it out now because I know a lot of you are making this mistake.
In that, in the live chat, I did ask you a question.
While you're waiting, will you please answer this question here?
How are you currently looking at the definition of new words?
So when you're learning English, when you are reading, when you're listening to somebody, when you may come across a new idiom, slang,
phrasal verb, what are you doing at the moment to find the definition?
Tell me in the chat if you are joining now, but I do want to answer this question.
If you're using a bilingual dictionary...
So what do I mean by a bilingual dictionary, if you're using maybe an Arabic to English dictionary,
or Croatian to English dictionary, Russian to English dictionary,
Vietnamese Arabic, whatever language is your native language to English and you're
translating the definition of that word,
You are not doing yourself any favors. You're not doing your brainany favours, you're not doing your mind.
You are actually not training your brain to think fast in English.
This is something I want you to stop doing because if you're watching this video lesson, if you're listening to this lesson,
then you're at an intermediate to an advanced level. You should stop doing this right now, okay.
One reason why I am able to think fast in my second language
which is Croatian, is maybe because of my laziness but also because I understood this fact.
Basically, I didn't have a dictionary and I was actually too lazy to look up the definition of words. Rather
I would learn through context so I couldn't be bothered
doing, going on Google or spying your dictionary and translating words to English.
But in the long term I've realized that this has actually helped me a lot to better think faster in Croatian,
Actually master the language and actually think a lot faster. So if you're using a bilingual dictionary, please throw it away,
throw it out in the bin, but if you are at a beginners level it's okay,
but if you do want to think fast, train your brain to think fast, please stop using it. Okay
So do you want to go through the first steps to begin with? Thank you to everybody joining in the live chat.
I will be going through all your questions towards the end of this video.
So your three simple steps to train your brain to think faster in English
Okay, you have to be surrounding yourself with the English language every single day now.
I do recommend 30 to, 15 to 30 minutes of active learning every single day.
But you can do more by making English a part of your everyday life.
This could be by listening to English songs. It could be by listening to podcasts in English.
It could be by watching movie, watching TV shows.
Anything you can do, think of your daily routine and make English a part of it. So, for example,
I know one thing a lot of you are gonna say is that I'm too busy to learn English and I just simply can't Adriana. You
I don't mean to be so direct but if you do want to think faster, train your brain to think
faster, you do need to be surrounding yourself with the English language as much as possible.
You could do this while driving to work
So if you're not driving to work while you're walking to work
While you're, I don't know catching a bus, going by train to work. However you're traveling to work,
I want you to get your mobile phone,
Get your earphones, put them in and listen to a podcast in English.
If you don't want to listen to a podcast in English
then listen to music in English, if you don't want to be listening to music in English,
then watch a YouTube video in English. You don't have to wait watching English lessons, English teachers... Just try to
listen to as much English as possible about topics you like.
There's the next tip I want to tell you while you are immersing in the language. Don't be only listening to English speakers.
Don't be only watching my video lessons.
Okay, go out and watch other English speakers speaking about differenttopics that you like and you enjoy it.
Why am I telling you this, this will motivate and will stimulate your brain to want to be able to
understand, identify and be able to use new vocabulary that is relatable to you. So let me give you an example.
When I moved to Croatia, I came here
I had a really big problem because I couldn't understand news. Even when I was going out for coffee with people, or just go for dinner,
You know people would be speaking really fast and they'll be using these dialects and slang and I was just like please slow down
So, what did I do? And I wasn't able to think I couldn't even express myself.
I started immersing and surrounding myself with the language. Now, at that time, I didn't know what podcast was,
this was 9 years ago, podcasting wasn't such a big thing.
But I actually, what I did was listen to music, a lot, a lot of music and I watched a lot of TV shows in
Croatian without subtitles. Don't be using subtitles, okay, talk about that later on.
But basically this enabled me just to simply be surrounded more by the language,hear it more often, hear that common vocabulary
And this enabled me to better identify and to better process and think about the language in my brain.
