UNIT 3 Scientific and Technical English

1
UNIT 3 Scientific and Technical English

• Many different labels
• e.g. English for Science and Technology (EST),
  Academic English, English for Academic Purposes,
  Medical English, Netspeak, Electronic English

2
Some historical/cultural reasons for the
present predominance of English in Science and
Technology (see Gotti,s chapters V and VI)

• In Britain in the 17th century the birth of the
  experimental scientific method (F. Bacon) and of
  the experimental essay (R. Boyle), and the
  founding of The Royal Society in London (1660)
  starting from the 18th century the development of
  the Industrial Revolution
  
• In the USA in the 20th century the American
  leadership in scientific and technological
  research during and after the Second World War,
  and the invention of the computer

3
CONFLICTING IDEOLOGIES ON THE ROLE OF ENGLISH AS
THE GLOBAL LANGUAGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• MULTILINGUALISM ALLOWS DIFFERENT CULTURAL AND
  HUMAN PERSPECTIVES ON THE WORLD
  
• BUT
• MAY RENDER COMMUNICATION DIFFICULT
• A GLOBAL LANGUAGE ALLOWS UNPRECEDENTED
  POSSIBILITIES FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
• BUT
• MAY STILL THE VOICE OF SCIENCE IN LANGUAGES
  OTHER THAN ENGLISH
• WHICH OPTION IS BEST?
• CAN THESE TWO VIEWS BE RECONCILED?

4
DOSSIER Text 13 An online software manual

• A three-page extract from
• Wordsmith Tools online Manual
• by Mike Scott
• OUP, 1996

5
Stylistic Analysis of the English version (text
13) and of two possible translations of it into
Italian (Texts 14 and 15).

• Consider
• textual organisation
• the writers attitude to the reader, and the
• register of the text
• the syntactic choices (e.g. sentence
• structure, tense and mood)
• lexical and terminological choices

6
WORDSMITH TOOLS MANUAL

• Role of graphic choices and visual conventions
  of the computing domain
• From expert to expert-to-be
• Adoption of a friendly and personal tone (e.g.
  use of you and I, use of contracted verb
  forms, use of non-technical words along with
  specialized terms e.g. General stuff / anyway
  versus 4MB of RAM)
• Use of American spelling ( e.g. disk, program)

7
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TRANSLATION
1 AND 2 INTO ITALIAN

• TRANSLATION 2 (Text 15)
• 1. The same
• 2 The same
• 3. Retention of a more personal tone (e.g Per
  avviare Wordsmith Tools avete bisogno di Io
  suggerisco
• 4 . Preference for terms in Italian ( e.g.
  cartella and use of italics for some English
  terms)

• TRANSLATION 1
• (text 14)
• 1 Adoption of a more formal tone
• (General stuff Informazioni generali)
• Similar textual organization (with some graphic
  differences)
• 3 Adoption of a neutral / impersonal tone (
  e,g. Per eseguire Wordsmith Tools occorrono.
  Verrà suggerita la posizione
• Preference for terms in English
• ( e.g. directory)

8
THE LEXIS OF COMPUTER SCIENCE(see Gottis
chapter VII)

• 1. internal borrowings from general language
  and acquiring specialized meanings (e.g.
  directory, folder, file, chat group, window,
  discussion list) often with the American spelling
  (e.g. program. disk), sometimes with a
  metaphorical meaning (e.g. store, menu, address),
  sometimes with different grammatical rules (e.g.
  mouse/mouses versus mice), often colloquial (e.g.
  trouble-shooting, bug, spam)

9
THE LEXIS OF COMPUTER SCIENCE (follows)

• 2. New coinage (e.g. byte ) a basic unit for
  storing computer information. It is usually made
  of bits
• 3. Analogy (e.g. ware, software, hardware,
  courseware)
• 4. Similes (e.g. banana plug, star-shaped data)
• 5. Derivation (e.g. e e-mail both noun and
  verb, e-mailer, e-commerce, emoticons spamming,
  spammer, anti-spamming cyber-culture,
  cyberpunk)
• 6. Compounds (e.g. computer programmer, on-line,
  off-line)
• 7. Blends (e.g. modem modulator/demodulator)
• 8. Acronyms and abbreviations ( e.g. RAM Random
  Access Memory, ROM Read Only Memory, FAQ)

10
LOCALIZATION (localizzazione) see Scarpa

• The process of linguistic and cultural
  translation and adaptation of a text to local
  expectations and needs more specifically the
  translation of a computer manual or web site
  according to specific contexts, technical
  requirements and /or pre-existing guidelines set
  by producers
• Localization Industry Standard Association
  (LISA) a private nonprofit organisation
  promoting and discussing localization issues. See
  www.lisa.org

11
TEXT 16from The Journal Agriculture, Ecosystems
Environment, Elsevier

• Agriculture, Ecosystems Environment publishes
  scientific articles dealing with the interface
  between agroecosystems and the natural
  environment, specifically how agriculture
  influences the environment and how changes in
  that environment impact agroecosystems.
  Preference is given to papers from experimental
  and observational research at the field, system
  or landscape level, complemented as appropriate
  by dynamic and statistical modelling, that bridge
  scientific disciplines, integrate knowledge, and
  are placed in an international or wide
  comparative context.

