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Danger of abbreviations

Toyota National College of Technology

Well, we will talk about the western logic used in speeches and in explanations. That is, native speakers of English get to the point more quickly.　Our talks are based on our experiences of studying abroad in America and in Australia. We are going to be engineers in the near future, so the focal point is the difference of the style of logic used by western people and Japanese people, especially from the viewpoint of engineers.

We students at Kosen have learned English for many years, ranging from elementary classes such as grammar, reading and conversation to more sophisticated classes dealing with scientific and engineering materials and how to give a presentation in English as well.

At Toyota Kosen, we also have special English classes in which we are free to read fiction extensively, which we call "tadoku" in Japanese. By counting the number of words we read, we are urged to accumulate more words, so we read increasingly more and more English sentences. It is important to select books which are at our level or a level a little bit higher than our level. Then even if we come across words you don't know while reading, we can guess the meaning of them to some extent, and generally understand the context.

This incentive leads to the improvement of reading ability in English. There are some students who have read more than one million words. If we get crazy about reading fiction, we don't stick to the amount of words any more. Reading a novel is a very fascinating experience. Actually, there are some students who got remarkably high scores in TOEIC without studying abroad.

But even if we are satisfied with achieving high scores in such exams, when it comes to expressing our ideas in English, we Japanese get in trouble, whether written or spoken. Actually, I keenly felt that problem in Australia. Why don't Japanese get to the point more quickly? In other words, why do native speakers of English get to the point more quickly?

Actually, by employing this western style, we mentioned our points clearly at the beginning of this presentation like this. How did you feel about it? Some of you may have a kind of strange feeling because it is too straightforward. But, in the Western tradition, they state their main points and then give supporting reasons and examples. After that, their core message is stated in the conclusion again.

Americans were confused by the Japanese use of "kishotenketsu," a style of logic used in speeches and in explanations. This style presents the background of the event and gives related examples, and then comes to the main point in the conclusion.

In western society where we lived, we sometimes discussed a variety of issues and found that their main point was clear but supporting reasons and examples were very poor in some cases, whereas in Japanese contextual style, we are trying to verify the reasons and examples.

So, if we find something wrong with the idea in the course of the discussion, we may revise our idea, or by considering other opinions, we may alter ideas. Eventually we come to the conclusion. In this respect, in the process of the Western way of expressing their ideas, I mean, getting to the point more quickly, they make themselves fixed by their initial conclusion and no revisions are made.

What is more, we cannot enjoy the process of referring to what will happen next and what the goal is. So we want to appreciate the "kishotenketsu" style of logic, which is largely associated with the contextual style in fiction. This is a kind of style we are getting used to in TADOKU. We can safely say that the style of fiction is largely related to the style of "kishotenketsu", because as students, who experienced western society and enjoyed fiction in "tadoku", we felt it.　

As we mentioned, we emphasized the point at the beginning of this presentation. From now on, let us express our ideas conversely, that is, in the style of "kishotenketsu". Well, first of all, let me pose a question. Why do western people get to the point more quickly? In our view, western people tend to think that what they know is also known by others.

This is our hypothesis, which is based on our experiences of speeches. Western people sometimes jump to the conclusion without adequate explanations. Sometimes they seem to do it intentionally, because what they are going to say is known by listeners, so the portions important for listeners is cut or shortened. Let me cite examples to clarify the hypothesis.

When I was in the States, I heard the phrase ASAP at the end of the sentence. Because I didn't know what ASAP stand for, I said what? Then he replied "as soon as possible". I was sorry for my ignorance. But at the same time, I had a strange feeling about it. Why did he use ASAP instead of as soon as possible? ASAP is made up of the initial letters of each word, which is called acronym.

This shortened form or abbreviation may be caused by the western tendency to think what they know is known by others. Actually, engineers are fond of acronyms, which are shorter forms of words or phrases that can come in handy when you need to repeat the same word or phrase a number of times. You can see how using an acronym can save you a lot of time and prevent your speaking and writing from sounding repetitive. Just let me cite examples we are involved in as students aiming to become engineers.

CAD is short for "computer-aided design," CAM refers to "computer-aided manufacturing" How about SE? You can associate system engineer with it. How about HP? Which is short for home page. Lastly, AV refers to an audiovisual. Of course there are a variety of acronyms used in the field of science and engineering. Then let me relate this situation to our hypothesis. That is, the speaker or the writer is using acronyms intentionally, because he or she thinks that readers or listeners are familiar with the acronym like SE, HP or AV.

But we have to deal with acronyms with caution. For example, SE stands for system engineer but it also means sound effect. The same is true with HP whose other meaning is hit point. How about AV? These are examples which young people go for. If the target audience were definitely people in the exact field, acronyms would present no difficulties. But newcomers are simply confused.

Most of the time, these shortcuts or abbreviations are not accompanied by their definitions, leaving many scratching their heads or feeling too embarrassed to ask for an explanation. The field of engineering, especially in western society, acronyms are more frequently used. So when we think about the relationship between our initial question, "Why do western people get to the point more quickly?" and acronyms used by the western people, the same hypothesis can be used, that is, what they are going to say is known to listeners. In this case, abbreviations are carried out on the word basis.

But what is more important is that acronyms should be used in the designated and limited field. Otherwise it is confusing to those who are not in the field. Even if we say, TNCT, there are few who can refer to Toyota Kosen. Some of you may refer to Tsuruoka Kosen. One engineer mentions "we try to stay away from acronyms in our company, but we end up having to use them because our technology is a mouthful". In the long run, we will admit the usefulness of acronyms but it is dangerous to abbreviate sentences and words without care. We have to do it by considering the standpoint of others.

Well how was that? I mean this "kishotenketsu" style. I hope you got more absorbed in our talks, but you may have guessed the conclusion because we hinted at it by the title of this presentation, Danger of abbreviations.
Thank you.