*This article is based on content previously published on \u201cLife as a scholar: Kyoto University and Beyond,\u201d which has since been discontinued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reviewing the literature, structuring and presenting your argument, deciding on who to write for and what to emphasize \u2013 Any non-native trying their hand at English academic writing will soon become aware of issues beyond vocabulary and grammar. But what exactly is the \u201clogic of English\u201d? And how to crack it? For our four-part interview series, we\u2019ve asked several researchers who have published in both Japanese and English throughout their academic careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our first interviewee is Prof. Carl Becker from the Policy Science Unit of Kyoto University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1987 BA, Faculty of Letters, Kyushu University. 1989 MA, Kyushu University. 1993 PhD, University of St Andrews. 1993 Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. 1994 Full-time Lecturer, Kobe City University of Foreign Studies. 1996 Associate Professor, Kobe City University of Foreign Studies. 2002 Associate Professor, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University. 2013 Professor, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University (current post). Specializes in the history of English, historical sociolinguistics, and corpus linguistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[Webpages] While at first, I intended to just spend a year in the UK, I felt that it\u2019d be good to stay for a longer period of time, as other people were working on their Ph.D. theses. St Andrews is a small university town, and most students live there. I was able to naturally grow in this academic environment. I remember that we could concentrate on our research, since the university was so helpful in many ways, e.g. the excellent interlibrary loan system<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wrote my first English academic paper in Scotland. Before then, I\u2019d written two academic papers in Japanese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While writing in English, we can just use technical terms as they are, without having to translate them every time into Japanese. This makes things much easier. While it depends on one\u2019s field, in mine it\u2019s easier to write in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m pretty sure I think in English. Sometimes I take notes in Japanese, though. When I was in the UK, I was taking notes in English as well, but this is because my computer could only accept input in English. When I write an English paper, I start out in English.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Obviously, we can write what we like to write. However, this does not mean that everything will be accepted. If we aren\u2019t used to writing in English, we end up writing things that readers can\u2019t understand. Readers don\u2019t understand what the author\u2019s point is. Nothing is grammatically incorrect, but one\u2019s idea doesn\u2019t get across\u2015this happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have the feeling that one needs to write a lot in English without thinking in Japanese. I\u2019m not entirely sure how people can make their English more understandable, but all in all, it\u2019s probably the amount you write. I guess it\u2019s the amount you read and the amount you write in English.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n PowerPoint presentations are premised on having an audience, so maybe it\u2019s a good idea to use PowerPoint to create article outlines. Based on the premise that there will be people listening to what you\u2019re saying, put together a presentation and change around the order of things. One might then find that an academic paper has taken shape.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As the absolute amount that one reads in English increases, lots of patterns get stored in the mind. We then notice that people write English papers in many different ways!<\/strong> Perhaps different fields have different conventions, though. While this is just my rough impression\u2014so some may disagree\u2014in the UK and Europe people tend to write papers in their own styles, and there\u2019s more individuality in what they write. In contrast, in the US, people seem to be trained to write in a certain pattern<\/strong>\u2014they learn what to write in the introduction, the conclusion, and so on, and they tend to follow this pattern, though of course, this might be different depending on the field. In the UK, people seem to write as they wish to a larger degree. I find this more interesting. Maybe it\u2019s because I was educated there. So, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the best to emphasize \u201cthe way of writing an English paper\u201d to the extent that it turns into a normative pattern.<\/strong> Peer reviewers used to a certain way of writing sometimes will reject an article just because it doesn\u2019t fit this pattern. I think, though, that it\u2019s important that ideas are interesting, and that it\u2019s okay if writing patterns vary somewhat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Too much training leads to output that has been fit into a mold, which isn\u2019t interesting. I think that more and more people are being allowed to broadcast a variety of things today. Students are changing a lot as well. It\u2019s important for children to share ideas from when they are young. It doesn\u2019t have to be on an international level\u2014amongst friends is fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Language textbooks in Japan have lots of questions that students can easily figure out how to answer. In contrast, language textbooks in Europe, if I remember correctly, had many questions that made one wonder, \u201cHow should I go about answering this?