very bad! you have to think Japanese like you think any other language you speak! when learning you should avoid and stop translating in another language! Just learn Japanese in Japanese! Sounds strange but it is true. Think of how Japanese kids learn Japanese, they know zero at the start but they are getting better day by day without translation into English 😆
If you learn vocabulary, do not translate it in English, but learn with pictures that create the association in your brain.
If you do this English to Japanese translation while you are speaking your brain has to put in double effort which makes it super slow and also it is not possible to translate directly from English to Japanese, it will never be natural
It’ll certainly make it harder and slower.
Here is a example you have Japanese friend learning English. If he /she try to follow like first he think in Japanese and then he talk to you. Mostly conversation are unpredictable and consistent, and go with a flow. If your friend think ” my name is Honda sakura . Nice to meet you”. And then they speak and when you ask ” what you do?” Then they again think in Japanese what they need to say in English and then translated it and then say it. Just go with flow
Think of the ways in which Japanese is unique to English. Work with that, focus on its effects and how the expression of thought must change altogether. Embrace any discomfort and soon, it will flow naturally
I don’t really understand the question. Are you making efforts to do it on purpose or are you doing it unconsciously?
The more fluent you get the less you translate in your head and you just speak.
my opinion is probably invalid since i’m not fluent in two languages but if I’m roleplaying as your friend and I say “whats up dude” you definitely do not have a predetermined answer. I didn’t even consider the fact that you need to be punctual in speaking…. Damn. This is going to be a lot harder 🙁
I think this is wise to do in the beginning. Since this is “extra” language for most of us, our thoughts are not build to understand the logic behind Japanese.
Translating the sentance to its components may help you understand and remember certain things better. We all learn a little differently, so translate stuff, listen to it, and most of all, try to understand it.
Japanese is heavily context based language and needs that deeper level logic to be understandable. Keep it up if it helps you! ^^
it’s best to not translate in your head. sometimes for complex thoughts or structures you’re less accustomed to, it’s inevitable, but do your best to practice speaking without the english layer, and also when listening or reading, don’t translate either. just understand directly. one way to help with this is to try switching your inner dialog to your target language, literally *think* in japanese. it’ll start out hard, you’ll have thoughts you don’t know how to say, but just write them down and figure them out later. it gets easier.
Try creating a sort of “alter ego”…separate Japanese persona and enter that mode when you speak. That’s what I do as a bilingual.
It’s actually way easier to not think in English or in Japanese first and translating… Actually I’m surprised people do it!
Enter “日本語モード” as I call it.
It’s mostly inevitable if you’re a beginner/~intermediate. You should eventually get rid of that of course, but it will come with time and once you can understand natives speaking the language at natural speed
If you are a native EN speaker and are in the early stages of learning JP then I fear that not thinking about what you want to say in EN beforehand might be nigh impossible. However, as you continue to learn JP you must attempt (read: force yourself) to think in JP as well so that your brain gets accustomed to thinking with JP vocab, sentence structures and grammar patterns.
The only reassurance I can offer is that it gets easier the more you try.
It’s bad practice if you plan on becoming fluent in Japanese. But if you’re just starting out and want to get some speaking practice in, I say do it (for now).
The problem with trying to directly translate what you want to say in English to Japanese is that the languages work very differently. For example, would you ever think to say “please be kind to me” in English upon meeting someone for the first time? Because that’s what is said in Japanese all the time and in many other situations too.
You should just study as much as possible and you’ll eventually get to the point where you don’t need to think and translate in your head before speaking. You might make mistakes, but it’s better than trying to speak Japanese in an English-speaking way.
Another tip for when your language skills are good enough, is to try your best to define new vocabulary with the Japanese you already know.
Not necessarily, I think. You’d want to consider direct translations and how our common idioms and figures of speech differ from their own.
