Context: I’m missing a cutting board. So I wrote in our telegram family group: “Wo ist eigentlich unser zweites großes Schneidebrett hin?” (literally: “Where is actually our second big cuttingboard thither?”).
By using the modal particle “eigentlich” I insinuate that something is oddly off and express an emotional state of curiousity and/or mild discontent.
By adding “hin”, I notify that I ask because it is not where it is supposed to be and not because I don’t know where it should be.
Now I ask myself, how would I express this additional information in English?
For written English it’s mostly finding succinct ways to express certain ideas and concepts. Both my L1 and L2 are Romance, so for me it’s way easier to remember those posh Latinate words than everyday stuff, and I’m often [over]relying on metaphors and other figures of speech, so I tend to get really verbose for nothing. My register also feels off - like I mix formal and informal speech, that often gives people the wrong “signs”.
Also the prepositions. I still need to actually think before using at/on/in, otherwise I’ll mix them all together.
For written German it’s the above on steroids. Plus I need more vocab, but that’s hard to get without “proper” usage; but that takes effort, and I’m perhaps a bit too prone to “oooh shiny! Time to learn Sanskrit!” and the likes.