12 Reasons to Blog in English
(when English is not your mother tongue)
This is a post for all non-native English speakers out there.
As you can guess by the title (and subtitle) of the post, English is not my mother tongue, so writing in English is an effort. After eight and a half years blogging, mainly on my personal blog and on unadocenade.com, I was ready to explore new possibilities, new communities and new tools.
Like I say, writing in a language that’s not mine requires an extra effort. I know more or less what I want to talk about, but I don’t want to sound too local or too ambiguous, so I have to add extra research, and also extra time to think in a different way from the way I usually think in Spanish to express exactly what I want.
In any case, writing in English is an awesome experience and I recommend it to everybody. Here are some of my reasons to do it.
1. You get to practice English
As with any other thing in life, the more you practice, the more you learn. You learn new vocabulary, you learn different sentence structures…. At some point, you might even find your own voice in another language!
2. You increase your vocabulary
No. This isn’t point one again. One thing is practicing a language (which necessarily implies learning new things) but it’s another thing to type with a notebook by your side in which you jot down new words, or new meanings for the words you already know, or new idioms, or new grammar structures.
3. You structure your thoughts in a different way
Before you start writing in another language, you need to think in that language, and when this happens, you realize your thoughts come to your mind with a different structure than they do in your own language. It’s like having another person’s point of view but being yourself. This is a great sensation.
4. You expand your audience
Writing in your own language opens the door to a new audience. In my case, when I write in Spanish I can reach a 222-million-strong audience. Writing in English lets me reach 8oo million people. Enough said.
5. You meet new people
New audiences means new connections: Writing in English widens your horizons, expanding your community almost immediately and giving you access to readers around the world.
Do you remember when you started meeting new friends because of your blog in your own language? It will happen again.
6. You read more (in English too)
When you need to find information on a topic or when you want to find examples of the use of a concrete grammar structure, you need to research and read. You will read a lot and, obviously, you will read in English too! Hyperlinks you use as complementary information for your posts will also be mainly in English (with maybe a few exceptions).
7. It’s good for your career
Until now, only those who work with you (if you use English at work) know you can speak or write in English. When you open a blog, everybody will know what you can do. And, at the same time, you are internationalizing your professional profile.
8. Not just for the language
Besides the language, if you write a professional blog, you will also be improving your CV. You are creating an online portfolio, post by post, with texts written by you in a language that’s not yours. If you used to add your blog to your resume, you will now do it with a double purpose.
9. You get interested on different topics
As a natural evolution of your writing, when you blog in English, you need to read in English and to think in English. What’s more, you need to think globally and not only locally. Or, whenever you need to explain a local issue, you’ll have to do it in a way that everybody gets. This, necessarily, makes you feel an interest for topics different from the ones you used to care about.
10. How about duplicating content?
Indeed! You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but having a bilingual blog is a good option. In my case, I don’t usually duplicate content. Each one of my blogs has its own purpose, its own audience, its own community.
11. You become a better person
This happens whenever you open your mind to anything new. When you think globally, when you think in a different language, when you structure your mind in alternative manners, you become a better version of yourself.
12. Starting from zero (again) is fun
It’s fun to start a new project from zero when you have already been involved in a thousand projects before. Because everything is old and new at the same time.
Now, what are your reasons for writing in English?
Previously posted in Spanish on Unadocenade.com
