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Writing in a Foreign Language is Easy, Actually

Language Stories

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Writing in a foreign language feels scary - until you see exactly what the path from beginner to advanced actually looks like. In this video, I walk you through a realistic, step-by-step roadmap for getting into writing practice in your target language, starting from the very first step. Each stage builds naturally on the last, so you can stop waiting until your grammar is "good enough" and start making real progress now. If you've been putting off writing in a foreign language, this one's for you.

MENTIONED:
Video about writing by hand: How Writing By Hand Transformed My Languag...
Video about being your own language teacher: Why You’re Not Improving in a Foreign Lang...

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
00:34 - Level 1
01:37 - Level 2
03:57 - Level 3
05:59 - Level 4
06:40 - Final thoughts

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20 Comments

@CannonInTheWind 5 months ago

Writing by hand can also help just in learning the characters of a new alphabet and being able to write them well. I've been doing this consistently with Greek and Hebrew for about seven years, and in comparing my current and old notebooks, I can see a clear difference in how comfortable I am in forming the characters.
Until recently, my goal was simply to be able to read foreign languages, so I'm mostly still at your level 1. Occasionally, I write the odd sentence or two. Sometimes I think I should start journaling in the languages I've been studying for a longer period of time, but for some reason, I find it difficult to begin.
I'd be very interested in a video on editing!

@jamiececilielange5249 5 months ago

Another exercise I sometimes do besides the ones mentioned, is taking a word I want to remember, and writing a sentence with it, or taking a sentence I understand and changing it. Most of the sentences won't make much sense, but I find that it helps.

@ІринаВощенко 3 weeks ago

I completely agree with you.

@emanuelleandradebez 5 months ago

I subscribed because I loved the way you structured and expressed those ideas! Loved the sugestions and I think It applies on my method of study. Merci beaucoup!

@G4RRR4.C 5 months ago

Simply thank you! Every single pieace of information is pure gold. Greetings from Colombia.

@dramadrama-l4g2z 5 months ago

thank you for the video, it is really helpful

@nawrastS 3 months ago

Thank you so much

@ÂriTié 5 months ago

thank you for this video! it's a huge motivation to keep going <3

@ImaniLoveHassien 5 months ago

You are absolutely precious! I am learning Italian and would say I'm at an A2 level. I love journaling along with the prompts from Moon List-- I'm challenging myself to use the new vocab I've learned from the week's module in my formal Italian course so I can play with the new things I'm learning week to week.

@LeonardLegatus 4 months ago

Very useful video. I'm starting to get more into the creative writing in English (I'm non native) and this video has presented a clear and well organized path to follow, thank you a lot!

@gob3716 5 months ago

This just makes sense tho I have written a bit in French but when I was copying out by hand I was making more progress

@MidosujiSen 5 months ago

Your accent in English is stellar. I assume your native language is one of the two Slavic ones, but you don't have many traces of a Slavic accent.

@cherryblossomgurl 5 months ago

I owe it to your videos that I started journaling in a foreign language 🥹❤

@sjeangilles1 1 month ago

I am so happy to have stumbled upon your YouTube channel. I am learning eight languages but I have to improve my output. My worst language is Korean and today is "Korean Day" as I study using a carousel format. I hope to be able to write a single phrase in Korean today! Let's see how it goes!

@kalinmaify 5 months ago

что такое journaling в этом контексте? короткие записи как прошел ваш день?

@teresita.lozada 5 months ago (edited)

Hi. Could copying song lyrics be a good idea at the beginning stage of writing?. I love your videos, very useful. Thank you so much!!.

@annakamentseva2163 2 months ago

Thank you for this video! At this point, I am very much struggling with my university essays, which I´m writing in both German and English, while my native language is Ukrainian. I can freely journal in both of them(mistakes are inevitable though), but it is quite complicated for me to express myself at the academic level. Many of my writing sessions are ending up with me starring into a blank document and questioning my entire existence.

@rainsounds.torelax 5 months ago

I can speak fckn German yes without getting stuck or stammer but I can't write .when I speak I don't make many grammar mistakes but when I start write 😵its complete shit

@_funkoi_1955 1 month ago

I guess I reached the end and wasn't aware of it 😅 I like to write stories and books, and at first I wrote them in Ukrainian but then for some reason I felt that "the vibe wasn't right" so I started to write everything in English. I am not sure about my level, because I've never passed any official tests, but I wouldn't say that writing creative content alone means someone has C1+...
For example, you can write a fanfic in English and it will be "He said 'oh'. Then he said 'OH'. The end"
But I def would recommend writing creative stuff, because it forces you to learn more vocabulary and grammar. (even writing in Ukrainian brought me some new knowledge, because I'm used to суржик) 👍

@olevam1 5 months ago

Reflection on the last level - I don't quite agree -- i think creative writing can be done at the same level as writing an essay - but high quality essay writing (uni level let's say) or high-quality creative writing requires yes high language knowledge, but also high skill in the area. After level 3 we go beyond language, and fully into general writing and storytelling skills in my opinion