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?

leosmith wrote:

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?

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

it also results in me over conjugating because I conjugate each word as it comes but by the time I finish the sentence it really only needed one conjugation It is tough to explain but you can tell I am not a native haha and my boys are always giggling at me for it... Oh well I am happy to be the butt of the joke, not enough smiles and laughter in the last year or so, so I'll take it!

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.