An unexpected get together

Today after band practice we went to the bassist's house for copas, we had an awesome afternoon and I spoke Spanish all day. We discussed everything from Freddy Mercury, wave cancellation in digital audio production, the rocket launcher that crashed in the Indian ocean and flat-earthers! I really feel like my conversational skills are improving. BUT I still think in English and I need to stop, it forces me to take a long route around what I can easily say in half the words in Spanish If I think in Spanish. At the moment the way I should say what I want to say comes hits me afterwards!

Jade.Xuereb wrote:

I still think in English

Do you mean you translate what you hear to English before you speak? Or do you formulate an answer in English before you speak? Or both?

Jade.Xuereb wrote:

I hear their Spanish in Spanish... but when I respond it is mentally in English which is slowing me down and making me speak Spanish in an awkward way

This is pretty normal - it's something that reduces with practice. The other one, forcing yourself to translate to english before responding in spanish, is less natural. I did this a bit for Japanese before I realized how futile it is. I think relaxing and not worrying when I didn't understand everything helped me get over it quickly.

Jade.Xuereb wrote:

I hear their Spanish in Spanish... but when I respond it is mentally in English which is slowing me down and making me speak Spanish in an awkward way

I can totally relate this when I was learning Japanese. I can understand the people speaking in Japanese but my mental response is in English. It takes focus and much practice to automatically respond in the language you are learning.  

leosmith wrote:

Jade.Xuereb wrote:

I hear their Spanish in Spanish... but when I respond it is mentally in English which is slowing me down and making me speak Spanish in an awkward way

This is pretty normal - it's something that reduces with practice. The other one, forcing yourself to translate to english before responding in spanish, is less natural. I did this a bit for Japanese before I realized how futile it is. I think relaxing and not worrying when I didn't understand everything helped me get over it quickly.

yes I agree, I used to find myself panicked and trying to work out what tense that verb was they just said (causing me to miss other words) and now I listen as a whole nd I'm not caught up on one word I find I understand so much better now that my ears have relaxed.