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Foreign Language IELTS Essay: IELTS Writing Task 2 Essay Samples

• Updated On December 14, 2023
• Published In IELTS Preparation 💻

Writing Task 2 of the IELTS exam has displayed a large variety of questions over the years. However, there are still some general themes and topics that are often repeated in Task 2 of this English proficiency test. One of these recurring themes is the new language or the foreign language theme.

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In this theme, you can be asked to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of learning a different language belonging to any of the foreign countries. Additionally, you can also be asked to express your own opinion on the topic. This blog shares detailed information about Foreign Language IELTS Essay. Before we get deeper into the topic and start discussing model answers, let’s walk through some general tips that can help you in leaving a good impression on the examiner about your English language skills in task 2.

Tips to Ace the Foreign Language Essay Writing Task 2 IELTS

Although you can find an endless number of relevant examples for the essay writing task in IELTS, there really is no fixed format that can guarantee you a good band score in the writing section. So, what really works in helping you get a good score in task 2?

• A strong introduction and conclusion that are in coherence with the topic assigned: This will immediately get your examiner hooked onto the paragraphs written inside your piece and will leave a great impression on them!
• Use of refined vocabulary along with excellent use of grammar: Making use of good (and sometimes complex) vocabulary accompanied by an accurate usage of the English grammar is a pre-requisite for getting a good score in writing. It shows the examiner that your own knowledge of the language is vast.
• Providing relevant examples from different parts of the world: Many aspirants miss out on supporting their arguments along with good examples from either their own country or a different country. This leads to them losing out on marks in task 2.

Following these three tips will really catapult your writing task 2 score, which will have a greater impact on your overall band score for the writing section. To make the application of these tips more clear, let’s take a look at some of the sample answers for the foreign language theme.

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Foreign Language IELTS Essay Samples

Question – Some people believe that the only reason for learning a new/foreign language is for travelling or working in a foreign land. While others argue that there are many more reasons as why someone should learn a new language apart from their native language. You have to discuss both these arguments and give your own opinion on the following topic. Make sure to give reasons for your answers and provide examples. Minimum word limit – 250 words

Sample Answer 1

Learning a second language or a foreign language is linked to many advantages that far surpass the sole reasons of learning a new language for travelling or working in a foreign land. However, for the sake of playing the devil’s advocate, I’ll say that some people belonging to a different school of thought consider better job opportunities and travelling to be the only motive behind learning a foreign language. I am of the opinion that there are other reasons like learning about a foreign culture, and the bright prospect of cognitive development that propel many monolingual people to study a new language. With ever-increasing globalization and the opening up of international barriers, more and more people choose to emigrate to new and foreign lands in the hope of better job prospects. This often requires them to learn a new tongue. For instance, many people prefer learning languages like English, Spanish, and French, rather than the Russian language because countries speaking the former tongues have shown more affinity towards emigrants and provide a multitude of better job opportunities. This makes many people believe that jobs and sometimes travel are the only driving forces for learning a new tongue, especially for a young learner. On the other hand, some people including myself have researched the pros and cons of learning a foreign language thoroughly and have found that the pros far outweigh the drawbacks. The onset of memory ailments like dementia can be slowed down by cognitive development that comes with learning a foreign language. Furthermore, multilingual people are more confident and can easily acclimate themselves to new and alien surroundings by the virtue of their communication skills that have been expanded and upscaled. They find it easy to overcome language barriers and truly become global citizens speaking the global language. In conclusion, to go through the tough process of honing effective communication skills in a third language or a second language, people realise that it is not just for the sake of travel or work that they are doing this process. Instead, it stems from a deeper love for the language and the confidence that speaking a new tongue instills in them. Question – When living in a foreign country where you have to speak a new language, you can face serious social and practical problems. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Give reasons and examples in your answer and write at least 250 words.