\u201d<\/strong> I\u2019d say that such textbooks also make those doing the teaching think about a variety of things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While there are some Japanese journals in which it is relatively easy to publish, there are also extremely rigorous ones. If you\u2019re going to submit an article to such rigorous ones in Japan, why not try an overseas journal? However, if there are many scholars in your field (as is the case in English linguistics), then sometimes everyone ends up working on a pretty narrow topic, so peer reviews can be pretty off the mark. This happens in overseas journals as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Things get really messed up if it\u2019s someone unfamiliar with the content. I ask people to edit my work who only will correct parts that are truly off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve heard that at US universities\u2019 writing centers people can have their writing checked by native speakers. One really doesn\u2019t want to turn over new research findings to some unknown editing company. I think it\u2019s great if there\u2019s a place one can go to on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the situation might be a bit different in science, people aren\u2019t really encouraged to write in English. It\u2019s a backward-looking system, so people don\u2019t need to go through the effort.<\/strong> If one does try to write in English, one encounters lots of difficulties in various ways. For example, even in the case of books, there are many Japanese publishers who don\u2019t do business with overseas companies. Perhaps such publishers also need to change. Japan\u2019s market is pretty big, so sometimes more people will read your book if you write in Japanese. If we write in English, you may lose this audience!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019d like Japanese publishers and the like to work on this as well<\/strong>\u2014in other words, publishing books in English and constructing avenues to sell books in English. If such a system was in place, then one wouldn\u2019t have to publish with an overseas publisher. I think that publishers don\u2019t because they wonder if English books from a Japanese publisher will actually be read overseas. It is true that with Japan having a big population, up until now books in Japanese have sold better, but the population will be smaller in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While it\u2019s important to submit articles to journals with a high impact factor, I\u2019m more interested in the creation of journals with a high impact factor, in heightening the impact factor of existing journals, and so on. In other words, putting systems in place. If we are not involved in this, we will never get the upper hand. Japan also has to start seizing the initiative, I mean, in establishing good journals, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s important to go to international conferences and talk to people.<\/strong> While today a lot can be acquired on the internet, one could also say that we\u2019ve come to just use what\u2019s close at hand. If you don\u2019t say, \u201cI do X, Y, and Z,\u201d then people won\u2019t be aware of your existence. I feel that it\u2019s important to now and then give a presentation and show people your face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the end, it\u2019s true that if you aren\u2019t regularly going to conferences and making an impression, you\u2019ll be put in a marginal place.<\/strong> At the conferences I go to in Europe, there are already existing communities, and on occasions I\u2019ve realized that I\u2019ve been placed on the margins. Of course, we also are responsible for this\u2014we\u2019ll give presentations and serve as a chair if asked, but we won\u2019t raise our hand and speak up from the floor. One has to speak up and make an impression. We have to contribute to the process by which the flow of scholarship is created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interviewers Aron WITTFELD & KOIZUMI Miyako; interviewed on 16 May 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" *This article is based on content previously published on \u201cLife as a scholar: Kyoto University and Beyond,\u201d which has since been discontinued. Reviewing the literature, structuring and presenting your argument, deciding on who to write for and what to emphasize \u2013 Any non-native trying their hand at English academic writing will soon become aware of issues beyond vocabulary and grammar. But what exactly is the \u201clogic of English\u201d? And how to crack it? For our four-part interview series, we\u2019ve asked several researchers who have published in both Japanese and English throughout their academic careers. Our first interviewee is Prof. Carl Becker from the Policy Science Unit of Kyoto University. Professor\u2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","exclusive":false,"relatedArticles":[],"footnotes":""},"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-2241","blog","type-blog","status-publish","hentry","tag-next-generation-forum"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"
Personal website<\/a>
Activity Database on Education and Research, Kyoto University<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nPh.D. at St Andrews in Scotland<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
My First English Academic Paper<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Merits of Writing in English<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Do You Think in English When Writing in English?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Japanese People\u2019s Tendencies When Writing Papers in English<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How to Become Able to Write in English<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Many Ways to Write (Structure) an Academic Paper<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Teaching Students to Communicate<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Choosing Academic Journals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
English Editing by Native Speakers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
University Writing Centers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Publishing Market and the Issue of Incentives<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Constructing Systems<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Contributing at International Conferences<\/h3>\n\n\n\n