METM 2006: International Communication Promising Practices

1

Avoiding innocent plagiarism the plagiarism of
innocència by authors and their language
consultants Mary Ellen Kerans Barcelona, Spain

• METM 2006 International Communication
  Promising Practices
• 27-28 October 2006
• IEMed Barcelona - SPAIN

2
METM 06 International
communication promising practices
3
Authors misconceptions

• Cite source only if you use exact words.
• References go at the end of paragraphs.
• Citation means providing a reference list.
• Once youve cited a source, its OK to use its
  information in the rest of your text.
• You cite the source where you read about the
  information.
• If its on the Internet, its free to use.
• Rinnert C, Kobayashi H. (2005) Borrowing
  words and ideas insignts from Japanese L1
  writers. J Asian Pacific Communication 15(1) p.
  15-29.

For similar observations a review
METM 06 International
communication promising practices
4
Authors misconceptions

• Cite source only if you use exact words.
• References go at the end of paragraphs.
• Citation means providing a reference list.
• Once youve cited a source, its OK to use its
  information in the rest of your text.
• You cite the source where you read about the
  information.
• If its on the Internet, its free to use.

METM 06 International
communication promising practices
5
E2 writers ME2 editortranslators share text
management strategies.

• Cut-paste (patch writing)
• Vague notions of citing practices
• For a review of patch writing see the
  introduction to
• Shi L. (2004) Textual borrowing in
  second-language writing. Written Communication
  21(2)171-200.
• Users of medical English as a second language

METM 06 International
communication promising practices
6
Chunking is a good-learner strategy for
speakers but not in writing?

• The next one spoke with a simpering precision of
  pronunciation that was irritating and said
•     "If ze zhentlemans will to me make ze grande
  honneur ....
•     He would have done well to have stopped
  there, because he had that much by heart and said
  it right off without making a mistake. But his
  self-complacency seduced him into attempting a
  flight into regions of unexplored English, and
  the reckless experiment was his ruin. Within ten
  seconds he was so tangled up in a maze of
  mutilated verbs and torn and bleeding forms of
  speech that no human ingenuity could ever have
  gotten him out of it with credit.
• Mark Twain Innocents Abroad, chapter XIII

METM 06 International
communication promising practices
7
Chunking is a poor strategy in writing.

• Themerheme (flow) is altered.
• Tone, voice, register change.
• Information (data) history is confusing.
• Leaves writer open to accusation of plagiarism.
• Editors are concerned.

METM 06 International
communication promising practices
8
(No Transcript)
9
How to Handle Plagiarism Without Destroying the
Author. WAME listserve discussion. February
14-18, 2005. http//www.wame.org/plagiarism.htm.
Accessed 20 October 2006.

• ... After publishing an article, we heard from
  the author of a related paper. This person noted
  a striking similarity between the structure and
  some of the language of several paragraphs in the
  Discussion of his paper ... We verified his
  observation and then asked the dean of our
  author's medical school to investigate. ...
• Hal Sox and Cindy Mulrow
• ... for authors who are not native speakers of
  English,.... Sentences may be plagiarized not for
  their contents but for their syntax. Because
  appropriation of proper syntax cannot be
  considered plagiarism, the author can honestly
  feel that he/she didn't do anything wrong at
  all.... much more than half of the world's
  scientists must write in a language that is not
  their own. Roberto Refinetti, Editor-in-Chief,
  J Circadian Rhythms

METM 06 International
communication promising practices
10
On appropriation of proper syntax

• I know what it all means (mucomucus, pyopus,
  mucocele space filled with mucus) but I can't
  find the right term in English.
• (translator query)
•  

11
A translatoreditor-as-(prosthetic)author shares
responsibility for intertextuality

• All these results suggest that this phenotype is
  characterized by reduced pulmonary function, for
  example, reduced airway resistance or increased
  dynamic distention but not increased airway
  lability.17

These results suggest that a characteristic of
this phenotype is altered pulmonary mechanics
involving, for example, reduced airway resistance
or increased dynamic compliance but not increased
airway lability, as noted in a review of the
subject.17
12
Shared responsibility for intertextuality

• These results suggest that a characteristic of
  this phenotype is altered pulmonary mechanics
  involving, for example, reduced airway resistance
  or increased dynamic compliance but not increased
  airway lability, as noted in a review of the
  subject.17