Also Read: SAT Writing & Language Test 2022

Sample Answer 2

Language barriers arguably form the backbone of the biggest social and practical problems that people living in a foreign land have to face and overcome often. In my personal opinion, it can also spark serious problems in various countries, however, the widespread use of technology in curbing these issues to a certain extent over the past few decades. People belonging to different cultures can have issues in understanding each other because of speaking different languages and sometimes even because of different ways of pronunciation of the same words. Migration is not on the rise in the twenty-first century and people often move to distant lands in hopes of jobs, travel, and sometimes studying. In such a scenario not speaking the land’s language can become a basis for social problems like discrimination, racism, etc. Interestingly enough, technology has played a pivotal role in curbing the extent of practical problems faced by people when moving to a new land without being savvy with the foreign language. For instance, there are many web-based applications that do the translation job for people and save them the trouble of having to explain their point to the natives merely through vague hand gestures.

By way of conclusion, I stand firm on the point that social problems can far exceed practical problems when migrating to a foreign land without being fluent in the foreign language and perhaps, some language learning could really help in becoming a part of the foreign culture quicker and better. Although, as far as practical problems are concerned, technology is a boon that is eliminating most of them.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. how do i practice the ielts writing at home.

Ans: The best way to  practice  writing for IELTS is by looking at sample answers and practising as many themes as you can. You can also show this to a tutor or an online learning platform’s mentors like the ones at  Leap Scholar  to ensure that you are on the right path.

2. What is the ideal format for IELTS writing task 2?

Ans: There is no single ideal format for writing. As you practice you will notice that for different themes, you can have many different formats. You should use the one you’re most confident with in the exam.

3. Is IELTS writing formal or informal?

Ans: IELTS writing should be formal.

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Learning a Foreign Language Essays

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7 Tips on Writing an Essay In a Foreign Language

by Kelly Young

For some people, learning a new language is an advantage, while for others, it's a necessity. You may get a good opportunity to study or work abroad, or you may just want to communicate with people from other countries. When it comes to learning a new language, you can choose from among dozens of online sources.

You can learn another language yourself and talk to native speakers, practicing your conversational skills. The chances are that you will see some major improvements in your conversational skills pretty quickly. What can be much more difficult to improve, however, is writing.

Writing itself is a more daunting task than speaking. You should be good at spelling and understand the rules of punctuation in another language. Of course, informal conversations on social media allow you to ignore some of the rules and don't require you to use a sophisticated vocabulary. The situation gets much more complicated if you need to write an essay.

Some ESL students receive lower grades on writing assignments simply because English is not their native language. In fact, this is one of the main reasons why ESL students use essay writing services and resources like betterwritingservices.com . Essay writing is an integral part of most international exams, and it can also be required when applying for a job.

When writing an essay, you should know not only the basics of the written language but also how to use the right words, and phrases in each particular situation. Essay writing is a creative task, and it also requires you to follow strict rules. If you want to improve your essay writing skills, you should have a lot of practice.

To write better essays, you should write them often. Improving your writing is a continuous process, and it takes time. However, there are some tips that will help you achieve better results and make the writing process more efficient.

Although the connection between reading and writing is rather obvious, many people tend to underestimate the importance of reading for improving vocabulary and grammar. We recommend that you turn reading in your target language into a habit and read as much as you can. However, it's important not only to read but also to choose the right content. Given that your goal is to write better essays, the best solution is to focus on educational materials and articles dedicated to your subject.

Besides, we recommend that you take notes while reading. You may discover terms and phrases that you can use in your essays so make sure that you won't forget them. You can also write down idioms that can be very helpful when writing persuasive and narrative essays. Properly used idioms will make you sound like a native speaker and make your writing more diverse.

Brainstorm and research

You may or may not be able to choose a topic for your essay in different situations. If you have an opportunity to choose a topic, you can get more creative freedom, but sometimes, it can be difficult to come up with a relevant topic that would be interesting for both you and your readers. If you have a hard time trying to find a topic, brainstorm. Just write down any ideas that come to your mind so that you can evaluate them later and choose the best one. To make the brainstorming session effective, think in your target language.

You can also brainstorm on the content of your essay, writing down ideas that can be useful. You can even illustrate the connections between different ideas and their relation to the main topic with visual mind maps.

Once you've determined the topic and the key subtopics of your essay, do your research. When writing essays in a foreign language, you may often deal with topics related to another culture so make sure that you understand the whole context and the necessary background of your topic before writing the essay. Note the necessary details about your sources so that you can cite them properly.

