Killer Tips to Write Like a Native English Speaker

Writing like a native English speaker is easier than you may think!

Tip #1: Learn to Write as if You Were Speaking!

Fluent writing is something even native speakers struggle with, and considering we’re foreigners there’s no reason to feel ashamed if you just can’t seem to be able to write in English in a fluent, native-like fashion.

The first important step you have to take towards achieving your goal of writing fluency is putting all the emotions aside and reading the following piece of advice ten times over until it hammers home:

"When I write, I write THE SAME WAY I SPEAK."

And be ready to refute all sorts of arguments against this approach:

Speech is informal; writing in English involves more formal expressions and language;

When one speaks, Grammar Tenses may become so simplified that the written piece will look as if written by a child;

They taught me to write in a sophisticated, intelligent manner at school – how dare you tell me that writing can be equaled to a conversation?!

OK, here we go.

First of all this article is not providing advice to wannabe writers and publishers? It is just giving useful tips for the average foreign English speaker who wants to learn how to write faster, more efficiently and in a native-like fashion at work in terms of professional correspondence, in college and maybe on their personal blog.

All that kind of writing is nothing else but casual so you just have to realize that there’s a big difference between what you were lead to believe by your school teacher and the real world.

Secondly, just browse around the Web and check out news websites. After reading just a couple of news articles you’ll realize that content created for large audiences is made up of simple, easy-to-understand language and nobody cares if it sounds childish or whatever!

At the end of the day, in real life no-one cares of how sophisticated is the language used in the written piece, it’s the READIBILITY that matters I and no-one can deny that it’s much easier to read something that’s written using simple language and simple sentences than a piece containing plenty of specific terms and expressions.

Tip #2: Learn to Use Online Tools to Edit Your Writing!

Try to use Google when writing articles and soon you will get into the same habit!

Before we get into any technical details, try to understand another principle which is crucial in order to achieve a native-live style of English writing:

Check what you have written by adopting an observer’s role.

In real terms it means you have to write fast, without much thinking, and then go back to what you’ve written and read it looking for imperfections, mistakes, and things that could be said differently to make it sound better.

This approach is very effective because we all foreigners can understand much more than we can say, and while we may say or write awkward sentences, we would instinctively feel that it just doesn’t sound right if we read it or heard it.

You may call it the "gut-feeling", and you can rely upon it all the time when speaking and also when writing!

Of course, during the writing process we will correct the content as we go along because when we write, we have more time to plan what we’re going to say than when speaking. You have to bear in mind, however, that too much analysis carries a risk of making you feel overwhelmed and you’ll find it very hard to think clearly.

Therefore whenever you speak OR write just spit it out

During a conversation you just have to accept your mistakes because there’s no going back and correcting them (you have to be 100% comfortable with your mistakes because it’s crucial for your fluency improvement to speak freely albeit with some imperfections), but when you write, you have the advantage of being able to go back and change things around.

Basically you write an e-mail, an article or a letter draft first, and then go back and read it. Now you can change word sequence where necessary, delete redundant words and work with Google to make sure you use proper English collocations.

Tip #3: Simple Planning Goes a Long Way!

This one may sound like a typical cliché at first, but then the same goes with all simple and good advice in life!

You have to have a plan before you start writing something which basically means you have to know what EXACTLY you want to say. This may sound silly, but you know why many times we spend hours upon hours staring at a blank monitor unable to write a single sentence? Simply because we do not have a CLEAR IDEA of what we want to write!

Just because you know the topic of an article or you have a general notion of what you want to write in an e-mail, doesn’t mean you’ll be able to just start writing and sentences will type themselves on the screen or on a piece of paper for that matter.

The suggestion is very simple:

"When you write, create a list of the main 3 – 6 points you want to write about!"

Please understand this, my fellow foreigners – just because everything you want to say or write is in your head, doesn’t mean it will come out in a well-structured manner! You HAVE TO GIVE IT A SHAPE AND FORM by defining the main points and only then you’ll be able to accomplish the writing task – or give a coherent answer if it’s spoken English we’re talking about!

Also bear in mind that you have to spend a lot of time engaged in constant writing to achieve a native-like level of English writing.

Just by observing the 3 tips given in this article won’t make you a native-like English writer overnight. It will, however, speed up your learning curve considerably, this is guaranteed!