Comments on: How non-English speakers can write better

By: Shakir Khan

Shakir Khan — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 16:13:00 +0000

In reply to Daphne Gray-Grant. Exactly, Daphne. Have a GREAT WEEKEND. :) <3

By: Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 15:06:00 +0000

In reply to Shakir Khan. Glad to help, Shakir. Just so you know, I don't think it's a big deal to decide between British or American English. Both are correct. The main issue is to be consistent! Once you choose one, just stick with it.

By: Shakir Khan

Shakir Khan — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 08:32:00 +0000

Hi, Daphne

This post is just fantastic and helpful for non-English Speaker like me.

Liked one tip THE MOST that you mentioned in this blog post, read as much as you can. And it is important, isn’t it? You want to make sure that the topic you are writing on is quick well known by you.

This is probably the best and the most simple writing tip for both – native and non-native English speaker.

Though the most confusing time for every writing beginner is to evaluate in which type of English they are going to write, American or British English.

It has been a struggle for me too when I was a beginner a while back. I would write in English whatever comes in my mind, but ensuring in which English you are writing is hard (at least it’s been for me) especially if you are a beginner.

One more small tip that I liked is to start a personal blog. And the best part, it helps. You can write blog post in there, publish and gain your writing experience over time.

As they say, practice makes perfect. <3 🙂

Thanks a bunch for these amazing writing tips. 🙂

Cheers,
Shakir

By: Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 14:32:00 +0000

In reply to Lisa Beier. Great suggestion, Lisa! I think I learned to do the same thing when I (all too briefly) spoke French! I'd forgotten all about it.

By: Lisa Beier

Lisa Beier — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 16:09:00 +0000

I teach English Academic Writing at the Justus-Liebig University in Gießen, Germany. The best tip I give my students is to use collocations (word combinations). Each language has certain `language chunks` that can simply be inserted into your writing. It will sound more natural and in many instances you don’t have to worry about conjugating the verb- you can use it as is. For example: “Recent research has shown…” Students can learn this combination and they don’t have to worry about putting the verb into present perfect. The key is to identfy these combinations when reading academic texts in your own field of study. I tell my students to record them in a notebook so when they write their own essays, they have collocations at their fingertips. This method is based on the Lexical Approach by Lewis if you want to read more about it.

By: Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 15:20:00 +0000

In reply to sanze.

Thanks for your kind words, Sanze. I really like your strategy of knowing asking your friends to edit your drafts as you go along. This is a really smart idea because it gives you the freedom or permission to write a crappy first draft — knowing that someone else will be there to correct any mistakes. For more on the value of crappy first drafts, you can read here: https://www.publicationcoach.com/crappy-first-draft/

By: sanze

sanze — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 02:35:00 +0000

I love your posts Daphne Gray-Grant and this one is awesome as I am French and started writing (my memoir) in English recently! Funnily enough, I find it easier to write in English. I figured out recently that it is probably because 1) I do not have as wide a vocabulary in English as in French (so this makes my choices easier); 2) I am less self-critical about my writing as I would be in my mother tongue! (I am allowed to be mediocre or average in something I am not supposed to master) 3) I find the English language to be more generous and kind with the beginner writer than French 🙂 I also realized that I will never be 100% sure about whether a sentence or expression is correct in English (which I am in French) – this keeps me in some kind of ignorance bliss that sometimes helps! Your pieces of advice are precious! I loved the one on taking our time. It reminds me to stay away from self-judgement as I always find my writing to be so painfully slow…(I spend half my time on the internet searching for words and synonyms!). One of my strategies is to focus on the substance (vs. the language), knowing that I will ask friends to edit my drafts as I go along. I also tell myself that what matters is my story and how I respect writing rules (have a plot; show-don’t tell; balance between action and reflection). The language is very important but can be secondary once all this has been taken into consideration. THanks again, I really enjoy reading your posts!

By: Alexander Trofimov

Alexander Trofimov — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 18:28:00 +0000

Wow, finally someone except ESL teachers who thought of us! Thanks =) I’m blogging the same stuff in English and Russian, and I believe that for my task it’s better to write in English and then translate to Russian rather than vise versa. It gives the text more… I don’t know, smoothness.
I’m, sure thing, checking my text with MS Word. Finally, I have a checklist of what parts my text may and should consist of.
And the greatest tip you gave: reading. It’s universal for any language (even though I know not more than three =) ). Reading is the key and the most interesting part of writing.

By: Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 19:35:00 +0000

In reply to LJ. Good for your mother! It's so important to establish the reading habit when children are young!

By: LJ

LJ — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 18:13:00 +0000

Thank you for this post Daphne! I just forwarded it to a friend who teaches ESL. Living in the SF Bay Area, I’m surrounded by bilingual people and often see the struggles. I also had an immigrant mother who took us to the library every week–without fail–and had us check out and read six books/week. She lived your point on reading!