「速く正確に読む IT エンジニアの英語」

 

 

Introducing English Skills for Engineers - Improving Speed and Accuracy in Reading （original Japanese title: 速く正確に読む IT エンジニアの英語）

Michihiro Hirai, April 2011

 

Author: Michihiro Hirai

Published by: The Japan Times

Published in: February 2011

No. of Pages: 299

[Communicative] Language: Japanese

ISBN: 978-4-7890-1420-5

 

  This is a self-study book on reading comprehension. More specifically, it is designed to help Japanese engineers and engineering students to improve their skills in comprehending authentic English texts in information and communications technology (ICT). It consists of two parts: basics and extended reading. In Part 1, the author diagnoses typical problems experienced by Japanese learners of English based on his classroom observations and identifies psychological causes such as narrow views and inflexible minds as well as linguistic factors such as limited vocabulary and the inability to decipher grammatical structures. By realizing these root causes, the readers of the book will be able to put their problems into perspective, which in turn will help them quickly and accurately grasp the meaning of complex English texts they will encounter in real life.

 

  Part 2 is meant to be an exercise section with reprints of more than a dozen authentic ICT texts, which the readers are invited to read and comprehend on their own, followed by model translations so that they can later check their own level of understanding. These texts have been taken (with permission) from a variety of current, popular publications (web as well as paper) including the following:

              ・Windows 7 Step by Step (Microsoft)

              ・Twitter for Dummies (Wiley)

              ・How Networks Work (Que)

              ・IEEE 802.3 (LAN/MAN Standard)

              ・IEEE Computer Society's article on PC security

              ・Industry analyst's report on IBM's practice of incorporating social networking

                  services (SNSs) into its marketing strategy (IT Services Marketing

                  Association (ITSMA))

              ・IT Management Daily: PC Security Tips (Internet.com)

              ・PC Today (Sandhills Publishing)

              ・Smart Computing (Sandhills Publishing)

              ・MacUser (Dennis Publishing)           

              ・System/370 Principles of Operation (IBM)

              ・Articles on Kindle and Ustream in The Japan Times: Technotimes

                   (The Japan Times)

 

  It has been the author's intention to cover as wide a variety of genres as possible (including user manuals, magazine articles, and industry reports but excluding academic papers and patents). As a result, the readers, once in industry as well as at home, can readily adjust to the kinds of text actually encountered in the field, which are not necessarily well represented by model (but artificial or irrelevant at times) passages appearing in school textbooks. The author has also made sure that these articles are of much relevance and interest to the intended readers in terms of technical content, which is the key to maintaining the motivation for learning.   

 

  Furthermore, to foster the sense of humor among the intended readers, which is another important element in ensuring lasting interest in reading, the author has reprinted several jokes related to ICT from a reputed joke site (fRIDAY fUNNIES) while inserting a few humorous lines of his own.

 

  The author has also taken a few extra steps to make the book of practical use, by adding a comprehensive glossary of ICT terms and jargon, a list of online resources useful in reading ICT texts, and mention of new international standards on the representation of dates and the symbols of suffixes for binary quantities (e.g., MiB vs. MB).

 

  All in all, while designed to help enhance reading skills, this book is not only full of relevant content but also fun to read, and as such, can appeal to a greater audience beyond ICT engineers.