Sep 9, 2026 · 4 min · 3 segments
Do you translate everything in your head when you speak English? You hear a sentence in English… translate it… think of your answer… translate it back… And suddenly, a simple conversation feels…
Today, let's talk about something that can make speaking English feel really difficult.
Translating in your head.
Do you know what I mean? You hear someone speaking English, then you translate what they said into your own language.
You think about your answer in your own language, and then you translate or try to translate your answer into English.
Well, that's a lot of work.
And sometimes, by the time you've found the right words, the conversation has already moved on.
Well, that is quite normal and I'm not going to tell you you must stop translating.
That's not realistic, especially when you're learning.
Instead, let's try something much easier.
Start talking to yourself in English.
Yes, really.
You don't need another person.
In the morning, just describe what you're doing.
For example, I'm getting out of bed.
I'm making coffee.
I'm still tired.
Where are my keys? Oh, here they are.
Simple, right? And that's exactly what we want.
You don't need difficult vocabulary to start.
You don't need long sentences.
You just want your brain to start connecting English directly with the things you see, hear, and do.
So when you see your coffee, think, my coffee is hot.
When you look outside, it's raining.
When you can't find your phone, where's my phone? And when you finally find it, oh, here it is.
Try doing this for just five minutes every morning.
Today, let's talk about something that can make speaking English feel really difficult.
Translating in your head.
Do you know what I mean? You hear someone speaking English, then you translate what they said into your own language.
You think about your answer in your own language, and then you translate or try to translate your answer into English.
Well, that's a lot of work.
And sometimes, by the time you've found the right words, the conversation has already moved on.
Well, that is quite normal and I'm not going to tell you you must stop translating.
That's not realistic, especially when you're learning.
Instead, let's try something much easier.
Start talking to yourself in English.
Yes, really.
You don't need another person.
In the morning, just describe what you're doing.
For example, I'm getting out of bed.
I'm making coffee.
I'm still tired.
Where are my keys? Oh, here they are.
Simple, right? And that's exactly what we want.
You don't need difficult vocabulary to start.
You don't need long sentences.
You just want your brain to start connecting English directly with the things you see, hear, and do.
So when you see your coffee, think, my coffee is hot.
When you look outside, it's raining.
When you can't find your phone, where's my phone? And when you finally find it, oh, here it is.
Try doing this for just five minutes every morning.
Every episode on Radar is fully transcribed, speaker-labeled, and rich with metadata. Here is a taste of this one. Try Radar for free to see the rest.
7 of 25
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
All 3 segments — the transcript broken into labeled sections, every ad read marked
All 25 topics — jump to every other episode discussing the same subject
Every related episode — other shows Radar links to this one
No account is needed to search Radar.
