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Still translating in my head | ||
Tags: Thinking | Translation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| Lizzern Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5901 days ago 791 posts - 1053 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 9 of 18 31 May 2009 at 12:50pm | IP Logged | ||
That's interesting Javi! I answered based partly on how things worked when I took Spanish classes - the first non-hateworthy language classes I ever took - though I was never much of a translator after I learned the basics, the full-on immersion kinda prevented me from using English in any meaningful way when relating to Spanish and Catalan. But since then I've studied a couple of languages using Assimil, and I think you're right, they do cut out that tendency to translate back to what you know - strange, when you think about it, since one might expect that having the L2 text on one side and the L1 translation on the other might encourage translation... I find I hardly ever look at the English text these days except for new vocabulary that I can't figure out from context. One of the major flaws I've found in other language courses I've done (of which there have been many) is that they rely on your L1 for everything so that we effectively bring our L1 into our study of our L2 and never quite leave it behind, so we become L1 thinkers speaking L2, rather than L2 thinkers. I guess that's why I'm such a fan of Assimil, where L1 is just a temporary crutch while they help you stand on your own two feet in L2. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Javi Senior Member Spain Joined 5973 days ago 419 posts - 548 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 11 of 18 31 May 2009 at 2:00pm | IP Logged | ||
You should concentrate on the torrent of sounds, as though it was music, gradually noticing how it breaks into words, but without thinking at all, just let the words go away and pay attention to what is being said right now. After a bit of practice, you'll have a very strange experience: you have listened to a whole conversation, you're sure you've got all the single words, you are certain that you know those words in that context, but you keep wondering: did I understand? You did, it's jut that your brain is not used to getting meaning out of a torrent of sounds at a natural speed. As you improve, you will be able to break the sounds in chunks bigger than words. That's how native speakers can understand even poor quality recordings, slurred speech and thick accents. Edited by Javi on 31 May 2009 at 2:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6003 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 12 of 18 01 June 2009 at 8:34am | IP Logged | ||
Exposure and confidence. Many people translate just to make sure they know what they are saying/hearing, even when they don't need to. Relax, and trust yourself. That's all you need to do. Just remember that as others have said, when you really don't understand what you've read, you can go back and look at it consciously if you have to. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| keith1569 Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5646 days ago 61 posts - 64 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Sign Language, Spanish | Message 14 of 18 04 June 2009 at 7:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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I to translate in my head, but now always..I only do it with some sentences when it does not come to me quickly. I have to think about what I am tying to say ha
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| cranberry Newbie United States Joined 5643 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 15 of 18 05 June 2009 at 1:43am | IP Logged | ||
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Translate what you hear in English into Spanish, then.
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| allikamikaze Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6170 days ago 37 posts - 37 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Russian | Message 16 of 18 07 June 2009 at 7:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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After I had been learning French for some time, I noticed myself translating less in my head. It's like, some words and phrases, you can just... understand after a while. Sort of like how in English (or native language) you have come to know a certain word based on the context you've heard it in and everything else. So, for me, I remember thinking certain words and phrases in my head in French even if I felt that I still needed to translate other things. Such as "pour acheter" for some reason, I just ... "see" that word, so I no longer try to break it down like "in order to buy" or "for buying" because I have become accustomed to seeing it in French and I can recognize it that way. I also realize when I'm familiar with words in that way when I'm writing in English and accidentally insert a random French word instead of the English word, especially when I don't initially notice I did it. It's interesting, but keep at it, I think as you improve you'll be able to "see" and "understand" more words in their Spanish forms ;)
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