Then when I went out, it does take a while
okay guys if you're here thinking that okay,
You're going to be able to think fast in English in a month's time, in two months time, in three months time.
I'm so sorry. I do have to apologize
It's gonna take you a long long time, it really depends how much work you want to put in
but the more consistently you do this, the faster you will see results.
It took me about 2 years, 2 years of living in the country constantly immersed in the language.
I do use English in my everyday communication for work.
So maybe this was a factor, but it does take time, but immersion is key.
Now the next thing that you should really be focusing on...
The next thing is just simply don't translate. Ok. I know it's easier said than done but by you
translating, by you...
Even when you... Let me give you a simple example.
So now a lot of the times, they're sitting out having coffee with friends
Somebody says a really cool joke in Croatian and I laugh and then I have to explain it to somebody else in English.
So maybe a non-Croatian speaker, a friend that doesn't understand a Croatian language.
But when I translate that joke to English
It doesn't, the meaning doesn't come across the same
Now the same happens when I'm doing, I wanna say jokes to my friends,
my English-speaking friends among Croatian people.
Then I have to translate a joke from English and it's not the same in Croatian.
Why? Some things aren't funn, based on context, based on culture, here's a lot more which goes into jokes and humor,
Depending on a language, culture, people yo're with.
But also sometimes you simply can't translate the exact words exactly the same from one language to another language.
Now why am I telling you this to stop translating?
translating constantly, you're actually thinking in your native language. You're not thinking in English.
So by simply... When you hear something, process that you information in English.
What do I mean by process the information in English?
For example, you're listening to a podcast and they've said something like X Y Z is going to be our B, for example.
That may be obvious, that's an acronym, but okay and then what I want you to do is think about, okay going to, but they didn't say going to,
They said gonna, gonna. What does that mean? Ask yourself these questions,
Question what you heard in English, rather than asking, so when you're listening to something, try to better understand that information
ask yourself those questions in your head, in English. Not, not in your native language.
Why? By doing something as simple as this, when you listen to a podcast,
when you're listening to a TV show, when you're watching a movie when you're listening to something,
you're, you're taking a small daily step to better be able to think but also
But also, you also, you're also training your brain to think faster, to be able to think fast
in situations when you do have to speak or when you have to write.
So by simply just asking yourself questions for comprehension purposes, just to check your understanding,
This will help you in the future to
be able to think of those words think of those expressions when you have to speak and write.
It's all about the small daily steps to just simply train your brain to process the information.
Process new vocabulary and then after you've processed it be able to use it in spoken form. Now,
this is the main reason why translating is such a bad idea, because you're processing the information and relating it back
like I mentioned before with vocabulary, a lot of times if you're translating context wise, it's not good in English and
this is where miscommunication can occur because you maybe use the wrong word in the right situation and especially if you're
professional in business settings, if your plan to take IELTS, you may be marked down in this
situation because you've used the wrong word, the wrong context and
even at times make, people may laugh at you and think of you a little bit, you know, as you're uneducated
because sorry, people are just cruel sometimes. Okay, let's be real.
So come on through the first step, the first steps. The first steps are immersion and just simply not translating.
Okay. Now, third step third step is do not
Do not forget to use your English.
So if you're not using your English, basically you're going to be losing, losing what you know.
And it's going to be really hard to be developing and improving.
Now when I say using your English, I mean speaking and writing, two things two ways
you can use English in spoken form and in written form.
Immersion involves a lot of reading, listening.
Reading and listening, whereas speaking and writing is more you thinking of those words sentences and actually communicating with other people
Now this is one of the most important steps for you to train your brain to think fast in English because
this is where you're actually doing.
So think of this like maths, mathematics class when you started, I don't know, when you were a prep or grade one, you probably learn that
But then you... In year 12 or year 11 you went into more advanced and complicated mathematics, applied mathematics
We use those formulas in, if you are a mathematician that is.
