Three phases of Sientific English
Phase 0: Current phase. English used in scientific publication is already slightly different from common English. For example, we rarely or never use inch or pound as unit in scientific publication. There are also some specific Latin words, such as "et al.", in scientific publication. These words are rarely used in common English, at least as far as i know.
Phase 1: I myself already am in this phase when i write emails or abstracts that are not edited by other people. New regulation at this phase is as follows.
A) Exclusive use of international system of units (already realized in Phase 0).
B) Suppression of Latin words such as "etc.", "e. g.", and "et al." These are substituted to "and so on", "for example", and "and others", respectively.
C) Use of American-style spellings. There are some spelling differences between American English and British English, such as neighbor/neighbour. Because American English spellings are generally simpler, we use American-style spellings.
D) Liberal use of articles. "Proper" usage of articles (a, an, the) in writing scientific publication in common English is big hedache for many researchers whose native language is not English. Therefore, use of articles is discouraged.
E) Encouragement of creating new technological jargons using non-English words. There are already many examples, such as "eigen" (originally German) and "tsunami" (originally Japanese). We encourage researchers to coin new terms for more fruitful description of nature.
Points A-E are based on "Use of Scientific English in Anthropological Science" in "Message from the Editor-in-Chief" (Saitou, 1998,; Anthropological Science, vol. 106, No. 1, pp. i-iv).
Phase 2: Spelling will become more closer to real pronunciation. At this phase, "Scientific English" may be spelled as "Saientific English".
Phase 1: I myself already am in this phase when i write emails or abstracts that are not edited by other people. New regulation at this phase is as follows.
A) Exclusive use of international system of units (already realized in Phase 0).
B) Suppression of Latin words such as "etc.", "e. g.", and "et al." These are substituted to "and so on", "for example", and "and others", respectively.
C) Use of American-style spellings. There are some spelling differences between American English and British English, such as neighbor/neighbour. Because American English spellings are generally simpler, we use American-style spellings.
D) Liberal use of articles. "Proper" usage of articles (a, an, the) in writing scientific publication in common English is big hedache for many researchers whose native language is not English. Therefore, use of articles is discouraged.
E) Encouragement of creating new technological jargons using non-English words. There are already many examples, such as "eigen" (originally German) and "tsunami" (originally Japanese). We encourage researchers to coin new terms for more fruitful description of nature.
Points A-E are based on "Use of Scientific English in Anthropological Science" in "Message from the Editor-in-Chief" (Saitou, 1998,; Anthropological Science, vol. 106, No. 1, pp. i-iv).
Phase 2: Spelling will become more closer to real pronunciation. At this phase, "Scientific English" may be spelled as "Saientific English".
posted by sayer @ 10:30 AM
0 comments
