Learn to speak and think in English with our Barcelona-based courses
We live in a world which is internationally connected through rapidly developing technology, making it easier to communicate and forge connections worldwide. If we want to be able to navigate this world and travel to its furthest points, English is essential and is a language that often connects us all together.
How many times have you asked yourself, how do I say this in that language? How do we say that?
When learning English it’s easy to fall into the habit and be tempted to simply translate what we are hearing into our native language. However, making a literal translation is not an exact science, and it isn’t always possible, so when you do this it’s not always right and 2 + 2 doesn’t always equal 4 when it comes to translating.
All languages have differences and twists and phrases that must be learnt and understood in order for us to know them and apply them to everyday situations.
Why is learning to think in English important?
At Callan School of English Barcelona we want you to learn to speak English by getting you to always think in English, without you translating into your native language. By doing things this way, you’ll learn to speak in a new language without having the literal translations, which may sound strange, too formal or simply are not understood by natives of said language.
You may come across words that are used in both languages but it’s common for them to be used in a different way than what you are used to.
For example, let’s look at the verb explain. In English the word ‘explain’ has a more concrete and specific use, compared to the verb ‘explicar’ in Spanish which covers more situations. In English, there are many situations where we would use the verb ‘tell’ instead of ‘explain’.
With this example we want you to discover that, when you start learning a language like English, it’s important to think only in the new language and do so without translations.
Although this may all sound a little complicated, at our academy our method makes it easy for you to learn how to learn and start your English journey without making mistakes by literally translating what you hear.
Can you learn a new language without mentally translating it?
Yes, you can learn how to in the very first lesson!.
Note that our classes are led and guided by a teacher who interacts with the students through questions and answers.
This method makes you have to think in English because it replicates real life, where you won’t have time to stop and translate what a person has said to you. You simply have to learn how to comprehend the words in English to respond in a timely manner.
Do you remember how you learnt your native language?
That’s right, you did it unconsciously by repeating what you heard, and that is how we want you to learn – without realising it.
With more than thirty years of experience, a professional and qualified teaching team and our students guarantee the effectiveness of this way of teaching.
If you want to learn how to think in English, come and meet us, make an appointment for a level test at our English academy, and you will discover how to learn English with the Callan Method.
Today we have talked about the importance of learning to think in a new language and thus being able to move through the world without being limited by language borders.
As R. Dearing says: ‘For students who are restricted to a monolingual monocultural education there is a significant danger that they will not be able to deal with the increasingly complex demands of our society’.
Traduction by Melissa Bland
Referencias:
. Anderson, A (2020) ‘La importancia de aprender una segunda lengua’ Grand Valley State University.
También te puede interesar leer estos artículos para aprender a pensar en inglés:
. Edstrom, A. (2024). ’10 Tips to Speak English Fast’ Blog Callan School of English
. Harman, G. (2021) ‘How Long Does it Take to Learn English?’ Blog Callan School of English
También ha trabajado en el campo de la traducción. Tiene tanto el ELE (Certificadoen Enseñanza de Español como Lengua Extranjera) como el CELTA (Certificado en Enseñanza del Idioma Inglés para Adultos). Jordi comenzó a trabajar como profesor de español e inglés para Callan en 2018.
- La distracción al aprender una lengua extranjera: cómo evitarla con el Método Callan - 19 January, 2026
- Telling The Time - 17 October, 2024
- Learn to speak and think in English with our Barcelona-based courses - 6 October, 2024
Come and see our school and take a free level test
Free English resources
- Telling The Time
- Verbs followed by another verb
- Phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs
- The contraction of the word “is”
- Conditional Sentences
Resources by levels