Writing is an important skill that helps connect us with family, friends, and even strangers across the globe, and it gives us the chance to preserve and revisit messages in letters, newspapers, books, and group texts long after they were first written. Humans have developed many forms of written communication over the millennia, and with the internet at our fingertips, writing has never been more ubiquitous!

When learning a new language, writing is a chance to express yourself and engage with a new language community… while still being able to think through and edit exactly what you want to say. Not only is it an important part of using a language, but it’s also helpful for learning a language! Writing is great for reinforcing the links in your memory between an idea or concept and the word in the new language, and there are lots of meaningful ways to practice writing in your everyday life.

Here’s why sharpening your writing skills in a new language is so important, and how Duolingo helps get you there!

Collage of images representing reading, listening, writing, and speaking: a pencil, book, Duolingo Story, name tag, laptop with a Duolingo lesson, a dropped pin, headphones, an audio button, and a cell phone with a Duolingo lesson

How Duolingo helps you write in a new language

Because writing is such a good way to get practice pulling words out from your memory, our lessons start building writing skills right away! Language skills (like reading, listening, and speaking) are closely tied together, so becoming comfortable with writing also means connecting it with other skills. In your Duolingo lessons, tapping on a written word will play a recording of the sound out loud, so you can listen to what words sound like to build connections between writing and pronunciation.

Just like with other language skills, we scaffold, or carefully structure, how we teach writing so that you start with words, short phrases, and exercises with word banks until you’re ready for longer writing on your own. Even tapping on words in word bank exercises is training your writing muscles! Here are some of the places you can get writing practice on Duolingo:

Using new writing systems
If you’re learning a language with a different writing system than your own, we have tools to help you recognize and use these new characters!

Screenshot of the character practice tab of Duolingo’s Chinese course. The top of the screen says “Let’s practice Hanzi!” and several Chinese characters appear below, above a blue button labeled “Practice.” Screenshot of the character practice tab of Duolingo’s Japanese course. The top of the screen says “Let’s learn Katakana!” and several Japanese characters appear below, below a white button labeled “Tips” and a blue button labeled “Learn the characters.” Screenshot of the character practice tab of Duolingo’s Korean course. The top of the screen says “Let’s learn Hangeul!” and several Korean characters appear below, below a blue button labeled “Learn the letters.”

Stories
Many of our advanced Stories give you lots of opportunities to hone your writing skills. You’ll see exercises that ask you to put words in the correct order, choose which words logically fit into a sentence, and even write out full sentences about what happened in the Story!

Screenshot mid-lesson of a Spanish Story. Duolingo character Junior has a speech bubble next to him with a partial sentence followed by a blank. Three word tiles appear below. Screenshot mid-lesson of a Spanish Story. Two sentences appear side-by-side, each missing one word. Six word tiles appear below as options. Screenshot mid-lesson of a Spanish Story. The instructions read “Respond in Spanish,” followed by a question in Spanish and a field for the user to type their answer.

Practice your new words
In the Practice tab, find all the words you’ve learned in your course so far and practice matching them with their meaning.


Screenshot of the Duolingo Practice tab. Several exercise options are presented, including “Words,” “Speak,” and “Listen.”

Flashcards
Writing requires you to recall the right words in the right situation, and our Flashcards help you with just that. Flashcard exercises ask you to speak the translation aloud, but if you can’t (or don’t want to), you can type them instead!


Screenshot of a Flashcards exercise. The word “foot” appears on the flashcard, with buttons below indicating the options to speak the answer, skip the card, or pause speaking exercises.

Type your answer
Some lessons ask you to type what you hear, or type a translation into your target language. These exercises are great practice for vocabulary and spelling!

