How Does Writing In A Second Language Differ From Writing In Your Native Language?

I often hear people talking about writing in their second language and they almost say it is the same, like there are no differences at all.

This is a bold statement as there are plenty of differences, which I will go through below. I would agree that the fundamental process is the same …you think about what you want to write, you move your hand and make it appear on the page, but apart from this, there are a lot of differences.

You will Always Be Stronger In Your Native Language

One of the biggest differences in writing in a second language compared to your native one is the simple fact that you will always be stronger in your native language across all aspects of writing.

This shouldn’t really be a surprise since you will have been taught to write in your native at a young age so you are going to have a good few years head start and the reality is that you are unlikely to every surpass that and become better at writing in your second language.

You can certainly reach a very high level, but it is very hard to outdo your native language.

(You can read more about – How Can Writing In a Second Language Improve Your Overall Language Skills?)

You Will Have A More Restricted Vocabulary When Writing In Your Second Language

One of the biggest differences you will notice when writing in your second language is that you will have a more restricted vocabulary. 

You may notice that you use a lot of the same words a lot, or if you need to describe something in a different way, you realise you can’t, simply as you have not got the deep level of vocabulary that you will have in your native language.

This comes back to the above point that you will just always be stronger in your native language.

(You can read more about – What Is The Best Way To Learn New Vocabulary When Learning A Language)

You Will Express Yourself Differently When Writing In Either Language

An interesting difference between writing in a second language is that a lot of people feel like they express themselves differently.

This can be down to the your limited vocabulary, but it can also work the other way, as some languages have different words that may not be found in English for example, meaning you can express yourself very differently.

However, a lot of people say their style and tone changes when they write in either language, it is like each language has a slightly different personality.

The Grammar May Be Different

On a simple technical level, the grammar you use is going to be different when you write in a second language.

Really it depends on what language you are writing in, for some it may be a very similar structure to you own grammar, and for other languages it may be vastly different.

Grammar is extremely important for writing, so this is something you need to get right and noticing the differences between the two languages is going to help you with this.      

Spelling Is Going To Be Harder In Your Second Language  

If you have done any sort of writing in your second language you will quickly notice how different spelling is. This will of course depend on what language you are learning, but if it is in anyway similar to your own, it will drive you mad.

How words sound and how they are actually spelt may be slightly different to what you would expect as an English speaker, and it can really feel like you are useless at spelling.

Having learned French, I am still tortured with spelling to this day. Some words will be the same as English words and others may be ever so slightly different or just generally the order of the letters just seems unnatural and it really throws me off when writing.

This is simply because we have seen the words in our native language millions of times, let alone the fact that we were made to learn the correct spelling of so many things as kids. This really makes a huge difference and why so many of us struggle with spelling in our new language. We are not bad at it; we just have a whole lot less experience with these new words.        

The Writing Scripts May Be Different

Some languages are going to have different scripts, or alphabets and this alone can instantly make writing in your second language 10 times harder and very different.

This is going to be similar to the above point about spelling, but it’s even more intense as it’s the alphabet. When you think about how much you will have written throughout your life, in your native language, it will be a lot …well at school anyway.

Think about how at school how they first taught you to write and they made you trace the letters and there was a good few years of basic writing before they introduced jointed writing. Now compare that to how much time you have put into your new language. It should be no surprised that it feels different; you just lack so much experience.

I have been learning Japanese for a while and some letters just really throw me off. I have to stop and think about what they mean …and that is just reading. Trying to remember how to write them is nearly impossible for me, simply as I have such little experience with this. Of course over time will get stronger, but it can still be tough.

Even trying to type on my phone on the Japanese keyboard is a whole different experience. Everything is laid out so differently and my typing speed is horrendously slow as I am just not subconsciously comfortable with it yet. 

(You can read more about – Why Is Writing In A New Language So Difficult?)

There Will Be Difference In Cultural References

You will also find that the content of what you write about is likely to be different too, in terms of culture.

I guess it really depends who you are writing to, or why, but you may find that a lot of the cultural references you may use in your own language, just don’t translate over.

Think about how often you might quote a TV show or movie line to one of your friends, sort as a little inside joke kind of thing …these are still very much cultural references and you wouldn’t use them while writing to someone in a different language.

You will probably find that you get a whole new set of cultural references that you can use in the new language instead.

There Will be Differences In Cultural Practices

Another difference can be more around how the language is used within the cultures

Some languages have different levels of respect or politeness depending on who you talk to, and this will carry over to your writing and may be totally different to how you would write in your native language.

This of course really depends on the language you are learning and not every language is set up like this and it will also depend on who you are writing to, but there can certainly be a difference at times.

Idioms and Other Expressions Will Be Different When Writing In Either Language

You will also find that common expressions and idioms are not going to be the same across both languages and you will need to be aware of this, otherwise what you write will make no sense within that language.

Quite often the idioms can be very similar, but you are still going to be need to double check and the reality is that you are going to have to learn a whole new set of them in your second language to avoid confusion.

The other day I saw a video of a Chinese woman speaking English. She said “we have to jump in hands first” and it just felt weird. I’m not sure if she just got the phrase wrong, or if this was a direct translation from Chinese.

It was close enough to the idiom “jumping in feet first” that I could understand what she meant …but it just didn’t feel right at all and it shows the importance of actually taking the time to learn the correct phrases in your new language.

Your Whole Writing Process Will Be Different In Either Language

If you just take a step back and look at the whole general writing process, it is going to be different across both languages unless you are at a very high level in your second language.

Most of us can just grab and pen and just write, probably blind folded if we really had to. It is almost like speaking, words can flow out of us with no real thought. The pen touches the paper and we might not know what we are going to write, but it almost magically appears on the paper in front of us.

This usually doesn’t happen the same way in our second language, there is a lot more conscious processing before anything happens and usually during too.

For most of us, writing in a second language actually requires thought and effort and some sort of forward planning, we haven’t quite got it to that automatic, instantaneous level that we can get in our native language.

We can reach this level, but it will take a lot of effort and practice.

(You can read more about – How To Practice Writing In A Language)

Conclusion

As you can see, there are a lot of differences between writing in your native language and writing in your second language.

Generally the whole process is harder and requires more mental processing in your second language and a large part of this simply comes down to inexperience. We have so much experience of writing in our native language that it is pretty much an automatic process and while we can reach this level in our second language, it will take us a long time and a lot of practice to get there.

Just keep working hard on your writing skills and they will improve and you will find that the differences get less and less over time.

(You can read more about – Frequently Asked Questions About – Writing In Your New Language)