How to THINK IN ENGLISH and STOP TRANSLATING IN YOUR HEAD

In this English lesson, discover how to think in English without translation, using your favorite TV shows and movies for effective self-practice.

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Video Transcript:

Today, we’re taking more scenes from TV and we’re using them to practice our English. You can train your mind to think in English so you can recall the words faster and stop translating in your head in conversation.  

First, we’ll take a scene from a show ‘The Black Lady Sketch Show’. The scene is on mute because it’s not about watching the clip for fun and the audio can distract us from thinking. It’s about describing the clip in English. So as you watch it, you’ll be thinking in English. First, you’re going to see about 10 seconds of a clip. Think all the nouns that you’ll see. If you see a banana, think banana. You’re just naming objects. We’re going to watch this scene later with a different focus. But this is just objects. Here we go.  

I thought lots things.  

refrigerator  

Cabinets  

Belt 

Necklace 

Buttons  

Mug  

Counter 

Or maybe you though island or kitchen island  

Computer or tablet   

Keyboard 

Again, lots of objects in this shot. 

Stool or chair 

Table  

Lamp 

Picture  

This piece of furniture can be called lots of things 

Buffet 

Side board  

Console  

Laundry basket  

Drawers 

In this wider, we see a fruit bowl with apples and bananas,  

a picture on the wall 

The back door  

This short little drapery at the top of the window is called a valence  

Shirt 

Jeans 

Now, let’s look for adjectives. What words can you think of to describe this scene? It’s okay if you only come up with one or two.  The more you do this, the quicker your brain will be able to recall words in English. If a word comes to mind that you don’t know in English as you’re doing these sorts of exercises, take the time to stop and look those words up. It’s a great way to learn new words because you’ll have a visual to go with it which will help you remember the words. Okay, ready? The same clip. Think of a couple adjectives.  

Silver, the color of the refrigerator 

Green, the dress  

Gold, the jewelry 

To me, the scene seems kind of dark like it’s in the evening.  

Purple for the shirt  

Yellow for the chair  

Red for her hair or curly 

Here, the mom looks excited to me.  

Now, let’s see if we can come up with a few verbs to describe what we see. Watch one more time and let your mind think of a verb or two.  

Talking 

Pointing  

She’s leaning on the island. It also likes she’s mousing on the trackpad.  

We’re any of these words new?  

Let’s take a look at another scene. This is from the show ‘Platonic’.  

To start, think of the word for any of the objects that you see in English.  

Safes 

Dog, of course.  

Doberman, that’s kind of dog.  

Collar  

Tag or charm  

W 

Spikes 

Behind him, tiles 

Ears  

Eyes 

Nose. Or for a dog you can say snout to describe the part of the face that juts out with the nose on the end.  

A lot to look at in the second scene.  

Hat  

Glasses  

Necklace  

Man 

Woman 

Jacket 

Windows 

Again, hat  

Glasses, it’s hard not to see that beard isn’t it?  

Guitars  

Rings  

Display case  

This is a pawnshop  

Now, see if you can come up with some adjectives as you watch the scene again. Think the words in English.  

This dog is serious. Unmoving  

Stoic  

His ears are pointy  

Clipped  

Here, you could have thought of colors.  

Green 

Black and yellow for the hat  

Brown for the color of her hair  

Maybe you thought pretty  

Attractive  

This man is older  

The glasses reflective  

The guitars are kind of shiny 

His beard is long  

Now, some verbs. What action can you describe? 

He dog isn’t moving much is he?  

Sitting  

Staring  

Pointing  

Standing  

Talking  

She’s gaping. That means to stare at something with your mouth open in surprise or interest. Gaping.  

This man is also pointing, talking and nodding his head a little bit.  

Let’s do one more scene. This one is from the show Acapulco. First, just think of the objects you see. 

Two men 

Sunglasses  

Belt 

Chairs  

Pillow 

Cactus  

Ocean or Sea  

Rocks  

Patio  

Tables 

More men  

Beers 

Sunglasses  

Shirts with collars  

Pants  

Shorts  

Bowls  

Trees  

Now there’s a lot of bright color in this scene. Let’s name some colors and other adjectives that come to mind.  

Such vibrant colors. Yellow.  

This could be called pink magenta or maybe Fushia.  

White  

Red  

Green 

Blue 

This man is thin.  

This man is bigger, you could say medium build. I wouldn’t say he’s overweight but maybe you could say a little heavy set.  

Their outfits are matching.  

Here, I see the plants blowing, it makes me think windy.  

Sunny  

The shore is rocky. 

Everyone is dressed in a way that’s very preppy.  

The overall style of this location is mid-century modern. 

The bottles are brown.  

This bowl is teal.  

The tables are orange. 

These pillows are striped. 

His pants are pleated.  

His collar is popped.  

Let’s look for some verbs to describe what’s happening in the scene.  

He’s touching his shoulder.  

He’s talking.  

They’re standing. 

In the background, someone is walking by.  

The breeze is blowing.  

The men are sitting.  

He’s pointing.  

They’re waving or gesturing.  

They’ve just been introduced to this guy. So you could say, ‘This guy in white was introducing.’ 

I hope you had fun working on your English skills with these scenes from TV, I know I did. Check out all my videos designed to help you think in English. They give you the tools and the training to increase your vocabulary and to start thinking more in English. And please, do subscribe with notifications on, I absolutely love being your English teacher. That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.  

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