How to Think in Another Language Without Translating Building a Second Brain

Has this ever happened to you? You want to say something in your non-native language but you feel like you have to translate everything in your head first. This makes you feel stuck and stressed during a conversation. Well, it's normal because translation is one of the things that stop you from speaking fluently. But why does this happen? Translation happens because you learn the language consciously and by translating it into your native language. This method trains your brain to always translate before speaking. It's like a bad habit that your brain learned because of using the wrong method. If you want to think directly in another language and stop translating, you need to change how you learn the language. You need to build what it's called the second brain in that language. For example, if English is your second language, you need to build a second brain in English. You can only think directly in a language when it becomes part of your subconscious mind. That's the part of your brain that handles things automatically like breathing without even thinking about it. When you develop the second brain and use your subconscious mind, words will also come out of your mouth automatically and easily. But how can you do that? Well, that's what this video is all about. So let's get started. So let's first talk about why you should stop translating. Understanding the reasons and the negative effects of translation will make it easier for you to stick with the new method that I'll share with you later in the video. Translation creates an extra step in your brain. Instead of thinking directly in the language, your brain first finds the translation in your native language, then tries to fit it into a sentence. This slows you down and makes you doubt the words you want to choose in a conversation and blocks your fluency. Here's the problem. Speaking is a skill that requires fast thinking. Staying relaxed and responding naturally. And translation is the thing that gets in the way. But that's not the only problem. Translation also causes five more major problems when it comes to speaking a language. Miscommunicated intentions. I have many stories about misunderstanding caused by direct translations with my Italian friends. For example, one of the most common expressions Italians use during phone calls or even in the middle of a conversation is dimmi, which directly translates to tell me or begu in Persian, my native language. But in English or Persian saying tell me out of nowhere in the middle of a conversation can be rude and impolite. It feels like the speaker is impatient and annoyed with you. At first when I heard this with my Italian friends, I was surprised because I didn't know this. Later I realized that it was a mistake from direct translation. But if I hadn't learned the difference, it could have caused a serious misunderstanding, especially in professional situations. Another problem with translation can be wrong context. Words often have different meanings depending on the situation. For example, the word light can mean not heavy as in a light suitcase or not dark as in when you turn on the lights. If you separate the words from the sentence and translate them directly and try to memorize them with the translation, then you will have a hard time to make sentences when it's time to speak the language because you can easily use the wrong word in the wrong context and this can cause a lot of confusion when you try to speak. The next major problem is cultural differences. Language and culture are deeply connected. For example, in Italian when you meet someone for the first time or in formal situations you use the third person like lei come sta? This directly translates to how is she? But in English we don't have this formal third person usage. Instead we simply say how are you? Small details like this are the things that translations can teach. They can even make it harder to think fast and speak fluently because translation doesn't fully show the culture behind the language. Another problem can be falling into the trap of false friends. But what are they? When you rely on translation you may come across words that look similar in different languages but actually have completely different meanings. These words are called false friends and they often cause a lot of confusion and this is what happened to me when I was learning Italian. False friends can happen between a lot of languages like English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and so on. For example in English the word anticipate means to expect or look forward to something. However in Italian anticipate means to reschedule something earlier like an event or a deadline. Although the words look similar their meanings are different in each language and it can create a lot of confusion if you only rely on translation. False friends can be tricky when learning a new language so it's important to be aware of them and understand their correct meanings in the context. So as you can see translation can sometimes make things even more confusing. The next issue with translation is that some concepts and ideas don't have a specific word for them in other languages. To explain this I'm going to give examples from the three languages I speak Persian, English and Italian to make the point because this is one of the most difficult parts of the language learning journey. This challenge is strongly influenced by the values and cultures of each language and for us to be able to understand these words we need to also get familiar with the values and the cultures in that language. An example in English is the word side hustle. Americans are known for their entrepreneurial spirit. They're more business oriented and culturally speaking they always try to earn more and have more. So the idea of side hustle has a special meaning. It means taking a second job or a passion project with the goal of eventually turning it into a business or an extra income and it's something that is mainly looked at as a positive thing. However this idea doesn't translate well into Italian culture. Italians might not fully understand the value, the idea or the concept behind it. On the other hand Italians have the concept of dolce farniente. This Italian phrase literally translates to the sweetness of doing nothing and it refers to enjoying the relaxing time and not doing anything in particular and embracing a slower pace of life. As you can see these two ideas are completely different values and cultures. While English speakers might translate this to doing nothing it doesn't carry the same cultural appreciation for relaxation. For Americans who are often focused on