One Manuscript at a Time
So, here I go. I received 5000 word manuscript regarding a research. I was to work hard to reduce it to 4000 words or less while maintaining the impact of the content and refining the content more.
The art of working with professional English, so to speak, to ensure that the manuscript contains sufficient background, significance of the proposed/completed research, methods of research, results, implications-discussions, and conclusions in the proper order with clarity, cohesiveness, and logical flow is not a piece of cake. This level of language understanding can never be earned over night or over 10 years, that is,,,,, unless you are a genius.
And I am not.
For me, the full 4 years of attending the university in the US in my 20's definitely did not accomplish this acquisition of the writing skill at the professional level at all. I was decently fluent conversationally. But conversational English fluency is near one hundredth (1/100) of the skill required for writing well. Attaining masters' level of education did not accomplish that either. Sure, I got through and I improved every year so I was able to write enough, but my writing still needed professional 'tweaking'.
Going full forth through the doctoral level work still was not sufficient in training my mind and brain to write well at the same level as my well-educated and learned colleagues. So I read, and read, and I wrote and wrote more. Years of reading, writing, and more reading well-written manuscripts by experts somehow began to fill my mind with the "flow" of academic writing that "logically progresses." Having served as a reviewer for an academic journal for years definitely helped to recognize what is good writing and what is not. I thank the editors for giving me the opportunity.
When I read an English manuscript written by my international colleagues, the 'sense for the flow" definitely get stirred in a way that I must stop to fix the flow and logic. It is an extremely tedious task but it is also a major mental challenge. I see that many of my international colleagues have completed such incredibly important work, but they are not able to articulate the importance, relevance, value, significance, implications, or the simple logic of why they did what they did in not only a 'grammar-correct" manner but in a succinct, and cohesive manner.
I don't know, if my brain, which was nurtured in Japanese culture most of my initial 20 years can be remolded into function at the highest level in this English world. But I do remember that I never had to ever sweat to make an A in any of my language-heavy courses, modern or ancient, in any of my years of going through the public educational system in Japan. I think I was one of those who are not at the strongest in calculus and physics as my son is but I was more of those who wrote well spontaneously. By choosing to not live in Japan, I gave up this "sense" of ability behind and lived with the "sense" of "inadequacy" for decades now.
However, having chosen to live here, I have definitely notched up the goal for my writing skill in a way that I NEVER and NEVER imagined or understood. So this is an exciting 'experience' I think.
As I worked through the 5000-word manuscript, I truncated every segment, every section to enhance the "point of the discussion" while removing "unnecessary words" and replaced with meaningful expressions that succinctly summarize the point.
However, no other soul but me would ever understand the extensiveness of the "WORK" that I put into in order to earn this skill. When I hear the comments like, "It is nice that you can do this, that you have lived in the US environment for a long time." This sounds as if I just naturally gained the ability from having lived here for years. NO. I know plenty of people who live here but can not write.
I value what I attain as a valuable intellectual property and I must guard it with passion, protect it with commitment and use it well.
Japanese educational system does not have the time to teach them the "real" English that expresses matters in succinct, logical and cohesive manner. I had to think very hard to understand what it is to be logical, succinct and cohesive in the English world. I consider myself very fortunate that I see the difference to a degree. I am still not perfect. I am still learning and I still plan to improve my English writing skills, while not losing my Japanese writing and speaking skill,,, which is also very hard for anyone from outside of Japan to attain. Whether I write in English or Japanese, I hope to always enjoy working hard toward producing the best, one manuscript at a time.
The art of working with professional English, so to speak, to ensure that the manuscript contains sufficient background, significance of the proposed/completed research, methods of research, results, implications-discussions, and conclusions in the proper order with clarity, cohesiveness, and logical flow is not a piece of cake. This level of language understanding can never be earned over night or over 10 years, that is,,,,, unless you are a genius.
And I am not.
For me, the full 4 years of attending the university in the US in my 20's definitely did not accomplish this acquisition of the writing skill at the professional level at all. I was decently fluent conversationally. But conversational English fluency is near one hundredth (1/100) of the skill required for writing well. Attaining masters' level of education did not accomplish that either. Sure, I got through and I improved every year so I was able to write enough, but my writing still needed professional 'tweaking'.
Going full forth through the doctoral level work still was not sufficient in training my mind and brain to write well at the same level as my well-educated and learned colleagues. So I read, and read, and I wrote and wrote more. Years of reading, writing, and more reading well-written manuscripts by experts somehow began to fill my mind with the "flow" of academic writing that "logically progresses." Having served as a reviewer for an academic journal for years definitely helped to recognize what is good writing and what is not. I thank the editors for giving me the opportunity.
When I read an English manuscript written by my international colleagues, the 'sense for the flow" definitely get stirred in a way that I must stop to fix the flow and logic. It is an extremely tedious task but it is also a major mental challenge. I see that many of my international colleagues have completed such incredibly important work, but they are not able to articulate the importance, relevance, value, significance, implications, or the simple logic of why they did what they did in not only a 'grammar-correct" manner but in a succinct, and cohesive manner.
I don't know, if my brain, which was nurtured in Japanese culture most of my initial 20 years can be remolded into function at the highest level in this English world. But I do remember that I never had to ever sweat to make an A in any of my language-heavy courses, modern or ancient, in any of my years of going through the public educational system in Japan. I think I was one of those who are not at the strongest in calculus and physics as my son is but I was more of those who wrote well spontaneously. By choosing to not live in Japan, I gave up this "sense" of ability behind and lived with the "sense" of "inadequacy" for decades now.
However, having chosen to live here, I have definitely notched up the goal for my writing skill in a way that I NEVER and NEVER imagined or understood. So this is an exciting 'experience' I think.
As I worked through the 5000-word manuscript, I truncated every segment, every section to enhance the "point of the discussion" while removing "unnecessary words" and replaced with meaningful expressions that succinctly summarize the point.
However, no other soul but me would ever understand the extensiveness of the "WORK" that I put into in order to earn this skill. When I hear the comments like, "It is nice that you can do this, that you have lived in the US environment for a long time." This sounds as if I just naturally gained the ability from having lived here for years. NO. I know plenty of people who live here but can not write.
I value what I attain as a valuable intellectual property and I must guard it with passion, protect it with commitment and use it well.
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