I am studying Polish and my goal is to speak and understand others. Until now I have not given any interest to writing, because I believe that speaking and listening is hard enough. However, my gut is telling me that something is really missing, that I would be learning faster if I took some times for writing practice. Bear in mind that I suspect I will never write much in Polish. Is this feeling correct? If so, how people practice writing? I guess it might be just writing whatever and asking for corrections, right?
I feel a similar way about German. I can write the language without huge difficulty but I basically never do it. I think writing is an excellent activity. When I write German, I think about the difficult grammar stuff more carefully and have time to really try to get it right. I also look up the genders of the nouns that I use. I don’t know any other good way to learn genders.
I am currently snowed under with work at the moment, but this will be over in about a week. After that, I will probably take some active steps to start writing more. Maybe I will post some stuff in the forum here, but I will probably try to find some discussion boards in German for subjects I am interested in and get involved in some discussions.
I think we must.
I have been learning English (and German), and recently decided to read every one of the novels and short stories written by W. Somerset Maugham. Reading novels or short stories is recommended by Kato Lomb and others as the best way to master speaking in the language you are learning. Reading them is also beneficial, or rather, indispensable to writing something in that language.
"Language is present in a piece of writing like the sea in a single drop. "–Kato Lomb
Writing is definitely useful. But it can be daunting. I find it is really useful to use writing as speaking practice and preparation. If you are going to have a conversation then sit down and brainstorm the vocabulary that you think you will need, and phrases you might want to use. Writing doesn’t have to be about full complete sentences or even about trying to be perfect. This can really help your speaking fluency and help you notice your gaps.
Also consider starting a journal. Nothing ambitious, I might start by writing just a sentence a day. Something really simple. If you keep doing this and make it a habit you’ll see yourself gradually expanding and writing more. I think it is a really good idea to start small because that way you are more likely to stick with it.
I think your gut feeling is right, and since you don’t intend to ever write much in Polish, think about how you can use writing as an aid for speaking.
I feel the same way. I feel it is important to active your passive vocabulary other than speaking and practice your grammar comprehension.
I’ve heard of people practicing writing by keeping a daily journal talking about your day.
The time of the long letters is out. Nevertheless, by writing we can activize our vocabulary and check our grammar. What about Polish, it’s hard without some writing exercises to remember all endings of the declention or conjugation.
Besides, we can improve our orthography by some writing that is very important for such languages like English or French where the spelling is quite difficult.
Ok, Let us start writing! Here I go.
Wczoraj było gorąco,
Dzisiaj jest też gorąco.
Myślę, że jutro będzie
bardzo gorąco.
When I wrote this little poem,
I noticed immediately my weakness
with spelling. I also noticed that
it forces me to look more careful to the
words themselves. So I will write every day,
but I will have to find a way to correct my
short paragraphs.
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Niezle 