[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":233},["ShallowReactive",2],{"-content-podcasts-stop-translating-in-your-head":3},{"type":4,"data":5},"podcast",{"slug":6,"skill":7,"title":8,"meta_title":9,"meta_description":10,"description":11,"level":12,"youtube_id":13,"duration":14,"duration_seconds":15,"published_at":16,"updated_at":17,"thumbnail":18,"chapters":23,"expressions":45,"practice":61,"transcript":64,"published":229,"available_locales":230},"stop-translating-in-your-head","podcasts","Stop Translating in Your Head: 3 Habits to Think in English","Stop Translating in Your Head: 3 Habits to Think in English | FluencyRoad Podcast","Mia and Leo share three habits to think in English: learn chunks, talk to yourself and go around the word you do not know. B1 podcast with transcript.","Do you build sentences in your own language first, and then translate them word by word? Mia and Leo share three small habits that help you think in English: learning chunks, talking to yourself, and going around a word you don't know. Plus the expressions that never work word by word.","B1","PXI3cxIc9Vw","PT7M40S",460,"2026-10-22T03:35:10.734Z","2026-10-22",{"src":19,"og":20,"width":21,"height":22},"\u002Fimg\u002Fpodcasts\u002Fstop-translating-in-your-head.webp","\u002Fimg\u002Fpodcasts\u002Fstop-translating-in-your-head-og.jpg",960,540,[24,27,30,33,36,39,42],{"at":25,"label":26},0,"The translation traffic jam",{"at":28,"label":29},51,"What translating in your head means",{"at":31,"label":32},94,"Habit 1: learn chunks, not single words",{"at":34,"label":35},172,"Habit 2: talk to yourself in English",{"at":37,"label":38},247,"Habit 3: go around the word",{"at":40,"label":41},334,"Word tour: chunk, go blank, narrate, an arm and a leg, fluent",{"at":43,"label":44},405,"Your mission for today",[46,49,52,55,58],{"word":47,"definition":48},"chunk","words that go together",{"word":50,"definition":51},"go blank","suddenly forget everything",{"word":53,"definition":54},"narrate","say what is happening",{"word":56,"definition":57},"an arm and a leg","very expensive",{"word":59,"definition":60},"fluent","speaking easily, without stopping",{"label":62,"url":63},"Practice listening and writing what you hear, free","\u002Ftools\u002Fdictation",[65,68,71,73,75,77,79,81,83,85,87,89,91,93,95,97,99,101,103,105,107,109,111,113,115,117,119,121,123,125,127,129,131,133,135,137,139,141,143,145,147,149,151,153,155,157,159,161,163,165,167,169,171,173,175,177,179,181,183,185,187,189,191,193,195,197,199,201,203,205,207,209,211,213,215,217,219,221,223,225,227],{"speaker":66,"text":67},"Leo","Okay, confession. Last summer I was in a coffee shop in London, and I prepared my whole order in my own language first.",{"speaker":69,"text":70},"Mia","Of course you did.",{"speaker":66,"text":72},"Then I translated it, word by word, in my head. When I was finally ready to speak, the barista was already serving the next person.",{"speaker":69,"text":74},"That's the translation traffic jam. Your idea is ready, but it's stuck on the road between two languages.",{"speaker":66,"text":76},"So, a question for you. Do you build sentences in your language first, and then translate them? Then this episode is for you.",{"speaker":69,"text":78},"Hi, I'm Mia.",{"speaker":66,"text":80},"And I'm Leo. Welcome to FluencyRoad.",{"speaker":69,"text":82},"In the next eight minutes, you'll learn three small habits that help you think in English, with sentences you can use today.",{"speaker":66,"text":84},"It's a B1 episode. You don't need to understand every word. If you get the idea, that's perfect.",{"speaker":69,"text":86},"And if you like the episode, a like helps us a lot.",{"speaker":66,"text":88},"So, what do we mean by translating in your head?",{"speaker":69,"text":90},"You have an idea in your language. You look for the English words one by one, and then you try to put them in the right order.",{"speaker":66,"text":92},"And that takes forever.",{"speaker":69,"text":94},"It's like taking two buses to cross one street. You