Of course there is. On one hand, many research is "lost" or remains unkown to the world due to not being translated to English. This is particularly concerning when it's about health breakthroughs in non-speaking countries, whose results could've sped up the advancement of medicine on the more "developed" countries, but also applies to theories and new models on social sciences.

On the other hand, the translation costs in general are a hefty price to pay. It is estimated that the EU allocates about €1 billion in translation and interpreting (2012 data), and that also includes scientific  and humanitarian reports. Now, due to Brexit (and in part due to the state of the US), it's a good time to question which should be "language of science", or if there's a need for a set language at all, but right now, not knowing English is indubitably a barrier for scientists in terms of reading, writing, publishing and getting citations or visibility overall.

No there isn't. But it is the convenient option and a very lucrative global business. Within the English mainstream, variations such as localized English is frowned upon and ridiculed. The English spell has bitten so deep into the system that there is little small language communities can do. Even the bigger ones like Chinese is producing the most English speakers in the world. Welcome to the cologlob world.

Dear Pierre, very glad to pose this question. The need of using English language for my research papers  makes my life a hell. I am an associate professor of Macedonian language (many people do not know where Macedonia is) and imagine how  difficult this is for me. I know the English of course, but one thing is knowing the language and be able to communicate and to read the English literature and another to be able to write a quality paper in English. I found the use of the English language being very difficult, because it seems to me that the reviewers just did not understand what am I saying. I have to translate in brackets all the Macedonian authors that  work in the same area, I have to translate every single Macedonian word I use as an example, I even have to translate the references and we all know that my translation means nothing to a Macedonian researchers, I translate them only to give the editors a picture of what the reference is about. Many time the translation just ruins the text and in my opinion a lot of significant information are lost. In my country using English in the papers is not a choice of the author, it is something you have to do in order to be promoted on a higher position. As I see things this is not a necessity, we are neglecting our own language and our identity and on the other hand we make efforts to preserve them. As I can see, the writing style in our country and our culture is different with the style form the native English or other researchers. Let me give you an example. In the part Methodology I wrote that I am going to exploit the content analysis. Ant the editors asked me which content analysis theory, that of  Glaser, Fairclough, Van Dijk etc., I  did not have the answer then simply because Macedonian literature on Methodology does not provide such information and a lot of theories that function in the world are still unknown broadly in my country. And translating a paper in English is very difficult, at last for the Macedonian linguistics issue I am dealing with. I do not understand how can the authorities ask from us to write papers in English. Does it mean that simply because the paper is written in English will be of a great quality. I do not think so. That is why I prefer the domestic journals, but unfortunately they are not with impact factors and are not known world wide. The most funniest thing is when I see in the section "For authors" this sentence: If you are not a native speaker of English please check the paper wit someone who is? Where am i suppose to find that person? They are all waiting for me to read my famous paper:))))))))) Are they working in the same area etc. Finally, I think that writing in English should be a choice and a demand. I am very unhappy that I have to translate all of my papers. And another thing: you read in the scope of the journal that it accepts contributions on all languages, when you submit the paper you will get the answer .... sorry ... the paper will not impact a lot of our readers;)))))

I say, let me do my research in my mother tongue, ask the Macedonian researchers about its quality and then let me be the one who will decide whether I want to the paper to be published in English. So yes, many misunderstandings come form using English in the social sciences and linguistics as well.

I am wondering if some of us can do something about this question. Alert the editors of the Journals, write papers about this issue???!!!

Kind regards,

Violeta Janusheva

All writing, including scientific papers, assumes an intended audience. It is up to authors to make texts accessible for their intended audiences. If intended audiences are allolingual (or multilingual), arrangements to ensure accessibility should be made by the authors. Of course, publishers also have audiences to cater for, which may or may not coincide with those of the authors. Aligning the two is dictated by the author-publisher power dynamic.    

If there is any 'social injustice', it is not in that the language of science is English. Rather it is in arbitraring the author-publisher power relation and in granting access to translating networks and infrastructure across writing communities.    

There has always been a "Lingua Franca"  in sciences, the diplomatic world and among the upperclass. Meaning:  a language that is understood by most oft all people. See "World language" at wikipedia - there is quite a good definition. Nowadays it's English. It's a pity we do not learn languages  any more, 150 years ago it was usual that people spoke 3 or more languages fluently - today ???  but that is another topic.

It's all a power game. English is the language of power right now, which happened mostly because of the emergence of the United States as the most powerful nation. This  shift was quite visible even in the European Union, where English started dominating over the previously two most dominating languages, French and German. Given this power of English as the new global language, it is true that most international journals operate in English, and unless one can publish in these journals, the research (regardless of the quality) can rarely become accessible to the world. A lot of good research thus goes unfound, unless someone is spending money to dig out literature from other languages on a particular topic. It still is not so much of a 'social justice' issue, in my opinion, as it would be the same if instead of English, some other language was currently the language of power, and then people would have to publish in that language. Undeniably, native English speakers have an advantage at this moment. 

Hay que animarse a usar la propia lengua histórica (Coseriu, 1987), que la traducción sea una necesidad de comprendernos y no una obligación de sometimiento lingüístico.

Thank you all for your answers. From what I can read, we can find two positions. One that considers the dominant use of English as given that either is simply too well established to be bended or to convenient in global exchanges to be worth modify. The other sees this domination as something that should be challenged.

It is interesting to note that this divergence in views is coherent with what opposes critical approaches in social sciences (which attribute an emancipatory responsibility to the researcher) to other perspectives.

I think it is also interesting because it questions us both as professional scientist and persons. In other words it is difficult to pretend one can adopt a detached (“objective”) attitude toward its own use of a language.

I find it difficult to deal between my militant self that would suppose I, for example, make an effort to write more articles in French, and other aspects of my professional life that include the desire to be read, to circulate my ideas, to impress my colleagues and boss, to obtain a permanent position, etc

Being sensitive to notions like the slow science movement, I could also consider that doing science in English participate in a neo-liberal tendency to homogenize and transform science in a merchandise.

Does someone know of groups actually trying to act in a way or another to change the situation regarding English use in sciences?

I would like this conversation to continue (even if I wasn't too fast in adding something... you know how it goes...)

Thank you for reading (in English! I will try to translate this soon in French. I could do it in Spanish and Portuguese but I wonder if someone better equipped would be so kind as to do it for me (hehe!))

I am also interested in comments from a native English speakers.