Why do most people find it easier to write than speak a language?

[Norm A]

That happens with a lot of people. I think it has to do with the fact that when we speak a foreign language it isn't just about knowing what to say, it's also about saying it the right way and with the right accent and this can negatively impact on your confidence. 

[edmundangelson]

It's much easier to slowly look over a piece of text and become familiar than listen to spoken word. The internet also gives us ample opportunities for practice. I almost can't comprehend how someone can attain verbal fluency in another language. No one wants to have half a conversation with someone who can't even understand the reply. You can't whack out a dictionary mid conversation to get the meaning of words before you construct a reply.

[Mereloshn]

I'm finding it's the opposite for me.  It's much easier to speak the languages I learn than it is to write them because I remember how they sound better than I remember how to spell the words which often don't match how they sound to an English speaker like me. 

[hades_leae]

I have always found the I enjoyed writing in Spanish rather than speaking it. When I was learning it in school, I hated talking in Spanish to my teacher, but I had no problems writing in the language. 

 

I believe it's because people can remember how to write something, and put the words together on paper, but saying them is the problem because other languages are not like English. It's so easy to say one word that you thought was another in Spanish and especially in French. So I struggle with making sure I'm saying the right word, but when I'm writing, I know I'm right the first time around.

[panipX]

I guess it is because of the fact that to speak a language properly you will need to know the proper pronunciation and at least have some idea of the accent even if you don't follow it completely. This is something that is not that easy to master unless you practice for a long time and results in confidence issues making it even more difficult. Of course when learning a language you will learn about the pronunciation and such, but it is somehow easier to read and write and let your brain recognize it then to actually speak it yourself.

[Julian]

Personally, I find that when I'm writing I've got enough time to consider different word choices, improve sentence structure, etc. But when speaking, it all has to come out all at once, and sometimes this just doesn't work. 

What worked for me is to simply speak more. When I started speaking more often, I familiarized myself with my word choices in different sentences, and with sentence structures. This way, I would speak more fluently, instead of correcting myself mid-sentence. Because it's not like I don't know the language, it's that I wasn't used to preparing sentences more quickly than I wrote them.

[Bokyy]

I would not agree with your opinion, because I think the writing is the hardest part of a learning process. I know many people who know to speak some foreign language, but when they try to write, it looks pretty terrible. Writing demands wider knowledge, which is not necessary for speaking. To write English, you must know grammar, spelling, sentence structure, and many other things that is not necessary for talking. And you must know to speak if you want to learn writing, while you cannot learn writing if you do not have any clue about desired language. So you will first start to speak some words, and after that, to write them.

[lushlala]

20 hours ago, Mereloshn said:

I'm finding it's the opposite for me.  It's much easier to speak the languages I learn than it is to write them because I remember how they sound better than I remember how to spell the words which often don't match how they sound to an English speaker like me. 

Wow, you're one of the lucky few I've heard saying that! Way to go. I think it's such a blessing and seriously wish it were that way for me too. I don't know if I'm right in my estimation, but I would imagine if you're able to nail the speaking part so easily, it would then be a lot easier for you to then work on your written skills? I'm actually very curious about this and hope that you can shed some light on this, based on your personal experience  

[Mereloshn]

4 minutes ago, lushlala said:

Wow, you're one of the lucky few I've heard saying that! Way to go. I think it's such a blessing and seriously wish it were that way for me too. I don't know if I'm right in my estimation, but I would imagine if you're able to nail the speaking part so easily, it would then be a lot easier for you to then work on your written skills? I'm actually very curious about this and hope that you can shed some light on this, based on your personal experience  

Well for instance when I was learning French I learned how to speak the language by listening to it and could imitate the sounds and learn to talk but when it came to writing I found it was much more challenging to write in French because of how French words are spelled don't match how they sound to my English speaking American mind.  I would practice my French by speaking it but if I tried to write it I would have to look up how to spell the words because I couldn't remember how they were spelled.

 

With Spanish I'm finding writing is much less of a problem but I'm still more of a speech learner than a writing learner.  It's just how my mind works when I'm learning a language.  The speaking and reading comes easy but the writing is more difficult.  I practice my talking by saying things I would normally say in English in the language I'm learning to incorporate it into my talking and thinking and that's how my language skills improve.  I didn't realize it was so different for other people.

[Lingua Franca]

On 24/08/2016 at 8:54 PM, Mereloshn said:

I'm finding it's the opposite for me.  It's much easier to speak the languages I learn than it is to write them because I remember how they sound better than I remember how to spell the words which often don't match how they sound to an English speaker like me. 

I find the same thing, if ever I try to learn a language I normally will get the phonetics down a lot faster then the writing. I don't only mean in the cases of languages that don't use the Latin alphabet. Every languages has their own writing rules and they sometimes take longer to learn then actually speaking the language.

[VinayaSpeaks]

Many people tell me that I write better but my diction is poor. I have also noticed that there are people who write well but when it comes to speak the language, they has stilted accent. This is usually with people who are using the language as the second language or foreign language. However, the natives may find difficulty in writing and easy to speak in case they do not have god education or do not have writing skills.

I think non-natives have poor spoken language because they have not done enough language practice with the natives.Without proper conversation, they will always have poor diction.

[17emilyhalko]

Before you can start to speak a language, you have to get a very good feel for it. Each language is almost like a rhythm, and if you don't completely submerse yourself into the culture and language, I don't think that you could completely ever feel the rhythm and language. Also, the things that you speak is mainly memorization. When you sit down and write something (even in your native language) you have time to logically construct the sentences. Usually, when you speak out loud, the sentence you say isn't logically constructed, but constructed by the terms that you've learned and heard other people use before. In my experience, I have had four different Spanish teachers, and every time I get a new teacher, I get a new set of vocabulary with it!

[Portugirl]

I believe it's because it has mostly to do with visuals. When speaking, there is the listening and pronunciation that is at play. Recognizing what the other person is saying can get hard to get used to. 

[chesirecat136]

In general, I tend to find writing easier than speaking. There are hard and fast rules, and you don't need to worry about the accent.

[Tripeo]

This makes a lot of sense since most people are afraid of talking to other people and therefore, they are not too interested on learning the whole oral process. There are many people who find it kinda hard and difficult because of the simple fact you have to develop an accent and all that sort of improvement that you have to get ahold of in order to make  your oral skills something valuable and fluent, it really requires practice and time, which is something that the majority of the language learners don't really have. That's just my opinion.