wait at the first stop, then you change, then you wait again.",{"speaker":66,"text":96},"And sometimes you miss the second bus completely.",{"speaker":69,"text":98},"Exactly. That's the moment when your mind goes blank, and you say nothing at all.",{"speaker":66,"text":100},"Why does our brain do this, though?",{"speaker":69,"text":102},"When you're nervous, you run back to your first language. It's natural.",{"speaker":66,"text":104},"And most learners do it at the beginning. It's not a mistake. It's just a long route.",{"speaker":69,"text":106},"So our goal today is not to stop it forever. Our goal is to find a shorter route, a little more often every week.",{"speaker":66,"text":108},"Habit number one. Learn chunks, not single words.",{"speaker":69,"text":110},"A chunk is a group of words that we usually use together. Like \"Can I get\" or \"It depends on\".",{"speaker":66,"text":112},"Think of a sandwich. You can buy bread, cheese and tomato and make it yourself. Or you can buy one that's already made.",{"speaker":69,"text":114},"Single words are the bread and the cheese. A chunk is the ready sandwich. You don't build it. You just pick it up.",{"speaker":66,"text":116},"In that coffee shop, I translated four pieces: \"I want\", \"a coffee\", \"small\", \"to take away\". Four pieces, four decisions.",{"speaker":69,"text":118},"With one chunk, you say \"Can I get a small coffee to take away?\" One piece, and almost no decisions.",{"speaker":66,"text":120},"Okay, I admit it. That's faster. Give us a few more chunks.",{"speaker":69,"text":122},"Sure. \"I'm thinking about\", as in \"I'm thinking about a new job\". And \"That makes sense\", as in \"Oh, that makes sense.\"",{"speaker":66,"text":124},"My favorite is \"It depends\". It saves me in every conversation. \"Do you like spicy food?\" \"Hmm, it depends!\"",{"speaker":69,"text":126},"Ha. And when you hear a chunk in a series or a song, don't stop at every word.",{"speaker":66,"text":128},"So what do I do instead?",{"speaker":69,"text":130},"Write the whole group in your notes, and say it out loud a few times.",{"speaker":66,"text":132},"I call that stealing. When someone says a nice chunk, I steal it. Politely.",{"speaker":69,"text":134},"Good stealing. My last one was \"Sorry, I didn't catch that.\" Now I use it every week.",{"speaker":69,"text":136},"Habit number two. Talk to yourself in simple English.",{"speaker":66,"text":138},"Wait. Talk to myself? My neighbors will think I'm crazy.",{"speaker":69,"text":140},"Then whisper. Be a sports commentator, but for your own life. \"And now she opens the fridge. Oh no, there's no milk!\"",{"speaker":66,"text":142},"Okay, let me try. \"Leo walks into the kitchen. He's very hungry. He's going to make pasta.\"",{"speaker":69,"text":144},"See? You didn't translate anything. You looked at the scene, and you said it in English.",{"speaker":66,"text":146},"And the words were easy. Is that the secret?",{"speaker":69,"text":148},"That's the secret. Small and true is better than long and perfect.",{"speaker":66,"text":150},"Okay. Give me some chunks for my little show.",{"speaker":69,"text":152},"Try \"Now I'm going to\", \"I need to\", and \"Where did I put my keys?\"",{"speaker":66,"text":154},"I did this while I was washing the dishes. The first day was strange. After a week, the English came a little faster. Not magic, but faster.",{"speaker":69,"text":156},"I do it on the bus, in my head. I describe the people around me. \"That man has a huge umbrella. It isn't raining.\" It's very relaxing.",{"speaker":66,"text":158},"That's a little weird, Mia.",{"speaker":69,"text":160},"It's in my head, Leo. Nobody knows.",{"speaker":66,"text":162},"And how long do you do it?",{"speaker":69,"text":164},"One or two minutes is enough to start. In the shower, in the car, while you cook. Every day is better than one long day.",{"speaker":66,"text":166},"Habit number three. When you don't know a word, go around it.",{"speaker":69,"text":168},"This is when a lot of people stop talking. They need one word, they can't find it, and the whole conversation stops.",{"speaker":66,"text":170},"But think of a locked door. If the front door is locked, you don't sleep in the street. You go around the house and use the back door.",{"speaker":69,"text":172},"So you describe the thing. \"It's a thing you use to cut paper.