Reading Scientific French (1955)

8/12/2019 Reading Scientific French (1955)

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Reading Scienti ic Frenchby Edward M . Stack

JL RESSURE ia being felt increasing ly in many colleges and universitiesto provide abbreviated but high ly e icien t courses in French which willenab le scientiic and technica l students to gain a reading knowledge ofjournals and books in their specialized subjects . Most of these studentsare impat ient to get to their pract ical reading, and feel that the socialand cultural material of the usua l libera l arts course in F rench is extraneousto their narrow purpose. I cannot sympa thize w ith this view, but I feelthat skillful teaching can temper it, while also providing essentially thekind of course which w il l appeal to the pragmat ism of the scient ists.Given a semester 's time (three hours a week) in which to teach a class

of scient iic and technical students how to read the literature of their ields,we can clearly accomplish this object ive alone quite sat isfactorily . Leavingaside all consideration of the desirability of so doing, of the necessity ofom itting cultural and conversational materia l to a large extent , and of theregrettab le truncation of grammar which w ill be necessary in such a course,I would like to present some suggestions which I have tested and foundworkable .

Assuming that the ob jective as outlined above has been agreed upon,materials must be selected and arranged-materials which adhere strictlyto the purpose, for there is little time for digression in so short and specially-aimed a course . Can we use a typical standard grammar? A regu lar reviewgrammar? No, not usually . Standard grammars are devised to teach (andvery prope rly so) colloquial patterns of speech, formal composition, andreading of highly diverse literature in the human ities. As a resu lt thesegrammars contain many details which are essential to their objectives,but quite unnecessary to a reading know ledge of scientiic or technica lliterature: e.g. the agreement of adjectives and past part iciples . Further-more , in using a standard grammar, the student develop s a vocabularywhich is more social and domestic than scientiic and technical. F rom thisruthlessly pragmatic viewpoint which we have assumed , it is a waste ofvaluable time to learn a vocabulary unrelated to the sc ienti ic and technicalields in which we propose to read. Why shou ld these students learn thevocabulary of Jm plume de ma grand-mkre estjaune, when it wou ld be easier

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SCIENT IFIC FRE NCH 151and more valuable to learn the equally elementary Uair atmosph&ique secompose de plusieurs gaz at the outset?The materials, then , must (1) adhere to the minimum essentials ofgrammar and syntax, (2) develop and use a vocabulary which is adaptedto scienti ic usage, (3) contain a graded presentation of reading s and dril lson this basic scient iic vocabulary in context, and (4) provide referencematerial for those students who have the intellectual curiosity to broadentheir know ledge.

nThe first main block of work is to present grammar pa inlessly . To do so,

let us divide the work into two parts. One of these I shall call the Tumn-adjeciive group system, and the other part is tha t inevitable rascal, the verb.Remembering that scientiic and technical literature deals w ith things,and the manipulation of things which are tangible for the most part, it isclear tha t the designation of these ob jects is of prime importance. For thisreason we deal irst with the noun-adjective group ) and anyway it is easierLet us begin our studies w ith a lesson on nouns, including articles andthe preposit ion de. The vocabulary includes many cognates and a few

widely-used scient iic terms such as la condition, un Element, un fait, unevapeur , une expirience (warning False Friend), des variations, etc. Welearn that the last (des variations) may be translated three ways, dependingupon context: variations some var iations, or of the variat ions.We then try them in different contexts to see which of the three meaningsit has, for example, in Nous avons observe des vana/ttms, and which in Je parle des variations The value of context is thus made very clear inthe very irst encounter w ith French. Likew ise we have already becomefamiliar with plurals (they end in -s, or in the old equivalent, -x) and w ithpartit ives.After some di ll on nouns, we add adject ives and prepositions; the noun-ad jective group is then assim ilated into prepositiona l phrases : A Vocianpaciique , par un certain moyen, de la courte mithode, dtt poids alomique.The list of common ly used preposition s is distributed and should be mem-orized, for they wil l appear no matter what the subject-matter is. Thenormal position of adjectives is pointed out , and the main exceptions(numbers, quantities, possessives, and normally preceding adjectives)no ted. Past Participles are slipped in under the guise of adject ives, thuse fecting a shortcut: des orbites allonges, de la probaf/iliU chercfUe, un 6chan~tillon compost .Next, adverbs of quantity and numbe rs are preixed to the noun-adjectivegroups, and intensive drill ixes the vocabulary and structure: la plupaet

des substances chimiques, quatre arrangements possibles, plusieuhs


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152 F R E N C H R E VEW

polygones irrigvliers, and toutes les forces impo rtantes, for example . Adverbsare then introduced to modify ad jectives, beginning with the easy onesending in -menl [= ly] : quatre arrangements [tgalement] possibles, plusieurssyslhmes [enli remenl] dif&ents. Variations and expansions on the noun-adjective group are continued until an adequate vocabu lary and grasp ofstructure has been gained. This is done very rapidly when the vocabularyis scientiic .

