4 great ways to write in another language

Disclaimer: None of my posts have been written using any kind of AI. AI is only used to check on grammar mistakes and word synonyms. 

Hola! 

Today, I want to give you 4 ideas to practice your writing skills in any language you are learning.

1. Write your future self a letter

I've started implementing this idea with my A2+ students, and they've been loving it. Using the FutureMe webpage, you can write yourself an email and set the date and time in which you'd like to receive it. 

I can assure you: it's always a big surprise and a lovely experience to read what you've written. I've done it myself consistently for a couple of years, from whatever state I was writing in (happiness, nostalgia, hopefulness, fear) and writing whatever came to mind at the moment.

Whatever I write, it makes me feel like my past "me" is sending an invisible hug to my present "me".

If you do it in a foreign language, you'll also be able to judge how much (or not) you have improved in the language. If you have kept just a bit of consistency, you'll see a delightful difference in how you used to write to how you currently write. 

2. Leave reviews in Google Maps

 Sharing is loving:

✨ Write a nice review about that good restaurant you've been to.

✨That new coffee shop that has just opened around the corner? Do the owner a favour and share what you liked the most about their brand-new menu.  

✨Share the timetable details about that bus station only you know about. 

Needless to say that reading the existing reviews in the language you're learning will also help you to gain more vocabulary around nouns, adjectives and adverbs related to giving and expressing opinions. 

3. Take notes about what's happening around you

If you like chilling in a coffee shop, if you're feeling a bit alone in a bar, or if you want to make more of your commute; keep a small notebook or a dedicated note in your phone about what's happening around you.

It can be about simple things: what other people are doing, what are they wearing, what they are talking about, what emotions are they expressing, how are they sitting.

You can write it in any tense you'd like, according to what you want to express.

🕰️ You can keep it simple by writing in the present tense (una mujer camina...)

🕰️ Maybe spice the present up with the prerífrasis verbal estar + gerundio (una mujer está caminando...), 

🕰️ You can put the pasts to use by writing what happened 10 minutes ago (una mujer caminó / una mujer caminaba)

🕰️ Or emphasizing what has just happened using the Pretérito Perfecto (una mujer ha caminado con prisa...)

🕰️Finally, you can take it one step further and write predictions about what's about to happen, using the future tense (una mujer caminará...  / va a caminar)

4. Leave comments on social media 

😊 That positive reinforcement you were just about to leave in the cool video? 

😡 That criticism you wanted to throw to that enraging post?

😏 The cool comment you wanted to leave your friend?

Write it in your second language!

Final thoughts

Yes: AI makes it so, so easy to write for us.

But being able to write properly allows us to ground ourselves, connect with our own thoughts, and to produce in our own unique ways.

Writing is a practice and a statement; it's a political act and an intimate one.

Losing the practice of writing is also losing a part of our humanities. 

Keep writing ✍️💖