\" \"It's like a cup, but bigger.\" \"It's the opposite of noisy.\"",{"speaker":66,"text":174},"Last week I forgot the word for that bowl with holes, for pasta. So I said, \"the bowl with holes, for the pasta water\".",{"speaker":69,"text":176},"And the word is \"colander\".",{"speaker":66,"text":178},"\"Colander.\" Thanks. Last week the word came back ten minutes later, of course.",{"speaker":69,"text":180},"Of course. But the conversation didn't stop, and that's what matters. And you can always ask, \"What's the word for this?\" Most people are happy to help.",{"speaker":66,"text":182},"There's one more trap. Some expressions don't work word by word. If you translate them, people look at you strangely.",{"speaker":69,"text":184},"Oh, I have a good one. In Spanish, something very expensive costs \"an eye of the face\". In Portuguese, \"the eyes of the face\".",{"speaker":66,"text":186},"I said that in English once. My friend looked at my face, very worried.",{"speaker":69,"text":188},"In English, it \"costs an arm and a leg\". Different body, same idea. So when it's an expression, learn the English chunk, not the translation.",{"speaker":66,"text":190},"And look: describing a word is not a failure. It's extra English.",{"speaker":69,"text":192},"Okay, time for a quick word tour. Five words and expressions from today.",{"speaker":66,"text":194},"First, \"chunk\". We know this one now: words that travel together, like a little team.",{"speaker":69,"text":196},"For example, \"Can I get\" is a chunk. You can say, \"I learned a useful chunk from a song today.\"",{"speaker":66,"text":198},"Second, \"go blank\". When your mind goes blank, you suddenly can't think of anything.",{"speaker":69,"text":200},"For example, \"In the interview, my mind went blank.\" Or, \"I always go blank when someone asks my phone number.\"",{"speaker":66,"text":202},"Third, \"narrate\". To narrate is to say what is happening, like a commentator or a storyteller.",{"speaker":69,"text":204},"You can say, \"I narrate my morning in English while I make coffee.\" Or, \"My grandfather loves to narrate old stories.\"",{"speaker":66,"text":206},"Fourth, \"an arm and a leg\". When something costs an arm and a leg, it's very expensive.",{"speaker":69,"text":208},"\"That phone costs an arm and a leg.\" Or, \"Rent in this city costs an arm and a leg.\"",{"speaker":66,"text":210},"And fifth, \"fluent\". Fluent means you can speak easily, without stopping all the time. Not perfect. Easily.",{"speaker":69,"text":212},"Say it with me: \"I'm not perfect, but I'm fluent enough to order coffee.\" Or, \"She's fluent in three languages.\"",{"speaker":66,"text":214},"Here's your mission for today. Choose one small routine, like making coffee or getting dressed.",{"speaker":69,"text":216},"Narrate it in five short sentences, out loud or in a whisper. Use one chunk, like \"Now I'm going to\".",{"speaker":66,"text":218},"If one word is missing, don't stop. Go around it. Describe it.",{"speaker":69,"text":220},"Quick recap. One, learn chunks: the ready sandwich. Two, talk to yourself, like a commentator. Three, when a word is missing, use the back door.",{"speaker":66,"text":222},"In the comments, write one line like this: \"Right now I'm making tea, and next I'm going to call my mom.\"",{"speaker":69,"text":224},"And to hear chunks the way people really say them, try the free dictation tool at fluencyroad.com\u002Ftools\u002Fdictation. You listen, and you write what you hear.",{"speaker":66,"text":226},"That's it for today. Go and steal some chunks. See you next time!",{"speaker":69,"text":228},"Bye!",true,{"es":231,"pt-br":232},"deja-de-traducir-en-tu-cabeza","pare-de-traduzir-na-sua-cabeca",1793062049123]