main problems with English writing

The main reason of the problem is that

Many people try to write in their own language. My teacher in the university said that it had been very difficult to understand students' assignments. Perhaps, a grammar skill is poor, and put wrong words into unappropriate situations.

I agree with my teacher on a writing style. Several friends in the university always write English in their own language as i occasionally do when i do not know how to convey my idea in correct English patterns.

Do anyone have any opinions on the English writing style.

I feel the same way. Writing is a skill. It takes practice like other subjects.

In general, if you are trying to become competent in a new language, you should start writing in that language as soon as you have mastered the basics sufficiently to be able to do that. Writing in one's first language and then translating almost always leads to awkward prose that sounds more like the original language than the new language. This is because languages use not only different words but different sentence structures.

i agree with chen that the biggest problem is that students often try to translate from their own language into english. moreover, their vocabulary and grammer is not very good, they develop topic sentences not well

i agree with the part of translation

it is too different ,

and vocabulary

I have the same feeling. The "translation" is hard.

I feel the same way... Writing is an art not a science. Just keep working at it, everyday!

Often when I'm writing an English paper, I can think of a word, verb, etc in Chinese but then no matter how hard I try to think of the word in English, I can't. And vice versa. Once I've mastered this "translation", I think i can become a professionaly translator. But at the pace I'm going at, this would most likely take me a lifetime to accomplish.

i actually think that when you write english it is your language you are suppose to write in your own style that is how you basically comprehend what you have written i think that you can usually make it where you english style is easier to comprehend then you will be ok because you writing style is ENGLISH

i hope that helped...............ASHLEY DAWSON

Just keep writing.The more you have done,the better your English will be.

I'm sorry but I just have to completely disagree with you. Writing in English is much more than just continuously writing. It takes time and effort in analyzing the grammar and all the different sentence structures. You don't what all your sentence to begin with "I" and you definitely don't want your writing to sound like a kindergartener wrote it. Reading different types of texts helps because then you are absorbing different styles of writing.

English is my second language, by no means did I ever consider it as my second language. I'm quite retarded when it comes languages period, I understand English fluently more so than my mother tongue but I still feels I have yet to have a good grasp on it. There's so many "wrong" and "right" examples; however, I really don't know how to tell which one is the correct version. I usually based on the "correctness" on the flow or the rhythm of the sentence!

the most difficult is the use of some word. they have several meaning, and in each situation it has a different meaning. how to use them suitable is a big problem

I often try to translate my words, I know it's completely wrong. my teacher tell us "You need to express you idea in English directly"

now, i find that to avoid repeating words in essay is a problem. sometimes i cant find any other word the same meaning

i have the same problem my first language is spanish. sometimes i can not write anything in my essay.

we should use English-English dictionary,and not try to translate any thing from our native language, because sometimes it sounds funny and makes no sense.
one time i translated a report from from my native language to English using GOOGLE translator
IT sounds really funny. and some sentence makes no sense.

My first language is english but I live in a Spanish speaking place and I don't really speak SPanish. I have the opposite problem. I know how to say many words in Spanish but using them in a sentence is really hard! Sometimes I just have to pull things our of my little dictionary. I always try to write what I know and, even if I'm wrong, I write what I think is right.

English is my first language but i often make grammar errors and I feel like I don't make any sense when I'm writing my English essay.

I am studying English in university and i have trouble in writing. I don't think ideas and it's difficult to start the writing. My biggest problem is word choice, and my vocabulary is poor so i don't express my ideas clearly. Moreover, i only translate word by word, it's not native language.

This is a crucial element of the strategies which can help to develop your language skills. Separately, I don't think zhoudongzhou meant that you should practice writing in a vacuum.

Read and write, read and write, read and write, reflect critically and make changes, read and write... reflect critically and make changes (8), ...

Syntax varies by language so translating from one to another won't be very fruitful.

i also agree on that
writing is a skill that is to be developed, i mean there are people out there who are naturally great writers, but other people need to work on it. and its definitely not impossible!

For those who need a good reference for grammar...try The oWl at Purdue.

a few months ago i was revieiwng for my essay exam and i came across one of the suggestion by one the contributor of essay forum... i tried it out and The Owl at Purdue helped me a lot.

English is my second language and I often find difficulties conveying my opinion in the best form.
Somehow it just doesn't feel that right and accurate compared to what I have in mind.
What I do is I tried to write in the simplest English, read more and learn to develop different writing skills slowly.