By Felicia Brittman
This paper presents some of the most common Chinese-English habits observed from over two hundred English technical papers by Chinese writers. The habits are explained and in most cases, example text from an actual paper is given along with preferred text. An attempt is made to explain how to correct and prevent such mistakes.
In some cases a possible explanation of why the habit occurs is also given. This paper can serve as an individual guide to editing technical papers especially when a native English-speaking editor is unavailable.
Introduction
Most Chinese universities require their doctoral and master candidates in technical and scientific fields to publish at least one English paper in an international journal as a degree requirement. However, many factors make this task difficult to accomplish. First, previous English studies may not have focused enough on writing, let alone technical writing. Current studies may not include English, causing the writers English fluency level to decline. Second, most writers have never lived in an English- speaking country. Third, due to the special aspects of technical writing, even native English-speaking engineering students have a technical writing course as part of their study.
Too often, students’ papers are returned unaccepted because of poor English. If available, students may have their papers edited by a native English speaker. However, this can get expensive for a department that has many students with each paper typically needing to be edited twice. Hiring someone to edit papers is difficult, costly and only puts a patch over the problem. A native English speaker can do a good job at getting rid of most of the grammatical mistakes. However, if this person does not have a technical background, particularly in the area of the papers he is editing, he is unable to get rid of all of the mistakes and make sure that the meaning is clear. He cannot recognize the incorrect translation of technical terms for which there is a standard word. Such mistakes will not be picked up by the processor’s spelling and grammar checker. In addition, if they are not familiar with the topic or field, they may not grasp the meaning of the entire article and fail to make critical edits.
Hiring a person with a technical background similar to that of the papers being edited is a better option. Nevertheless, while a person with a technical background may be able to edit the paper sufficiently, he may not be able to explain to the writer how to prevent such mistakes in the future. Besides, it is difficult for most Chinese universities to hire such staff simply for editing. Universities may consider inviting a visiting scholar who will edit papers in addition to doing research or teaching as part of an exchange.
Although editing may be the fastest way to publish papers, it does little in the way of teaching the writers how to prevent common mistakes and colloquial habits that prevent a clear understanding of the writer’s ideas. Writers who have already obtained an impressing command of the English language can only truly benefit if they are made aware of their common mistakes and colloquial habits and how to prevent them.
Purpose
The purpose of this report is to introduce the most common habits in Chinese-English writing as noted from the over two hundred papers I have edited. The habits include grammar mistakes, colloquialisms, and formatting problems and in most cases prevent a clear understanding of the writer’s ideas. A few of the habits, such as writing extremely long sentences, can be corrected with careful use of the MS Word grammar and style checker. However, most habits, such as missing articles, go unnoticed by automatic grammar checking devices. Still, Chinese-English colloquial habits are not recognized by such software tools.
Structure
The common habits are presented in two sections. The first section lists the habits that, in my opinion, need the most attention. These habits interrupt the flow of the paper making it difficult to understand and occur most frequently. In this section, the habits are explained, example sentences from actual papers are given to show the habits, and the sentences are rewritten to show the correct way to write them. In the case of missing articles, a flow chart is also given to aid in choosing the correct articles.
In the second section, an additional list of habits is given. In some cases, example sentences are given. In other cases, advice is given. The second section is very useful in becoming familiar with small nuances.
Not all of the common habits I observed are presented mainly because they can only be dealt with on an individual basis. For example, writers had difficulty titling their papers and naming new technical ideas to express their contents and functions concisely. This problem frequently occurred but it can only be addressed individually. Once writers are aware of their habits, they would be able to write better technical English articles.
Section 1
“a, an, the”
The single most common habit is the omission of articles a, an, and the. This occurs because Mandarin has no direct equivalent of articles and the rules for using them are somewhat complicated for a non-native speakers.
Articles signal that a noun will follow and that any modifiers between the article and the noun refer to that noun (a big blue bicycle / the first award). A and an are indefinite articles; the is a definite article. Every time a singular noncount noun, a common noun that names one countable item, is used the noun requires some kind of determiner.
Mistake: The, a, and an are 1) omitted where they are required, 2) used where they are not needed or contribute to wordiness 3) used wrongly in place of the correct article.
Examples of incorrect usages:
Incorrect Figure 2 shows the distribution of relative velocity on surface of main and splitter blades.
Correct Figure 2 shows the distribution of relative velocity on the surface of the main and splitter blades.
Incorrect The software Power SHAPE is chosen to be a 3D modeling tool; it is good at dealing with free surfaces and curves.
Correct The software Power SHAPE is chosen to be the 3D modeling tool; it is good at dealing with free surfaces and curves.There was only one 3D modeling tool used in this study, therefore ‘3D modeling tool’ is specific and requires the article the.
Incorrect A theoretical method for calculating the inner flow-field in centrifugal impeller with splitter blades and investigation of the interactions between main and splitter blades is presented in this paper. The vortices are distributed on the main and splitter blades to simulate the effects of flows. Systematical study of number and distribution of vortices is conducted.
Correct A theoretical method for calculating the inner flow-field in a centrifugal impeller with splitter blades and an investigation of the interactions between main and splitter blades is presented in this paper. The vortices are distributed on the main and splitter blades to simulate the effects of flows. A systematical study of the number and distribution of vortices is conducted.
Incorrect Theoretically, remanufacturing could fully take advantage of resources contained in EOF product thereby minimizing impact on environment to the greatest extent compared to landfill or recycling of materials; consequently it contributes greatly to resource conservation.
Correct Theoretically, remanufacturing could fully take advantage of resources contained in an EOF product thereby minimizing the impact on the environment to the greatest extent compared to landfill or recycling of materials; consequently it contributes greatly to resource conservation.
Incorrect Theoretically, remanufacturing could fully take advantage of resources contained in EOF product thereby minimizing impact on environment to the greatest extent compared to landfill or recycling of materials; consequently it contributes greatly to resource conservation.
Correct Theoretically, remanufacturing could fully take advantage of resources contained in an EOF product thereby minimizing the impact on the environment to the greatest extent compared to landfill or recycling of materials; consequently it contributes greatly to resource conservation.
Definitions:
Articles Also called determiners or noun markers, articles are the words a, an, and the. A and an are indefinite articles, and the is a definite article. Articles signal that a noun will follow and that any modifiers between the article and the noun refer to that noun. ( a cold , metal chair/ the lightning-fast computer).
Determiners A word or word group, traditionally identified as an adjective, that limits a noun by telling how much or how many about it. (expression of quantity, limiting adjective, marker) They tell whether a noun is general (a tree) or specific (the tree). The is a definite article. Before a noun, the conveys that the known refers to a specific item (the plan). A and an are indefinite articles. They convey that a noun refers to an item in a nonspecific or general way (a plan).
Common nouns A noun that names a general group, place, person, or thing: dog, house.
Count noun A noun that names an item or items that can be counted: radio, streets, idea, fingernails.
Noncount nouns A noun that names a thing that cannot be counted: water, time.
Specific noun A noun understood to be exactly and specifically referred to; uses the definite article the.
Nonspecific noun A noun that refers to any of a number of identical items; it takes the indefinite articles a , an.
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