✋🏻STOP Translating and THINK in Spanish 👍🏻🇪🇸

Are you stuck learning Spanish because you're translating every single word in your head before you say it? I want to go, I want, quiero, to go, ir, quiero ir. I get it. It's hard. And most likely, by the time you've finished thinking about it in your head, the conversation has already moved on because let's face it, us Spaniards are like BIM BAM BUM BAM BUM BAM when it comes to speaking. We know that. The good news is I've got some tricks for you today. So let's fix that and start thinking in Spanish. First, let's have a look at why over translating keeps you stuck. Let's face it. Languages are maths formulas. That's the reason why I've learned languages and not maths. My brain is language orientated. I was absolute crap at maths. Word for word translation makes you slower, sound absolutely robotic. Let me tell you, chat GBT sounds more natural than you when you do that. And you miss the real life native structures. Let me give you some real examples of what students say versus what us natives say. The student says, Soy veinticinco años, años if we're lucky, because a lot of the times they say años, but let's not go in there, okay? So, I am 25 years old. Nope. In Spanish we say, Tengo veinticinco años. If you translate it literally, you are screwed. It makes sense. How would you say it makes sense? ¿Hace sentido? Error. Spanish don't say that. We say, Tiene sentido. It has sense. I'm excited. How would you say it? ¿Estoy excitado? Ay, Dios mío de mi vida. That literally means you are sexually excited. You want to say, ¿Qué ilusión? Tengo ganas. I'm cold. How would you say that? ¿Estoy frío? Error, amigo mío. It's, Tengo frío. Tengo frío. I have cold. Tengo frío. You get my point? See? You can't just copy the English grammar, because there's going to be many cases where, unfortunately, it's not going to work. Spanish has its own logic, I guess. Okay, so now the question is, Patri, how can I think in Spanish? First tip, you're going to learn chunks, not words. Chunks. So instead of saying, I want to go, just memorize the phrase. Quiero ir. I want to go. So you know that I want to go, which you're more than likely to use many, many, many times a week, this is going to say, Quiero ir. Quiero ir. And it's going to come to you naturally, fast and quick. I have to go. Tengo que irme. So you've got that one in your pocket, ready to go, ready to roll. Tengo que irme. I have to go. Tengo que irme. Adiós. Tengo que irme. You don't have to be translating it little by little. Hey, can we meet up one day? A ver si quedamos. Literal meaning, let's see if we meet. It doesn't make any sense in English, but that's what we say in Spanish, when you're trying to meet up with someone. Oye, a ver si quedamos. A ver si quedamos. Un día de estos, one of these days. So have it ready to go. Tip number two, you're going to describe what's around you in Spanish. This is just to train your brain to live in Spanish. You are tricking your subconscious mind, okay? You're learning how to live in the language. Por ejemplo, you're at home cooking and you say, estoy cocinando. Estoy cocinando. I don't care if your cat is around and no one else. You tell your cat, estoy cocinando. Okay? Cats speak many languages, let me tell you. My cats were bilingual. Tengo hambre. I am hungry. Tengo hambre. How many times are you going to say that phrase? I say it at least five times a day. Tengo hambre. At least. Hace calor hoy. It's hot today. If you live in Spain, you're going to say this very often. Okay? Hace calor hoy. It's hot today. Have it ready to go. You enter the elevator and you see that annoying neighbor that you rarely speak to, but you're like, oh, this is awkward. I need some chit-chat. I need some, you know, something to break the ice. I need to make small talk. What do I say? Hace calor hoy. Or if it's cold. Hace frío hoy. That's really it, guys. That's it. Número tres, and this one comes really handy because you always ask me, how did you learn English? How do you have that accent? You sound British. Guys, all I did was repeat like a parrot. So, that's called shadow native speech. Basically, I hear someone speaking around me, a native speaker, and I repeat, watching the TV, scrolling through TikTok, and I'm repeating in my head. Okay? So, listen to podcasts, videos, anything you like, guys, and repeat the words in your head. Not only in your head, but actually in real life. Okay? Put that speech to work. Train your tongue. Train all your organs to make those sounds, the rhythm, the tone. They will end up coming to you naturally, especially if you're learning in chunks. You're watching, for example, La que se avecina. Is there a more Spanish series than that? You're watching La que se avecina, or I don't know, La Casa de Papel, Money Heist, and you're repeating those chunks, and you're repeating those sounds, just like the protagonist says it. Okay? And of course, last but not least important, accept imperfection. Okay? Super important. Listen, I know you stress out about mistakes so much, and it breaks my heart. It genuinely breaks my heart. Being fluent in a language does not mean zero mistakes. Guys, I'm the girl that dropped the C-bomb at my Catholic staff school barbecue the first time I was living in England. Okay? Because I thought it meant naughty. I learned the lesson, I learned the shock, and let me tell you, I had a good laugh out of it. The other day, I was teaching Spanish, and I wanted to say I was swimming like a dog. Okay? And I said, I was swimming doggy style. You can't beat me to embarrassing mistakes. There's no way you can. And I have a laugh every time I make them. And it doesn't matter how fluent I am in English, I will keep making embarrassing mistakes for the rest of my life, because it's part of a language. Even as a Spanish speaker, I make mistakes. And they make hilarious stories. So make those mistakes, learn from them, and then tell the story to someone else. So, recapitulemos. Número uno, learn chunks, not words. Número dos, describe your daily life in Spanish. Me estoy cepillando los dientes. I'm brushing my teeth. Por ejemplo. Número tres, shadow natives. Nowadays, there's no excuse not living in, you know, a Spanish-speaking country. You can literally be immersed in the Spanish world from your house, with your TV, with your phone. So I'm not taking any excuses. And número cuatro, embrace those mistakes. Focus on your flow, not on perfection. Okay? And if you want to break this translation habit for real, I do translation challenges in my community every single week. From beginner, intermediate, to advanced level. I do them in my live lessons. There's that and so much more. Full courses from A1 to C2. Weekly speaking practice. Community chat, where we have a good laugh and post memes all the time. And my favorite, meetups all around the world. Pues dale, ya lo sabes. Ahí te espero. I'll see you there. Besito. Adiós.