Name: 【地道英式Podcast】提升英語最快的方法：打造你的英文腦，擺脫翻譯思維|學習必聽攻略！|聽懂英語、敢說出口，一次解決學習痛點｜B1聽力Podcast|Mind the Gap系列
Uploaded: 2026-01-26T07:04:56.000Z
Duration: 24 min 1 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Mind the Gap.

To-infinitive

It's really lovely to have you with us again.

So, Jen, I've been hearing this from so many learners recently and I think it's such a big worry.

They say, why do native speakers talk so fast?

Is it because we don't know enough words?

Ah, yes, that question comes up all the time, doesn't it?

And honestly, I. I completely understand why learners feel that way.

You sit in front of a film, or maybe you're listening to a conversation on the bus and it just feels like everything is racing past you.

It's not just you, and it's not that your English is bad.

This is something almost every learner experiences in today's episode.

We're going to unpack this problem step by step.

And, and more importantly, we'll share some practical ways to deal with it.

By the end, you'll know exactly what to focus on and how to train your brain to keep up with fast English.

I'm already curious to know if it really is about vocabulary or if something else is going on.

A lot of people genuinely believe that the reason they don't understand native speakers is simply.

Simply because they don't know enough vocabulary.

The thinking goes, if I just memorize more words, I'll finally get it.

I mean, if you don't know the word umbrella and someone asks you, have you got an umbrella?

So, of course vocabulary is part of the picture.

But, and this is really important, it's not the main problem when it comes to fast native speech.

Sometimes you know all the words in a sentence, but you still don't understand what the speaker means.

For example, if I say to you, it's on me now, the words are simple, aren't they?

But unless you've learnt that as a phrase, you probably wouldn't realize it means, I'll pay for you, I'll treat you right.

So the problem isn't the words themselves, it's more about how they're used together.

Language isn't just Lego bricks of vocabulary.

It's patterns, it's chunks, it's expressions that carry a meaning bigger than the individual words.

Learners often get frustrated because they're trying to decode each word separately, then translate it into their own language.

And by the time they finish that process, boom, the conversation has already moved on.

I've definitely had that moment when I'm still translating the first part, and

I've already missed the second part completely.

Yes, and that's why simply adding more words to your memory isn't enough.

You recognize the words, go home, late bus.

But if the actors are speaking quickly, linking words together, or using an idiom, you can.

It's the way your brain is processing the language.

So would you say the real challenge is what you sometimes call thinking in English?

I like to call it building an English brain.

Instead of stopping to translate each word into Chinese or another language, you want to train yourself to react directly in English.

That way, when someone says, fancy a cuppa?

Your brain doesn't go, fancy equals shi huan, cuppa equals cha bae.

It just jumps straight to, they're asking if I want a cup of tea.

So the real danger here is not a lack of words, but relying too much on translation.

Translation is like carrying a heavy backpack.

To really keep up with fast English, you need to drop that backpack and build a quicker route in your brain.

And that's what we're going to explore today.

How to get rid of the constant translation and start thinking directly in English.

So, Jen, you've mentioned this idea of an English brain a few times now, but

When I talk about an English brain, I mean the ability to understand English directly without having to stop and translate it into Chinese or any other language.

First, it's that mental switch where English goes in and meaning comes out straight away, no middleman involved.

So it's like cutting out the translation step.

In Chinese, if someone says, you don't stop and think.

You instantly know it's just a friendly greeting.

You don't even consciously notice the words.

The goal is not to pause and translate each word.

If you do that, you'll be painfully slow.

Instead Your English brain should jump straight to oh, they're just saying hello, asking how I am.