Is it fair and reasonable to say that in the medical sciences, English is widely accepted (universally?) by scientists as the main language for communication and defending research findings?
At this point in time, is this a valid statement?
Will this acceptance continue in the foreseeable future?
Yes, it is used in many countries and most people understand.
Yes. English is the accepted and universal language in biological and medical sciences. And I think it will remain so in the next ten years. I am unable to forecast longer periods.
China is publishing overwhelming amounts of papers. However these papers are very unreliable. Therefore, I do not think Chinese language can replace English any time soon. As a matter of fact that will never happen while Chinese science is so flaky.
English language is accepted worldwide including developing countries. As well as main source of academic program and research in all fields.
Aijaz Panhwar Is it fair for non-English speaking scholars? i think it favors Western-educated urban researchers.
I agree with your opinion. But in developing countries like Pakistan, English is official language for office and academic, though national language is urdu.
Dear all, english is becoming a universal language. At the present time it is considered as the only tool of communication between nations. Historical reasons are behind, but for sure those english native speaking countries are the leaders in R&D, which attracted the other countries to send their young Scholars to have such expeience to use once they return back to their mother land. My Regards
Abdelkader BOUAZIZ It is definitely unfair that English is the dominant language. We should try and use new technologies to change it. Do you agree?
@Joseph Tham, why not if it will bring a plus to the profit of its uses and users, and any alteration should consider all possible effects. It is well understood that the flexibility of english is the main factors which insure its permanence. Kindest Regards
Dear Joseph Tham I think that your position is a political one, not a scientific one. Why do we need to change English as the Universal Scientific Language? Is it only because you have some political problem with the language?
I wish to respectfully disagree with your interpretation of my motivation for this question. I am sincerely not anti-English. I am forever grateful to Sister Mary Francis for teaching me the English language.
Dear Mr Tham
You do not need to persuade me. I think you should analyse your own reasons for wanting to denigrate English as the sciento fix language. Probably working in China has contributed to those reasons. I do not think that undulating or Chinese can be a good substitute to English.
Since most of the groundbreaking research was performed by native English speakers I have the feeling that your proposal for a change will not be successful.
It is from my viewpoint and evident from the many publications done in English or translated to the language despite being written in other common languages like French. The issue is how effective is the research to non-English speakers and target audience such as marginalized communities.
Since my motivation for this question has been questioned, it may not be appropriate for me to post. I hope that other neutral and non-partisan scholars will make contributions. I did not in any way or form denigrate the English language. I assert my innocence.
Perhaps it is a matter of historical perspective. English is the current predominant language for cutting edge research publications; moreover, important research performed and written by scientists in other languages often is translated into English. It is well to remember that Sir Isaac Newton wrote his Principia in Latin during the Great London Plague at his widowed mother's farmhouse. Madame Marie Curie wrote her Nobel-winning research in French. No single language reigns over science. But this is an intriguing discussion thread because it piques our intellectual curiosity about dissemination of scientific research. Thank you, Joseph Tham. Best regards and wishes.
Nancy Ann Watanabe Currently, English is reigning over science. i am simply asking: are there any fairness issues involved? That is all. Maybe not. okay.
The English language is heavily influenced by Greek and Latin languages which were associated with philosophy, theology, and science, so I think this qualifies English as a good scientific language.
Dear Mr Hayakawa
All the papers you say are important and you mention are at list 50 years old. Please mention any important German paper published in the last 40 years.
If there is an unsuitable language for Science, that is German with its complicated grammar with declination and words made up of more than 30 letters. At least in English the average word is not longer than twone syllabus.
The question suggests an answer because it is given in this language.
Greetings,
Dariusz Prokopowicz
Language is mind control by the dominator and thinking and writing in another language, let's use as an example Hebrew or Italian, is a point of resistance to then confuse those using the dominant language such as in the reply in English to my post below - it is a Russian expression from the Soviet era like English from England is the primary language of mind control of the former British colonies, the USA, and thus retains a kind of colonial hegemony through research published in the language of the dominator. English does not have masculine nor feminine like Italian or German or French thus reduces gender distinction and the beauty of sexual differences to a banal 'guys' instead using the term ladies and gentlemen. With the outing of the British from the European Union I look forward to Continental Europeans promoting German, Hebrew and Yiddish, Hungarian, Romanian, Polish and Italian and learning Chinese enforcing the differences between cognitive styles than joining the guys' 'melting pot' of banality.
