LangJournal Blog 
“Is keeping an English diary really worthwhile?”
“What benefits does continuing with an English diary bring?”
If you have these questions, this article will explain three reasons why an English diary is necessary and its five learning benefits.
To summarize, it’s a highly recommended study method that not only improves writing skills but also enhances speaking skills!
If you’re thinking about starting an English diary, be sure to read until the end.
Table of Contents
- Why an English Diary is Necessary
- Provides a Place to Output the English You’ve Learned
- Allows You to Check Your English Proficiency
- Helps Build a Habit of Daily English Exposure
- Five Learning Benefits of Continuing an English Diary
- Acquire Commonly Used Vocabulary and Expressions in Daily Life
- Efficiently Memorize Vocabulary and Expressions
- Enhance Writing Skills
- Improve Speaking Skills
- High Learning Benefits of an English Diary
First, let’s discuss why an English diary is necessary.
An English diary is crucial for improving your English skills for the following three reasons:
- It provides a place to output the English you’ve learned.
- It allows you to check your English proficiency.
- It helps you build a habit of daily English exposure.
Let’s take a closer look at each reason.
The first reason why an English diary is necessary is that it provides a place to output the English you’ve learned.
Language learning is not effective with just input learning; it’s essential to “utilize” the vocabulary, expressions, and grammar you’ve learned.
However, while many people use textbooks to input vocabulary and grammar, not many have a place to output them.
Some might even feel, “I don’t have a place to output what I’ve learned.”
An English diary is highly recommended for this reason.
With an English diary, you can output the expressions and grammar you’ve learned for free.
By repeating the cycle of “outputting the vocabulary and grammar learned from textbooks in an English diary,” you can directly link this to the retention of vocabulary and grammar.
The second reason why an English diary is necessary is that it allows you to check your English proficiency.
Even if you understand vocabulary and grammar in listening and reading, you might find it surprisingly difficult to use them in writing or speaking.
Writing an English diary gives you an opportunity to know your current level of English—how much you can actually use.
Of course, depending on your goals, what’s important is not just “understanding” English but being able to “use” it.
Through an English diary, you can grasp your current English proficiency, making it an essential study method to measure your skills.
The final reason is that it helps build a habit of daily English exposure.
Continuing an English diary inevitably leads to daily English exposure, helping you establish a habit of learning English.
While input and output are crucial for language learning, the most important thing is to continue studying.
By making it a habit to write an English diary at a set time every day, you can create a trigger to continue your English learning.
This continued learning leads to an improvement in your English skills.
Next, let’s discuss the five learning benefits you can expect from continuing an English diary.
- Acquire commonly used vocabulary and expressions in daily life.
- Efficiently memorize vocabulary and expressions.
- Enhance writing skills.
- Broaden your range of vocabulary and expressions.
- Improve speaking skills.
As the name suggests, an English diary involves writing about your daily experiences and feelings.
This makes it an excellent way to acquire commonly used vocabulary and expressions in daily life.
Even those familiar with long reading comprehension passages in textbooks may not know common expressions used in everyday life.
For example:
- “I overslept and hurried to get ready to go out.”
- “I was able to leave work early, so I went out for dinner with a friend for the first time in six months.”
- “I was so sleepy in class due to lack of sleep.”
You might understand “overslept” and “hurried,” but how would you express “I overslept and hurried to get ready to go out”?
Being able to smoothly convey daily expressions in English can also enhance your communication skills.
Have you ever experienced quickly forgetting or struggling to memorize vocabulary and example sentences from textbooks?
This is not unusual. It’s not easy to memorize things that don’t interest you or seem irrelevant.
Conversely, it’s easier to remember vocabulary, grammar, and expressions related to your daily life.
By writing about your daily life and surroundings in English, you can efficiently memorize vocabulary and expressions.
If you find it challenging to memorize vocabulary, using an English diary is recommended.
Even writing a small amount daily can strengthen your writing skills.
Many people say, “I’m good at reading English, but I’m not good at writing.”
This is because the skills required to understand content in listening and reading are entirely different from those needed to create sentences from scratch.
Starting a sentence, using conjunctions, and concluding it—these are not things you usually think about during listening or reading.
By developing a habit of writing an English diary, you can learn not only how to write a diary but also the basic rules of writing.
Broaden Your Range of Vocabulary and Expressions
An English diary also introduces you to new vocabulary and expressions.
While it’s important to use familiar vocabulary and grammar, it’s recommended to use and memorize new words and expressions in an English diary.
For example:
- “Happy” → “So happy I almost cried.”
- “Sad” → “So sad I couldn’t speak.”
- “Surprised” → “Surprised, I did a double take.”
Even slight changes in expression can give a more powerful impression.
While there’s no need to force changes, it can be beneficial to experiment if you find yourself using the same expressions daily.
If you often use similar expressions, broaden your range of vocabulary and expressions with an English diary.
When thinking of “diary,” writing skills often come to mind, but it also relates to speaking skills.
Expressing your thoughts and feelings in English through a diary can improve your communication skills in daily life.
By outputting in English, you make it “usable.”
Though sentences and conversations are different contexts, both involve expressing in English, linking writing and speaking skills.
By acquiring the ability to express your thoughts and feelings in English through an English diary, you can positively impact your speaking skills.
Especially recommended is practicing by reading aloud the sentences you’ve written multiple times.
In this article, we explained three reasons why an English diary is necessary and its five learning benefits.
The five expected learning benefits of continuing an English diary are:
- Acquire commonly used vocabulary and expressions in daily life.
- Efficiently memorize vocabulary and expressions.
- Enhance writing skills.
- Broaden your range of vocabulary and expressions.
- Improve speaking skills.
The greatest advantage of an English diary is that you can start for free.
It’s a study method that allows you to create an output space without spending money, making it ideal for those looking for a free learning environment.
Next time, we’ll thoroughly explain “effective ways to write an English diary.”