So am I going to math but basically, okay applied mathematics, sowhen you're going into different situations.
You have to extract all those 1+1 and all these symbols etc and use them.
This is same with English. So you do know grammar, a lot of you probably know how to form the present,
perfect, past simple, those tenses.
But when you're going to use them you can't because you haven't used your English in the real world.
It's normal, it also happened to me.
What I do suggest that you do is get as much speaking practice as possible. This is what we're going through now.
it's also very important to....
I'm going to go through a few tips now because I know that a lot of you're going to be asking this and
with speaking, it's very important to, first of all, not be using a bilingual dictionary.
Don't know, if you get stuck for a word
Don't use a dictionary to look up, look up the word in your native language and translate it to English.
No, find another word find a similar word. Even if it's like a baby baby word, the most simplest word
You can know use that word and then you'll ,you'll want to know or learn a new word.
That's a little bit more advanced. And that's, it's a... it's far... It's more effective way to learn. Ok,
let me give you an example of the times, of different situations living abroad where I've learned
really simple vocabulary and I've even tried to learn some advanced vocabulary in the beginning and then in
situations I couldn't think of that advanced word,
So then I had to use that really simple word and then I really got frustrated and that conversation,
that context because I just sounded a little bit too dumb.
But then I made it a point to learn another more advanced word and that way I was able to
not translate first of all, use my learned knowledge and also expand on my learned knowledge.
And this made me to retain and remember this in the future and thus enabled me just to simply think faster and express myself
faster in Croatian. Ok, but you get the point. It's another language. You should be doing this with your English skills.
Now also it's very important to be learning when you are using your English. They are
but also in context and in phrases it can be ok at times to learn single words.
Maybe nouns that you need to know, but I do suggest that you learn phrases.
Because phrases are based on context.
This can be a lot easier for you to, first of all, know when to use them,
also, you can identify different situations you can use them in and
simply it's just easier for you to remember them when you do have to speak in English.
Now, also with phrases, remember you want to be training your brain to think fast in English, based on topics to be speaking about
Not about, maybe, most likely you're not an English teacher. Okay. Maybe you are, if you are,
sorry, but you want to be talking about topics that are relatable to you.
So I use a lot of phrases related to learning English by English vocabulary, English learning English teaching.
You're most likely not going to need these, these new words and phrases.
But think about first of all what job? What's your job? What do you like doing for a living? What are your interests?
What are your hobbies and then build up some sort of phrase least, phrase word bank ,and be using them in
spoken form. Now, I know one thing, thanks LG2,
Yeah, it's actually - 4 outside. So that's why my throat is that cold, you got really really cold here.
But you do have to be using this in spoken form, one way, one great way to be using this in spoken form is...
You don't have a speaking partner, speak to yourself. So I do this quite often.
Basically in both English and in Croatian, so if I learn a new phrase or a new word in, even in English.
There's a lot of it when it's coming out. I try to repeat them and I tried to think of
situations, I'd stand in front of a mirror and try to remember that word, remember how to pronounce it.
So then it sort of sticks in there. If you're not using your vocabulary, it's not going to stick.
You're not going to remember it and it will be hard for you to think faster in the future.
simply think faster when you're having natural conversations in English, learn phrases
use it, repeat speak to yourself, speak in front of the mirror.
And another great thing you could be doing is simply to record your voice. Now
I know that a lot of you most likely have one of these smart gadgets.
It's a smart phone, a lot of them have that option of you recording your voice.
So when you hear, when you learn something new, when you learn a new phrase, when you come across a new word
What I want you to do is record your voice using that phrase, using a word in a sentence.
Why? Because this way you are using your English, you can also hear, you can play it back and hear okay,
how did you sound, you can hear
pronunciation, just a great way to reentering and to reaffirm that knowledge and to make sure that you can think of it really fast
Now, also, it's really important to be simply speaking to people.
So one, the best way really totrain your brain to think faster is to have natural
meaningful conversations in English. What do I mean by natural? So they're not staged
It's not like you're acting, you really want to speak to that person.
