Writing exercise poll (let's see how do we do)

Open Forum
1

I’m doing some kind of scan to put myself onto a writing exercise path as my learning reached a point in two of my languages that this has to be the next level up. So I’d like to know wether:

  1. Do you do writing exercise? (yes/no)
  2. How often? (daily, every second day, weekly, etc)
  3. What is/are your method(s)? (in max. 5 simple sentences just to get the idea)
  4. Is it effective enough or do you still looking for something else? (enough, looking)

If you do reply, please, enter the given short answers to question No. 1, 2 and 4 and respect the limit in question 3. Thank you, my answers will be visible in the next comment as an example.

4 Likes
2
  1. Yes.
  2. Very irregular, started then stopped.
  3. Diary with 4-5 sentences on two languages.
  4. Looking to make it work.
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3

  1. Do you do writing exercise? Yes; but just recently started daily writing.

  2. How often? Occasionally previously; now daily.

  3. What is/are your method(s)? I rotate through different tenses over the week: present, past, when I was younger, future; and write at least 100 words per day. I keep the entries in one document and also read daily the last entries for around 15 minutes, so I get both writing and speaking done.

  4. Is it effective enough or do you still looking for something else? Yes, I believe so. I will try this for a few months and reevaluate my strategy. I will probably increase my daily writng word count in the future.

3 Likes
4
  1. yes
  2. daily
  3. Use it in real world. Simple chat with guild member in game. Also tried giving comments on youtube videos, reviews for things purchased. In the past, I’ve done writing with tutor, just answer to quizes, just single word/sentences replies. Recently also tried using lynx ai for answering questions on lessons completed.
  4. Still looking, for things I can stick to consistently
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5
  1. Yes
  2. I’ve taken a hiatus but have tried in the past to do daily or weekly.
  3. Write about previous day. Or read something on a topic and then try to write about it. Trying my best, but if stuck will just write the English word or phrase. Looking up later and asking chat gpt to correct things, but keeping it level appropriate. Read, listen, recite.
  4. Effective yes, if done regularly. I always look for ideas to try.
2 Likes
6

  1. Yes.

  2. A weekly essay in preparation for an hour long italki discussion in my target language.

  3. I write about 3,000 words, using an online dictionary and DeepL, the latter having some thoughtful suggestions as to how you can improve the text.

  4. Writing is always effective, but frankly you need to come at your target language from any and all angles, so anything you do in the four modes of listening, reading, writing and speaking can assist your progress.

1 Like
7

Thanks for the topic, Zolka.

  1. Do you do writing exercise?
    • Yes
  2. How often?
    • 1-3 times per week
  3. What is/are your method(s)?
    • Topical writing 300-500 words(then AI review, and iterate to improve)
    • Back and forth conversation with AI, including inline corrections
    • Drills with AI (for automating and internalizing grammar and collocations)
  4. Is it effective enough or do you still looking for something else?
    • Still looking / working on the routine for consistency
2 Likes
8

I don’t do any kind of writing exercises although I wish I did, although its tougher in Russian where I’m focused now.

Perhaps I should invest in a Cyrillic keyboard or those little translucent stickers you put on top of your keys.

Either way, I’m not sure Steve did much writing while learning Russian. Just lots of reading and listening.

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I advise to do that. Important to have the basic tools.

10

For my Korean and Japanese studies I bought an US keyboard, which is the one the layouts used in those countries is based on. I had to manually remove the German layout from my registry and use an AutoHotkey script in order to write Umlauts and the like (ChatGPT was quiet helpful here), but it is definetely worth the investment. I have keyboard stickers for Korean, and learned the Japanese version using monkeytype. So you actually don’t need the stickers or correct prints, but there are relatively cheap keyboards featuring both the Cyrillic and the Latin alphabet on Amazon, for example, so it is probable a good investment considering the convenience it gives you.

1 Like