The Unexpected Way I Got Better at Speaking, Writing, and Thinking
The pearls of sweat slow as they reach the tense wrinkles above my eyes. My fingertips are ready. But every time they are about to jump into action, a sigh stops them in their tracks. The barrier is not physical – it’s mental. It’s not nervousness that stops me from abusing my keyboard.
After a while, the wrinkles on my forehead soften – and the vein in my neck starts pulsating as frustration turns into anger. The words just won’t come to me.
It’s tough writing in a language that isn’t your mother tongue – but if I had known the enormous benefits it would have on my communication skills, my angry visage would’ve changed to the brightest smile.
Almost a year ago, I started my blog at tommytribolet.com. I began writing online to challenge myself. If putting your whole being out there wasn’t enough, I thought it would be a good idea to also write in English – my third language.
My mother tongue is German. My German vocabulary exceeds my English vocabulary by miles. But that’s not a bad thing – on the contrary. It’s because of the constraints of my vocabulary that my writing style had to become simple.
A simple writing style isn’t always the most resourceful. Sometimes, there might be a perfect word that sums up your point, but you can’t use a word you don’t know exists. The German language is the best example. A legendary German word is Waldeinsamkeit.
Waldeinsamkeit describes the loneliness you feel while wandering through a forest by yourself. That’s concise, but not simple. Not everybody knows what Waldeinsamkeit means.
A limited vocabulary forces you to explain your point with more – but simpler – words. More words mean more strain on the reader. Another disadvantage – or so it seems.
Simple language may lack conciseness, but it has its own superpowers.
The first superpower is accessibility. Because simple language is more approachable, more people can understand your message. And the more people understand your message, the more people can engage with it.
But most of all, it forces you to understand the subject matter to a higher degree. Just like legendary physicist Richard Feynman said:
“If you cannot explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it.”
But does this practice translate (no pun intended) to writing in your native language? From my experience, it does. You just have to be more conscious when writing in your native language to also strive for simplicity.
And the benefits don’t stop there. It won’t just sharpen your writing. How you speak will also be transformed. Ever since I started writing in English, I use simpler words in speech as well. As Feynman said, it's much harder to explain a complex subject in simple terms than it is with complex language. I also tend to structure my sentences more clearly – although I think this comes from writing in general.
Writing in another language might feel like swimming upstream. Sometimes it will even feel like drowning. But with every sentence, you break above the surface – until you stop gasping for air and start riding the wave of skills you never knew you had in you.