4 . If you live in a place where most people speak the language you are learning, you may use the language for several hours each day. So it may become part of your “inner speech”. In other words, you start thinking in that language. Your mind stops trying to translate things from your native language into the second language. But most of the English learners live in places where English is not the main language. This may be true for you. You may not have many chances to practice English. You may even be self-taught.
Thinking in English really helps! It is not very difficult, but it does need practice. Here we will share some mental exercises. A good first step is to think in words. Look around you. What do you see? In your head, try to name each object in your surroundings. Charles Thomas has taught English for over 10 years. He tells his students to name the things that they see around them, wherever they are.
Another exercise Thomas suggests is describing in your mind objects you don’t know the words for. Thomas says, “If you’re looking at your house and you see your garage, but you can’t think of the name in English. You can say, ‘The place inside which I put my car.’ or you can say, ‘It’s next to my house. I keep things there.’”
The next exercise is thinking in simple sentences. For example, if you are sitting in a park, you can tell yourself things like, “It’s such a beautiful day” and “People are playing sports with their friends”. You can also describe your daily activities. Thomas asks his students to describe their days using the simple present verb form. So, they would think to themselves things like, “I put on my shirt” and “He drives the bus”.
How much time should you spend on these exercises? Thomas says you do a little every day. “When you make things a habit, then it just pops up into your mind without thinking and then, before you know it, really, you’re thinking in English.”
1. When a second language becomes part of your “inner speech”, .| A．you learn the language by yourself |
| B．you start thinking in the language |
| C．most people around you speak the language |
| D．you translate things from your native language into it |
| A．Describing your daily activities. |
| B．Thinking in simple sentences. |
| C．Naming objects in your surroundings. |
| D．Describing objects you don’t know the words for. |
| A．Spend your time on exercises |
| B．Teach yourself a second language |
| C．Train your brain to think in English |
| D．Practice English wherever you are |
5 . Learning Chinese has never been more convenient now that everyone carries a smartphone in their pockets. There are a number of Mandarin Chinese learning apps for iPhone and Android out on the market, varying from simple games and flashcard apps to full-blown language courses.
Fluentu: Learn through Real World Content
If you have ever taken a language class in school you probably used a textbook filled with all sorts of exercises or reading passages. Usually this content is boring, and not like anything you would normally meet in real life.
Fluentu takes a novel approach to language learning by using real world Chinese language video content taken from the Internet. Vocabulary specific to each video is taught and every video has subtitles in Chinese. Videos are usually very interesting and range from commercials to music videos and so on — great for cultural education.
ChineseSkill: Language Learning Game
ChineseSkill teaches language much like the popular language learning app Duolingo. It starts off the basics through contained topical modules like numbers, food, directions, etc. Instruction is laid out in an intuitive (直观的) way, slowly introducing grammar and vocabulary through a series of mini-games. Most of the tasks in ChineseSkill use pinyin and English but there are also some character recognition tasks as well. If you want to learn how to write Chinese, this app won't be enough for you. But for basic conversational listening, speaking, and vocabulary, this little app does the trick in a very entertaining way. Even better it's totally free!
Skritter:Learning to Write Chinese Characters
Skritter is a powerful app that teaches you to write and recognize Chinese and Japanese written characters. The app is able to recognize your handwritten characters and correct any mistakes. It is available for all major platforms — iOS, Android, Mac, Windows and they currently offer a 7-day free trial. Check it out!
1. What is the advantage of Fluentu?| A．Interesting. | B．Manufactured. |
| C．Dull. | D．Basic. |
| A．Game introduction. |
| B．Chinese grammar practice. |
| C．Vocabulary video. |
| D．Chinese learning. |
| A．A Chinese learning reference book. |
| B．An advertisement. |
| C．An app store website. |
| D．A tourist handbook. |
| A．Fluentu. | B．ChineseSkill. |
| C．Skritter. | D．Duolingo. |
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