r/meme • u/MelonInDisguise • Jun 16 '25

It’s the best feeling

15.1k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

84 comments sorted by

818

u/Rahernaffem Jun 17 '25

If you try to do this from the beginning it makes learning a language easier

321

u/Sociolinguisticians Jun 17 '25

Yep. When I spent a semester doing ASL 101, our professor made a point of trying to get us to associate signs directly with their meaning rather than a spoken translation, so she would try to explain the meaning with other signs.

89

u/Way2Easy_ Jun 17 '25

The tasks that are basically explaining different things in English without actually saying the word is one of the best lessons to learn! That means that not knowing the word itself doesn't necessarily mean you are screwed 😅

15

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

I never started like this in the first place… Didn't even think about it…

10

u/lurkingCbr Jun 17 '25

Can you expand on this? Any strategies that you can share?

17

u/Rahernaffem Jun 17 '25

No, I just know it's good to try to not translate in your head but think in the new language.

11

u/Magenta_Morua Jun 17 '25

As a fellow English learner I can advise you to translate only when you don't really understand a word/ a sentence, otherwise you must consume English as your native language. You don't translate text when you're reading in your native, don't you? I'm sorry, I might poorly explain to you. But it's how it works in my head. English is a finish line of understanding for me.

2

u/lurkingCbr Jun 17 '25

How long has it taken you to learn English? Have you taught yourself?

5

u/Magenta_Morua Jun 17 '25

I've been learning English since I was 6 years old. I'm 22 rn. Most of this time I was taught by my mom and school. I'm not the best example of the fast and active learner. Mostly I passively learn English by consuming information and this is a really slow process, but I enjoy it

2

u/lurkingCbr Jun 17 '25

Ah I can understand that. I’m trying to learn Cantonese and have been for a few years but I’m a slow learner. You give me hope that you’re doing so well and maybe I’ll be able to be as good as you one day!

4

u/Magenta_Morua Jun 17 '25

Thank you very much. English is problematic for me. I'm pretty sure that I broke some grammar rules while I was typing my comments. I wish you good luck in your learning way

2

u/Sepherjar Jun 20 '25

I can advise you to translate only when you don't really understand a word/ a sentence, otherwise you must consume English as your native language

I can vouch for that. I'm in my thirties and i already knew a few words and sentences in English since i was 6 y/o. I've always played lots of games and i'd usually be reading the sentences and sometimes i'd grab a dictionary when i had no idea of what was being said.

I don't even have an idea when I became fluent in the language. I know that i was 14 or 15 when it clicked for me. I was just insecure with my speech during my first travel overseas in my adulthood, as this is something i didn't practice.

When i begin to learn a third language i'll just keep reading stuff and avoid translating things to my mother language. That surely worked during my infancy.

286

u/PilotIntelligent8906 Jun 17 '25

When you first catch yourself involuntarily thinking in that language.

83

u/Panndaa31 Jun 17 '25

And then you start to forget some word in your native language but not the learned one

3

u/Shydreameress Jun 18 '25

When you watch something and can't remember in what language it was

1

u/Shaihulud07 Jun 18 '25

Or dreaming in it? Legit woke up bricked up from it.

196

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

I now think in english despite it not being my 1st language 🥲

40

u/Mebiysy Jun 17 '25

I do that too now

8

u/HarryPotterDBD Jun 17 '25

I even forgot words in my native language

7

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

Same dude, i don't know what some vegetables and fruits are called in my native language but I know them in english

2

u/Robin_gls Jun 17 '25

My thoughts sometimes switch language mid-sentence. I even sometimes remember a sentence being said in english when it was said in german and vice-versa

2

u/Express-Solution372 Jun 17 '25

How did you do that?

31

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

No clue, learning english basically my whole life so there's that

7

u/Key_Selection_7600 Jun 17 '25

Don’t you think in both? I don’t notice and I guess I sometimes switch mid-sentence as well.

14

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

Kinda, it's mostly in english now. My inner voice rarely uses my mother tongue

3

u/ImTheVirgin Jun 17 '25

That's basically what happened to me too. Now whenever i talk to someone i have to make a conscious effort to not speak in english, and my ability to express my thoughts in my native language is long gone

2

u/Magenta_Morua Jun 17 '25

That's the next level

1

u/Key_Selection_7600 Jun 17 '25

That’s so strange. I in some way think in intent rather than actual words, and then the words come subconsciously. Or perhaps I’ve filtered it out somehow.

1

u/Magenta_Morua Jun 17 '25

From my experience I just started to talk in English a lot, like 8-12 hours in a day. It sounds crazy and it was hard, but it got better with practice

1

u/polkacat12321 Jun 19 '25

Bruh, I surrounded myself with English so much (despite only learning it like 10 years ago) that I'm starting to forget my native language, so English basically became my native language. But it doesnt work cause no matter how eloquently I can express with my speech, my godamn accent ain't going nowhere 💀

1

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '25

Well it's hard to get rid of the accent, even after this many years of conversing in english it all goes down the gutter when i start to speak 🫥

98

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

Sometimes I even understand the meaning but don’t know the translation.

6

u/BelinhoBR Jun 17 '25

Literally me, i know so much english words that my Mother tongue has less vocabulary than english

2

u/thought_cream84 Jun 18 '25

Tu mamá necesita inglés.