Write an outline

You don't want to waste your time trying to figure out what you should write about during the writing process, especially if you don't have much time. Even if your time isn't limited, planning the content of your essay can help you stay focused on style and grammar.

A typical essay consists of an introduction, body, and conclusion. In the introduction, you should provide the necessary background information and present your thesis statement, which will serve as the basis for the whole essay. In the body section, address one key point per paragraph and include transitions between paragraphs to ensure a smooth flow of thoughts. In the conclusion, you should summarize the key points and restate your thesis statement. Make sure not to rewrite it word for word from the introduction.

Keep it simple and short

First of all, the essay format implies writing relatively short texts. You should keep it in mind even when choosing a topic because you must make sure that you will be able to address your topic properly within the required word count. Secondly, given that you're writing in a foreign language, make sure to keep it simple.

Don't use complex phrases and sentences if you can replace them with shorter ones. Your essay should be easy to understand, and you don't need to overcomplicate things to impress your audience.

Study grammar

Studying grammar is the least favorite activity for many people who learn new languages, but you won't be able to write better essays without improving your grammar. When writing, you don't want to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what form of a verb you should use. Besides, different languages have completely different grammar rules.

For instance, when writing in Spanish, if you use the subjunctive form of a verb where you would use it in English, your readers will immediately understand that you're a non-native speaker. Poor grammar can not only show your bad knowledge of the target language but also undermine your credibility and ruin your readers' impression of the entire essay.

Develop your writing style

Good writing is not only about creativity and grammar. If you want your essays to be appreciated by readers, you should write with style. Developing your unique writing style takes time, but the more you read and practice, the better your style will become.

When dealing with a foreign language, it can be especially difficult to understand what style of writing you should choose in each particular situation. Therefore, the best solution is to read essays on relevant topics so that you can learn from others. Don't copy someone else's style but look at what other writers have in common. This way, you'll be able to choose a style appropriate for your type of essay and academic area.

Edit and proofread

Editing and proofreading are as important as the writing process itself. Once you've finished the first draft, let it rest for a while, and then edit it. Check the overall logical structure and make sure that your thoughts are logically consistent.

Make sure that all of your sources are properly cited. Get rid of the unnecessary sentences and break down longer sentences into shorter ones. Make sure that your essay is easy to comprehend and well-focused.

A great solution is to show your essay to a native speaker so that they can tell you what sounds unnatural and suggest improvements. After this, fix grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. You can use various spell checkers, but keep in mind that there is no software that would detect and fix all types of mistakes. Therefore, you should always read your papers carefully.

Final Thoughts

Learning a foreign language takes some time, so be patient. Write essays as often as you can so that you can get used to the writing process. Read essays about your academic subject and take notes. Stay determined and don't let your mistakes stop you from learning and improving your writing.

It's virtually impossible not to make mistakes when learning a new language. The main thing is not to let mistakes discourage you from learning. Learn from your mistakes. Make a list of your most common mistakes and keep it in front of you when editing and proofreading your essays.

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How to Master Writing in a Foreign Language: 5 Steps at Any Level

Have you ever gotten an email full of spelling and grammatical mistakes?

Chances are you have, and chances are it didn’t leave a great impression .

When you write in a foreign language, you don’t want to be the person whose correspondence is riddled with errors.

That, among other reasons, is why writing well is an essential part of learning any language .

Why Writing Is So Important

Ways to improve writing at all proficiency levels, 5 steps to master writing at any level, building the foundation: 5 beginner-level steps to get started writing, 1. learn the rules, 2. master basic grammar, 3. focus on correct sentences, 4. keep subjects simple, 5. write longhand, moving forward: 5 steps to take as an intermediate writer, 1. move to more complex subject matter, 2. write longer texts, 3. start typing, 4. learn specialized writing styles, 5. read in your target language and write summaries, mastery: 5 steps to dominate writing as an advanced learner, 1. write for publication, 2. practice different types of writing, 3. retell stories or essays you read in your target or native language, 4. pay attention to style, 5. continue getting corrections, and one more thing....

