How to advance my writing skill?

Erm, why not prepare some list of phrases for your personal use?
I mean, why don't you get yourself a list of phrases you can use in introductions, for transitions, endings, etc.

So by writing down some ordinary phrases you can memorize those and built up your repertioire on top of them.

I think thehamster has a good idea there. Write out some stuff, and post it in the English forum, and ask for comments. We have many ESL students here who do that, in order to improve their skills.

Write something. Ask us what we think about it. We are hardly ever mean.

My ESL students have had a terrible time writing in English, even when their conversation and reading skills are good. Relax! And try writing here. What Joe said is true. We're hardly ever mean.

Re: How to advance my writing skill?


It's very easy to become depressed with your ability when faced by the language skills of some of those on this forum. Setanta, Craven and Blatham come immediately to mind. There's many more too.

Practice, practice, practice. You get better at writing by writing. You also get better by reading. :-D

I'm serious. If you never write and you don't read much (and for you, all of this is going to have to be in English), you will not improve.

So, try this - pick up the newspaper every day or read it online. And I am talking about a well-written newspaper, such as The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal. The Christian Science Monitor is another good one; The Washington Post is pretty good, too. You want to stay away from tabloids, like The New York Post or The National Inquirer.

You need not read from cover to cover (most people don't). One thing you can do here is, pick an article that interests you. Personally, I prefer out of the way stuff. Lots of people comment on the front page, but most of us aren't too familiar with what goes on in, say, page 14. And the article can be about anything: science, local politics, an obituary, sports, cooking or any number of things. So find an article buried in the paper, and post a link to it and ask questions here -
* what does this phrase mean?
* is the article slanted?
* what do you think of what was written?

All of this will help.

I read heaps, yet my writing skills still suck.

iaiau, Here is another suggestion. Tell a simple story to a friend and have that friend write down every word that you say. Then you read aloud what has been written. Do that periodically, because your mind understands your own words better than the words of others. Each time you tell a story, make it a little more difficult. This technique really worked with students who had difficulty reading, and I can see no reason why it shouldn't work for you.

But Letty, isn't iaiau trying to improve his/her writing skills?

Hamster, I feel that to look at one's own words on paper, makes us a self critic, and forces us to re-think how we express ourselves in writing.

The technique that I suggested, is just another approach to evolving in our skills of refinement.

As we say in Chinese ,there is a mentor among the three who walk together.
And from you , i find more teachers.
I'll do my best to improve my work.
THX!

I particularly appreciated what jespah said here.

I'd like to see whether or not you will post a thread to ask those language veterans how to properly write an article.

Wilso,



So, what do think is wrong with this sentence? Answer: not a darn thing, except for the self-deprecating tone, it's a perfectly well stated English sentence. If you're going to show us how badly you suck at writing, you're going to have to do better (worse?) than that.



Joe

PS: Letty, I used to use a tape recorder to take notes. Then I started using it while I described a scene, (try it yourself folks, see what it's like to be the radio-news announcer, or live from news chopper seven for four or five minutes, see how hard it is to keep making sense.)

When I look back at the transcripts I can see how my mind was working and see what words I used to make the picture. It would be a great tool for anyone learning to speak a language or write it more clearly.

Joe, you're a newsman? WOW! Yes, taping is a fabulous technique for self critiquing, and improving writing as well.

iaiau, "There is a mentor among the three of us who walk together". That is awesome. Reminds me of Emerson's "two may talk, but one must listen" involving three people engaged in conversation.

Sorry, Letty. I do not understand what you said and what your quote means. Can you give me an explanation ?
What i wrote about three men is an adage in China.
It means all we can learn from the others around us, though in the little time we walk a short distance together. Did i give you a poor translation ? Sorry!

iaiau, your explanation was flawless. I understood that what you were alluding to was an adage, I was just taken with the beauty of it.

I must confess that I was doing the Emerson quote from memory, so it may not have been exact. It simply means that only two may share conversation in the eternal triangle of the world. The third person must simply sit and listen because three people cannot talk at the same time. Is that clearer?

In the meantime, I will search it out to make certain that I have not led you astray.

jespah has the best advise; practice, practice, practice.

I get it.
thx