Pratique du Shadowing: 7 Smart Ways to Think in English - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec YouTube

If you can think in English and stop translating,

⏸ En pause

Vitesse :

301 phrases

Si les phrases sont trop courtes ou trop longues, cliquez sur Edit pour les ajuster.

If you can think in English and stop translating,

then you can answer questions more fluently and participate in conversations more easily.

Let's find out how to do it.

Hi, this is Keith.

I run the website, The Keith Speaking Academy and the YouTube channel here, English Speaking Success.

By the way, if you want to build up your fluency,

check out my fluency course on Udemy.

It'll help you naturally use your grammar,

improve your pronunciation, and help really build your fluency

so you can move from being a struggling English student to a successful English speaker.

Now then, talking about thinking in English.

It's a challenge for some students, right?

And I think this is because in many schools across the world,

students are taught with what we call the grammar translation method, right?

We're taught to translate.

When I learned Chinese, right?

The teacher would say, okay,

Keith, to say hello in Chinese,

you say, great, to say, how are you?

You can say, and to say,

and so on and so on.

So it seems natural, right?

And logical at a beginner level,

you're translating to learn the language.

However, the problem is this becomes a habit that is very,

very hard to break as you move up the levels.

But it's essential that you break this habit because otherwise you're not gonna build up the fluency you need, right?

When you can start thinking in English,

then you can really answer questions more easily.

And in IELTS speaking, that's really important, right?

So in this video, I'm gonna show you seven smart ways that you can start thinking in English.

Let's begin.

So I would say the first step to thinking in English is to surround yourself with English.

Now that does not mean you have to go and live or visit an English speaking country.

Although it's great if you can, you don't have to.

No, you can do this in your own home by giving yourself even just 10 minutes a day of English.

And you can build up to 20 minutes,

30 minutes a day, build up slowly.

And it's important to see this English time as fun and enjoyable,

not study time, right?

So I'm talking about things like listening to podcasts,

listening to the internet radio,

listening to songs, reading some books,

novels, magazines, blogs, things that you like,

maybe watching TV series or films in English, right?

But having this moment when you are surrounded in English.

And during this moment, there are three things you can do, right?

First of all, you can listen passively, that's fine.

Secondly, you can repeat words that you hear or see.

Third, you can repeat phrases that you hear or see.

Now, listening passively is great because when you listen passively,

you're reducing the stress and the pressure.

And we know from research,

this can help us learn more deeply.

Repeating words and phrases is also fantastic because then you're starting to activate the vocabulary,

which means you can start to use it more fluently.

So by, I wouldn't say creating an English environment because that sounds very big, right?

And very difficult.

It's very hard to have an English environment in your home.

I prefer to call it English moments.

By creating these English moments,

maybe 10 minutes or 20 minutes,

then what you're doing is you're enabling yourself to start thinking in English because you're surrounded in English for that moment.

Great, let's move on to number two.

Okay, the next one is to only use words that you already know.

So when speaking in English,

sometimes students want to express an idea,

but they lack the vocabulary.

So they go to a dictionary and they look up the word or they ask somebody the translation, right?

¿Cómo se dice climatizar en inglés?

Ah, gracias, right?

And so you're getting a translation.

Now that's great for building your vocabulary,

yes, but it is not good for your fluency, right?

A great way to improve your fluency

and to start thinking in English is to only use the words you already know when you're speaking.

Now I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking, hang on Keith, come on.

That's too simple.

I'm just gonna be speaking simple English.

Yes, and that is the beauty of it.

It's simple.

And you can focus 100% on fluency because you're not translating.

And so you're starting to think in English.

Now, if you come across an idea you want to express,

but you lack the vocabulary when speaking,

there are two things you can do.

Not two, two things you can do.

Number one, you can either try and find a way round it to say it in another way,

paraphrase it, essential for IELTS speaking, right?

Or number two, ding, is that you can let the idea go.

The idea go.

Say something else.

Stay with the words that you know.

Trust me, I've done this with Spanish.

I've even dreamt, not only thought in Chinese,

but I've dreamt in Chinese.

This is a game changer, right?

Try this one out.

100

It seems strange, but try it.

101

I think you'll like it.

102

Let's move on.

103

Right, the next one is to start small and build up.

104

So it's probably very hard to try and think in English the whole day long, right?

105

Not easy at all.

106

So don't think big, start small.

107

Just start even thinking single words in English, right?

108

And remember to always use words that you already know, right?

109

So a common technique is to look at a picture.

110

And as you look at the picture,

111

you think of the things that you see.

112

Try this.

113

Have a look at this picture and just don't speak.

