Oh, hello, you beautiful! :) How are you? Is it spring yet where you live? I hope it is! So, today’s post – talking about how it is to blog in a second language. As you all know, I am latvian, so my first language is latvian. I started learning english in kindergarten when I was about 6 years old (I remember one of the first words I learned were ‘”fox” and “turtle” :D ) and then more seriously I started learning English at school, in 3rd grade, when I was about 9 years old. I think I really upgraded my English knowledge at University, not just I had to read a lot of study information in English, I also watched and read a lot of things online in English. And in 2014 I started my blog, in the beginning it was bilingual, then just English. With blogging I also have to communicate with other bloggers and I read a lot of other blogs and that improves my English as well. Hehe, brief history about my English learning journey. :D
Now let’s get in to the blog post.
When writting a blogpost I always have translate.google open. Translate.google is like my best friend online! :D Seriously. I check spelling there and once in a while I translate a word I don’t know or have forgotten. So, when I am tweeting you, there is a slight possibility that I have used translate.google to find the right word. :D Ok, sounds like it is really bad, I swear, I know English without translate.google as well. :D But you know, it is not my first language and sometimes words just slip out of my mind and some words just have confusing spelling. :D
For fun, my most frequently incorrectly spelled words are “definitely” (I go for “definately”) and “especially” (I go for “expecially”). :D
The Grammar. Oh, this is a hard one. I haven’t studied English grammar in 3 years and I KNOW I have forgotten some rules and tenses. I think I learn English writing subconsciously when reading other blogs and watching youtube videos. So blogggers and youtubers!, think about your style and tenses, people might be learning from you! ;) :) Even though, I do feel a little insecure about my writing because I really want it to be high quality and good but I don’t know if I always achieve it. I really hope I do and that my grammar mistakes are unnoticable. :) One can hope! And, yes, I started an Alison course on English grammar, but haven’t done it in a while because been busy with the blog, but I really need to get back to that. Yes, yes, yes!
P.S. Latest grammar thing I learned was that article for “University” is “a” not “an”. :)
The confusion. On everyday basis I communicate in English a lot – I write the blogposts, I write tweets, instagram captions and comments to other bloggers, watch youtube videos and films. I also use Latvian on everyday basis (of course! ;) ). And the confusion starts when sometimes I can remember word in English but cannot in Latvian (scary, I know! But you have to know that there are sometimes one word for something in English and NO word for it in Latvian and the other way around too) or I think partly in English and party in Latvian. :D By the way, I would realllyyy love to add another language to the equation. ;) How fun it would be to think in 3 languages! :) Woop-woop!
Title scare. This goes a little bit under “The grammar” paragraph but I wanted to emphasize that it is always a little bit scary when making a feature image for the post, the one with the text, because I HAVE TO get that text correct! Mistakes in the blog post are excusable, I think, but the title has to be grammatically correct. Especially if I share that picture (with text) all over internet. Grammar mistakes in title just don’t say: “This is a professional blog”. :D
Hmm.. I guess that’s it! Have I forgotten something? If you are a blogger who also writes in a second language, let me know what are your biggest fears or maybe you have some useful tips and tricks! :)
Everyone else, what second (or third :)) language you would like to learn next? Let me know, maybe we can become language-learning-buddies! :)
With love,
Madara
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Honestly, if you hadn’t said English was your second language I wouldn’t have even known. I feel very lucky that English is my first language, because its so hard to learn as a second language. I mean, I barely passed Italian 2 in college, and romance languages are supposed to be fairly easy to learn!
Thank you so much, it makes me Very happy. :) Yes, sometimes I envy people whose 1st language is English. :D I mean, I love my culture and language but nowadays when blogging, youtubing and connecting with the whole World is an option, speaking daily a language a lot of people study and know, is an advantage. :) I would love to learn more langauges though but at the moment there is not much use for them to me. :)
English is my second language too and I can relate to all of this. I always use google translate and have no idea about grammar and tenses. I write things how they sound best to me, so… I’m mixing up languages a bit too. Sometimes I even think in English! What I do is always check my spelling before publishing it. xx
Nusha (https://nushablog.wordpress.com/)
Ehh.. I try to check my spelling too but sometimes I miss some words. ;) I would really love to revise English grammar or even learn something new! However, learning grammar is a bit boring.. :/ ;) but I really really should. ;) hehe.
I would love to know another language!! If i’m ever writing something I always have a dictonary open on the computer just incase. Its amazing how much your improving your english by using so much different media’s. May need to start myself.
Xx
http://www.seasonal-rose.com
Hey, Kira! I wrote you a reply a few days ago already but IDK why it didn’t show. :/ So I’m writing another one. :)
It is nice to hear that someone else uses dictionary too when writing a post! :) What language would you like to learn? :)