Yes, I have started writing in my target language. In the beginning of my learning journey, I wrote my diaries by hand and typed my article summaries. Throughout the middle, I changed it all to typing because I felt like I could write better when typing. Whenever I wrote by hand, my sentences became very simple and short, while my sentences when typing were a little more complex when comparing the two. The pattern that emerges between words, clauses, and sentences is that they are building blocks of each other. We need to start with words that can stand alone and have meaning without anything with it. Then, using those words, we create clauses which are the building blocks of sentences. Clauses are a group of words that have a subject and a predicate. Then, with those clauses, we create a sentence which expresses a complete thought and contains the clause within it. A sentence can be simple or compound. My knowledge of parts of speech, government, and agreement allow me to write better in written contexts as it helps me formulate simple and compound sentences. Although I still have to continue improving my writing skills, I feel confident in my ability to write basic simple and compound sentences. A simple sentence contains one independent clause while a compound sentence contains more than one independent clause. So, the relationship between the two is that you need simple sentences in order to create compound sentences. I provided below my diary for last Sunday 3/28 which was about my experience at the airport while going home.
뉴저지 공항에 도착하고 엄마 찾는거가 1시간 걸렸다. 원래 집에 갈때 아빠가 오는대 오늘 아빠가 너무 바빠서 엄마가 아빠 대신으로 왔다. 내가 게이트 C에 왔는데 엄마가 게이트 C 지나가고 게이트 B로 갔다. 엄마가 날 찾는거가 너무 어려워서 내가 게이트 B로 가기됐다. 근데 공항이 너무 커서 내가 에어 트레인를 처음으로 탔다. 스트레스가 너무 많이 받았지만 근데 엄마랑 드디어 만났을때 우리 같이 많이 웃었다. 스트레스 순간이 다 지나가고 엄마랑 좋은 하고 웃긴 기억을 만들었다.
Comments
I find it interesting that you believe that typing made your writing better. There have been studies that hand writing rather than typing helps us remember things better. I wonder if this is different while learning a new language. If it is, then it might account for the experience you are describing.
I totally agree with being more comfortable writing in a different language digitally. For me, it may be because of the nature of typing, as in we are able to simply retract and insert additional words, phrases, clauses. As a result, my typed sentences come out more sophisticated/complex than my handwritten ones. I am also very conscious about simple and compound sentences; I always try to challenge myself to use complex and compound sentences as much as possible when studying Bahasa Indonesia!