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Writing Is Essential to Long-distance Communication

Need to communicate with someone who isn’t sitting across from you? You’ll probably need to use some form of written communication. Even if you’re setting up a time to make a phone call or have a language lesson over Skype , you’ll probably be sending an email, instant message or text message. Using online chat rooms, forums and comment sections of articles, sending snail mail and even updating your social media in a foreign language all require writing skills.

Mistakes Make You Seem Uneducated

It won’t always be obvious that you’re not a native speaker of your target language, especially if you’re reaching out to someone for the first time. Errors in your writing will make you seem like you haven’t done your homework. People may doubt your ability to understand their reply. That’s not a good first impression to make.

Language Tests Measure Writing Ability

Do you need to prove you can speak your target language? If so, you’ll probably be asked to prove you can write it . Most language tests measure your ability to write, either by asking you to write something in the language or by testing your ability to fill in the blanks in a sentence.

Often the oral parts of language exams are less rigorous or they’re considered optional—I know that’s the case with the HSK, which measures Chinese language proficiency. So being an excellent orator will not make up for below-average writing skills on many language exams.

Writing Is Essential for Professional Communication

If you hope to use your target language in any remotely professional capacity, being able to write with relatively few mistakes becomes even more essential. The stakes are high in professional communication.

You don’t want to make any faux pas in an email to a client or supplier who speaks your target language, nor would you want to use the wrong greeting or make a glaring mistake in a cover letter to a potential employer.

Mistakes in Writing Can Lead to Miscommunication

When you speak, smoothing out a misunderstanding takes seconds or, at worst, a couple minutes of confused back-and-forth. But when you write, choosing the wrong vocabulary word or garbling your grammar can cause serious problems with comprehension that end up taking a long time to unravel.

There are less non-language clues for the reader to go by than for a listener—things like body language, gesture and context. Because of the nature of writing, back and forth communication is also slower, so it takes a longer time to figure out what you actually meant to say. It’s so much better to write it correctly the first time.

Learning to write in a foreign language isn’t that different from learning to write in your native language—which took you 12 years of formal schooling to master. In most cases, the difference is that you have to be  more self-motivated to master writing in a foreign language, because you won’t have 12 years worth of teachers forcing you to spell correctly. However, the same habits that make you a good writer in your native language will help you be a better writer in your target language.

Read in Your Target Language

Children who read have better language skills  and language learners who read in their target language have better language skills—especially better writing skills. The benefits of reading accrue from any type of reading, not just active reading. Even if you’re reading a romance novel or Harry Potter book in your target language and you’re casually skimming over anything you don’t understand, the increased exposure to the language in its written form will help you develop better writing skills.

Get Corrections on Your Writing

The best way to build a solid writing ability is to write and get corrected. Remember: This is how you learned to write in your native language. If you’re studying independently, you can get corrections on your writing on sites like Lang-8 . If you’re working with a private tutor, make sure he or she gives you written homework and corrects it, explaining any mistakes.

Once you’ve gotten your writing corrected, make sure to rewrite your text to incorporate the corrections. That will allow you to internalize and practice the correct grammar, vocabulary and style in your target language.

Pay Lots of Attention to Grammar

Writing well means having impeccable grammar. When you speak, it’s easy to slur declensions (in many languages, native speakers do just that) and generally hide a less-then-ideal grasp of grammar. There’s no way to hide poor grammar when you write—everything is black and white on the page. So becoming a better writer means a complete grasp of grammar rules.

Your first step as a beginner is to learn the building blocks of your target language’s writing system.

If the language has an alphabet (most do), that means both mastering the alphabet and learning spelling rules. Note that even if you’re learning a language that uses the Latin alphabet, you’ll still have to learn some new letters, accents and pronunciations.

If you’re learning French, for example, you’ll need to master the  accent marks  and to know when a c  should be written with a  cédille (ç) . 

If you’re learning Chinese or another language that uses characters , focus on learning both basic, common characters and the building blocks of those characters (radicals) .

When you’re a beginner, it’s easy to feel like the grammar rules you’re learning are boring and stuffy. But this stage is all about foundation building —it might not be super interesting, but it’s extremely important.

