Writing in English

When I started to write this blog I decided to write in English. Sometimes I wonder how much easier it would've been to write in Finnish (my mother tongue). Oh, how much more interesting this blog would've been. :)

Seriously though it's sometimes frustrating when you are limited to only saying things you can say. I'm not trying to be too modest here, I know my English is rather good, but there's a huge gap between my passive and active vocabulary. I can read about almost anything fluently but I can't write about things.

As the World Cup approaches for example I realize that I can't really use any soccer terms or phrases without looking them up somewhere. Well no matter, a huge part of why I'm writing this blog is to practice writing in English.

Another reason for blogging is the desire to be part of the Internet community. I might be the quiet dull kid sitting in the back row, but I still don't want to be left outside, and as English is the current lingua franca it's logical to use it.

The potential audience is larger this way, but I suspect the actual amount of readers might be bigger if I wrote in Finnish. It might be easier to build a real community, but let's be honest here: I don't necessarily want that. I feel rather conflicted about whether I really want anyone to read this blog or not.

And while in some ways it might be easier to produce text in Finnish, the truth is that writing has never come easy to (for?) me. No matter what language I use I'm quite used to staring at blank papers and screens.