I am an engineering student, currently in my 4th year of B.Sc. English is not my first or even second language. And I live in Bangladesh. But I always liked reading English fiction. Specially web serials and such. That is why I thought I should give it a try too. However my skills in writing English is very sub per. To quote one reviewer, "Yikes. Sentence structure, tense, singular vs plural, punctuation, term usage. All have had issues and I literally read a chapter and a half. Needs an editor pretty bad. Grammar is more attention drawing than the story itself at this point, and until it gets fixed I'm out. " And I absolutely agree with him. That's why I joined this forum, in hopes to at least improve my skill to a satisfactory level. I currently write about 2k words daily and have managed to keep this up for the last 1 month. But the problem is how awkward my sentence structure is. I need some proper guidance or resources to remedy that. I thank anyone willing to give me direction.
Hello CatVI! Welcome to the forums! It's good to see a fellow Indian here. Keep up the good work in your efforts to improve your English writing skills; joining the forums here is a step in the right direction. I would recommend reading instructional books, web content, and regularly speaking in English with others. It's also a good idea to take up hobbies that encourage good writing skills, like daily journaling, blogging, or fiction writing. Good luck and see you in the forums!
Fiction writing has roots in the oral tradition, which much achieve flow in the host language. Try podcasts, sports favorites, or even audiobooks you are familiar with to get the inflection, context, turn of phrase. Imagine yourself an actor, mimicking a character if it helps. It should speak out loud as fluent conversation would. Find a script for an American show you understand well and write a short story, then read aloud and compare. It's cultural immersion and thesis research, isn't it? Much success to you!
Hey CatVi. Just keep in mind - even us native English speakers were where you feel you're at, once upon a time Hell, some of us are still there! hehe
If you read a lot and write 2 000 words a day, you texts will be excellent quite soon. Just go for it!
Hello CatVI - I'm one of the forum moderators, and I want to welcome you warmly to the forum. This is an excellent place to get help with grammatical issues, etc. Once you have fulfilled your membership requirements and have done two constructive critiques in our Workshop area, you can post something of your own to get feedback. I'm sure lots of people will be glad to help. I am always so impressed when non-native speakers take up writing in English. I am such a sad sack, in that I only speak English, and sometimes I'm quite ashamed of that. I have studied a couple other languages, including two years of high school Latin, two years of high school French, and a bit of Italian from a taped language course. But all this has given me is a huge respect for people who actually DO speak more than one language. So you have my admiration. While you are getting settled here, please take the time to read these two links, which will let you know how our forum is set up, what we offer, etc. And how we work. New Member Quick Start Forum Rules And here are a few more site links which you might find useful. The first is a site map which will help you navigate the parts of the forum you might not realise are here. The second is a guide for doing constructive critiques. And the third is a link to our writing contest area. We have three ongoing contests more or less all the time: short story, flash fiction and poetry. We encourage new members to read the entries, vote on them, and consider entering one when you feel ready. https://www.writingforums.org/faq/ https://www.writingforums.org/threads/constructive-critiques.20627/ https://www.writingforums.org/writing-contests/ If you encounter any difficulties getting settled, don't hesitate to contact me and I'll do what I can to help. Just click my owl avatar, start a conversation with me, and we'll go from there. Hope you enjoy getting to know us, and letting us get to know you. You're off to a good start. Cheers for now, Jan
Thank you. I should have replied to this thread earlier, but was kinda busy irl. Yeah, I do have a hobby of fiction writing. That's exactly why I joined this forum I completely agree! I have trouble concentrating on the story when listening to audiobooks though, for some strange reason. I always keep spacing out and have to rewind back a few minutes. So I try to stick to books. As for research, I do try to write fanfics now and then of my favourite shows. Though too embarrassed to show my friends cause how cringey it might seem.
Yeah, same for any language I guess. However, I still strive to improve to a native speaker level at least Yes, the best advice I have ever received was, 'Just write!'. I don't think my 2k words a day essays are that good. However, I do see visible improvements in grammar, syntax, and other nitty gritty details.
Hello Jan, Thanks for your warm welcome. Actually, a detail I forgot to mention in the post is that I am actually polylingual. My first language is Bengali, then you could say Hindi and English are close 2nd and 3rd. Finally, it took my 6 years to get speaking fluency in Japanese. Reading is fine, but writing that language is another matter altogether lol. It's one of hobbies. I am trying to tackle Russian now, but still stuck at the 14th video of the tutorial I bought haha. Thanks for all the links and resources you have posted here. I already read the new members quick start guide and am going to go through all the rules And sure, if I need any help or have any enquiries, I will contact you. Regards, CatVI
