Reading and Writing - the Relationship

The relationship between reading and writing is a strong one and people who are generally good at one will usually be good at the other. Both disciplines are, of course, vital to learning a new language and indeed communicating in it when fluent. But the key thing which joins them together is that they are both about the written word rather than the spoken one - which is the preserve of listening and speaking.

But there are also huge differences between the two disciplines which may make it hard for a good communicator to be a good understand and vice versa. Of course, reading is about interpreting what someone else has written in a language while writing is about creating the language yourself for others to read.

Reading

In any language, your own or one that you are learning as a new speaker, reading is a vital skill to master if you are going to become proficient in all aspects of it. Reading brings so much to the reader, from grammar and vocabulary to a basic understanding of how the language works. And reading could not be of a greater importance to those who want to learn how to write. There is a reason that children learn to read before they write and it is not necessarily that it is the easier discipline. It is because reading teaches the language learner so many aspects that will then become useful in writing. Without reading, a writer would not know how and where to use words and the way sentences are formed. Without reading, a writer would be virtually powerless, even if they had the tools they needed - the letters and words - for they would not have the knowledge to put it into practice.

Writing

But writing brings its own set of advantages to people who want to read. Once someone who has started to write in a foreign language picks up something to read, they will find it easier. Although everyone has their own writing style and not everyone will be able to read everyone's else's prose as easily as their own, it is still a useful skill to pick up if you are going to be doing a lot of reading. Once you have used the words and sentences for yourself, and seen where they go and where they fit most easily, reading will be a lot more natural.

So, as we can see, the relationship between reading and writing in a language is strong and is important. No one who is learning a language can think they can only learn one discipline as they are all so inextricably linked. Of course, there are differences and writing and listening and speaking and reading have perhaps the least in common. But there are links between the four at other places.

Writing is very similar to speaking because both disciplines require the language learner to create language. On the other hand, reading and listening are both about understanding language. Whichever way you look at it, there are four facets to a language and all need to be learnt well if you can ever hope to be fluent in a language. But look for the similarities and links as they will help you to learn faster and better.

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