Imagine thinking in Italian right before attempting to say anything to a native.
Imagine seeing in your head the Italian words and structures you've been learning, and all you have to do is to pick the ones that will get your message across. In other words, imagine being an independent speaker who can get through unexpected daily situations.
You might need to know where the train you're on is going to stop during your Italian holiday, or to ask for directions when your GPS can't seem to work properly and you are already nervous, tired, and late! So, you want to be able to put together a simple, clear, reasonably polite question that will give you the answer you actually need.
And how do you do that? Well, definitely not by translating your English thoughts word for word in Italian. Why not? Because that is not how any language is spoken. Every language has its own way of speaking and thinking intertwined with a whole complex culture. So you need to learn to think in Italian and leave other languages alone.
How to Practice Thinking in Italian
How do you make the Italian thinking happen? First of all, by replacing your "I need to translate my words" mindset with "I need to find the Italian words that can serve me" mindset! This requires a bit of an effort, as you will need to dismiss your old patterns and habits and replace them with new ones. It is the same thing you do when you decide to become fit and start working out. Keep in mind that you won't get instant results as it's a gradual change that requires practice. From now on, every time you catch yourself thinking in English while attempting to speak Italian, make a mental effort to ignore the English so that you can focus on your Italian.
Then you should immerse yourself in the Italian language! You can start by watching original Italian movies and TV series in Italian with either no subtitles or Italian ones. Why? Because your brain needs to experience the pure Italian language flow, sound, accents, and match the words it can grasp to the actions and objects you see. That is how you create a link between the Italian language and the everyday-life objects and actions without getting lost in translation. The purpose is to make your brain practice, not understanding the details. So do it constantly for a limited time (e.g. 5 minutes and gradually increase it) and see the "magic" happen!
How to Know if You Are Starting to Think in Italian
How do you know if your brain is starting to think in Italian and focusing less on English during your Italian practice? You will definitely catch yourself talking to your mind using Italian instead of English. You might experience thinking something simple such as "Bevo l'acqua" when you feel the need to hydrate on a hot summer day. You also may catch yourself using Italian exclamations such as "Dai!" when you are stuck in traffic and you need cars to move. When it happens, please keep it going ad start talking to yourself in Italian (while in the car on your own). Take advantage of the "Italian wave"!
An amazing thing you will start noticing if you keep watching Italian TV series (with no trace of English) is that you will start learning objects names and expressions that make perfect sense the very first time you hear them! This is because they make sense in that scene, in that context, an no further explanation is actually needed. As an example, if a scene is set in a restaurant and the waiter hands a dish to a customer while saying "Prego" and then they repeat it when handing a different dish to someone else, you can assume that "Prego" is used when politely giving something to somebody. And this might be a use of the word you didn't know before. You will start "connecting the dots" more and more, which expands your mind and opens it up to endless opportunities of learning new things. And this not limited to language learning!
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