How do I separate English form Spanish when learning?
I have been learning Spanish(Latin America) for quite a few months now and I have realized a problem in my learning. It seems that I always want to relate and translate anything I hear or read into English. This might sound weird but I feel like the words need to mean something in Spanish, rather than English, for me to really learn another language. Is this something that develops over time, or is it something that I have to learn how to do?
4 Answers
This is very common in learning languages. One way to build around this is to use picture cards of objects and actions, with (in your case) only the Spanish on the reverse. For example, a picture of an apple, but the reverse only says "la manzana". In this way, you learn to form images in your mind and have the Spanish word be associated with it, rather than a translated English word.
If you make up graphical flash cards like this, make sure you include the definite article with nouns. It helps avoid confusion with the more ambguous words, like la mano, el mapa, la clase, etc.
For me it came with time. Especially when you start becoming more familiar with grammatical structures that are completely different, it starts to become unnatural to translate them, and they start to become more second nature. That being said, to some degree, I would say that it would take years for words to really mean something as strongly as they do in your native language. What I mean by that is that for instance, in regards to foul language or sensitive things, in Spanish they just don't effect me quite as much as they do in English. But in short, yes, I would say it is just an issue of time and practice.
The learning process may not be same for everybody. I went through the same thing you describe, the Spanish words seemed like a code or something. After about a year of fairly intense learning I started to actually think in Spanish and didn't have to use the 'on board translator' as much. That helped make it feel like a real language.
Feeling connected to the words and the language can increase as you communicate more with Spanish speakers, and develop friendships, etc. It might however be entirely possible to learn another language without having a personal connection.
Here's an idea. We all talk to ourselves in out first language, that "I was thinking to myself" thing. Try doing that in Spanish. For example if you're angry think, "estoy enojado", feel good think, "me siento bien". It will feel odd, but might help make the words relate more to real things.
That's why it is very important to translate from a written form to the other language written form, instead of doing it in the head.
So, if your native language is English, then you have to translate from Spanish to English and not the other way, as your head might be telling you. Let me tell you right up, that your head would be wrong if that were the case.
;-D
Edit:
So, by doing this, you will fulfill the requirement of "practicing" writing effectively and more meaningfully than just trying to concoct a phrase or sentence in a foreign language.
