In non-English speaking countries, researchers spend a lot of time writing because of the lack of mastery of the English language, especially for students, which poses more difficulty for French-speaking researchers compared to English-speaking researchers.
A response to Dibakar Pal:
"Every language has its leading journal": Yes, of course, but it will often not be as well-known and prestigious as its English Language counterpart. This explains why even scholars who have a major language such as Spanish, French or German as their mother tongue often aspire to get their work pubished in English.
"If required then the paper will be translated in any language by the interpreter": you can get it translated, but you would have to ensure that the translator has some subject-specific knowledge and is fully au fait with the different discourse conventions in English and the source language. Even if you are lucky enough to get someone with the required knowledge and skills set, you would still lose some control over what is written: for example, if the translator opts to remove words or phrases that he/she considers to be surplus to requirements , but which you regard as essential, then you have a problem.
Other solutions could involve the use of editing and correction services from journals. However, this is not always reliable. I remember one article I reviewed which had major errors in the first draft despite the editing service. I recommended changes which the author was keen to make but when the second draft came to me for review some of the changes had not been made, others had been incorrectly applied and, to cap it all, new errors had sprung up out of nowhere. The journal itself wasn't particularly prestigious, but the publishing house which provided the editorial service was. They should have known better and cared more.
Yes it is because not everyone will be able to read except it is translated
This is a question that is still under some debate. See this paper, and more recent papers citing it (and the paper that this paper is responding to):
- Stephen Politzer-Ahles, Jeffrey J. Holliday, Teresa Girolamo, Maria Spychalska, & Kelly Harper Berkson (2016). Is linguistic injustice a myth? A response to Hyland (2016). Journal of Second Language Writing, 34, 3-8.
Non-English speaking people will translate the sentence from their language and that will make the writing difficult in following grammar. If the language is of different family, that will make the writing difficult. The terminologies used in English and the source language,i.e a persons mother tongue will have different senses that he may not be aware of it.
A researcher needs to be equipped with the skills to both access international literature and reach out to peers around the globe. That means language skills in general -not specifically English, are crucial. It sort of comes with the job. If you want to be a good researcher in your field of study, you've got to be able to read and write in languages that prolific scientific communities have chosen as their medium.
Besides, being able to read and write in multiple languages will most definetely widen your perspective and understanding of your domain and ultimately make you a better researcher altogether. So do the work and do it willingly. Sharpening your language skills is a low-risk and high-reward investment.
In the meantime, if you need help publishing in a language you are not proficient in yet, hire professional editorial services. Assuming you vehemently believe in your contribution you'll have no second thoughts allocating both time and money to get it where it needs to be. After all, you authored the paper and you are ultimately responsible for it reaching your intended audience.
I agree with you. English language is a major obstacles to non-English speaking academics. If I want to publish a research article in an international journal (mostly in English), it takes so long to write and revise. In many cases, I spend more time on the issues related to English language than on the content. Anw, it's a norm and we have to accept.
Dear Asterios Chardalias
I agree with you but the period of the thesis is short and often the students focus on the scientific work of their thesis subject, and even for other researchers. Personally, since the month of May I write an article, I have not finished yet because of the English language.
Dear @V. Jayan
This is the real problem! The goal is to translate the true meaning that is not easy.
Dear Chun Liu
Actually, it's hard to remember new words. I do not think that the translator can be very effective one day to translate the true meaning but are very useful except that one must be careful.
A response to Dibakar Pal:
"Every language has its leading journal": Yes, of course, but it will often not be as well-known and prestigious as its English Language counterpart. This explains why even scholars who have a major language such as Spanish, French or German as their mother tongue often aspire to get their work pubished in English.
"If required then the paper will be translated in any language by the interpreter": you can get it translated, but you would have to ensure that the translator has some subject-specific knowledge and is fully au fait with the different discourse conventions in English and the source language. Even if you are lucky enough to get someone with the required knowledge and skills set, you would still lose some control over what is written: for example, if the translator opts to remove words or phrases that he/she considers to be surplus to requirements , but which you regard as essential, then you have a problem.
Other solutions could involve the use of editing and correction services from journals. However, this is not always reliable. I remember one article I reviewed which had major errors in the first draft despite the editing service. I recommended changes which the author was keen to make but when the second draft came to me for review some of the changes had not been made, others had been incorrectly applied and, to cap it all, new errors had sprung up out of nowhere. The journal itself wasn't particularly prestigious, but the publishing house which provided the editorial service was. They should have known better and cared more.
Fortunately, scientific American English, which has become the standard international language, is much simpler and easier to learn than actual English since it is more phonetic based, relies on simple sentence structures and small words and can be learnt without speaking. Spare a thought for English speakers who find it incredibly boring to read scientific papers that have arisen as a result of this relaxation in the language for STEM! A much more serious problem though is international collaboration which demands an international language and not knowing sufficient English means collaborations are often not possible or worthwhile.
I think Language is not a hindrance in research. If a researcher wants to convey his/her findings as a research article, s/he doesn't need mastery over the language. His/her dedication to the research itself may pave way for learning the language
Dear Athista
I didn't say that language is an obstacle to research, on the contrary, the English language is easier than other languages. But since good scientific journals require good editorial quality. So no-anglophone researchers spend more time than anglophones. Personally, I spend more than 4 months to write an article and I have to find someone to correct it, or if it is in french I will finish it in 2 weeks and I will move to other work.
Not just obstacle but big problem ! so how to overcome such a critical case?
Regards, Emad
Recommended comment dear Dr.Boussetta Mohammed , I utterly agree with you.
Regards, Emad
Dear Dr.Jian-Shiun Glax Chen,
You are exactly and precisely describing English language learning situation is in my country! I do agree with you and thanks for your point of view.
Regards, Emad
Dear Boussetta Mohammed
Overall I am with most of what has already been put forward by this serious discussion,
Some of the obstacles are the imposition of the name of researcher from the scientific journal on research work under the pretext of correcting the scientific writing and linguistic revision
Regards
Houda KAWAS
Dear Boussetta Mohammed,
I can understand the difficult you had undergone. As for as the research is concerned, I can suggest you to read previous issues of the journal. In addition to that if your research work is published in French, there will be very few readers and it may not have universal reach out.
Dear Boussetta Mohammed,
The language is necessary to express your thoughts in a proper way. Although there is some difficulties in learning the language but it is not impossible. English language is a universal language and the researchers should be learn it. Till now I face some difficulties in expressing my idea well by using the English language.
Kind regards
Raid
"if it is in french I will finish it in 2 weeks and I will move to other work"
Yup, that "finish and move to other work" there is a huge part of the issue. Publishing has become the end-goal, while really it is only a means employed at the very start of your work's lifecycle. You could write 5 papers in French in the time it took you to write 1 in English. How do their readership and the discussion they steer compare, though? Do papers in your native tongue bring you the kind of feedback you need to move forward? If so, excellent, keep writing in your native tongue. Then you can be as prolific as you like. Maybe you're are good enough in your field for scholars to go through the trouble of reading in a language their are not proficient in to get hold of your ideas. But if feedback is not varied enough, what is the gain in being prolific? Fresh perspectives should be more likely to come from outsiders. It so happens that languages grant you access to new audiences. So languages can appear to be a barrier in the short-term; in the long-run they are most definetely bridges.
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