Dear Ms. Silvia Stein
As did the author of this question, you are using it as a political platform for your own ideas.
There is nothing wrong with that as far as you do not deform facts and realities. English became the Universal Scientific Language because all the important science of the XX century was developed by native English speakers. Most of the important scientists of Europe had to emigrate to the USA, otherwise they would have been killed. Einstein is a good example. If you want to explore Italian scientists you have Fermi who also had to emigrate. The Nobel laureate Levy could stay in Italy hiding for four years in order not to end up in Auscwitz. Do you think German can be the language when they killed scientists only because of their religion?
As a famous British airway pilot said to a German pilot who questioned why he had to speak English to land at Frankfort: "because you lost the bloody war".
About Chinese may be you can remember that all the whistle-blowers who spoke up about coronavirus are dead or dissapeared.
Hope I have enlightened you a little.
Abbiamo i scritti di Primo Levi perche' scrisse in Italiano e pensava in Italiano mentre pretendeva di essere d'accordo con i nazisti - non tutti i Tedeschi erano nazisti come parentela Ebrea cui ha sopravissuto il nazismo in Stoccardo. A questo punto gli Inglesi hanno perso la guerra e sono fuori dalla UE perche' per decenni abbiamo fatto come con i nazisti, gli abbiamo detto 'yes yes' a gli Anglo nel frattempo facendo gli affari nostri - cosi' si sorpassa i colonialisti cui usano l'inglese per dominare anche in questo foro... Per quanto l'effetto Corona in Cina, ha avuto l'effetto di rafforzare l'identita' Cinese come una potenza cui sorpassa le armi nucleari degli USA e Russia - solo tre turisti Cinesi sono responsabili per 10,000 casi del virus all'inizio del epidemia in Italia in febbraio! Cina e' una potenza nel foro di psicologia e scienze quantistiche con articoli pubblicati in Cina a cui non abbiamo accesso nelle publicazioni americane e britanniche.
Cara Signorina Stein
Io non parlavo di Primo Levi ma di Rita Levi-Montalcini.
Il Italiano è una brava lingua e anche I scienziati italiani hanno un altisimo livello. Il problema è che lo parlano 60 millioni, mentre il inglese lo parlano più di due milliardi.
La lingua non è un istrumento pero la dominzione. E semplicemente pero colegarsi facilmente.
Bravissimo, e siccome l'Inglese e' semplice che c'e' la banalita' - l'Inglese del periodo di Elisabetta I era piu' complicata, e bella per il teatro e la scienza pero' il slang americano ha ridotto la richezza dell'Inglese del settecento e anche del periodo di Victoria. Trovo che i miglior scienziati pensano prima nella loro lingua e poi scrivono le loro idee in inglese, pero' la prima stage e in un'altra lingua, educando gli altri presso l'inglese, come Lei, Dott. Prof. Koltai. Penso anche che la epidemia della corona, cui era prima usata negli anni del 1980 nell'Arabia Saudita, fu possibile senza l'uso della lingua inglese, evitando la scoperta della sua potenzialita' in una guerra biologica che sembra completamente 'naturale' nel mondo degli 'animali'.
What this question has brought up to our consciousnesses is that language functions as a form of social distancing and contrastingly social networking. If English is the primary research publishing language then to compromise the hegemony produced by the 'dominant' language of the 'dominator' is the use of other languages - for instance a virus researched in a laboratory and its potential is only published in Chinese or in code so as not to alert the 'dominant' linguistical based cognitive style, and effectively released and covered up.
Dear Ms. Sthink
Before ending this discussion I would like to remainder you that as opposed to Frichte, Herde, Nietsche, Longbenton, Rosenberg, and others who preached about the "master race" it was "Anglo" thinking such as Locke, Pitt, Burke, Jefferson, Smith, Adams, and Hamilton, as well as francophones like Montesquiwu, Rousseff and Voltaire, etc who made it possible for you to be able to express your bimages freely and without fear, at least in some parts of the world that do not include Russia nor China.