These results suggest that mechanical pulmonary
characteristics, such as reduced airway
resistance or increased dynamic compliance,11
play a role in transient wheezing, rather than
increased airway lability .1 Martínez, FA.
(2002) Development of wheezing disorders and
asthma in preschool children. Pediatrics. 109
(2) (Suppl)S362-7.
13
Shared responsibility for intertextuality
Transient Early Wheezing ...The lower level of
pulmonary function seems to track along
individual growth curves, and it remains low at
age 6.10 Of interest, however, is that children
younger than 3 years of age with transient early
wheezing had no increased prevalence of
methacholine hyperresponsiveness or positive peak
flow variability at age 11.1 These results
suggest that mechanical pulmonary
characteristics, such as reduced airway
resistance or increased dynamic compliance,11
play a role in transient wheezing, rather than
increased airway lability.1 Martínez, FA.
(2002) Development of wheezing disorders and
asthma in preschool children. Pediatrics. 109 (2)
(Suppl)S362-7.
14
Shared responsibility for intertextuality
... Pulmonary function continues to be impaired
in these children at the age of 6, and despite
improving slightly at the age of 11, it continues
to be lower than that of healthy controls at
18.14 Another characteristic of this phenotype is
that methacholine does not cause bronchial
hyperresponsiveness and bronchial variability is
not observed on the flowmeter (peak expiratory
flow) when measured at 11 years of age.15,16
These results suggest that a characteristic of
this phenotype is altered pulmonary mechanics
involving, for example, reduced airway resistance
or increased dynamic compliance but not increased
airway lability, as noted in a review of the
subject.17 Castro-Rodríguez J. (2006) Assessing
the Risk of Asthma in Infants and Pre-School
Children. Arch Bronconeumol. 42453-6.
15
To translate this any other way
It would be very difficult for a translator ...
or field expert (i.e. doctor) to translate this
any other way than as written in the original
text! (translator comment) Se produce
depósito de amiloide en el intersticio y a lo
largo de la íntima y media de las arteriolas y
vénulas y en la membrana basal alveolo-capilar.

• Amyloid is deposited in the interstitium and
  along the intima and media of the arterioles and
  venules and in the alveolar-capillary basement
  membrane.

http//www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0984/is
_n2_v112/ai_19731477
METM 06 International
communication promising practices
16
To translate this any other way

• It would be very difficult for a translator ...
  or field expert (i.e. doctor) to translate this
  any other way than as written in the original
  text! (translator comment)
• Se produce depósito de amiloide en el intersticio
  y a lo largo de la íntima y media de las
  arteriolas y vénulas y en la membrana basal
  alveolo-capilar.

• Amyloid is deposited in the interstitium and
  along the intima and media of the arterioles and
  venules and in the alveolar-capillary basement
  membrane.

http//www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0984/is
_n2_v112/ai_19731477
METM 06 International
communication promising practices
17
To translate this any other way

• The amyloid may be deposited in the interstitium
  and along the intima and media of arterioles and
  venules and in the alveolar-capillary basement
  membrane.
• Leu CY, Lynch DA, Chan ED. (1997) The case of the
  torpid thoracic tumor-amyloidoma. Chest.
  112535-7.

Amyloid is deposited in the interstitium and
along the intima and media of the arterioles and
venules and in the alveolar-capillary basement
membrane.
METM 06 International
communication promising practices
18
To translate this any other way

• Diffuse interstitial amyloidosis typically occurs
  in the setting of systemic amyloidosis associated
  with primary amyloidosis or plasma cell
  dyscrasia.9 The amyloid may be deposited in the
  interstitium and along the intima and media of
  arterioles and venules and in the
  alveolar-capillary basement membrane.
• Leu CY, Lynch DA, Chan ED. (1997) The
  case of the torpid thoracic tumor-amyloidoma.
  Chest. 112535-7.

METM 06 International
communication promising practices
19
To translate this any other way

• Se produce depósito de amiloide en el
  intersticio y a lo largo de la íntima y media de
  las arteriolas y vénulas y en la membrana basal
  alveolo-capilar
• Amyloid deposition occurs in the interstitium,
  along the intima and media of arterioles and
  venules, and in the alveolar-capillary basement
  membrane.
• Such deposits(deposition) are(is) found in the
  intertitium....

METM 06 International
communication promising practices
20
Summary (1)

• E2 writers and ME2 editortranslators share a
  penchant for patch writing.
• Chunking is good speaking patch writing is
  bad.
• Its a small step from corpus research on terms
  collocation patterns to plagiarism.
• This is a true problem not something to be soft
  on in the name of cross-cultural respect.

METM 06 International
communication promising practices
21
Summary (2)

• Editortranslators need to
• reflect on the part we play in innocent
  plagiarism, and
• learn more about
• managing intertextuality in genres and
• dealing with the many forms of borrowing in a
  useful way.
• 3 MET Workshops
• Righting citing
• Handling plagiarismmanagement authoreditor
  dialog
• Practical Tools for Improving Text Flow
  focus on information ordering (themerheme)