I’ve written a few passages in german and had them corrected by many helpful natives here on Lingq…Now what? My thought is to write the corrected piece by hand in a notebook, so that way I’m only writing the correct version of my work. But then I think about how it’s no longer learning since I’m basically just copying someone else’s correction. But the point of a writing correction is to see the flaws in my writing, not write down what’s essentially strewn with errors that I wouldn’t know how to correct since I’m not german. I really want to get back into writing since it’s the best form of output when you don’t have any natives in the immediate area, thus becoming of what I consider a highly underrated skill. What do you guys do to get the most out your writing? I didn’t find much in Steve’s videos btw
In my experience as a language teacher, there are only few students who are interested in writing. Mostly of them are preparing for some tests or exams.
The majority of students want to read and to understand or to speak fluently and in general correctly. Little mistakes by speaking are not so visible as even slight mistakes by writing. Maybe this is a reason why the learners don’t want to write in a new language.
Of course, writing is the most difficult of all aspects of the language study. I teach German for a long time and write some German lessons for my school and for lingq.com. But yet I can do some little stylish mistakes in writing, that’s why I send my lessons and articles to my mative German friends for checking before sharing them in the German library in lingq.com.
Sometimes I correct some German writing exchanges here, but only if they are not too long and don’t have too many mistakes. The long texts I correct and explain the mistakes only when they are payable.
Hey Evgueny how do I access all of your lessons that you put onto LingQ?
You must write Evgueny40 in the searching box in the library and my lessons will appear.
But if you write me your target language and your level, I can give you some certain links to my courses on this level - I mean lessons in Russian, German and English which I’ve written and sent to the library here in lingq.com.
I agree that writing is an underrated skill. While speaking is the best mode of communication when you are in the same room with someone, I find that writing is often the best way to communicate in other cases, especially with natives that live in other countries.
The best way to learn how to write is by doing a lot of reading. That is how I learned how to write well in my native language. For me, Facebook has been a great resource for learning Italian. By reading the posts, and especially the comments, I have learned how people say things in Italian, the different ways people express something, and I get a feel for what is appropriate to say in a given context.
I started writing as soon as I could. I started by imitating the natives, and adapting it. I often just commented with a word or a phrase. Even though most people probably just type their comment, message, etc directly into Facebook, unless it is just a word or phrase, I prefer to compose the message on my computer and then copy & paste it into Facebook. At first, I would consult the dictionary and my grammar resources, and compose something. Now, I prefer to start out with what I already know. I will then look up words in the dictionary as needed. I will also look at Italian reading materials that I am familiar with, to find examples of what I am trying to say.
After I compose my first draft, I copy & paste it into Google Translate for correction. The English translation of my first draft often reflects exactly what I was trying to say. However, when I reverse it from Italian-to-English to English-to-Italian, I discover errors in spelling and grammar, and sometimes Google Translate sounds more natural than my first draft. Often Google Translate’s Italian does not reflect the meaning I am looking for, so I will continue editing my Italian – sometimes rephrasing it – until I finally arrive at something that is correct and sounds natural. So, I use Google Translator as my personal tutor – it is not perfect, but it is convenient. Another good resource is ReversoContext, which gives you example sentences containing a word or phrase.
Thank you so much Evgueny! I have been going through the lessons, they are great!
My pleasure! Good luck!
I use Google Translate for the same way. It is also very useful for me in LinkQ to use it. When I start reading a sentence, first I try to see only the translated text, and after that to write on paper down and compare then with the orginal text. In this way, I can use all of my known words at that moment.
Everything depends on the frequency of writing practice. You need to find interesting topics and try writing essays according to the main rules. If you experience difficulties, you can use the help of https://studenterra.com/ It’s a great educational platform, allowing to choose any subject and a professional tutor. I used it and was really satisfied with my results.