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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 Englishspeaking
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. |
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