1. Maintain a direct English conversational flow in your manuscript - while maintaining the logical approach of the manuscript - by preventing overuse of traditional textbook words or phrases.
Writing English in a non-English speaking environment for a Chinese writer can be a formidable
task. Traditional writing approaches taught in Taiwan (and other Chinese speaking countries) have sometimes placed an unrealistic demand on the Chinese writer to produce compositions of the same quality as those of native English speakers. While this does not mean that experienced
Chinese writers can not write excellent English manuscripts, such an expectation placed on the
Chinese graduate student or novice writing trying to publish in English for the first time is unrealistic. Although foreign journals and publications provide valuable references, traditional teaching styles have frequently over emphasized the need for making a comparison with them. Another problem created by overly relying on foreign journals and publications is that the writer many times can not justify why he or she has written a sentence in a particular manner. A typical response is "Well, that's the way I saw it in another journal". This dangerous approach of writing is largely owing to the lack of standardized technical writing curriculum in Taiwan universities and research institutions. Both the unrealistic expectation for a manuscript of native English quality as well as the overemphasis on relying on sentence phrases and structures taken from foreign journals and publications as a writing source have unfortunately led towards random copying and sometimes, even plagiarism.
2. Place the most important subject and/or clause at the front of the sentence so as to make the primary idea or emphasis more visually accessible.
Why is the main idea or primary emphasis sometimes unclear in English sentences written by Chinese authors? Directly translating from spoken/written Chinese logical structure and over relying on use of traditional textbook words or phrases often place the primary emphasis or key idea towards the back of the sentence. Unless the intention is to connect with the previous sentence, this tendency robs the manuscript of a direct English conversational flow that, in contrast, often places the primary emphasis or key idea at the front of the sentence.
Writing English in a non-English speaking environment for a Chinese writer can be a formidable
task. Traditional writing approaches taught in Taiwan (and other Chinese speaking countries) have sometimes placed an unrealistic demand on the Chinese writer to produce compositions of the same quality as those of native English speakers. While this does not mean that experienced
Chinese writers can not write excellent English manuscripts, such an expectation placed on the
Chinese graduate student or novice writing trying to publish in English for the first time is unrealistic. Although foreign journals and publications provide valuable references, traditional teaching styles have frequently over emphasized the need for making a comparison with them. Another problem created by overly relying on foreign journals and publications is that the writer many times can not justify why he or she has written a sentence in a particular manner. A typical response is "Well, that's the way I saw it in another journal". This dangerous approach of writing is largely owing to the lack of standardized technical writing curriculum in Taiwan universities and research institutions. Both the unrealistic expectation for a manuscript of native English quality as well as the overemphasis on relying on sentence phrases and structures taken from foreign journals and publications as a writing source have unfortunately led towards random copying and sometimes, even plagiarism.
2. Place the most important subject and/or clause at the front of the sentence so as to make the primary idea or emphasis more visually accessible.
Why is the main idea or primary emphasis sometimes unclear in English sentences written by Chinese authors? Directly translating from spoken/written Chinese logical structure and over relying on use of traditional textbook words or phrases often place the primary emphasis or key idea towards the back of the sentence. Unless the intention is to connect with the previous sentence, this tendency robs the manuscript of a direct English conversational flow that, in contrast, often places the primary emphasis or key idea at the front of the sentence.