Take all of your grammar lessons very seriously. You should also make sure you do grammar exercises—which count as writing practice—and get corrections to make sure you internalize and master grammar concepts as they are taught.

When you’re a beginner, don’t try to write out huge compositions. Focus on writing simple sentences , but writing them correctly. Grammar exercises are a great example of a writing exercise for beginners. Don’t get caught up in the quantity of writing you’re doing.

At most, your compositions should be about a paragraph long. At the beginner level, it’s better to focus your energy on doing a little well than doing a lot poorly.

As a beginner, don’t focus on writing complex tales using constructions you don’t really understand. Beginner vocabulary and grammar concepts are generally very descriptive and concrete .

The nouns you’re learning are the kinds of things that you can point to or hold in your hand rather than abstract concepts. Grammar you’ve learned will be similarly concrete. Here’s some subjects that are well-suited for beginners’ writing:

• Descriptions of your family, your home, your bedroom or your hometown
• Descriptions of your routines—how you spend the weekend, what you do at work, how you make dinner
• Descriptions of what you did during the past day, weekend or on your last vacation

The bottom line is that you shouldn’t be trying to argue about the meaning of life—just focus on writing about simple subjects and doing so correctly.

If you’re like most people, you probably do most of your writing on the computer—in your native language or any other language. Your computer probably double-checks your spelling and might even have a grammar check as well.

If you’re learning a character language like Chinese, the experience of writing on the computer is substantially different (easier) than writing longhand. The only way to get good at writing—and to build a really solid foundation—is to practice writing by hand . Here are some things you can write out by hand:

• Diary entries
• Shopping lists

Remember, though—if you really want to master writing, you need to be not just writing for yourself, but getting corrections on your work. So don’t write anything so personal that you won’t be willing to share with a teacher!

At the intermediate level, you should start writing about more complicated subjects that require more advanced vocabulary and grammar.

Current events is a great subject to practice with, because there’s always something going on! You can also keep it personal by writing about experiences further in your past or your plans for the future.

If you’re struggling to find subjects to write about, then check out native authentic media such as TV shows, movies, newspapers and so forth. They can readily provide you language practice as well as engaging ideas for what you can discuss. Another option is the language learning program FluentU .

At the intermediate level, you should be trying to write more than a few sentences . Do at least some writing that hits the 500-word mark.

You should also start thinking about more than just whether or not each individual sentence is grammatically correct —make sure that you can write a coherent paragraph with sentences that relate to each other and flow correctly. This means learning to use pronouns appropriately and learning the phrases your target language uses to refer back to ideas that have already been mentioned.

Once you’ve established a strong foundation by writing longhand, you should move to typing .

You’ll need to change your keyboard to your target language. If your target language is Arabic, Russian or another language that doesn’t use the Latin alphabet, I would recommend getting keyboard stickers as well.

Typing well involves a lot of practice and is like learning a manual language, so it will take practice to get to point where you can type as fast in your target language as in your native language. Using the computer opens up a huge number of opportunities for writing in your target language, such as:

• Using social media. Pay attention to which social media platforms are used by speakers of your target language. If you’re learning Russian, for example, set up a VKontakte profile. If you’re learning Chinese, a Weibo account is basically a must.
• Commenting on blog posts . Reading blogs in your target language is a good way to get in plenty of reading practice, and participating in the online discussion is excellent writing practice.
• Utilizing relevant apps. Other apps that have a written component, ranging from dating apps to weight loss apps that force you to write updates.

Writing well, like speaking well, requires using the correct phrases, vocabulary and style for the circumstance. Different types of writing require radically different types of vocabulary and often have their own set phrases and formats that are quite different.

Using the correct greeting is remarkably important if you’re sending someone an email or letter. Here are some types of writing that most likely have specific formats that you should learn:

• Letters, both formal and informal
• Cover letters and resumes
• Internet slang
• Other types of writing, depending on your goals as a language learner, might include academic papers, news articles, reports or scripts.

You’ll also want to learn set phrases like “once upon a time.”

One of the best ways to practice writing is to summarize —in your own words—things that you read in your target language.

This type of exercise is ideal for writing something that can be corrected by a language exchange partner, teacher or tutor (remember you want to get corrections on at least some writing, and you’re less likely to be corrected on your social media posts).