114

Just think one word of the different things you can see.

115

Try this.

116

Great.

117

Now, you probably all thought different things, right?

118

I was thinking yoga, plants, t-shirt, lights, mat, right?

119

Those are the things that I thought of.

120

This is a great and simple activity, right?

121

You can do this anywhere.

122

You can just do it for a few minutes when you're waiting in line,

123

if you're queuing in the bank or commuting on a train.

124

You can use a picture,

125

but probably more natural is just to look around you and describe the things that you see in your head, right?

126

So, you know, you're queuing in the bank and you look around and you go,

127

bank, queue, security guard, gun,

128

lights, camera, noisy, and so on,

129

just going on in your head, right?

130

Very, very simple.

131

Remember, with words that you already know,

132

the secret is to do this as a daily habit right even just for a minute

133

but to do it every day

134

and it's starting small right atomic habits have you read

135

that james clear come on if you haven't read it go

136

and check it out atomic habits

137

so you build up this small habit every day right that's the first thing

138

and the second thing is to start small and build up

139

so in my previous example we started with individual words right

140

but then you can move up to collocations right two words

141

or three words chunks or phrases so

142

when we look at the the yoga situation right whether it's a picture

143

or your yoga class you might say yoga mat blue t-shirt bright lights indoor plants right thinking Not saying,

144

but you're thinking these.

145

And then you can build up and you can start making phrases.

146

Oh, there's a yoga mat.

147

She's wearing a blue t-shirt.

148

Those indoor plants are nice.

149

Right, have a go.

150

Here's the picture again.

151

Either try collocations or short phrases.

152

Have a go.

153

Right, nice.

154

So you can see you're starting small and building up with this daily habit, thinking in English.

155

Lovely.

156

Next.

157

Right, next up is talk to yourself.

158

So in the last activity,

159

right, start small and build up,

160

we were focusing on just thinking,

161

right, those words and phrases in your head.

162

Now we're going to extend that to actually talking to yourself,

163

saying the words out loud.

164

Again, the goal is not to build vocabulary, right?

165

The goal is to work on fluency.

166

The reason for this is I turned to the Russian psychologist and educator Lev Vygotsky, right?

167

And he said that the inner voice,

168

your thinking, comes from the internalization of your outer voice.

169

the speaking, right?

170

If you think about it,

171

right, that inner voice in your head,

172

it's the same voice as when you speak.

173

The only difference is your muscles,

174

you're not using these muscles.

175

So this cycle of thinking,

176

speaking, thinking, speaking, through practice,

177

we can reinforce it and help us to think more in English.

178

Now we're not here engaging with other people, right?

179

It's just talking to yourself, right?

180

So maybe as you're walking down the street,

181

you go, oh, silly hat.

182

That's a silly hat.

183

What a lovely day.

184

I love the sun.

185

Oh, I'm getting hungry.

186

Right?

187

You're saying little snippets, little phrases to yourself and reinforcing that thought in English.

188

Okay.

189

Some simple activities you can do here are maybe,

190

and you may want to do these at home you're not comfortable speaking out loud in the street.

191

I mean, to be honest,

192

nowadays, lots of people talk to themselves in the street, right?

193

Potatoes, carrots, peas.

194

Yeah, yeah.

195

Yeah, I think I've got everything, Julie.

196

Yeah, yeah.

197

I'll be back home shortly.

198

All right, darling.

199

Cheers.

200

Bye-bye.

201

Or so we think.

202

I mean, sometimes they're speaking on the phone.

203

But if you're not comfortable talking to yourself outdoors,

204

just do these at home.

205

So for example, in the morning,

206

you could talk about your routine for the day or your plan for the day.

207

Oh, today I'm going to go shopping.

208

I've got to pick up some vegetables, right?

209

You can describe an activity you're doing, right?

210

For example, I'm cooking, so I need two eggs.

211

I need a bit more flour, more salt, I think.

212

Or you can just review what you've done today, right?

213

So today was a good day.

214

In the morning, I did this and that,

215

and ooh, that was a good idea.

216

And so you can do simple things where you're actually just talking to yourself and reinforcing this thinking as well.

217

Right, let's move on.

218

Next is to write in English.

219

So when it comes to thinking in English,

220

I think the active skill of writing

221

compliments the active skill of speaking in helping you create this English environment

222

or what I called English moments throughout your day that will help you think in English.

223

Now, of course, the way that we speak and write are very different, right?

224

And I do not, do not encourage you to speak the way you write.

225

They are two separate forms of communication.

226

However, there is some research that suggests that writing and speaking are connected and actually influence each other.

