How to Write a Blog Post When English is Your Second Language

You have listed the different blog topics about which you would like to write. You talk to yourself and create your articles in your head. There is only one problem: You don’t feel comfortable with writing in English.

English as a foreign language

Welcome to my world! French is my first language as I grew up in France. After moving to the US, I had to adapt from the British English I learned at school to American English.

Despite asking my friends to let me know when my English is incorrect, most of them would feel uncomfortable doing it or they end up getting used to my mistakes. As they say, they understand what I meant.

My vocabulary has improved but I have reached a plateau where it is challenging to convey my message as accurately as I would like.

Write your article

If you wonder how to overcome the fear of writing an article in a foreign language, my short answer would be to do it anyway.

The longer version is to give yourself a deadline to publish your blog post and to focus on “how to get it done”.

Overcome the fear of being judged

Most of the time, when your readers let you know about your typos and mistakes, they judge the article more than the person. I am grateful when someone helps me improve my posts so that they look better for the next readers.

It can give the impression that you did not pay enough attention to your work despite the fact that you checked your post several times, but you are human and mistakes happen. You can’t wait for perfection to press the publish button. This only delays sharing your knowledge with your readers.

Think about your goal, which is to help others. You will improve your writing over time. The more you write, the easier it will be to overcome your worries.

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Craft your content

Foreign expressions aren’t natural if you don’t use them often. Focusing on writing the perfect text slows down the content creation process and sometimes leads to procrastination.

Instead, create your content outline using few words or short sentences to list the different ideas you want to communicate to your audience.

Learning some basic copywriting formulas will help generate your content outline.

Once the main structure of your article is set, you will be ready to fill in the blanks and write your first draft.

Another solution would be to create your content using your first language and have it translated into English. For longer terms and for your own development, going through the exercise of writing your text directly in English is the best way to improve it.

Review your post

You will need several iterations to review and improve your post. Add breaks during your reviews or wait until the next day to read your article with fresh eyes.

Read your post out loud when you review it: this technique helps you find errors that you might not see when you read your text too fast in your head.

If it is possible, ask someone fluent in English to review your post. You can also work with a professional depending on what you would like to achieve with your content.

Publish

Setting a deadline will help you hit the publish button. You will still be able to update and improve your article in the future.

Doesn’t it feel good to give birth to a new article and to get your voice out there?