We think in the same language that we speak and that is our mother-tongue. That is the reason why we face no difficulty in writing and speaking our mother-tongue.

The same principle applies to English... If you want to write or speak good English... do think in English only...

I agree. The more you think in a language the more fluent you get with expressing yourself in it. I used the same trick when i was learning german.

Hello Cashmere Lashkari,

Yes I do agree with you. What we usually do that we in general think in our own language and while writing or speaking we translate/interpret it in English. This process takes toll of time and a gap in speech occurs; at the same time if you write the same matter, the written language would not be that rich.

- Harish Jharia

Yes it's true, most of them first builds a sentence in there mother tongue and convert it to English. Because of this reason sentences are losing proper grammar and its meaning.

Our thought process is naturally in mother tongue. If we live with English speaking people for a long period, thoughts will also flash in mind in English. Practice in reading and writing is necessary for written English. similarly, practice in listening and speaking is essential for spoken english.

Mother tongue is what which we start reading and listening from our birth...... but the other language we need to learn..

the first thing after birth we listen is the word in our Mother tongue,,,

that's why it is so easy for us to use that..

Yes, as our mother tongue naturally comes to us, we tend to be more fluent in that.

Besides thinking in English, listening to English tapes, and English speech is another way to improve our English thinking and English skills.
-Sridevi

Hello Sridevi,

Whenever we sit idle and start thinking casually, we usually talk to ourselves. We ask questions to ourself and reply to them also ourselves.

During this process also we can try to talk to ourselves in English and that would give us a good practice.

- Harish Jharia

Yes Harish.. I do agree with you..It is only by speaking aloud, can we get practice.

Yes. I agree. Speaking aloud is an essential step in spoken English. Only practice can make perfect. But it is not easy to think in english unless we live in an English speaking group. My spoken english improved when posted to shillong as I had to speak in english only. Many who speak in English fluently have to count and calculate in mother toungue only. This is natural as English can be only our second language. First language has to be an Indian language like Hindi, TGamil, Bangali etc.

I have always been telling all my students to follow this. If you want to excel in English especially speaking it fluently, one have to learn to think in English rather than thinking it in their mother tongue and translating it to English.

Thinking in English, will come out of practice. Not necessary that it have to be implemented from the young age, (better not to pressure the kids below the age of 14). If the basics of English, especially the written one is strong, the spoken English can be picked up quite fast.

Harish Jharia wrote:
Hello Sridevi,

Whenever we sit idle and start thinking casually, we usually talk to ourselves. We ask questions to ourself and reply to them also ourselves.

During this process also we can try to talk to ourselves in English and that would give us a good practice.

- Harish Jharia

Harishji,
You are right. Whenever we are idle, we can just try to practice this. Also one can listen to the English news and learn the style and slang used.

This idea is very good.I hope it will work well.I have tested the same during my BEd studies.

Sridevi- Unless you listen to english tapes and english speech, you cannot think in English. Natural way to learn a language is - listen, imitate, speak. The written English should idally follow spoken. Thus listening to english tapes etc. is not in addition but this is essential even for enabling thought process in English.

I agree that you have to think in english to write good english. I was working in a call centre and the voice and accent trainer told us to think in english before speaking. He used to tell us that we stammer because we think in our native language and speak in english and end up with words like 'toh'. I think it applies to every new language that you learn or want to use frequently. If you think in that language and read/write in that language your command will be good.