Thinking in English

Thinking in English is something that can happen to a learner in two different ways. The first implies a natural occurrence: after a long time of being learning English (or if you're lucky, a short time) one day the learner finds himself/herself thinking in English without any conscious effort. It is ideal that a learner thinks in English "naturally", but it won't happen soon or after a few weeks of beginning learning a foreign language. In my own experience it happened all of a sudden, but after a long while. And I was constantly exposed to English.
The second makes more sense than just waiting by idly. We have to make a conscious effort "to think in English". It is really simple. Quite often natives do not have thinking processes unlike ours, meaning that if they are hungry that's what they have in their minds: "I'm hungry..." or "I need to take a break..." Simple thoughts that we can easily have in our own minds in the target language, and simple thoughts that can be the beginning of our "thinking in English". As any other muscle our brain needs to be trained, in this case to accept English's distinct sounds and expressions. Little by little and always based on "voluntary" thoughts, a learner's brain will get used to "think" in English. Small messages such as "Where are my black shoes?" should become part of our everyday experience.
There is yet one more way, but I've never seen it happening: you can always wait for the Holy Spirit to come down upon you and grant you the power to speak English. You never know, if you're a believer and your faith is strong enough, this personal miracle can happen to you.

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