Dear scientist,
the question was related to English as being a vehicle for scientific exchange. Not so much about how does it feel to write in a foreign tongue, rather how it feels to try to understand each other in one language we could all agree upon. Yes, this comes from historical developments, but for me as a non native English speaker it is still a better compromise than obliging everybody to learn 10 languages, which I love to do (I speak only 7) but others can't. So it's a compromise - isn't it? And yes sometimes I envy those native speakers, simply because of their vocabulary and smooth flow, ability to impress with particular adjectives and expressions and easiness in communicating precisely their ideas. But as a foreigner I have the ability to see and taste the language from a side and there is a strength in that as well. See Herta Müller or Vladimir Nabokov.
In the future, with the development of AI (Artificial Intelligence), and Deep Learning, the dominance of one language for scientific communication could decrease.
Dear Joseph Tham, in our field of research (chemistry), English is the universal language for more than 30 years, and I expect that this will not change in the foreseeable future. Only before WWII German was also rather important (e.g. in physics). Although I'm a Germany-based researcher, I stopped publishing in German in the mid 1980's. of course there are numerous journals accepting manuscripts in other languages, but then you risk that your work is not read and cited by other researchers.
I think the language issue is complicated, as we often develop publicly funded research and publish it in English. However, people from the places surveyed, who often do not know English, end up not having easy access to the search results. It is a form of social exclusion, mainly because research has a social role to play. For this reason, even though I am less mentioned, I try to publish the results of my work in national magazines. Even if it will give me less academic projection.
Certainly English is widely accepted by scientists as the main language of research. However, it should be clarified that all the science is not done only in English, because certain languages still resist the exclusivity of a dominant language. It is an essential choice. Nevertheless, English remains the reference language between scientists around the world. Therefore, should we ask the world communities to always produce, disseminate and teach science in English? Or should we accept that all work and conferences be done in a diversity of languages? The whole world seems to be concerned about these questions.
Diffusion in a dominant language, such as English, necessarily influences the production of knowledge. To maintain their place in world science, States must publish and train their researchers in English, while preserving linguistic diversity. Such an approach has positive consequences, because asking scientific questions in different languages means thinking differently. Because the concepts are not defined in the same way in different cultures. To discuss science, we must first talk about it. And this is not obvious, even within a more or less homogeneous linguistic community. Formulating the concepts correctly then becomes an important phase in the development of science. The reformulation of knowledge contributes to improving and extending the theoretical structures. Science is therefore of better quality when the concepts have been refined in several languages. It is therefore a question of making scientists aware of the importance of linguistic diversity in their field. And the role they have to play in defining concepts that are clear and easily understood by the public.
I strongly believe that English is a language for communication just like other languages that exist. May be this has a slightest advantage of being known by many persons universally. But considering it for research (publications) is not a good idea ...
Of course, everyone is free to publish his / her work in any language. However, if you want to have your work read all over the world and highly cited, you should (must) publish in in English.
Yes of course, english language has become the first language of publishing in the world nowadays.
While English is not the most spoken language it is very widespread so I believe most research is written in English or, at the very least, translated into it so that the paper might be more widespread.
Yes ,the English language is used in the many counties and used in education, researches and it is easy-to-use and understand
For me it's always surprising to se in how many different countries you can get around just with English.
I agree with Abdelkader BOUAZIZ in that English has become the universal language. In our publication we switched from German to English about 30 years ago in order to make sure that the papers are read and cited worldwide
in any country in the world there are people who speak English. Fortunately, there is a universal language, which can be used in any country in the world. English is a language of science and research, etc. I think no language in the 21st century can compete with the English language
I fully agree with Ouaïl Ouchetto in that English is the language of science and research in the 21st century.
Yes! I think English is most spoken and academic language in the whole world. Therefore it makes easy communication among the various researchers from different countries.
I agree with Frank T. Edelmann in that English has become the universal language. it is a good and intelligent decision that Germany has opted for publication in English since 30 years ago and it is preferable that all countries follow this strategy. To facilitate this, the teaching of English must be integrated from school.
English language flourished the world over for historical reasons. Since most scientific inventions and discovery were documented in English language, scientists and researchers all over the world adopted it as the main language for communication. At this point of time, it is of course a valid statement. And, I foresee its acceptance will continue further.
Joseph Tham I'm really grateful that I need to know only English to be able to read all important literature in our field of research (chemistry).
Joseph Tham in our field of research (chemistry), German was the most important language in the 19th and early 20th century. For more than ca. 50 years English has taken over this role.
In my field as engineering, English is the language of science including studying, training, theoretical research, experiemental works, conferences, and discussions.
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