Hello, Sera! I am a native English speaker and I would love to talk to you. I'm also interested in working on my Chinese as well. Let me know if you're interested in chatting.

Thank you for all of your posts. I find that there are significant differences between spoken Chinese and written Chinese -- more so than spoken English versus written English. Writing in Chinese is difficult for several reasons. 1. It's hard to remember how to the write characters. 2. Proper, written Chinese uses a lot of idioms and other cultural references that I am unfamiliar with as a native English speaker. On the other hand, good writing in English avoids the use of idioms and cliches. 3. Sentences are structured differently between the two languages. Sentences in Chinese appear longer to me than they do in English. Some sentences use lots of commas and appear to have several ideas. That is not how proper sentences are written in English. There are certain rules in written Chinese, such as starting a sentence with 因为... or using 虽然 . . . 但是. You wouldn't want to start a sentence in English with "Because...."

Here is an example from 读者magazine:

(Please correct me)What are the effects of XXXXX19(a disease)

(Please correct me)What are the effects of XXXXX19(a disease)

At first, I saw <s>many</s> a lot of my friends who live<s>d </s>in mainland China start to change their WeChat profiles to a picture with a mask, and then, with the rise of the confirmed cases in Wx Hxx(a place name), XXXXX19 became big news.

During the Lunar New Year, XXXXX19 made headlines. The infections disease <s>infection situation</s> in Wx Hxx became a hot topic. I followed that news on Weibo, prayed for Wx Hxx, and I wanted to help out. <s>want to do something helpful for it,</s>

I shared the donation information in my moments section on WeChat and sent<s>d</s> prevention information to my friends who live<s>d</s> in mainland China.

The pandemic is changing people’s <s>life</s> lives. <s>To</s> In order to prevent the infection, people should pay attention to and follow <s>the</s> advice from the experts.

Wear a mask as much as possible, especially when going outdoors <s>when we go outside. </s> This is what <s>we </s>must be done <s>do</s> to <s>protect us</s> prevent us from getting XXXXX19, and practice hand washing at home. <s>washing hands when going back home. </s>

Furthermore, more virtual business opportunities will arise due to the fact that more people are <s>intend to </s>staying <s>at</s> home <s>rather than more often </s>than before. More people are working, meeting and teaching online. <s>and so on, Virtual business opportunities arise.</s>

<s>Now</s> Although the epidemic (pandemic?) in mainland China is on the decline<s>ing</s>, there are still more than one million people in many other countries suffering from XXXXX19, and the confirmed number of cases continues to rise rapidly. <s>persistently rising with unexpected rapid. </s>

The pandemic is causing extreme harm to the economy in all<s> country</s> countries around the world. It is a <s>big</s> huge tragedy and a<s> big</s> significant challenge for mankind. <s> the human being.</s>

<s>Because of the globalization, global interaction is so frequent that the situation of one nation often affects other nations.</s> Moreover, globalization has provided more opportunities for interaction around the world. This also means that a situation that happens in one nation will impact another nation. (It seems like the idea here needs more of an explanation)

However, the pandemic has also made people become more aware that "We're all in this together." (This has become a common phrase in the U.S.) <s>raise the awareness of </s><s>“a community of shared future for mankind.” </s>It urges people to take <s>the</s> more responsibility in <s>to</s> helping other countries. No matter the distance. <s> distant it is</s>.

<s>I don’t know when XXXXX19 will end, If I can make a wish which is ensured to come true. I hope that the infection down as soon as possible and XXXXX19 disappear forever. the scare over soon and people back Return to normal life as before.</s>

I don't when XXX19 will end. If I could make a wish that I know would come true, then I would want the infectious disease to stop and disappear forever. The hysteria would end soon and life would return to normalcy.