Ok, so my question is how has writing at Steemit (or other places) affected your English skills? Has actively writing improved your abilities even though that was not the goal, and has it affected your spoken levels?

Writing on Steemit and elsewhere has affected my English skills without a doubt. Whenever I write in English I pay attention to grammar and using the correct idioms. The Internet is of great help. It is easy to check everything in a matter of seconds by googling your expressions up. My spoken English has probably been improved by writing English, too. It's all about repetition if you want to be proficient at using a language, that is, both fluent and correct.

I've been a learner and user of English for over 35 years. When I was in school, I learned a lot by watching television. That helped a lot in learning to speak. I started using the Internet in my early twenties at university. That has had a very positive effect on my written skills. But there is no substitute for an open mind and willingness to constantly work on your skills. You haven't even learned your first language without effort. Young children make a lot of mistakes. We've just forgotten how hard it was.

I'd like to say one more thing. Today's young Finns, as a group, are no longer lacking in confidence in their English skills as I have been told they were in the past. On the contrary, my wife, an English teacher, and many of her colleagues have noticed time and again that many of their students tend to be rather deluded about the level of their skills. Some, quite arrogantly, tend to dismiss their teachers as having inferior skills while being in the wrong. Many believe that without the humility to recognize their shortcomings and any real effort to correct them it is possible to attain a high level of skill.