Of the two active abilities, speaking and writing, learning to compose written texts in a foreign language presents the same challenges to learners as they have faced in their native language since early childhood. Of all the four skills (the others being listening, speaking, reading), it is difficult to learn to write like a native speaker. Of course, not all native speakers of any language necessarily write well in their language, but educational, professional and socio-economic factors aside, writing still is tough to master.
If the language being studied uses a different alphabet, like Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Russian and Thai, or if it uses characters like Chinese or is syllabic like Japanese and Korean, the challenge of learning to write really does place learners back in first grade. Once the graphemes and spelling of such languages are mastered, there still remain the problems of grammar, vocabulary and finally, the most elusive features of all remain: usage, style, rhetoric and register. They are matters for lifelong learners.
Good writers are good readers, just as good chefs are connoisseurs of fine food and drink. The key to success as a writer or a chef is imitation of good models. Which models should a learner emulate? Certainly, no one would recommend reading and imitating Shakespeare if a learner of English wanted advice on how to write a technical manual, a business letter or a report. The Bard would not be a good model for a hard news reporter on a crime beat – or, would he?
As the rhetorical register becomes more sophisticated, the literary classics of most languages inform their best writing, as also their best speaking. The editorial columns of national newspapers are often peppered with many allusions to that language’s literature, history, geography, games, foods, music, proverbs and so forth. Think of how much baseball slang there is in American English (even if you are not a fan of the sport) and you’ll get a glimpse of how complex cultural issues are in learning a foreign language well. Knowing and understanding such allusions depends on the learner’s knowledge of their culture, and often the humanities in general.
For beginners, and for a long, long time after a learner has progressed even to the advanced level of study, a good foreign-language newspaper serves very well as a source for clear, concise prose, just as listening to soap opera dialogue can provide learners with a good model of contemporary speech.