“We’re all on the same boat” won’t translate naturally if you do it in the English way but I’m sure they have their own equivalent
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very bad! you have to think Japanese like you think any other language you speak! when learning you should avoid and stop translating in another language! Just learn Japanese in Japanese! Sounds strange but it is true. Think of how Japanese kids learn Japanese, they know zero at the start but they are getting better day by day without translation into English 😆
If you learn vocabulary, do not translate it in English, but learn with pictures that create the association in your brain.
If you do this English to Japanese translation while you are speaking your brain has to put in double effort which makes it super slow and also it is not possible to translate directly from English to Japanese, it will never be natural
It’ll certainly make it harder and slower.
Here is a example you have Japanese friend learning English. If he /she try to follow like first he think in Japanese and then he talk to you. Mostly conversation are unpredictable and consistent, and go with a flow.
If your friend think ” my name is Honda sakura . Nice to meet you”. And then they speak and when you ask ” what you do?” Then they again think in Japanese what they need to say in English and then translated it and then say it. Just go with flow
Think of the ways in which Japanese is unique to English. Work with that, focus on its effects and how the expression of thought must change altogether. Embrace any discomfort and soon, it will flow naturally
I don’t really understand the question. Are you making efforts to do it on purpose or are you doing it unconsciously?
The more fluent you get the less you translate in your head and you just speak.
my opinion is probably invalid since i’m not fluent in two languages but if I’m roleplaying as your friend and I say “whats up dude” you definitely do not have a predetermined answer. I didn’t even consider the fact that you need to be punctual in speaking…. Damn. This is going to be a lot harder 🙁
I think this is wise to do in the beginning. Since this is “extra” language for most of us, our thoughts are not build to understand the logic behind Japanese.
Translating the sentance to its components may help you understand and remember certain things better. We all learn a little differently, so translate stuff, listen to it, and most of all, try to understand it.
Japanese is heavily context based language and needs that deeper level logic to be understandable. Keep it up if it helps you! ^^
it’s best to not translate in your head. sometimes for complex thoughts or structures you’re less accustomed to, it’s inevitable, but do your best to practice speaking without the english layer, and also when listening or reading, don’t translate either. just understand directly. one way to help with this is to try switching your inner dialog to your target language, literally *think* in japanese. it’ll start out hard, you’ll have thoughts you don’t know how to say, but just write them down and figure them out later. it gets easier.
Try creating a sort of “alter ego”…separate Japanese persona and enter that mode when you speak.
That’s what I do as a bilingual.
It’s actually way easier to not think in English or in Japanese first and translating…
Actually I’m surprised people do it!
Enter “日本語モード”
as I call it.
It’s mostly inevitable if you’re a beginner/~intermediate. You should eventually get rid of that of course, but it will come with time and once you can understand natives speaking the language at natural speed
If you are a native EN speaker and are in the early stages of learning JP then I fear that not thinking about what you want to say in EN beforehand might be nigh impossible. However, as you continue to learn JP you must attempt (read: force yourself) to think in JP as well so that your brain gets accustomed to thinking with JP vocab, sentence structures and grammar patterns.
The only reassurance I can offer is that it gets easier the more you try.
It’s bad practice if you plan on becoming fluent in Japanese. But if you’re just starting out and want to get some speaking practice in, I say do it (for now).
The problem with trying to directly translate what you want to say in English to Japanese is that the languages work very differently. For example, would you ever think to say “please be kind to me” in English upon meeting someone for the first time? Because that’s what is said in Japanese all the time and in many other situations too.
You should just study as much as possible and you’ll eventually get to the point where you don’t need to think and translate in your head before speaking. You might make mistakes, but it’s better than trying to speak Japanese in an English-speaking way.
Another tip for when your language skills are good enough, is to try your best to define new vocabulary with the Japanese you already know.
Not necessarily, I think. You’d want to consider direct translations and how our common idioms and figures of speech differ from their own.
“We’re all on the same boat” won’t translate naturally if you do it in the English way but I’m sure they have their own equivalent