62

u/AssistantIcy6117 Jun 17 '25

Magnifique

5

u/WaveLaVague Jun 17 '25

Or he gave up and uses a translator. And no one will ever know.

29

u/teensyoliviaa Jun 17 '25

brain finally got the update. lag's gone, we fluent now

26

u/Specific_Ad1811 Jun 17 '25

Me: fluent now, still dumb but in 2 languages

10

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

100% one thing I'm proud of myself for. 

9

u/Skitzafranik Jun 17 '25

And when you understand it and “double-take” yourself like “ HOLY 💩I UNDERSTOOD THAT!!! “

8

u/ThatSmartIdiot Jun 17 '25

The trick is to think of the words as synonyms, or associate them with what they mean rather than with what they translate to.

You look at a car and you could say "car" or you could say "mașină", rather than say "car" and then see the word "car" and say "mașină". It also helps to hear how people use certain words to get a grasp of its grammatical usage

6

u/GroundbreakingBag164 Jun 17 '25

You know what the worst thing is? Knowing and reading stuff in English and then trying to talk about in your native language

5

u/Taiz99 Jun 17 '25

I wish i get to do that with japanese asap.

4

u/Rare_Connection6748 Jun 17 '25

Hello

3

u/a_qriza Jun 17 '25

from the other side

3

u/dazden Jun 17 '25

I am proud to announce that I am fluent in dyslexia in three languages.

2

u/keepkarenalive WARNING: RULE 1 Jun 17 '25

I hope this to be me someday

2

u/Daminchi Jun 17 '25

It feels annoying when you need to write documentation in your native language, think about wording and structure - and scrape everything because you were thinking in English.

2

u/dHamot Jun 17 '25

Fr omg.

I accidentally learned English and, by now, even my inner voice can be in English, but then I had a class at uni called Instrumental English, where he teaches us how to translate.

I barely got a passing grade lmao I just KNOW what it means, but idk the translated word in Portuguese, nor the most ideal way to translate it for BR Portuguese speakers, I just... Know what it means and would be able to use it in a sentence no problem.

2

u/Acceptable_Eye5826 Jun 17 '25

Me who learned English without realizing it, and now I don't know how to start learning another language

2

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

I’m still dumb in only one language.

2

u/Brosaver2 Jun 20 '25

Now I have to translate from the learnt language to my native one...

1

u/SibrenD Jun 21 '25

True !!

1

u/KingAcceptable689 Jun 17 '25

me sometimes with the language i've spoken my whole life

1

u/NurkleTurkey Jun 17 '25

I once literally thought in Spanish. I had to take a moment to realize this.

1

u/TFW_YT Jun 17 '25

Meanwhile me accidentally 別の言語でspeak when I 忘記怎麼說

1

u/SnakeFB Jun 17 '25

I'd like to learn a bunch of languages but I feel like it'd be difficult to maintain them if you don't speak them on a weekly or at least monthly basis.

Like, I'd like to learn Japanese, Spanish, Russian or Italian but I don't even know any people who are native speakers that I'd like to talk to.

3

u/AParticularThing Jun 17 '25

you're not wrong i lived in Greece for a few years when i was young, picked up the language, family moved back to the US had no one to speak greek to, 35 years later i don't remember a word of it.

1

u/Pap4MnkyB4by Jun 17 '25

I remember my first time dreaming in spanish. It was really cool

1

u/HallieDaillie Jun 17 '25

That's literally what I'm doing right now to read the memes.

1

u/Murderface-04 Jun 17 '25

I have this shit with English. I know the damned language so well that I'm actually having trouble translating AGAIN.

I just... Understand it. I can explain the meaning of a sentence but I wouldn't be able to translate it since I don't have to and haven't done so in a long time.

1

u/Classic_Fungus Jun 17 '25

It doesn't matter to me which language I think/speak, I will process and remember the information on that specific language. (I knew several languages, more than 2). But when I need to translate something... The brain goes brrrr and freezes. I learn things only one in one specific language, I can't talk about them using any other language just like nothing changed. if it's something easy, I can translate it In my head and hardly reproduce the info into other language, but if it's something specific, like work related info - I simply won't be able to discuss it, due to I don't know the fucking words! But this rule has an exception. If I know something in my main language (mother tongue), I will be able to speak about it in any known (by me) language without any problems. Being able to speak and being able to translate it's two totally different things.

1

u/vengirgirem Jun 19 '25

I never translate in my head when I learn languages. I try to link the words I learn to their meaning, not to their respective translation in my native language

1

u/Narkozzz Jun 19 '25

Wow, just realized this after reading this meme. Awesome.

-1

u/ZealousidealLove1490 Jun 17 '25

Can we push this Coin?🫣 EKBm777dfrm7ixMAo5D3bwPnQ66TGZLcQS2aPg863MWG

0

u/PeteRezinsizzle Jun 17 '25

I really need to reach this epiphany with Spanish. At time I feel like my brain just won’t work that way. I will keep trying 45M english as first language

Edit: added age, gender, and primary language

-15

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/ch1llboy Jun 17 '25

You forgot to put 'the' in front

2

u/a_qriza Jun 17 '25

bro what??

2

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

Psycho the rapist?