As a non-native speaker, I won’t burn the thesaurus (aka delete my translation app of choice). I love writing and thinking in English. Many things I find easier express in English than in my native language. But naturally, mu vocabulary is not as big. So when my brain jumps to native mid-sentence for a single word, I know I have to look it up even though I might know an English expression. But there are nuances. And the translation I have in my brain is not the one most suited to that particular context. So I go and find the expression that conveys the correct nuance.
I read as much English as I can.It’s just that I don’t make the time for old-fashioned vocabulary learning anymore. I just look stuff up and hope it’s going to stick after 27 times (a teacher of mine once stated that you need to repeat something 27 times to ingrain it into your brain, no idea if he made that up or of that was evidence-based).
As a non-native speaker, I won’t burn the thesaurus (aka delete my translation app of choice). I love writing and thinking in English. Many things I find easier express in English than in my native language. But naturally, mu vocabulary is not as big. So when my brain jumps to native mid-sentence for a single word, I know I have to look it up even though I might know an English expression. But there are nuances. And the translation I have in my brain is not the one most suited to that particular context. So I go and find the expression that conveys the correct nuance.
Why not just read more in English? (This might sound rude, but it’s not intended to be)
I read as much English as I can.It’s just that I don’t make the time for old-fashioned vocabulary learning anymore. I just look stuff up and hope it’s going to stick after 27 times (a teacher of mine once stated that you need to repeat something 27 times to ingrain it into your brain, no idea if he made that up or of that was evidence-based).