The goal is to use the reading material as a way to learn new vocabulary and sentence structures and then to summarize the pieces—without referring to the original—so that the vocabulary and turns of phrase are internalized. Basing your writing on something you’ve read also eliminates the need to come up with a subject, which is surprisingly difficult when facing the blank page.

Want to become a really good writer? Make sure that your work is publicly available. The idea of a stranger reading your work is a powerful motivator to get it right. This doesn’t mean that you have to become a full-time writer in your target language (although there are certainly writers who write in a language that isn’t their native language), just that you should seek out opportunities to publish works of writing. Here’s a couple of ideas:

• Start a blog in your target language
• Guest post on other blogs in your target language (especially if you don’t want to commit to blogging yourself)
• Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper or magazine in your target language
• Submit a professional paper at a conference related to your profession.

At an advanced level, you’re working on more then learning set phrases used in writing. Instead, you want to master different types of writing .

There are surprising cultural differences in some types of writing—I had a French professor insist that an essay  must be five paragraphs and had to adhere to a very strict format in order to be correct. Here are some of the types of writing you’ll want to work on as an advanced learner:

• Persuasive essays
• Narratives of different lengths
• Correspondence
• Professional writing like reports and memos

Retelling stories (or other kinds of writing, depending on what type of writing you’re working on) is a great way to practice.

You read a piece of writing (of a manageable length, probably between 1,000 and 2,000 words), put the original aside and then try to replicate the piece of writing on your own. This exercise will both help you overcome writer’s block and teach you new vocabulary.

Retelling stories is a good way to internalize the turns of phrase, vocabulary and sentence structure that native speakers of your target language use in their writing.

You’ve moved beyond merely avoiding gross errors in your writing—so now it’s time to care about whether or not your writing sounds decent. This means varying your word choice by using synonyms and using sentence structures that aren’t only correct but that also sound good to a native speaker of your target language.

Once you get to an advanced level, it’s easy to assume that you don’t need any more instruction. But if you really want to master writing, you need to continue getting corrections on your written work—indefinitely. It doesn’t have to be on every piece of written work you produce, but periodic corrections will help you continue improving your writing.

Writing is one of the hardest things to do well as a non-native speaker of a language, because there’s no room to hide behind mumbled errors and because becoming literate—even in your native language—requires quite a bit of effort and instruction.

That doesn’t mean writing should be neglected, because your overall language ability will often be judged solely on the basis of how well you write. There are lots of ways to improve your writing ability, but they can be essentially boiled down to three key components:

• Write a lot
• Get your writing corrected

If you can do those three things, you’ll see your writing ability increase until you can genuinely consider yourself a master!

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IELTS essay, topic: Is learning a foreign language essential or a waste of time (opinion)?

• IELTS Essays - Band 9

This is a model response to a Writing Task 2 topic from High Scorer’s Choice IELTS Practice Tests book series (reprinted with permission). This answer is close to IELTS Band 9.

Set 5 Academic book, Practice Test 25

Writing Task 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Some people feel that learning a foreign language is an essential component of a child’s education. Others feel that learning a foreign language is often a waste of time that can be better spent on learning about technology and other more vocational subjects.

Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

You should write at least 250 words.

Sample Band 9 Essay

Throughout the history of education, learning a foreign language or languages has been a constant component. Of course, many people feel that this is really an unnecessary part of education for everyone, but this is not a point of view that I share.

The opponents to learning a foreign language might argue that most people do not travel that often outside their own country. In addition to this, out of all the countries of the world, comparatively not many share the same language. Therefore, learning a foreign language will only be useful for the very limited time that one spends in a country where this language is used. For some people, the language might never be used in their entire lives. When one thinks about how much time and money are spent training language teachers, buying resources, going on trips and delivering lessons for such a negligible benefit, this would seem to be a very inefficient allocation of resources.

