Radical Translation
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9 ways to turn everything into a language game
The debate over “translation” deserves its own article. Radical translation is a technique you might also call “talking to yourself in another language”. In a nutshell:
Say aloud in your target language — as often as possible — anything you think, do, or observe.
Optionally: have paper, pencil, or a phone handy. Radical translation quickly points out exactly what you need to learn. Note it down, and this becomes your own personalized “curriculum”. Use those words in conversation!
Origin Story
We’ll get to the games in a second. First, I’m going to recall how this habit started. Because the story is the key to making it work. It all began with two factors:
First, I already had a habit of talking to myself in English. When I was alone, I’d narrate life or verbalize my side of a conversation (“if only I had said that”).
Second, I had a cool high school Chinese class. In the first half of our first-class, our teacher spoke only Mandarin. We’d meet outside of school for moon festivals and immersion days — full days of no English.
It was a norm that we use Chinese all the time. Chinese was especially interesting, so I enjoyed using it whenever I could. Just saying a sentence was pleasurable. So I’d indulge as often as possible.
One day, a classmate pointed out that I talk to myself in Chinese all the time. When I was pouring tea (we had tea in our classroom), I’d say something like “I’m going to drink a lot of tea. Then I’ll need to work a lot. I really hope I have enough time” and so on.
I hadn’t even noticed.
Ideally, you don’t. The radical translation should become a tic. It happens automatically. I began doing this with other languages, at home, in the car, in math class. Like having a yoyo in your pocket, you play whenever you can.
Much later I actually saw this could even be considered a “useful technique”. But useful it is. Three big reasons:
- It reveals gaps in your knowledge.
- It transfers speaking from an effortful process into an automatic process, something you do in your sleep.
- It builds an enjoyment for voicing your own thoughts out loud.
One Prerequisite
In order for this habit to work, you have to really like speaking the language. This is vital in order to make these games work. The thing you win is hearing yourself speak the language. If that doesn’t give you a small amount of pleasure, then it’s only an exercise, not a game.
We forget how cool language is because we speak it all the time. But take a minute to really think about what happens.
We make a sound. That sound makes things happen.
It’s a magic spell. Go to the right place, say the right sounds: Aidlaik uh kahfi and a coffee will appear.
At the very least, understanding happens. Understanding feels good.
And you can learn other spells in other tongues to make other things happen in other parts of the world. Is that not cool?
If you were given magical abilities, would you only use them during “magic practice time” at school? Would you sigh, force yourself to do your mandatory “magic drills” for homework until you’re finally free to play video games?
Or would you steal spellbook and binge-learn everything you can?
Radical translation develops this hunger. But you have to take pleasure from simply saying a sentence. So take a moment and enjoy the language. Say something. You just turned a thought into a sound. Cool.
It’s a power. Get power-hungry. Then your gaps of knowledge will become a real curiosity to you and drive you to learn at record speed.
Let the games begin
Again: Radical translation is saying aloud whatever you do, think, or notice.
Here are some particular recipes for doing this.
1. Sing or rap
Not a song or rap that you memorized. Create a song in your target language on the spot. I do this a lot in the car. Be ridiculous. Make no sense. You really enjoy the feel and rhyme and flow of the language.
2. Improvise a story
Just say “once upon a time” or “Yesterday, I was walking home when…” and keep on talking without stop. This reinforces your ability to plow forward and using what you have to paraphrase.
2. Have a discussion with yourself
Think of a situation you will be in or a topic you would actually discuss with someone you know, and say your points aloud. Really imagine any possible responses or counterpoints, and continue the discussion as long as you can.
This is one of the best ways to discover gaps of knowledge and point you towards what you should learn. With the “magic spell” mindset, you will become genuinely hungry to learn those new words.
Keep the paper and pencil handy. After you learn these words, you can improvise on the topic again.
3. Translate what others are saying.
Listen to everyone. Are you in earshot of someone right now? Can you say what he/she just said in your target language?
Yes: Say it
No: Learn it
This can actually become addicting. If someone is talking, asking, or yelling at you, just know they are inviting you to play a language game. There’s always a new spell to learn. If you’re driving, turn on the radio and translate as much of the program/song as you can.
4. Translate what you notice
Sit down anywhere and describe whatever you notice in the language. Here’s what I notice right now from the cafe where I’m writing this: “Those women are talking by the window” “That truck is loud” “The guy with glasses is reading a book and looks really interested in it.”
I can say most of this in Chinese. But I don’t know truck. Now I want to learn it. I could say car, but I’m curious about “truck”.
5. Paraphrase
Pick something you can’t say. Then find a way to say it — no matter how weird or chunky your definition. Here are some words I don’t know in Chinese.
- Truck: A kind of car. You use it’s back to carry a lot of things.
- Nostalgia: A feeling you get when you think about a long time ago when you were younger. Wanting to go back to those earlier days.
- Alien: Someone who comes from outside the earth.
This game actually gets to be very fun and it multiplies your abilities many times over.
6. Never-ending “but-because-so”
Ah… “but” “because” and “so”. Learn these three words the first hour of your new language. Our communication often involves conflict (but), justifying (because), and drawing conclusions (so).
The “but-because-so” game is particularly great for those who have just started learning. See how long you can keep talking, non-stop, by using these words. If you’re late for work, you might say “I have to work”. Don’t stop there! Say “I have to work, but” and now you need to keep talking:
“I have to study, but I don’t want to study, because I don’t like working and I want to play, so I will not study, but I will go to my friends house and play video games, because he has a lot of video games, but then I won’t have my homework tomorrow, so I can’t go to my friend’s house, but I can still meet him and talk a little, because I like talking with him and I can’t study right now, so I will go right now, but…”
This is a super-effective way to shift into the mindset of “just talking” (detach from “thinking and translating word for word”. In the first week of learning a language, preferably the first day, you should be playing the but-because-so game all the time. Getting in this flow feels motivating.
7. Use what’s new
What’s the latest thing you just learned to say? Make a game of using it, especially if you can use it in the context of what’s really going on in your life. Weave it into your song, rap, story, one-sided discussion, etcetera.
8. Ask someone for a random sentence to translate
I especially like this because you never know what you’ll get. It’s not a “look at me, I can speak Greek, give me a sentence and I’ll show you” sort of thing. Rather, it’s a way to get a prompt from somebody else’s head.
That’s it.
Radical translation — combined with frequent conversation practice — naturally and inevitably turns you into a stronger speaker. Do these games all the time, every day all day — when you’re not talking to native speakers — and you will jumpstart your way to fluency.
If you are looking for language partners to improve your foreign language skills you can find it on swaplanguage.com.
