How to think in spanish???
I think I am doing something that we should not do!!!! When something is written in spanish or spoken in spanish to me, I listen to each word and tranlate it to english to understand it. I dont think I should be doing this??? Do I continue to do this and let nature take its course, or, change my way of learning???????? Its the same when I want to write something or say something in spanish!! I say or write it in my mind, then say or write it in spanish. Is this a learning process that everyone goes through or is it just me???????
10 Answers
Yes, everyone has trouble at first, and you can't really "force" yourself to think in another language. What you can do is increase your exposure to the other language. For example
- Read children's books in Spanish (maybe your library has some?)
- Read young adult books in Spanish -- try a library, amazon, or ebay
- Turn on Univision or Telemundo or a Spanish-language radio show and leave it on while you're doing chores.
- Get on the Univision or Telemundo sites and watch news and human interest videos -- this is great because there are pictures to go along with what they're saying, and there are new videos every day. It will take a while before you can understand normal-speed speech though.
- Find someone to to talk to! (But this may be easier said than done, especially for those of us who are shy!)
In my experience, it takes many many hours of listening and reading before you will start to internalize, and that's why language classes or tapes don't get you there -- there just aren't enough hours. Find a book you enjoy and spend hours reading!
If you read and listen as much as you can, you'll start to find Spanish trickling into your thoughts and even when you are dreaming. And one day (this actually happened to me in German) you may even address someone in Spanish without realizing it!
Oh, I think everyone does this at first. I know I do.
This is probably why, when I then put my thoughts into Spanish, they often come out as what I have heard described as "Spanglish" - because I'm using English word order and grammar.
From past experience, I can tell you that it will change - especially if you can find some way to speak it frequently with native or advanced speakers. My French was the same, untilI spent some time in France, It just takes a lotof practice!
Yes . This is right. Si es correcto.
Pienso en español , bsco las palabras en ingles en mi mente y según como recuerde voy formando las oraciones, pero el inglés no se escribe igual que se pronuncia, eso se me hace un problema jejeje
For what it is worth, I will tell you what I am trying. I watch my everyday speech for sayings and try to always look them up and change them to Español. For example fun things like "I'll be back", "yo volveré" from The Terminator movie. Also, I watch for and learn and use any and all common sayings and quotes like John 3:16 that come up quite often. Sometimes I already automatically think them in Spanish. Hope this helps.
"Learning to think" in another language (i.e. gaining fluency) takes time. People have this mistaken notion that studying Spanish and memorizing words and grammar rules will eventually lead to fluency. While these are important, in and of themselves, they will never actually lead to fluency.
To think in another language means that you can automatically associate, say "a wall" with "una pared". There is no translation from English to Spanish, it is what it is and seeing "la pared" means you are not seeing "the wall". You are simply seeing it for what it is: "la pared".
In order to actually think in Spanish, you have to train yourself to associate the words and language with their Spanish equivalents. How do children do this? How did you learn to think in English? Immersion. Immersion is the only way to learn to actually think in another language. But this alone will not do the trick. There are millions of English speaking Americans living abroad without the slightest comprehension of their host language.
I like to call this "concentrated immersion". You read a book in Spanish and try to get the "flavor", or gist of the story without needing to literally translate every word. You listen to a Spanish song or talk show on the radio and try to recognize words, even if you don't really know what they mean. You watch a Spanish movie or television show and try to recognize the words while watching body language and facial expressions to gain insight into what is happening. You read and speak aloud and take every opportunity to practice what you are learning. In time, you will find yourself actually thinking in Spanish. It will happen almost unnoticeably, like when you're driving down the road and instead of seeing "a car", you see "un coche".
Each person is different and what may only take one person 6 months to do may take another 2 years. You can't force yourself to "think" in Spanish; all you can do is force yourself to practice and in time, fluency will come. I guarantee it!
There are a lot more answers here, (including one of mine) if you want 
The best way to learn to think in Spanish is to fall in love.
As many have all ready said, "It's the natural way of things when you are trying to learn a new language as an adult." Children learning from an early age don't go through this process as they assimilate the language.
A suggestion to help is a great book from http://thetwisteddoors.com. called LAS PUERTAS RETORCIDAS. I have used the French version, and it is a great way to add to your studies.
I think I was doing that before, but now I think rarely or often am doing that when translating something i know
I am working on my exposure to Spanish. The more Spanish I hear or read the more I learn. I am going through Spanish courses in college. I also try and say as much as I can when talking to a Spanish speaker even if it does come out grammatically incorrect or I get stuck and say some words in Spanish and some in English it helps me with the learning process.
Also my favorite part is playing video games in Spanish (and figure out what is going on or spend time translating) and this allows me more exposure and I get to do something I enjoy at the same time.
