Learning how to speak or write a language,which is easier?

I think the response would highly depend on each individual's learning styles. 

Personally, I am a highly textual/visual learner, and beyond hopeless in speech/hearing. With writing, I can look things up in my own time, and refine sentences. Whereas with speaking, you pretty much have to improvise on the spot - a tall order for me.

Oghenekevwe wrote:

For me it's easier speaking cos I can find short cuts, but with writing, you have to be exact. What do you guys think?

I think it's easier to learn speaking a foreign language than writing, because you can learn easily just by listening to somebody talk. But with writing, it's a different story. There are rules in combining letters and it's hard to memorize everything. But yeah, it may also depend on the person :)

Personally, I find both challenging but find writing a bit more challenging. It is a bit more challenging in the sense that you have to learn all the spelling and grammatical things. But speaking can be just as challenging because you have to be able to pronounce the words and use them correctly. 

Oghenekevwe wrote:

For me it's easier speaking cos I can find short cuts, but with writing, you have to be exact. What do you guys think?

(I assume you mean converse rather than speak)

I can't answer the question because it depends on your study method. For example, if you write most of the time and converse very little, you'd probably learn to write sooner.

It also depends on what you mean by learning to converse or write - I mean, where is the bar? Is it being able to text a friend and be understood vs being able to give a TED talk in that language? Is it being able to author a novel vs being able to order food in a restaurant? 

Finally, it depends on what you mean by "easier". Is that based on time, intensity, or something else?

leosmith wrote:

Oghenekevwe wrote:

For me it's easier speaking cos I can find short cuts, but with writing, you have to be exact. What do you guys think?

(I assume you mean converse rather than speak)

I can't answer the question because it depends on your study method. For example, if you write most of the time and converse very little, you'd probably learn to write sooner.

It also depends on what you mean by learning to converse or write - I mean, where is the bar? Is it being able to text a friend and be understood vs being able to give a TED talk in that language? Is it being able to author a novel vs being able to order food in a restaurant?

Finally, it depends on what you mean by "easier". Is that based on time, intensity, or something else?

I mean it in every day application. From writing a letter or an essay to your every day conversation with people. Take me for example, speaking English language comes very easy to me, but when it comes to writing, I have to take into consideration all of my punctuation and I'm extra careful so I don't make mistakes.

I totally relate to what @meifeng said and how he put it. I also love Leo's approach, as he always dives deeper and expands on the meaning of things, in order to learn to be more precise and get to know each other better. It is a very intellectual approach though and can often be mentally draining to split the aspects into so many pieces, because it is also true that in the end the act itself or the desire to speak or write let's say, is the same whether it's a simple, colloquial conversation or an intense and "camplicated" one (complicated being so subjective to reflect upon). 

I say this because initially I believe it also comes from one's own individual innate talent. If you prefer reading and are more visual than auditory let's say, like meifeng said, then you are more of a writer simply. Then there are people that are born to be motivational speakers, have awesome voices, and are endowed with all these gifts, just to hear them speak and can focus easily/love hearing others speak too. So it's all about the innate gift too, to me. The preference actually IS an indicator of that. And there is a technique and method, which is super easy actually, that will help you be more at ease and more proficient in what you like doing LESS, of these. So if you ever find yourself in the need to develop a certain skill you're not so fond of, while you like the opposite one of it better, the advice is to let yourself greatly, consistently and pationately express in the method you LOVE/PREFER doing, get proficient in that, and then the other aspect will start finding it easy and pleasurable to express itself when going away with the opposite. If you prefer speaking and listening, (it also definitely depends on the level of conversation you want to have in your target language), express and develop upon those skills, and you will catch yourself enjoying writing at one point. Just because you've become so good at what you love doing, which is speaking and listening, that now you simply have another challenge to take on. 

I really believe it's connected to the innate talent and desires too, and I just thought of slipping this technique in, since i find it relatable and pretty helpful. 

I am myself totally like meifeng and wouldn't have said it better. 

Sorry for the long post, if it bothers anyone :) 

Depends on your focus of study. For me, I find speaking much harder than writing because with writing I can always edit as I go, I can also take my time and think for a couple of minutes before writing things down. With speaking, I can speak on a basic level but it does not sound as good as I had it in my mind for some reason. 

As for me, I find it easier to learn witing Spanish because that's what I am exposed more. I consider speaking more challenging because of the accent and all.

It can also depend on how related your mother tongue and the foreign language are. If for instance they belong to the same language family, like Polish and Russian, one may be very tempted to use similar constructions or words in their speech. Besides, being familiar with the structure of the language makes a person more confident in speaking :)

I think it depends, if is a little kid learning words maybe it is easy to learn to speak. But for adults maybe it depends on the person and which kind of learning style the person has. I am great at spelling words, I can say with confidence that I spell words better than my husband who is a native speaker, but I struggle to put the sentences together or the grammar part. Also at the beginning it was very difficult to speak fluently.  

So my final answer is that it depends on the level of learning and the style of learning of each individual.

Speaking is always easier. A lot of teachers first try to teach in writing instead of speaking. But for me it was muche easier leqrning to speak then being able to read. 

I think it would also depend on your intent and what language you're learning. My primary goal is to be able to converse in Japanese so I find speaking easier for me. That way, I don't really have to pay attention to the characters or spellings.

Rose.Angelie wrote:

I find speaking easier for me. That way, I don't really have to pay attention to the characters or spellings.

I agree with you!

Although I find both as being difficult, I think writing is harder than speaking, on a personal level. Am sure there must be some people who find writing being easier...so i guess this is more of a personal perspective 

Ckaranja wrote:

Although I find both as being difficult, I think writing is harder than speaking, on a personal level. Am sure there must be some people who find writing being easier...so i guess this is more of a personal perspective

I think as Ari said, it all depends on the learning style of an individual.

Oghenekevwe wrote:

Ckaranja wrote:

I think as Ari said, it all depends on the learning style of an individual.

I totally agree!

Speaking is easier for me. :)

Speaking is easier. In Berlitz, no matter what your goals were for learning a language, we'd put special emphasis on spoken interaction, with each other and within a group.  

Speaking for sure. 

For example many people know how to SAY the word "know" (idk jus an example) but I think some of the people that don't know English would definitely misspell the word cause of the K at the beginning :D