"Why You Understand Spanish But Can't Speak It" explained why translating in your head stalls you. This is the how — the practical habits that get you thinking in Spanish.
Start with chunks, not words
Memorise short phrases you can deploy whole, so you're not building each sentence from scratch. Chunks are the fastest route to speech that doesn't route through your first language.
Narrate your surroundings
Silently label what you see and do in Spanish through the day. These low-stakes reps build a direct link between an idea and its Spanish word, which is exactly what translation short-circuits.
Lean on monolingual input
Pictures, gestures, and Spanish-explained-in-Spanish bypass the translation step entirely — you attach meaning to the Spanish directly, with no English in the middle.
Let it be imperfect
The goal is a direct idea-to-word link, and it forms through use, not through translating faster. Accept rough, halting Spanish now; the directness is what smooths it out over time.