When I was in my 20s I studied Mandarin in college. First two years I was terrible at it. 3rd year I did 6 months in Taiwan, had a private tutor, tried to learn all the English words/concepts I typically use on a daily basis, then I would put all that into practice on the streets of Taipei. After a couple of months I was dreaming in Chinese and I got very fluent at the language.
Like you're describing here in your post, I went from translating to thinking in Chinese. You're a very intelligent man, but I was just a dumb kid back then. I didn't have a big brain to overcome.
When I was in my 20s I studied Mandarin in college. First two years I was terrible at it. 3rd year I did 6 months in Taiwan, had a private tutor, tried to learn all the English words/concepts I typically use on a daily basis, then I would put all that into practice on the streets of Taipei. After a couple of months I was dreaming in Chinese and I got very fluent at the language.
Like you're describing here in your post, I went from translating to thinking in Chinese. You're a very intelligent man, but I was just a dumb kid back then. I didn't have a big brain to overcome.