Effective methods for training Japanese industry research engineers to write proper technical papers in English

This paper describes twenty-five-year experience of how I have been training Japanese research engineers in industry research laboratories to write proper technical papers and conference abstracts in English so that their papers and abstracts can be easily understood by native speakers of English. Since almost all these engineers have not been taught how to write technical papers in English, they try to translate from their Japanese research papers into English in a word-for-word fashion using Japanese-English dictionaries, resulting in poorly organized English. I have rewritten their papers according the following rules: (1) Stating conclusions first, then stating causes or giving explanations. (2) Following the three-step English writing style of introduction, body, and conclusion, instead of following the four-step Japanese writing style of ki-sho-ten-ketsu. (3) Translating from Japanese to Japanese first, and translating it into English. Most of the revised papers and abstracts have been accepted by journal editors or program committees of international conferences. In addition to training individual engineers on their writing, I have been teaching technical writing in English (English for Science and Engineering) at Hitachi´s R&D Division and at Hitachi Institute of Technology using materials developed during my tenure at Hitachi.