227

So I think by writing things in English,

228

we can also help start thinking in English.

229

Remember, only use the words that you know and start small and build up as before.

230

Some simple activities could be, right?

231

Writing your shopping list in English.

232

Leaving a message to the family,

233

pick up John at six o'clock, right?

234

Or putting a post-it, a post-it?

235

No, a post-it on your computer.

236

Remember to email Udemy.

237

And you can build up, right?

238

Maybe then you write a diary in English or a blog post or a complete blog in English, right?

239

But all of these are creating moments of English that are gonna help you start thinking in English.

240

Let's move on.

241

Now, listen, we have an expression in English,

242

which is the proof is in the pudding,

243

which means you can say the pudding or the dessert is delicious,

244

but only when you taste it,

245

do you know if it's delicious?

246

The proof is in the pudding, right?

247

So only when you do something,

248

can you know if it works?

249

So, so far, we've been looking at thinking in English to yourself,

250

talking to yourself, writing notes to yourself.

251

It's all about you, right?

252

Next is to practise with others,

253

because you need to be able to think in English when you're communicating with other people as well.

254

So I think it's really important to practise speaking with others.

255

And as you're doing that,

256

to practise this thinking in English as you're doing it, right?

257

In fact, the more you engage in conversations in English with your teacher,

258

friends, students, colleagues, the more you're gonna have the chance to practise thinking in English as well.

259

And when you're practising, Have some conversations where you just focus on thinking in English, right?

260

Keep it simple, use the words that you know, simple conversations.

261

You may want to tell the other person you're actually practising thinking in English

262

so that they've got patience with you and have specific conversations just focusing on that.

263

Try it out and see.

264

Let's move on.

265

My next and final tip is to be monolingual.

266

Monolingual, let me explain.

267

So one of the biggest game changers for me

268

when I was learning French in particular was to move from using a bilingual dictionary,

269

so French, English, to using a monolingual dictionary, French, French.

270

So when I went to look up a word in French,

271

it didn't translate to English.

272

It gave me a definition in French.

273

Mind-blowing, game changer, absolutely brilliant.

274

This was a critical step because it forced me to start thinking in French.

275

Yes, it was more difficult.

276

Yes, it took more time.

277

It was an effort, but really the change over several months was huge.

278

Now, another expression we have in English is There's no such thing as a free lunch, right?

279

Meaning that really you have to pay to get some benefit, right?

280

So like using the monolingual dictionary,

281

it's hard, it takes effort,

282

but by paying, using that time and effort,

283

you get the benefit and you get big, big rewards.

284

So you won't make the change or transformation from thinking in your native tongue to thinking in English overnight, right?

285

It just won't happen overnight.

286

It takes time, it takes effort,

287

and, but the rewards are huge.

288

And I think the monolingual dictionary is a great one to do.

289

All of the steps above,

290

I think can be really, really useful.

291

Try them out and let me know in the comments down below which ones work for you,

292

or any other tips that you may have.

293

Do remember, check out my fluency course if you want to improve your fluency

294

and help you thinking more and more in English.

295

In the meantime, turn on the subscriber button.

296

Don't turn it on, press the subscriber button,

297

turn on the notification button.

298

And I look forward to seeing you very, very soon next time.

299

Take care, my friend.

300

Bye-bye.

301

and

TRENDING

Populaires

Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?

Le Shadowing est une technique d'apprentissage des langues fondée sur la science, développée à l'origine pour la formation des interprètes professionnels. Le principe est simple mais puissant : vous écoutez de l'anglais natif et le répétez immédiatement à voix haute — comme une ombre suivant le locuteur avec un décalage de 1 à 2 secondes. Les recherches montrent une amélioration significative de la précision de la prononciation, de l'intonation, du rythme, des liaisons, de la compréhension orale et de la fluidité.

☕ Offrez-nous un café

ShadowingEnglish reste 100% gratuit grâce à votre soutien. Les coûts des serveurs et de l'IA sont élevés — votre café nous aide à continuer ! 🙏

Faire un don via PayPal

ShadowingEnglish.com – Pratique du Shadowing en Anglais

Parlez anglais couramment grâce au Shadowing. Écoutez des vidéos YouTube de locuteurs natifs, répétez phrase par phrase et développez une vraie prononciation et fluidité — utilisé par les candidats IELTS du monde entier.

Pratique du Shadowing: 7 Smart Ways to Think in English - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec YouTube

Populaires

About This Lesson

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

Practice Tips

Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?

Pratique du Shadowing: 7 Smart Ways to Think in English - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec YouTube

Télécharger l'application

About This Lesson

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

Practice Tips

Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?