과학기술

On July 20, I wrote a post about "infrastructure vs. social infrastructure." Today's post is along the same line. Often times, Korean students add unnecessary or awkward English words in their translation because they are so focused on translating every single Korean word into English.

A good example is 과학기술. When asked to translate "science and technology" into Korean, most students correctly say 과학기술. But when asked to translate 과학기술 into English, a lot of students say "scientific technology." This could sound awkward as you are not necessarily contrasting "scientific" and "unscientific" technology. The correct expression is "science and technology," or simply "technology." Take a look at the following example:

• China's focus on science and technology is relentless, and it's occurring at all levels of its society. Its labor pool is becoming increasingly sophisticated, its leadership is focused on innovation, and the country is adopting policies designed to pressure U.S. firms to transfer their technology. (Bloomberg Business Week, July 9, 2010)