work and hustle the idea of doing nothing can even feel uncomfortable. So the real meaning is lost in the translation and if you want to understand it we need to know about the culture as well. And the final example is in the Persian language. There is a word called taruf. This is a complex cultural concept that describes the polite and respectful behavior in social situations. For example if you're a guest and the host offers you food even if you want to have the food you are expected to say no. If the person insists three times only then it is acceptable to accept the offer. This behavior can be difficult to explain or translate into other languages because it's deeply tied to the culture. As you can see it's impossible to translate these ideas completely and for you to be able to understand these ideas you need to also understand the culture and the values in that society. So do you know any other words or ideas in your native language that doesn't exist in for example English? I'd love to hear about them and let me know in the comments and I'm curious to read them all. Because of all these reasons that we mentioned you need to train your brain to think directly in the target language that you want to speak and stop translating. Now let's get to the next point. How can you stop translating? The answer is full immersion in the language that you want to learn. This means surrounding yourself with only that language in every way possible. Read books in that language, listen to podcasts, watch different videos and movies in that language and even start writing in the language that you want to learn. For example, even though my native language is Persian I've always written in my journal in English since I was 13 years old. This simple practice rewired my brain to think directly in English and express myself more easily. So you need to try to use the language and engage as many senses as possible. The more emotionally you can connect with that language the faster you will be able to think directly in that language. Another thing that you can do is when you learn a new word try searching for an image online that represents that word. Connecting the words with the visuals helps them stick in your mind and connects them directly to that language without the translation in the middle. This will help you to little by little build that second brain. We'll talk about this more in depth in the next section but for now just keep in mind that you need to be emotionally involved and engage as many senses as possible. So what is it like when you develop a second brain in another language? You'll start to speak more automatically and fluently but also what's interesting is that you start to see developing a secondary linguistic personality. This simply means that you notice you have different personalities in different languages. For example, in my case in Persian I'm more sarcastic and funny. In English I'm more expressive and a bit sarcastic and in Italian I'm more shy and quiet. This is the magic of creating a second brain for each of these languages. You get to experience more than one version of yourself. Now that you know why you should stop translating and how to do it let's explore how to build a second brain for language learning. Let's first talk about what a second brain is and how you can use the concept practically. The idea of a second brain comes from the book Building a Second Brain. It's about organizing information outside your head like in a notebook or an app. Doing this can help you be more focused and access the information that you want much faster and whenever you want to review the things that you learned you can do it much easier. You can create a second brain for the language you're learning too to learn things better and refer to them when you need to review the new things. But what should you take note of? First of all all the inputs in this second brain needs to be exactly in that language so if you're learning English all the things put into the second brain needs to be in the English language. For example, when you come across new vocabulary you need to use monolingual dictionary not translation. For example, if you're learning English look up the new words in English. This way you will also read the explanation in your target language and you try to guess the meaning of the words based on the context. Once you did that write the word down in your notebook or on your phone with a sample sentence. For example, if you don't know the meaning of the word freedom the English dictionary might translate it to the ability to act without limits so write it down and then you can write a sentence example like everyone should have the freedom of choice. This practice trains your mind to think directly in the target language and stop translating. By doing this practice you will learn more new words, develop skills like guessing the meaning which is an essential skill for language learners and it will help you to avoid relying on translation. You will also understand how to use the words in the sentence and in the right context. It may take longer at the beginning but it's okay because you're practicing different skills at the same time and if you're patient and stay consistent after some time you see that you progress much faster and you start to immediately think in that target language and in this case you start to think in English. So don't expect an immediate result from day one. Remember language learning is a long-term process. The other thing that you need to take note of is the collocations. But what are they? They are sets of words that always go together. Learning collocations help you think faster and more naturally in your target language. For example in English we say have breakfast not do breakfast which is a direct translation from the Italian language. We say make a decision not do a decision. Collocations can also be the prepositions that always go with a specific word. For example rely on look for and so on. So whenever you see these collocations write them down because the act of writing actually imprints them in your mind and you're engaging more of your senses because you're taking action and as a result you will learn much better. Memorizing these collocations and writing them down will help you build that second brain in your target language much faster and when it's time to speak these collocations will automatically come together and it's like pieces of puzzle that are put together and already made in your mind and that's why you start to think directly in that language. I hope you found this video helpful and let me know in the comment section about your favorite part of the video. Thank you so much for watching and see you in the next video!