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TEXT 16 Localisation of UK food production an
analysis using land area and energy as
indicatorsAgriculture, Ecosystems Environment,
Volume 94, Issue 2, February 2003, Pages
221-236Sarah J. Cowell, Stuart Parkinson

• Abstract
• A variety of policy strategies have been
  proposed and argued as capable of delivering more
  sustainable food systems, and accompanying
  indicators have been developed to analyse the
  implications of these strategies for specific
  situations. This paper focuses on the policy
  strategy suggesting that localisation of food
  production leads to more sustainable societies. A
  case study of UK food production, and imports and
  exports of foodstuffs, is presented to explore
  the feasibility of operationalising this
  strategy, using land area and energy use as
  indicators. Novel features of the method used in
  the case study include analysis at country level
  in specific foodstuff categories, and use of
  actual data on production and consumption of
  foodstuffs. The results show that, based on the
  land use indicator, localisation of UK food
  production is possible, although this would
  involve considerable changes in individuals food
  consumption patterns. However, would
  implementation of such a strategy actually
  contribute to a more sustainable society? Using
  the indicators of land area and energy use, this
  question cannot be answered without additional
  consideration of the trade-offs between the UK
  and other countries in yields from equivalent
  crops, and energy requirements for agricultural
  production.

13
TEXT 17 downloaded from Harvard Medical School
Center for Health and the Global Environment

• The Center for Health and the Global Environment
  was founded in 1996 at Harvard Medical School to
  expand environmental education at medical schools
  and to further investigate and promote awareness
  of the human health consequences of global
  environmental change. By focusing on health, the
  center is able to reach people in concrete,
  personal terms they can relate to and understand,
  and to make the strongest possible case that
  human beings are an intimate part of the
  environment and that we cannot damage it without
  damaging ourselves.
• (my highlighting)

14
TEXT 17Healthy and Sustainable Food Is Local
More Nutritious? It Depends

• The initial part of the text
• Local food advocates and confirmed locavores
  are quick to claim that local food is more
  nutritious. But is it really? While this seems
  like a simple straightforward question, it is
  anything but! The answer, like many having to do
  with food and nutrition, is a definite, It
  depends.
• By the time fruits and vegetables reach your
  kitchen counter whether from a stall at a local
  farmers market, or the supermarket produce
  department several factors determine their
  nutritional quality the specific variety chosen,
  the growing methods used, ripeness when
  harvested, post harvest handling, storage, extent
  and type of processing, and distance transported.
  The vitamin and mineral content of fruits and
  vegetables depends on decisions and practices all
  along the food system from seed to table
  whether or not that system is local or global.
  But before concluding there is no nutritional
  justification for eating locally, lets take a
  closer look at this system..

15
locavore (at the end of the text)

• Locavore, the 2007 New Oxford American
  Dictionary Word of the Year, refers to a person
  whose diet focuses on foods grown and produced
  nearby, typically 100 miles. The term reflects a
  growing trend of using locally grown ingredients,
  taking advantage of seasonally available
  foodstuffs that can be bought and prepared
  without the need for extra preservatives. The
  locavore movement encourages consumers to buy
  from farmers markets or even to grow or pick
  their own food, arguing that fresh, local
  products (sic).

16
As a result of an Internet search the inventor of
the expression locavoresseems to be Jessica
Prentice, from www.wisefoodways.com

• She has said
• The Latin root of local is locus, and the Latin
  root most associated with eating is vorare, both
  of which seemed to fit aesthetically as well as
  semantically. It wasnt long before I found
  myself debating the pros and cons of locavore
  and localvoreand intuitively preferred the
  former.
• HOW CAN WE RENDER LOCAVORE IN ITALIAN?
• See carnivore

17
EXAMPLES OF THE WAYS SOME TERMS ARE PRESENTED AND
EXPLAINED IN TEXT 17 (see Gottis Chapter on
popularization)

• Variety. Most varieties of fruits and vegetables
  found in supermarkets today were chosen first and
  foremost for yield (how many pounds, pecks,
  bushels, etc. are harvested per acre), growth
  rate, and ability to withstand long-distance
  transport. Unfortunately, these traits which
  benefit national and international produce
  distribution often come at a cost nutritional
  quality.1 Fruit and vegetable varieties differ in
  appearance and taste, as well as their vitamin,
  mineral, and phytochemical content.2,3,4 Farmers
  producing for a local and direct market (farmers
  market, community supported agriculture (CSA)
  members, or a local restaurant or grocer, for
  example), are more likely to prioritize taste and
  nutritional quality over durability when making
  varietal decisions. 
• Production Method. Production methods that
  improve the health of the soil such as the use
  of cover crops and composted manure for
  fertilizers tend to yield crops with higher
  nutritional content. The roots of crops grown
  organically or in some Integrated Pest Management
  systems are healthier and grow deeper allowing
  them to more efficiently take up nutrients.
  Composted manures and other organic fertilizers
  release nutrients more slowly and over longer
  periods than synthetic chemical alternatives,
  which also enhances nutrient uptake by the
  plants.1
• Ripeness. When produce is ready for harvest
  varies from one fruit and vegetable to another
  and depends on whether it is climacteric not.5
  Climacteric fruits such as apples, nectarines,
  melons, apricots, peaches, and tomatoes are
  capable of generating the ripening hormone
  ethylene, after being detached from the mother
  plant. Non-climacteric crops for example,
  peppers and citrus reach commercial maturity on
  the plant only. Being somewhat autonomous, from
  the ripening point of view, climacteric fruits
  will change in taste, aroma, color and texture as
  they reach and pass a transitory respiratory peak
  related to ethylene production. Climacteric
  produce such as tomatoes reach full red color
  even when harvested green while non-climacteric
  vegetables, such as bell peppers, will not. As a
  general rule, the more mature the product, the
  shorter its post-harvest life. So, if destined
  for distant markets, climacteric fruits are often
  harvested as early as possible, after reaching
  their physiological maturity, in order to
  withstand mechanical harvesting and long-distance
  transport without damage.