PETER M SKAER

PETER M SKAER

Profile and Babel-Related Publications

PROFILE

  • Professor Emeritus, Hiroshima University, where I taught from 1993 until 2018, in the Faculty of Integrated Arts and Sciences—courses included English Skills, Debate, Phonology, Phonetics, Linguistics
  • Currently a part time Professor at Fukuyama University (2022 – present), teaching English to first and second year students
  • Director General, Hiroshima International School, in charge of the Board of Directors, overseeing the complete operations of the K1 – K12 international school (2018 – present)
  • MA and PhD in Linguistics from the University of Washington (Seattle), BAs in English and in Linguistics, University of California, Davis
  • Currently reside in Hiroshima, Japan (since 1993)
  • Born and raised in San Anselmo (Marin County), California
  • I am NOT a translator, but rather a professional EDITOR of all things written in English—both original and translated texts, both scientific and literary
  • I teach two writing courses in the Babel University Professional School of Translation, both related to Plain English—these are not required courses, so there are usually few enrolments—one of them, the more advanced course (“Writer as Editor”) is both challenging and useful, and outside of Babel, at the universities I have taught at, has been taught successfully for many years—I encourage you to consider taking it—it is quite useful for both first and second language users of English—giving participants the essential opportunity to learn higher level English writing skills from an English native speaker (and professional English editor) with a wide range of experiences with Japanese writers, and with the Japanese language and culture.

BABEL BOOKS (Published and In-House)

  1. Plain Written English for Business and Technical Applications MAIN TEXT, 2014. 182 pages, Babel Corporation, ISBN-10: 0983640262, ISBN-13: 978-0983640264
  2. Plain Written English for Business and Technical Applications WORKBOOK, 2014. 180 pages, Babel Corporation, ISBN-10: 0983640270, ISBN-13: 978-0983640271
  3. Writing Technical Scientific Research Papers in Plain English. 2005. In-House: Babel Inc. Tokyo, Japan, 160 pages.  Written for the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE) for Japanese and other non-native speakers of English who are scientists and engineers and who must write scholarly research papers for professional journals. (Not available to the general public—copies available on request.)
  4. Plain Written English for Business and Technical Applications, Volume 1, 1997. In-House: Babel Inc., Tokyo, Japan, 203 pages. Student text and reference manual designed to improve the Japanese professional’s competence of written English.  (Available only as an online “e-text” for paying students enrolled in the Babel University Professional School of Translation—copies available on request.)
  5. Plain Written English for Business and Technical Applications, Volume 2, 1997. In-House: Babel Inc., Tokyo, Japan, 200 pages. Student text and reference manual designed to improve the Japanese professional’s competence of written English. (Available only as an online “e-text” for paying students enrolled in the Babel University Professional School of Translation—copies available on request.)
  6. Plain Spoken English for the Work Place: Student Text, 1993. In-House: Babel Inc., Tokyo, Japan, 250 pages.  Student text containing fifty lessons designed to improve the Japanese professional’s competence of spoken English.  (Available only as an online “e-text” for paying students enrolled in the Babel University Professional School of Translation—copies available on request.)
  7. Plain Spoken English for the Work Place: Teacher’s Manual, 1993. In-House: Babel Inc., Tokyo, Japan, 200 pages.  Teacher’s manual containing teaching suggestions, supplementary exercises and suggested problem solutions for all fifty lessons of the basic text.  (Available only as an online “e-text” for paying students enrolled in the Babel University Professional School of Translation—copies available on request.)

BABEL ARTICLES (Professional Magazines)

  1. [Five articles on Plain English, including: (1) “Writing Email Messages”; (2) “Business Letters”; (3) “Scientific Research Reports”; (4) “Press Releases”, and; (5) “Speech Presentations”, all in one volume, entitled “The Plain English Manual”, a special edition of LEGAL.COMM] May, 2008, LEGAL.COMM, Babel Press, Tokyo, Japan.
  2. “The Plain Language Principles and Translation”, e-trans, Volume 5:11; pg. 33-37. 2000, Babel Press, Tokyo, Japan.
  3. “Plain English Online”, in Babel Univer-City Magazine, Volume 23:8, pg. 12 - 16. 2000, Babel Press, Tokyo, Japan.

4 – 27. “Principles of Plain Written English”, monthly feature article in Honyaku Sekai (The World of Translation), Babel Press, 1/2000 – 12/2001 (24 articles in total), Tokyo, Japan.

  1. “An Introduction to Plain English”, Honyaku Sekai (The World of Translation), Babel Press, 12/1999.

29 – 38. "Dr. Skaer's Plain Writing" monthly feature article in Professional English, Babel Press, Tokyo, Japan, 11/1994 - 10/1995 (10 articles in total), Tokyo, Japan.

BABEL RELATED EDITING PROJECTS

Book Edits (English Editing)

  1. Title of Translation: THE POWER OF BODY AWARENESS

The Ultimate Guide to Relax and Loosen Your Body and Mind

Original Author:  Hideo Takaoka

2014 (translated by Reiko Sasaki)

ISBN-10: 0983640238

ISBN-13: 978-0-9836402-3-3

_ _ _

  1. Title of Translation: HUMAN DESTINY What Will Happen in the 21st Century?

Original Author:  Takashi Asai

2011 (translated by Hisao Nishimiya)

ISBNs:  9784863351318

_ _ _

  1. Title of Translation: THE SPIRITUAL WAY OF BUSINESS  In Harmony with the Cosmos

Original Author:  Atsushi Amano

2011 (translated by Hisao Nishimiya)

ASIN: ‎ B008327XPW

_ _ _

  1. Title of Translation：THE FIVE LAWS TO FORESEE THE FUTURE

12 Paradigm Shifts That Will Happen in the Future of Human Society

Original Author:  Hiroshi Tasaka

2009 (translated by Hisao Nishimiya)

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1934978159

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1934978153

_____________________

Student Supervision

  1. Title of Translation：死を乗り越える映画ガイド, by Ichijoo Shinya (Movie Guide for People Wanting to Overcome Death)

Student/Translator:  Jonathan Berry

2018

_ _ _

  1. Title of Translation：「強さ」とは何か。　少林寺拳法創始者・宗道臣70の言葉, by 宗 由貴・監修 鈴木 義孝・構成

Student/Translator:  Uebayashi Hidemi

2016

_ _ _

  1. Title of Translation：THE POWER OF BODY AWARENESS

The Ultimate Guide to Relax and Loosen Your Body and Mind, by Hideo Takaoka

Student/Translator:  Rieko Sasaki (see books, above)

2014

ISBN-10: 0983640238

ISBN-13: 978-0-9836402-3-3

_ _ _

  1. Title of Translation: 東洋からの経営発想, by Yoshifumi Taguchi (Management Ideas from the East)

Student/Translator:  Yumi Noji

2012

 

Other

Article Title:  “Establishing International Agreements for the Safety of Nuclear Power Plants”, in US Foreign Affairs (magazine)

Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan

2/2012

 

In addition, I have over 100 publications outside of Babel, with several books on various aspects of teaching and learning English, and a large number of publications in modern linguistics—theory and applications--on topics such as phonology, phonetics, language acquisition, casual speech productions, language games, forensic linguistics and so forth.