Stop Translating while speaking English

The main issue that I have noticed from many spoken English learners is that before speaking in English, they try to translate it from their native language to English. This is fatal, as it will slow the speaker while he or she is speaking. The main point behind this is that speaker is supposed to think in English. It is a continuous activity and translating can hinder the process of fluency and Communication building skills.

There are many potential disadvantages of translating while speaking in English, some of them are illustrated below:-

Slows the English speech

The basic drawback of translating while speaking, is that the speaker thinks every time in his native language. Initially I also used to translate everything from Hindi to English. But soon I realize that, this will take me nowhere. There were occasions when I was supposed to come on stage and speak some words in English. The experience was horrible. These and factors like these provoked me to break all barriers and conquer the power of communication in English. I have given many presentations and speeches after that, and believe me the feeling that comes when you realize that your listeners are totally engrossed in your speech is unparalleled. So think in English, and speak in English, but don't translate it from your native language.

Gaps are filled by filler words, which makes a bad impression

When we try to translate from our native language to English, the speech is slowed down. So we try to fill the gaps with words like hmmmm..., er...., etc. Many people use same words again and again like "That's it", "OK", "I mean", etc. All these filler and repeated words makes a very bad impression on the listener. The basic impression that a listener gets is that the speaker is not well educated in spoken English. So do not let this happen to you. Make the right decisions now, to make a bright future.

Hinders the learning process of spoken English

Translating while speaking has an extra disadvantage that it hinders your path for learning how to speak clear and fluent English. because when you are translating, then in that case you are thinking in your native language. So though you are speaking in English but still the process gets very complicated, as detailed below:-

• The speaker says a question in English about something. 
• You hear it, and then translate it to your native language to understand the meaning of it. 
• You prepare the answer to that question in your native language.
• Then you translate it to English to speak it.

The whole process takes time, and the efforts required by you to think the answer in English and reply back goes missing. Soon you are comfortable with this methodology and stop making extra efforts to improve your spoken English.

Makes a person loose confidence

When you try to translate the words, you tend to get comfortable with the scenarios. And so it might be that you stop making extra efforts which were otherwise been there from your side. Still while speaking a person knows by himself that he is speaking good or bad English. So after some time you will realize that you are not able to improve your spoken English and may loose confidence and hope for improvement. Avoid translating to get a better command of the English language. Use a dictionary whenever and wherever required, but make sure that you slowly and steadily stop translating.

I am done for today. Hope that this article was helpful. Do leave a comment if you liked the article. How to Improve Spoken English will soon be back.

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