So, you thought it was going to be a breeze attending that foreign school, or doing that language course, or working in another country right up until you had to write that first essay? Yeah, I hear you. It’s tough to write in a language that is not your own. Nonetheless, it is far from impossible. There are plenty of authors who became famous for writing books in a language which was not their first.
Perhaps, one day you too can join that list! Whether that’s your goal or not, you’ll have to start somewhere and writing an essay is a good place to start. So how do you make sure that you can write a great essay in a foreign language?
Change your views of mistakes
If you’re used to writing only in your native language, then when you try to write in a language that isn’t your own, you’re going to make a lot of mistakes. That’s just the way it is. If you let that bother you, then you’re always going to struggle to actually get anywhere in that language.
If, on the other hand, you see those mistakes as steps to getting better, then you’re going to actually learn how to write. Yes, it’s hard to see mistakes that way. But the truth is, if you read back anything you wrote for your teacher when you were just going to school, those texts were pretty mediocre as well. They were full of mistakes, probably didn’t go very deep into the topic that you were discussing, and probably slanted across the page.
The good news is that when you’re learning how to write in a foreign language, you won’t make those mistakes. Your penmanship won’t suffer and you’ll also understand the underlying structure of an essay from writing essays in your own language. It’s only the grammar and vocabulary that you’ll need to learn. And that will go a lot faster! So embrace the mistakes and see them as learning opportunities.
Get feedback
Learning is a matter of action and feedback. That’s how a child learns to walk and that is how we learn to write. So help yourself by getting feedback as often as possible! There are a lot of ways to get feedback. You can ask your friends, or your teacher, or you can hire a tutor, or use an online academic translation services. Whatever way you choose, pay attention to what they’re saying and keep in mind what I said before about mistakes.
Also, what a lot of students do when they get back a piece of writing marked in red is throw it in a drawer and never look at it again. That’s the way to make sure you learn as little as possible. Instead, check out the instructions. Even better, rewrite the essays following the instructions that you’ve been given. In that way, you’re going to be far more likely to internalize the advice.
Use the online tools
Another great way to get direct feedback that exists now is to use the many online tools out there. Most major languages now have tools that you can download which will point out mistakes and errors. If you use word, then check out Microsoft office’s support site and get the support for the language that you’re learning.
This will hugely improve how quickly you’ll learn a language as you’ll get the feedback immediately as you’re making the mistake. And that will reinforce the right way to learn how to write something or how to use a grammar rule quickly.
Of course, you should be aware that software can make mistakes. For that reason, if you feel that it’s not right, do ask somebody who knows their way around the language to check it for you. Otherwise, you might end up learning a language incorrectly!
Read
Another great way to become a better writer is to read a lot in the language you’re trying to learn. After all, native writers will know how to use grammar correctly. Initially, you might well need a dictionary to help you through – but the great news is that if you keep it up, you soon might no longer need it and learn to figure out what words mean from context.
The great thing about reading is that you’re not just learning a language, but also another subject. In fact, there are some who say that the best way to learn a language is to use it to learn something else.
Speak
Also, don’t be afraid to speak with people. Watch movies, series and go out for a beer with people who speak the language. This might seem further removed from writing an essay, but the truth is studying a language isn’t going to make you fluent. For that you have to use it – and what better way to do that than to speak it?
In part, this is down to something called passive and active vocabulary. We all have both. Our active vocabulary is the words we use. Our passive vocabulary is what we understand. If you study a language without speaking it, you’re adding words to your passive vocabulary. But from there you need to get them into your active vocabulary. And that requires you to use them, over and over again. There is no better place to do so than in a conversation (though writing that essay isn’t bad either).
Rinse and repeat
Learning to write in another language is going to take time and will be frustrating. But don’t give up. The truth is that the first stage is both the hardest and the least rewarding. That’s because you won’t have the neural network for the language well established yet, which means words will take longer to stick, while your limited vocabulary will make it hard to say what you want to.
The trick is to stick out. If you can hold on, then eventually you’ll get past that. Then it will get easier and more enjoyable. And then not only will writing that essay become a breeze, you’ll also have the satisfaction of having done something difficult. And that can be worth its weight in gold.
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