Now it is time to attack the verb unit . W e remember that scienti icjourna ls deal with things in the third person most ly , and that while we indnous as a subject occasionally , je, fut and tw /s are really rare in this typeof reading. This affords an avenue of simpliication which we shall probablytake . We learn to recognize the 3rd Person, present indicative forms ofimportant irregular verbs (especially avoir , i tre, atler , faire, mettre, prendre,tenir ) and all regu lar verbs . Some important impersonal verbs becomevocabu lary items : il y a il s'agit de, il resle, il paratt , il faut, etc. Verbs inthe present tense are then inserted between two fam iliar noun-adjectivegrou ps :

(Le soleil ) occupe (le centre) (du aysteme solaire) .Later these combina tions of noun-ad jective groups and verb units becomemore complicated :

(Dans I'alg ebre) ih s'aoit db (la resolution) (des questions) (relatives auxquantit ies) (en genera ) .

Fina lly we introduce such things as predicate adjectives and d-pkrases usedas attributes :

(L 'observation) (d'un syat eme) (A haute temp6rature) est diicile (d ef-fectmr) .Al l of the examples given duing the grammatical presentation of noun-ad ject ive groups and of verb units should be taken who lly from the read ingtex ts to be used later . In this way the basic read ings w ill proceed easilyover fam iliar structures and vocabulary .Verbs have been simpli ied by reducing them to the third person. Tensesare similarly simpliied by pointing out to the students that there are onlythree possible times: past, present, or future. The present tense has been

studied, and the students can recognize verbs in this tense. When an un-fam il iar form is encountered, the only prob lem is then to decide whether itis future or past , and translate according ly in a genera l and serviceable way .

A tr ick I have found successfu l is based on the eumination * of thefuture. By this I mean that the unknown form should be tested irst tosee whether it is in the future (or conditional) tense ; if not, it is assumed to


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SCIE NTIFIC F R E N CH 153

be a past form and is so translated. Upon encountering an unknown form-let us say , parlera the student tests for the future by looking for the rbefore the ending. In parleRa, the R is there, and therefore the tense isfuture (if the ending is -A) or conditional (if the ending is -AIT) . If future,translate WILL speak, or if conditional, translate WOULD speak.If , as in the form parla, the test for the future fails because the re is no Rbefore the ending, the student knows that it is not a future or conditionalverb ; he knew it wasn't present when he looked at it, therefore it must be apast tense: he spoke.This rule applies to the auxiliary verbs, too. Past Participles are st il l

translated as they were in our previous adjective drill, so that no specialstudy of compound tenses is necessary : it auRa/ parU he WILL have/spoken . The R before the ending of aura tells the tense ; this reminds usthough, that the students shou ld learn the future stems of importantirregular verbs as a means of recognizing the sense .One caveat must be entered regarding the elimination of the Future: inverbs w ith two R 's in the ininitive, both r 's must be in the verb to validatethe R-Before-the-ending -is-Future rule: prepaReR, entReR , e.g.

A ll unknown verbs are thus tested beginning with the Present (byrecognit ion; then , if this fails, look for the FutuR\ otherw ise call it past.The results are adm ittedly rough, but the subtlet ies of the imperfect andother past tenses can be developed after some prac tice with the quiteserviceab le three general times. The translation of ininitives after prepo-sitions is introduced next: sans enlrer, pour agir, aprts avoir ohservi.Verb negation is then developed, and the alternate nega tive terms ja-mais, r ien , personne , etc.) learned as vocabulary . Ne ... gue requiresspecial study, and is very important . I ind that the best solution is this:if the verb is preceded by ne, we expect to ind pas Jamais, etc.) imme-diately after the verb. If we do no t look further along the sentence toind que or qu' , which we translate as only , and leave the verb posit ive:

jVous N avons constatS QU'une seule difference ,We have estab lished ONLY a single diference .Reflexive verbs can be simpliied in scientiic reading as follows: translate

se as is , and treat the inlected verb as a past participle:La terre SE compose de . . . The earth IS composED of . . .Un rayon lumineux SE Ttlehit .. . A light ray IS releetED . . .

If the tense of the inlected verb is future or past, change the translat ionof se to wil l be or was :Un rayon lumineux SE reitckiita .. . A ligh t, ray WILL BE re leetED . . .


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Subordinate clauses are easily assimilated after a small vocabulary ofrelative pronouns is learned , and w ith tha t we are ready to take the nextstep .

IllSo far we have concentrated on reading sma ll groups of words and thenisolated sentences. We can now embark upon readings having continuity ,starting w ith short graded readings containing structure and vocabularywhich the students have already learned . Readings can later be increased

in diiculty and in remoteness of subject-matter until the last three or fourweeks of class, when actual journa l articles should be used .It is helpful duing the irst readings to allow the students to enclose

noun-adjective groups in parentheses, marking their books or mimeo-graphed sheets. This serves to concentrate attention upon the objectsbeing defined and discussed, and it throws the verbs into relief. It furthertrains the students to read words in sense-making groups rather than asisolaed puzz les . Thus we take the fullest possible advantage of contextfor trans lation .

