Text 2. Everyday English and Technical English

Match the following words and translations.

At present, the contacts between people of different countries are increasing. This enhances the importance of the study of foreign languages. Sometimes we don’t even know which of the world’s languages we should take into consideration. The matter is that the total number of languages in the world is very large. In different reference books it varies from five to eight thousands. The numerical distribution of people speaking different languages is extremely uneven. There are not many languages in the world each of which has more than 50 million people. On the other hand, there are languages spoken by only several thousands of people.

To the first group belong such languages as English, Chinese, French, Russian, Ukrainian, etc. At the opposite extreme stand languages like Chitimacha, an American Indian language which in the late 1930’s had only two speakers left.

Everyone should understand that for the linguist there are no big or small languages. For each people the language is not only a means of communication, but also an embodiment of national and cultural values. Nevertheless, when we have to decide which of the world's languages to study, we take into consideration the differences in the social and functional status of each language.

When we consider English, we cannot misregard the fact that the English language is spoken by more native speakers than any other language except, North Chinese. English is native or the first language for the most population of Great Britain, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. Besides, there are many areas, former British colonies (India, Nigeria, Ghana) where English is not a native language, but a second language with official status in education and administration, and for communication between speakers of other languages. If we take into account the important factor of speakers of English as a foreign language, it is most widely spread of the world’s languages.

English is one of the five official languages of the United Nations Organization (UNO) (alongside of French, Russian, Spanish and Chinese). It is the working language during the meetings of the General Assembly and Security Council of the UNO. No wonder that so many people in various countries spare no efforts to acquire English for communication.

In Ukraine, higher schools students and postgraduates are trained to have a good knowledge of English, to read and use professional literature in their practical activity. As this textbook is for technical students, let us dwell on some peculiarities of technical English.

Technical English is often said to be difficult to understand. At first sight this may seem true. There are a number of reasons why technical writing is rather difficult. It concerns first of all its vocabulary.

The scientific and technological progress has enriched the vocabulary with a great deal of new words, new meanings and new word-combinations. Who today does not know such words as computer, transistor, laser, etc? Scientists and technologists also use many ordinary, everyday words to denote new terminological meanings. For example, the words aroma, and charm with the meaning attractiveness are used to denote the physical characteristics of the quark, a fundamental physical particle.

Each branch of science and technology has its own terminology. Many of them are formed on the basis of Greek or Latin words and are often international. Some technical words, such as power, roll, stress, strain, movement, etc. borrowed from everyday English sometimes cause much greater difficulty than terminology. In addition to terms, a text on some special problem usually contains so-called learned words like approximate, compute, feasible, exclude, indicate, initial, respectively, etc.

As to the familiar grammatical patterns and models, they are the same as in everyday English. There is, certainly, a difference in the frequency with which certain grammatical forms occur.

Scientific and technical writing is usually about things, matter, natural processes, and it is impersonal in style. The Passive Voice of verb forms, the constructions Subject and Complex Object are frequently used. The first person singular is not generally used.

Simple sentences are rarely used, for isolated facts or events are seldom dealt with by the engineer. He has to show what the connection is, not only what happens, but also how it happens, when it happens, why it happens, and what is being effected.

The style of most scientific texts, besides being impersonal, is also very concise. It is because the author-scientist is writing primarily for other scientists.

In order to master technical English the learner must first acquire a thorough knowledge of everyday literary English with its grammar, vocabulary and rules of word formation. Then it will be easy for him to learn, step by step, the peculiarities of technical English. It should be born in mind, however, that understanding and translation of scientific-technical literature requires an additional training connected with knowledge of specific terminology.