Languaging has been identified as a contributor to language learning. Yet, compared to oral languaging, such as collaborative dialogs in contextualized settings, little seems to be known about written languaging. In order to fill this gap, this study investigates languaging in the form of "metanotes," that is, metatalk in a written modality, in a decontextualized setting. Two groups of 24 Japanese learners of English at two different proficiency levels took metanotes while performing a translation task and, subsequently, checking a model translation. An analysis of the metanotes showed that the participants' English proficiency levels influenced their metanotes in terms of focus on the target form and, to a lesser extent, quantity and type. Moreover, the impact of learners' task outcome (i.e. accuracy in translation) on their metanotes was investigated. This paper examines the results by reviewing the findings of studies on languaging in order to explore the potential function of written languaging.