It takes a lot of effort to learn English as a second language, and many students hit a roadblock sometime in their education and just feel like giving up. The thrill of learning a new language has worn off; instead, they’re sick of memorizing rules and feel like they’re working so hard and not getting anywhere.

One of the reasons why English learners have such a hard time mastering the language is that they revert to the instinct of doing one-on-one translation. They hear a word, then they mentally try to find the equivalent in their Mother Tongue. If that doesn’t work, they try to think of what the word means in picture form. This takes about five to ten seconds, and by then, they’ve completely dropped out of the conversation, can’t understand what’s going on, and are then pulled deeper into the spiral of confusion.

This doesn’t work. First of all, there is rarely any one-to-one equivalent between phrases, since a language often has nuances that are intrinsic to the culture. Unique sentence structures and grammar forms also make it harder to translate completely.

The best way to learn a language is to use visualization. This is why children learn a language so fast. Instead of connecting a word to another word in their first language, they link it to impressions. For example, when they hear the word “happy” they envision a smiling face, rather than searching for the equivalent in another tongue. That’s why they can flexibly shift from one language to another.

You can apply this to objects, sounds, even abstract conepts like feelings and personality traits. Just find a picture for every word you learn, remembering the context by which it was used. Try to use the word as often as possible so the picture becomes more and more clear.

As you learn more and more words, let your mind translate it into a kind of slide slow or power point presentation, which lets you review the words. This is much easier than trying to memorize a list, and can even be soothing. That’s because you’re using the brain’s natural way of learning a language.