However, the benefits of learning a foreign language go further than just the ability to use it from time to time on a holiday or business trip. Firstly, through learning one language, one gains an understanding to some extent of how all languages work. Thus, no matter where people might end up around the world, the knowledge of language can be of use. Secondly, with the study of a foreign language, one also opens oneself up to other cultures. This allows in turn an appreciation for different points of view and belief systems. With an ever-shrinking world due to globalisation, the ability to empathise and understand the people from other countries is vital to reducing conflict and creating a more tolerant society. Finally, quite simply learning languages is excellent for the improvement of general cognitive skills.

It seems to me that learning a foreign language, therefore, is more than just gaining the ability to speak a few words of a foreign tongue. It is part of intellectual and social development and needs to be continued for everyone in today’s schools.

Go here for more IELTS Band 9 Essays

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✍️ 6 Ways to Practice Writing in a Foreign Language You’d Never Think Would Work [VIDEO]

And don’t forget! You can also head over to our MosaLingua Language Lab podcast to listen to this article:

Table of contents

Why is it important to learn to write in a foreign language, write every day, start small, stay away from “school-like” practice, get feedback on your work,  …but not too much feedback, be (or become), first and foremost, a reader, bonus video: how to practice writing in a foreign language, take it further.

We’ve told you time and time again to focus your efforts on speaking and listening when you first start learning a new language. Those skills give you the most bang for your buck because they allow you to communicate with people most quickly. And being able to do that gives you a major sense of accomplishment. Which in turn motivates you to keep learning. But it is worth your while to learn how to write well in your target language!

Writing in a foreign language can make new words stick like glue in your long-term memory ! It engages your kinesthetic memory—especially when you write by hand. According to the famous “ learning pyramid ,” the average retention rate for writing (also called “doing”) is 75% . Compare that to a passive activity like listening (5%) or reading (10%), and it’s pretty obvious why practicing foreign language writing is important.

Writing can also force you to think about the mechanics of your target language. For example, how sentences are built, when different tenses are used, and which turns of phrase are most natural. This also benefits your speaking skills.

Knowing how to write well in a foreign language is going to make you an important asset to your company or set your resume apart from the rest of the candidates in the applicant pool .

And last but not least, it can be a great creative release that relieves stress and anxiety and improves your overall mental health ! (If you’re interested, here’s a fascinating article on all of the ways learning a language is great for your brain .)

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How to Practice Writing in a Foreign Language

If you didn’t think that learning to write was important before, hopefully now you’re convinced! Now, here are 6 tips on how to improve your writing, along with fun ways to put them into practice.

It’s no secret. To excel at anything, whether it’s chess, baseball, piano, or language, you have to practice a lot and practice consistently. However, it’s not always easy to find time to practice a language. So, I like to get it out of the way at the beginning of my day.

🖋 How to do it: I often start my day with 5 to 15 minutes of freewriting, which is somewhat like meditation. Don’t set any expectations for yourself, don’t stress about conjugation, and don’t go back and edit your work. Simply set a timer, put pen to paper—yes, I recommend doing this by hand)—and write continuously. Write about anything that comes to mind until the timer goes off.

Freewriting is a fun, stress-free habit for getting your daily writing practice in and to help your ideas begin to flow more naturally in your target language.

The best way to get overwhelmed and disenchanted with writing in a foreign language is by trying to take on too much at once. So if you’re having trouble finding the willpower to practice writing, put your plans for that Italian novel on hold, and instead opt for lots of shorter prompts.

⌨️ How to do it: One fun way to practice short but frequent writing bursts is by posting on social media. Especially Tweets, since you’re given a limited number of characters to work with! Tweet about your day, tweet at your favorite celebrities or brands, tweet your thoughts about news articles… just make it relevant to you.

Posting on social media can be a good way to keep yourself committed to your language practice through public accountability , which Luca has talked about in some of our videos. However, you can also create a separate account dedicated to your target language if you don’t want all of your followers to see your practice.

If you think you hate practicing writing, get as far away from “traditional” writing prompts as possible.

💬 How to do it: For you, I recommend chatting or instant messaging with a conversation partner ( click here to see the best websites for finding one) . It’s basically the 2021 version of an adult penpal! If you can find someone you click well with, the time will fly by when you’re writing back and forth, and it won’t feel like practice, just like you’re messaging a friend!

