In the past, keeping a diary in English was my favorite hobby, because I could improve my English skills effectively, particularly writing as well as speaking skills. Whenever I did not know necessary English words, idioms, or grammar, I consulted an electronic or online dictionary for them. I found that I really like studying English enough to continue to keep a diary for years. At that time, I did not imagine keeping a diary for blogging in the future.

Of course, it was extremely difficult for me even to compose a one sentence in English, when I started the diary. As I told before in “Get Used to the Language” and “Speaking & Writing,” I tried to find the most appropriate sentences for making this one sentence from my grammar textbook, to combine and change them, and to find right words and idioms by using a dictionary. Sometimes I had a native checker to correct my sentences to find my wrong habits in English.

Keywords: find the most appropriate sentences, from my grammar textbook, find right words and idioms by using a dictionary

You can choose any topic as you like. For example, you can write about your school, hobby, today’s activity, and the like. It is quite difficult to consider something when you begin writing in a foreign language. Some people prefer to write at first something in their mother language and to try to translate it into English. It is also a good option for the time being. The most important thing is to write something!

At present, I am also studying French and German. I sometimes try to translate my English sentences into French and German as well. This is good review for my English as well as training for my French and German at the same time. Furthermore, I have seen some friends in Europe taking a similar method to acquire multilingual skills. Thus, I am sure that keeping a diary is a good method for foreign language training.

Keywords: any topic as you like, write something

I have also improved my speaking skills by keeping a diary, because writing is very similar to speaking in a sense; you have to make a sentence. Writing requires a slower process to make more correct and complicated sentences than speaking. It is possible to make sentences at your own pace, which is totally different from speaking in conversation.

When you take an English conversation lesson and do not speak English fluently, the teacher needs to wait for your speaking. That means that you can make few English sentences within the lessen time. Therefore, I recommend that you should improve the language skills by keeping a diary before taking many conversation lessons. If you already have good writing skills, you can also improve your speaking skills immediately; you only need to get use to pronunciation and speaking.

Keywords: writing is very similar to speaking