More about writing
Surviving the difficulties of intermediate levels.
Learning a language can be the passion of a lifetime. But it's also a thankless journey, fraught with frustration, discouragement and worry.
When you first start learning, you make lightning progress: the content to be assimilated is highly structured, the vocabulary is everyday and progressive. It's about meals, the family, holidays, etc. The linguistic universe is familiar and well-ordered.
But at an intermediate or advanced level, the progression is no longer upwards. The language suddenly seems to resist us: words are associated with each other according to mysterious rules. The syntax of the first levels becomes more complex. In short, the language appears to us as it is: an extraordinary human construction that no speaker, not even a native speaker, ever fully possesses.
At this stage, the gap between what we are capable of understanding and what we can express is confirmed. And it's not uncommon, in a conversation, to be unable to respond clearly, even though you've understood the other person. To speak naturally, you need to have all the vocabulary, grammar and syntax you've learned at your fingertips. This is impossible in the short space of a conversation.
The written word: stable, autonomous and reassuring
The written word is not the same as the spoken word. It is a form of deferred communication. By writing, you reactivate your knowledge: you take the time to look for the right word, to test different syntaxes or lexical associations, to self-correct. You can't do that when you're speaking.
What's more, writing is an autonomous process. You can't count on the active participation of a more advanced speaker to guide, complete and reformulate clumsy statements, as you can when speaking. The writer is the only one in charge!
Writing is therefore a demanding exercise. However, because it is not based on immediacy, writing is more reassuring for learners than speaking - studies that have looked at emotions in language classes show that speaking arouses more apprehension, even fear, in students. And less stress is good for learning!
