Learning a foreign language is always a good idea.Whether you want to add a useful skill to your resume, communicate with friends in other countries, or just challenge yourself, there's plenty of ways to improve your writing skills.Writing in a foreign language of your choice is a great way of practicing thinking and communicating in that language. With a little time and effort, you'll be able to write fluently and communicate with native speakers with ease. Here are seven good tips on how to improve your writing skills in a foreign language.

7 Tips on How to Improve Your Writing Skills In a Foreign Language

1. Read as much as you can

Just as when you learned to write in English, reading in a foreign language is essential to learning more about how the language is structured. Vary what you read too, taking in novels, online articles, and more academic texts. That way, you'll take in a more expansive view of the language, expanding your vocabulary and making you more familiar with the language as it's written.

2. Get engaged in writing forums and communities

There are hundreds of communities on the web that engage in learning a foreign language, through online written communication. Find a community that feels friendly and welcoming to you, and get involved. A supportive community will let you express yourself on its message boards and forums, and will offer constructive criticism when you need it.

3. Write a blog in the language you're learning

Once you're a little more confident, you can try starting a blog in the foreign language you're looking to master. Successful blogging requires you to update regularly to keep your readers engaged, so the structure will help you develop as a fluent speaker of that language. You can write about anything you like, such as your travels in the country that speaks that language, your impressions of that country's culture, or even the journey of learning the language itself.

4. Find a native speaker to review your writing

Whenever you write, it's always helpful to have someone else look over it. Even when writing in your native language, it's easy to make mistakes and write passages that sound slightly off, as the written word differs to spoken language in so many ways. When writing in a foreign language, ask a native speaker of that language to read it over for you. They'll be able to spot and help correct errors that you may not be able to notice.

5. Write shopping lists, plans and reminders every day

They key to mastering any language is practice, practice, practice. As well as writing more long form pieces such as articles, journals, and blogs, practice writing in shorter forms too. Write your everyday notes such as your shopping lists, calendar entries, to do lists and other lists in a foreign language. Doing this makes you think regularly about how to structure your thoughts in this language, and before long doing so will be second nature to you.

6. Use online tools and dictionaries

a. Quizlet: If you're looking to learn a second language with other people, this is a great tool to use. Teachers can use it to create interactive activities to help cement skills, and users can log in wherever they are to study. Collaborating with other students makes learning that much more rewarding.

b. Memrise: This is a learning tool that you can take with you wherever you are. All you have to do is download the app. It adapts to your learning style, so you get the most from it, and it allows you to compete with your friends. If you're often on the move, it's really helpful to have such a learning tool in your pocket, ready to use whenever you have a spare moment in the waiting room or at the bus stop.

c. Essayroo: Writing for an audience means that your grammar has to be perfect, otherwise your writing can be difficult to understand. This service can proofread your writing for you, making any necessary edits before sending it back to you. You can ask them for feedback, so you can see exactly where you need to improve your writing skills.

7. Don't forget about rules and basic grammar

When writing, don't forget about the grammatical rules of that language. If in doubt when you sit down to write, keep a dictionary or basic grammar guide to hand so you can check it when you're stuck. You can also use proofreading tools like the ones listed above, or have a native speaker check your work to make sure you stick to the rules. This tip is a little boring, but it's possibly the most important one. After all, no one will be able to understand what you've written if your grammar isn't correct, and you won't improve as a writer in that language.These are just seven tips on how to improve your writing skills in your target foreign language, and in the process help you improve your language skills. Sitting down to write means that you're having to think about how to structure and order your language, a skill you will need to both understand and communicate in that language. Give these tips a try, and see just how quickly you improve.