Some people even swear that dating apps are the reason they’ve gotten so good at writing in their target language! 😍 Hey, you never know! Wondering how to practice writing in a foreign language on your favorite dating app? Most apps let you search for matches in a particular city. Just choose one where they speak your target language.

Need to know how to change the language on your phone’s keyboard to text more easily in your target language? Check out our guide on changing your keyboard language settings right here.

That leads me to my next tip…

It’s best to get feedback about your writing from a human, but if you’re not comfortable with that quite yet, using free automatic writing checkers is another option.

LanguageTool is a good one to check out because it supports many different languages. Microsoft Word also has some built-in writing assistance features. Here are other programs and websites we recommend for specific languages:

• 🇪🇸 To practice writing in Spanish ( escribir ), we recommend SpanishChecker
• 🇫🇷 Check out BonPatron if you want to practice writing in French ( écrire )
• 🇩🇪 DudenMentor will be your best friend for improving your writing in German ( schreiben )
• 🇬🇧🇺🇸 And if you’d like to learn to write in English, we suggest Grammarly or Write & Improve a free tool developed by Cambridge English. Write & Improve is neat because it also gives you foreign language writing prompts for different levels if you’re not sure what to write about.

✏️ How to do it: A way to make this resource fun is to think of it like a competition with yourself. See if you can beat your previous score for the least amount of mistakes!

If you’re interested in how to best use these tools, check out our article on grammar check tools for language learners .

I should warn you that these automatic tools aren’t always accurate. Be sure to do your own research to make sure that they didn’t flag any errors by mistake.

You obviously want to know what you can improve on when you write, so feedback is important. But you don’t want to feel like you’re constantly being “graded.” Therefore, it’s good to keep some of your writing to yourself. Sometimes, you should practice just for the sake of practicing.

Like with freewriting, the simple act of writing a lot can help you improve. 

🖍 How to do it: I suggest keeping a personal blog, journal, or diary for this purpose. And you don’t have to only fill it with your own writing. For instance, I keep a notepad full of quotes, sentences, and expressions that I come across in things I read and particularly love the sound of, because it inspires me to want to be a better writer!

And on that note, to be a good writer in any language, you have to be a reader. Especially when you’re learning to write for a specific purpose, you need to read lots of similar texts written in your target language. Mimic the style rather than translating directly from your native language.

That said, translating can be another fun writing exercise—and I’m not just saying that because I’m a translator!

📖 How to do it: Pick a specific text genre to read and analyze. Business emails or memos can help with professional language, newspaper op-eds can help you work on your logic and argumentation, poems and songs are great for learning about rhythm and rhyme… Then, try to copy the style as closely as possible.

These can be good foreign language writing prompts if you can’t think of anything interesting to write about. We put together some more great reading suggestions for language learners here .

To sum up this article, here’s a list of tips and entertaining ideas about how to practice writing in a foreign language:

• incorporate writing into your daily language practice, and to do so, try freewriting;
• keep your practice sessions short;
• since you’ll be on social media anyway, write a few short Tweets or Instagram captions each day;
• find the practical side of writing;
• text a language partner or crush;
• get edits and feedback about your writing, for instance using an automatic writing help tool;
• keep some of your work private so that you don’t put too much pressure on yourself, with a personal blog or journal;
• read, read, read!
• and finally, imitate or translate different styles and genres.

I hope you have as much fun writing as I do! Did I manage to change your perspective about writing practice? Let me know in the comments 😉

Get all of my foreign language writing tips in the video below—which you can also watch on our YouTube channel . I recorded it in English, but there are subtitles in 6 different languages if you need them. Click the Settings icon (⚙️) to turn them on or to change the playback speed.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more tips on improving your language skills!

If you liked this article, you might also be interested in these related topics:

• Make Sure You’ll Pass the Writing Section of the Cambridge B2 First Certificate
• Ace the TOEFL Writing Section
• How to Succeed on the TOEIC Writing Section
• How to Write in Japanese: A Look at the 3 Japanese Writing Systems

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Abbe is a translator and English teacher from the US who loves sharing her passion for languages. She is always looking for new ways to help our language learners via our blog and YouTube channel. She speaks English, French, and Spanish.