Why Writing is Important in a Foreign Language

Writing is part of our daily lives. Whether it's sending a message to a friend, writing an email to a colleague, or a school paper. Knowing how to write well is an important skill and form of communication in this globalized world.

Usually, when people decide to learn a new language, the overall goal is verbal communication, which is fantastic. We use verbal communication every day of our lives. It's great to spend time fine-tuning your speaking and listening skills when learning a new language. But, no one considers focusing on building strong writing skills during second language acquisition. Here is why writing is important in a foreign language.

The Main Language Skills

Being able to understand and verbally reply in a target language conversation is a crucial skill. To be truly successful with learning another language. Your goal should be to hit all of the main areas: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Stop for a second and think about how you use your native language in your daily life. In this way, you realize that you probably write quite a lot. The one great thing about writing is that you can use it to organize your thoughts. It will also allow you to slow down and refine your understanding of the grammar in the target language.

Vocabulary and Phrases

You can use writing to log phrases, slang, and other vocabulary words that you learn along the way. Every time you study, you should write down what you learned. This way, you can keep it fresh in your mind. Studies show that writing down words and phrases that you are unfamiliar with speeds up the learning process and can help you retain the new material. Keeping a notebook specifically to write down words and phrases is essential when learning a new language.

Seeing Your Progress

Humans are the type of species that visibly need to see a change to stay motivated. It's when you consistently exercise you can see yourself losing weight. Building writing skills work the same way. When you learn to write in a foreign language, of course, it will be a little messy at first. But the more you practice and get feedback from native speakers on how to improve. You will see progress throughout your studies. That progress is such a rewarding feeling when you look back at the beginning until the end. You can see how far you have come, which makes you want to keep going.

Writing and Speaking Go Hand in Hand

Believe it or not, consistent writing practice when learning a foreign language can also help your speaking skills. You're probably wondering how that works. When you learn how to write in a foreign language, it's typically in an academic setting like in a language course. You focus on all of the grammar rules and the appropriate words to use depending on the context. The skills you develop to become a great writer in your target language can give you argumentative skills. That can actually help you verbally communicate better in the target language.