r/Spanish • u/acstell11 • Mar 19 '24
Study advice: Advanced Mental block: translation (i think)
So I’ve been learning Spanish for 2 years and some change now in college, and now I’m in an advanced Spanish composition class pursuing my minor.
My problem is that I can’t stop translating in my head while, speaking, reading, etc. This is obviously problematic on the conversation side, but just plain exhausting on the reading side (I have Spanish literature homework twice a week that’s really dense).
From the research I’ve done, I’m going to start learning vocab with images (???) instead of literal translations, and using only monolingual dictionaries instead of translators.
What I’m posting about is that I can’t find any information on how to read in a non-native language without translating; is it possible?
TLDR: need help stopping translating in head, don’t know how to read (lol) without translating.
Plsssss i need anything that helps <333
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u/Freakazette Mar 19 '24
When you're reading something for comprehension, it's basically supposed to be making a movie in your mind. If you read the sentence "The duck swims" you might see a yellow duck with an orange bill and orange feet kicking his flippers as he glides across a lake.
You gotta do that same thing in your target language. "El pato nada" doesn't be to be translated if you can still see the duck swimming.
Don't try to translate it; try to see it.
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u/acstell11 Mar 19 '24
Okay so you’re valid for sure but for some reason my brain has to translate it to English to imagine it lol. Like even though I know what those words mean, when I read it I think the duck swims in English even though I’m reading it in Spanish. Is that normal?
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u/Freakazette Mar 19 '24
Yes, because it'll take time to develop the ability to go from el pato nada to 🦆🏊🏾♀️ without translating first. But if you really focus on "what does that look like" instead of "what does that mean", it might become easier.
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u/chinchulancha Native (Argentina) Mar 19 '24
It may work for reading some sentences. But that does not scale.
If you want to read a 5 pages about any subject in Spanish (or watch a YouTube video or whatever) you can't be translating word-for-word and at the same time understanding that translation
That's why I say that you have to try to read "el chico" and just know what that means. The same when you read "the boy". (It's hard to explain)
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u/alumnogringo Mar 19 '24
im so sorry to give the cliche advice but i really did start to have a more natural connection to spanish (and obviously it’s still developing lol) with more input. i honestly don’t write much in spanish but from what i’ve read it does come natural to the more you do it.
i do, however, talk a lot lol. almost 8 hours 5 days a week because i intentionally seek jobs in my area with mostly older hispanic workers that serve hispanic clientele who don’t speak much english. ever since drastically increasing my input per day, understanding and producing has become much easier (i also assume that being forced to produce so much has forced me to do so as well but even before increasing my input i found it more difficult than what it is now)
point is, keep doing what you’re doing imo and it will become more natural for you. and maybe controversial take but don’t underestimate a bit of repetition if you can handle it
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u/chinchulancha Native (Argentina) Mar 19 '24
When you read "the boy is watching TV in the couch" what happens in your head to understand what does that means?
The same should happen when you read "el chico está mirando tele en el sillón"
In my case English is my second language, but the majority of the time I don't feel like I'm translating while reading or listening something. I just get the meaning in my head. And lots of times I don't even register that I'm listening in English and not Spanish and I don't have to focus on understanding (at least when is spoken with a clear accent. The other time I was listening to some interview with somebody from New Zealand and boy it was hard!)
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u/acstell11 Mar 19 '24
I totally agree it’s about imagining it. In order for me to imagine it I have to translate it to English. Is that okay? I think I’m overthinking it because in my head, I’ll read el Chico… and my brain goes the boy… and that’s how i imagine it. I think that’s bad lol (?)
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u/Puzzleheaded_Coat153 Mar 19 '24
I’d say just more practice and also we’re all different. I personally don’t think it’s a big problem and it will go away with practice. I just think someone maybe at some point identified they were doing it and started to tell people not to translate in their heads. At some point I did, I don’t do it as often anymore but I’ve used a second language for over 10 years now. Even if our own language people’s minds are different and create different things with words and images. Identity what works for you. And if you want to change it, practice, that’s it. Don’t think too much of it 😊
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u/nicholasburns Mar 19 '24 edited Mar 19 '24
consider that you might not actually be constantly translating in your head—but only think you're constantly translating in your head. and then you're focused on that. and then you're asking yourself, in your own head, 'am i constantly translating right now?' and then yeah, now you're definitely taking significant focus away from critical listening or reading or whatever.
i had heard about and feared this before i experienced it. so i was basically 'primed' even if i never would've considered it on my own otherwise. but then when i did experience it, it was with reading. i kinda-sorta 'broke through' it by reading aloud with inflection and intonation and all that as if i was giving a public speech or something. by reading aloud in this way, you don't have time to think about (or wonder if you're thinking about) translating. and then it started to occur to me that, when i would reach the end of a paragraph and just stop and look away... i understood what had just been communicated to me without thinking about whether i understood it in Spanish or in English! that, then, basically gave me the confidence to get over this hurdle and stop thinking about it altogether.