When I asked someone to talk about a picture as I was teaching him I immediately noticed that he was translating in his head because of the errors he made and how much time it took him to form his thoughts. I stopped him and asked him to name all the things around him that he knew how to say in the language he learns. Then I told him to pay attention to not to translate. I also made him write notes on the topics he wanted to talk about in that language. The result was immediate. As soon as we continued with the exercise he stopped stuttering and taking huge breaks in between sentences. He also made much fewer grammar mistakes than he did before. All because he didn’t translate in his head.