The first reading s should deal with a subject well-known to all membersof the class. Such a selection will enab le them to get into the usefu l habitof deducing vocabulary from the context , rather than interrupting theirtrain of thought at every unknown word for a trip to the vocabulary . Ifthe subject is familiar , the probability of meanings being accuratelydeduced is greatly increased . Here is a sample graded reading used earlyin a course for reading scientiic French :

LA LUM lERELa lumiere se propage en ligne droite avcc une vitesee de 300.000 kilo-

metres par secoade. Un rayon lumineux qu i tombe eur un miroir se r l chitdans une direction unique. Grice cett e r&lection , le miroir donne 1'imagedes ob jects places devant lui.Un rayon lum ineux change de direction lorsqu'il passe d'un mili eu dans unmilieu different. On dit qu'il se rtfracte , C'est & cause de la refraction qu'unbaton plough dans I 'eau paratt bris6.

This is a selection reproduced from an actua l elementary science textused in French schools (reproduced by permission of the publishers).Note that it deals with a matter of common know ledge (at least for stu-dents in science) ; that it is composed of noun-adjective groups and otherstructures stud ied ; that the vocabulary is repetitive, thus aiding the learningprocess. It allows for exploration of certain French conventions such asthe use of the point as a number separator instead of a decimal point; agood physics student will know the conversion factor to change the kilo-meters into feet, and wil l probably pul l out a slide rule to see if the igures

1 Edward M . Stack , Read ing Scientiic French (Austin : University Co -op, 1954) .


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here are correct. Thus interest is stimulated , and the adventure of ex-ploring fam il iar ground in a new language begins to look like fun Somestudents w ill even learn English in the process. ( Never heard of 'propagate'or M ilieu )It wil l be well to insist on written translations, and to require that they(1) present every idea contained in the original, (2) om it nothing and addno thing, (3) change no verb tenses (except with depuis), and (4) sound asif they were write n originally in English, containing no stilted or peculiarphrasing. Have each student copy a sentence of his trans lation onto theblackboard, and give a careful critique based upon the above principles.They will then know exact ly what is required, and can better avoid awk-ward literal translations.

In my own material there are selections in the graded section rangingover a wide variety of subjects such as VAir , Les Mathynatigms, Cakuldes probabiliUs (chances of w inning at poker?), Le Systme solaire, LaNavigation sous-marine, etc. All are adapted from actua l French texts orscholarly art icles. After the class has translated a number of these, theymay proceed to selections direct ly taken from books and journals withoutbenefit of grading or adaptation. This being the actual goal of thesespecialized students, all tha t remains to be done is to give them practice andcriticism. In my own material I have included selection s in Biology , Physics,Botany , Genet ics , Medicine , Geology , Zoology, Chemistry , Oceanography ,and others, which we all read and translate together regardless of theindividual interests. Our objective is to ga in familiarity w ith diferentstyles of writ ing, and to bolster our general vocabulary . The physicsstudents will delight in show ing off their technica l know ledge to the rest ofthe class when we are reading Le Paramagnttisme micUaire, and the geolo-gist will have hie turn with Le Granit. Interest is sustained by variety , andeverybody learns something.During the last three or four weeks of the semester the students may be

given the job of inding out which French journa ls and books there are inthe library pertaining to their speciic ields. Each student may then beassigned portions of one of these works for independent reading a fewparagraphs of translation and an Eng lish r&um6 of several pages. Thetranslations can be checked individua lly in ten minutes or so by having thestudent read his translation while the professor follows the French text.The class may continue to read select ions in common , or revert to individualconsultations at this time.

IVThe simpliications outlined are possible and successful because of the

peculiar nature of the sc ientiic and technical literature to be read. Its


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vocabulary contains many cogna tes, and it is practically limited to third-person verbs in simple time-relat ionships. The subject-matter is free oflights of fancy , unpredictab le situations, irrelevant or purely decorativematerial-all so common to ictional literature. These factors al l combineto make possible the kind of course desired by the students, and at thesame t ime it is clear that the professor wil l be confronted with a challengeand an opportunity . Brief digressions may be used to sow the seeds ofcultural and philosophical appreciation in the minds of these students .As scientiic and technical majors are often hungry for ideas outside theirfield of specialization, a purely practical reading course in French can be abroadening experience . The fascination of observing the m ind of geniusdynamically at work can be experienced by a student reading one ofPascal's Pensees for the irst time; the amazement at seeing science-ict ioncome to life in Jules Verne (tied in w ith the read ing of the select ion on LaNavigation sous-marine in the material I have assembled , for example);the transition from science to philosophy in Voltaire's Micromtgas, indi-cating the inseparable link between the two, etc. If such digressions arecleverly presented, the professor will have opened up new and unsuspectedvistas to h ighly gifted student -s whose education is often mistakenly leftnarrow and onesided .Un iversity of Texas

Reading Scientific French (1955)

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