Let me begin by saying, that writing a new post either on technical or soft skill topics is always a challenge for me.

Why? Because I am not a native English speaker.

Looking back at the past few years, I used to be an awful writer, mainly because I have only learned English as a second language at school.

Yes, my English writing was not the best, but the desire to blog in English was huge.

If you ever asked me about the main thing that contributed to my online progress, I would not hesitate a second to say that it was my ability to write well in English.

And it took around two years of consistent work to reach “not that bad” style of writing.

I have come a long way, right?

Of course, practice is everything, you probably know it. Personally, for me, it’s impossible to learn something without implementing it in my life.

I can read English rules with examples hundred of times, however, only when I complete an actual post, the grammar will stick in my head.

At the beginning of my blogging journey, I have spent around 4-5 hours to re-read, edit and confirm the end version of the post before publishing it.

To put things into perspective, here are my tips for improving your writing skills, if you are a non-native speaker and struggling with it:

1. Read as much as possible

Especially in the styles, you want to emulate, whether it’s general writing, news or blogs, etc.

I believe that one of the best ways to perfect writing skills and grammar is to read. And read a lot.

2. Spend time re-reading and editing

Even many native speakers don’t do that, but we, non-native, can improve our writing a lot with a read-over.

The most important thing is the end result in this case.

The more time we spend on that today, the less time we spend on that tomorrow.

3. Ask native speakers for help

Don’t hesitate to do that and get them to underline and explain any mistakes or odd-sounding phrases you are using.

Perhaps, the other person can be interested to learn your native language or in teaching people in general.

Learning foreign languages is hype nowadays, and I firmly believe that it’s possible to conquer a new language up to a fluent level in 1-2 years.

Everything depends on you, and only you!

4. Learn the grammar rules of the native language

When I started learning foreign languages, I faced the big problem - I was not that strong in the morphology of my native language!

And it’s crap! Especially, if you are trying to learn a foreign language.

Any language has logical structure. To see its ‘logic’ you have to understand morphology analysis at least to build the sentences properly and conjugate words correctly.

As a result, it will simplify the foreign language learning process.

5. Follow a writing template

Try to collect or keep notes of the writing templates the most used while doing a new post.

This approach will definitely help you increase the quality of your article instantly and decrease the time spending on searching appropriate lead-in words for your post.

6. Grammar through Grammarly (not sponsored)

Grammarly is a helpful tool that can help you avoid typos when writing online.

I use the program in my everyday writing for over a year or more.

It helps find comma errors with ease, detect and correct repetitive words, and highlight the missing details during the writing. Especially useful for students who do academic writing - just choose the right mode for that.

Conclusion

Remember, that no one was born a professional and no one is perfect.

Believe in yourself and believe that one day you will be what you wish.

Don’t let fear consume you and give up.

In the beginning, probably, you will not be that good, so don’t pay attention at that point. Failure is a part of the process of success.

Don’t compare your writing with someone else. Find your own style, write it naturally and do your best.

Thanks for reading this post!

I have highlighted the main ways how to improve writing skills if you are a non-native speaker and which worked and still work for me.

If you would like to know how I learn new things during the week, check out my “What I learned…” video series on YouTube. In 2019 I decided to share my weekly achievements and learnings to track my personal and professional growth.

I also would be happy to read your tips and suggestions on how you level up your writing skills. Feel free to leave a comment and share your way with other readers and me.

Photo by Emma Matthews on Unsplash