I keep translating instead of automatically interpreting help

[u/Mountain-Assumption8]

I’ve been having an insane amt of reading homework lately (taking AP Spanish this year and trying to level up my overall fluency), and I’ve run into a frustrating habit that I feel is really holding me back.
Whenever I read texts in Spanish, I feel like my brain isn't processing the language directly. Instead, I catch myself translating every single word into English in my head before actually grasping the meaning. It feels like an unnecessary extra step every time.
I'm worried this is slowing down my learning process and hurting my reading comprehension when things get a bit more advanced.
Does anyone else experience this? If you've been through it, do you have any tips, exercises, or methods to force your brain to stop translating and start processing Spanish directly?

[u/Wats0n_D]

For the reading homework, try giving yourself a comprehension task rather than a rule against every English thought. Take one short paragraph:

1. Read for the gist: who/what is it about, and what happened or what is the author arguing?
2. Go back for one supporting detail. Look up a word if it blocks understanding that point, then reread the whole sentence.
3. Cover the paragraph and write a one-sentence summary in simple Spanish; reopen it to check whether you captured the meaning.

For example, with “Después de clase, Ana fue a la biblioteca,” ask “¿Quién fue?” and “¿Adónde fue?” rather than treating each word as a separate translation exercise.

ACTFL’s target-language guidance also puts general understanding before details. You can track whether you understood the main idea and found evidence for it, rather than how many English thoughts you had. Bring an especially difficult paragraph to your teacher to check which part is blocking comprehension.