You enjoy that conversation you want to be able to communicate with them. That's what I mean by natural and
there was another point I said, I just got... So you want to have natural conversations and
okay, gosh, I have a brain freeze, okay.
So basically you want to be having natural conversations and meaningful conversations if I'm not mistaken.
So basically meaningful conversations that are relatable to you. You're not having meaningful conversations...
So basically speaking to people about interests you like, about your hobbies or what you want to do.
It's going to be hard for you to think fast in those situations because you don't want to, you're not motivated.
You don't wanna speak to those people.
So why, why would you even want to be able to process and use the English language.
Very important for just being consistent and just to consistently be using your English skills
Now also while... Why is it so important to have real conversations with real English speakers?
Basically because then you can test. So everybody likes to see progress.
I know and I like to see my progress speaking a second language
and I'm sure you'd like to see your progress speaking in English and
your ability, you can process, track your ability to think faster in English by actually having real conversations with people.
So when you're talking to somebody if you, if you notice it.
Maybe, I don't know, when you're talking about gardening, if you're struggling to talk about gardening,
maybe you need to train your brain to think fast. I'm using the tips to share throughout this video
To be able to better express yourself in that topic. Maybe it's about negotiating, you're having real problems
Scheduling meetings in English, then you should go back.
Listen to the first two steps, use those tips so that you can think faster
and you simply train your brain to think faster
speaking about those topics in English.
And also I do want to highlight that it is really important to stay positive.
So at times I know that it can be really demotivating if you're in a conversation
and you just forget the word, if you forget the grammatical structure, maybe somebody even laughs at you.
You won't feel really comfortable and you won't feel, you feel a little bit awkward and dumb at times. Okay, let's be realistic.
But I just think that you are making progress, that mistakes aren't bad and to make sure that, okay, identify
what was a mistake, how can you work on that mistake in the future and just be positive.
Laugh at your mistakes, okay, knowing a second language is a great skill and
I don't know. I think it's just really great, if you know two,
two or three languages and you're able to speak to more people, you have better job opportunities in the future.
So it's always good to be making mistakes. It is a second language, as long as you are learning from them
also make sure that your study routine isn't boring, do things
consistently learning so that you want to consistently develop your skills and you want to consistently just simply do
something to learn, you're motivated as long as you are
just happy to learn, happy to do things, it'll be a lot easier for you to,
To progress and to simply think faster in English. Alright.
I'm thirsty I just went through a lot now
I will be going through these chat, the questions in the chat at the moment, if you are watching here and you've just
joined, I have just gone through
exactly how to train your brain to think faster in English, hit rewind watch this video lesson again.
Use the three steps and use the tips that I mentioned as it will help you simply think faster, process information
Okay interesting. So every time...
I write it down in my wordlist so that... Okay, excellent! Kin Mon Zao, thank you for joining this discussion here.
So Kim Mon says every time I see a new word,
especially which draws my attention I write it down in my word list to learn, e then I memorize it by repeating several times good
So I like how you said that you memorize, it it draws your attention.
So, it's a word that you want to learn and also that you're repeating it. I just hope that you're making sentences
So you're not just saying this word out loud, out loud, or you're just writing this word ten times. I hope that you're constructing sentences
as sentences are really important for context, so that you know when to use this word and this is awesome.
I really love that. You are choosing vocabulary which draws your attention.
To draw someone's attention means words which sound attractive to you.
Excellent. All right, so I will be finishing up this live stream Thank you friends for joining this live chat.
I really enjoy speaking to you all here.
Make sure to join the discussion in the comments below this video, answer that question. It is an important question
I think you all do identify the importance of it that you stop using,
stop translating and stop using a bilingual dictionary.
Remember friends if you like this video lesson, make sure to like it if you don't like it, dislike it.
Also, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, to turn on notifications so that you get the next lesson that I post here. Yeah
Thanks for being here. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time. Bye for now