Screenshot mid-lesson. The instructions read “Type the missing word,” and Duolingo character Zari is standing next to a speech bubble with options to play her sentence at normal speed, or more slowly. Below her is a partial sentence in Portuguese with one word missing. Screenshot mid-lesson. The instructions read “Complete the translation,” and Duolingo character Bea is standing next to a speech bubble that says “Who is their sister?” in English. Below her is a partial translation in Portuguese with one word missing. Screenshot mid-lesson. The instructions read “Translate the word,” and there is an illustration of a castle with the English word “castle” beneath it. An empty text box has the instructions “Type in French.”

Switch between word banks and typing
For extra practice during your lessons, don’t rely on word banks in translation exercises! Tap the icon of the keyboard in the bottom left corner of the screen, and you’ll be able to type your answer yourself.

Screenshot mid-lesson. The instructions read “Translate this sentence,” and Duolingo character Junior is standing next to a speech bubble that says “Do you like these green sneakers?” in English. Below him is a word bank of eight French words. Screenshot mid-lesson. The instructions read “Translate this sentence,” and Duolingo character Junior is standing next to a speech bubble that says “Do you like these green sneakers?” in English. Below him is an empty text box with the instructions “Type the French translation.”

How does writing work?

Writing—like speaking—is a productive skill, which means you’re the one producing the language… which can feel like a lot of pressure! But unlike speaking, where you’re usually talking directly to someone who can hear every word as you say it, writing gives you the time to think carefully about what you want to say and how you want to say it. It also gives you the time to go back and make changes! Writing is a great way to get comfortable with producing the language, without feeling too much time pressure.

Have you ever forgotten a word (even in your first language!), and felt like it was on the tip of your tongue? Linguists call this process retrieval, and when you’re searching for a word in your new language, it can be extra challenging, because your brain has to wade through the words you know in that language, as well as the language(s) you know better!

But the good news is: Your brain is made for this kind of linguistic balancing act, and the more you work on it, the easier it gets. One of the best ways to practice retrieval is… writing!


Image of an open blue envelope. Inside it is a white sheet of paper with writing on it.

No matter what language you’re writing in, you’ll be drawing on cognitive skills like retrieval—but there are also a lot of differences to learn about writing for different languages and cultures! While some cultures write from left to right (like English and Spanish), others write from right to left (like Arabic and Hebrew). That means that if you’re reading an Arabic book you’ll need to start from what English speakers think of as the back! Meanwhile, in Japanese and Chinese, some characters themselves look like what they mean: For example, the character 木 means tree, 林 means woods, and 森 means forest!

Tips for writing practice

To make the most out of your language learning, incorporate writing practice into everyday activities!

  • Try writing basic words and phrases—like your shopping list—in the language you are learning.
  • On your phone or computer, install a keyboard in the language. This will help you get used to where the letters or characters are so you can get more comfortable texting or typing.
  • Join online forums in your target language so you can begin to understand and use informal, everyday words and phrases.
  • Change your phone’s language to the language that you’re learning!
  • Read books (children’s books count, too!), watch movies, or listen to music in the language. Keep a list of words that are new to you, and try to use them in a sentence the next time you write in your target language.

At the beginning, focus on practicing what you do know. Writing in a language you’re learning can provide you with a safe space to help you train your brain for situations, where you need to speak—or in fact, retrieve—quickly. You can start your writing by relying on the exact words and sentences you learn in the course, especially the ones most useful for your communication goals. Then build up to writing on your own, using shorter and more direct sentences, instead of trying to sound as sophisticated as you do in the language you’ve been speaking for decades. (For example, if you don’t know the past tense yet, just worry about writing everything you can in the present tense!)

If you’re an advanced learner, try using writing to engage with the community who uses the language you’re learning. This could be online or by connecting with people in your own community who use the language! You can also use writing for more personal practice by starting a language diary where you write a little bit each day—at least a sentence, but maybe a paragraph or more—about your plans for the day (to practice the future), or what you’ve already done (to practice the past)! And remember to treat your diary like a close friend: Don’t worry about making mistakes—anything you write is just for you!

Writing is within reach!

Successful communication relies on combining your language skills, so practice your writing, or check out our tips on how we help you practice reading, speaking, and listening!