I have an idea, I want to separate my brain into 2 brains sometimes, my Vietnamese brain and my English brain. When I speak Vietnamese, I think in Vietnamese. When I speak English, I think in English and I want to be more comfortable with English. Sometimes, I don’t want to mix them.
Moreover, It’s good to be more fluent in English. That’s why I realize that I should build my English brain. If I need to translate from Vietnamese to English, I can’t speak English fluently. If when I speak Vietnamese, I constantly mix some English words with it, It would be weird.
Three factors of building an English brain
Having an English brain is not that easy. I try to understand, think and use English as much as I can. I will demonstrate the idea of building an English brain in three factors:
1, To understand English (reading and listening) - THE INPUT
2, To think in English (creat thoughts) - THE MIDDLE PROCESS
3, To use English (speaking, writing) - THE OUTPUT
How to build my English brain
Let’s take me on a deep dive into three factors:
1, THE INPUT: I try to listen to English songs, read books and watch youtube videos in English, I learn Writing in some English courses,... The first time, it was so hard. But It’s getting easy day by day. Let’s start with something simple and easy to understand. Just take my first step.
2, THE MIDDLE PROCESS: Just think, I can think in English everywhere. Instead of thinking in Vietnamese, I push myself to think in English. For example, I think “what should I eat today? noodle soup? rice? or fried chicken?” It’s easy, right? Don’t make it complicated, just start small like this. I’ve improved a lot through this simple exercise.
3, THE OUTPUT: I just speak to myself when I come back home, I write and take notes in English. Sometimes, I chat or talk with my foreign friends. I keep on using English every single day.
A small note: Back then, when I was at a beginner level, it was so harsh for me to think in English. I spent so much time learning pronunciation, vocabulary, phrasal verbs, collocations, and grammar. Personally, when we are at the intermediate level in English, It’s easier for us to start thinking more in English to get to the advanced level.
To sum up, I think building our English brains is a long-term process, It’s not an overnight success, and we need time for it. But just taking the first step, and I believe that everything is figureoutable and the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
So, let’s get started!
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