In one of the discussions in RG, I read a statement by a scientist who claimed "Language of Science is English" and one should be grateful for this!
Do we all agree the first part: Language of science is English and second part: Should we have to be grateful?
I am enlisting the views of RG community out of curiosity. Nothing more and nothing less!
it depends on the topics for example English is the language of technology science, Arabic is the language of Islamic and historical science and so on
I strongly differ with both the statements sir...
There are a lot of scientific publications coming from non-english speaking nations and are contributing a lot to science.
Without any doubt, English is the widely accepted medium of communication but it doesn't make it a universal language in scientific communications.
And there is absolutely no need to be great full to one language. We have to be greatful to all languages and cultures in whatever the way they might have contributed for the betterment of science and society.
Most certainly, English accounts for most of the scientific publications because of it being one of the most widely spoken language and most of the scientific terms and vocabulary is English-based. But that does not necessarily make it "the" language of science.
If I stick to the question asked, there is no language which is that of science. Given the right historical, political, and economic circumstances, virtually any language could be vehicle of science. English is certainly not THE language of science since science is also produced in other languages such as Chinese, the many languages of India, German, etc.
All languages can Express science jargon. But may be alot of scientific terms are used in English and the same forms of words retain their English forms in their own languages. Now science is not only written in English but in all the languages of the world.
Arabic ) not because of volume of use, but because of the nature of the language )
But if seriously - today it is certainly English - that is the reality, however whatever I hear in my native language which is Tatar - goes through stronger - and that is probably with every person and his/her native language - I mean here the deeper understanding. So each of us has his/her own language of science if we agree that science starts with observing and reflection
If the claim is “common language of science is English”, then certainly the statement will be acceptable to most, following that “we should be grateful” as it provide a common platform for the scientific community of people from different backgrounds to share their thoughts. Until another language gains in popularity to challenge the dominance of English usage, the status quo shall remain.
I also do agree with both statements, for English is the Universal means/language/code for transmitting Science and knowledge throughout the world. This does not means it is THE language of science, since any language can be used for science, as is the case for Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Turkish, etc. Second, we should be grateful for the fact that English enables us to communicate and exchange information in a, so far, accepted lingua franca. We should be grateful because we come from various backgrounds and can communicate with each other thanks to the English language; if we use our own mother-tongues only, no communication between us would be possible, unfortunately.
The sociopolitical factors have a great bearing on the popularity of languages called language spread. Indubitably, English is ,for the moment, the academic lingua franca emulating other languages in the dissemination of knowledge and information. However, past sources of historical evidence reflect that the dominance of a language is never fixed. As a case in point, Latin was once the universal lingua franca and then it was replaced by French. There is a great likelihood that the Chinese language would succeed English in the near future. Therefore, the global dominance of languages is largely evoked by the political might of a given country at the international level .
@Reza Biria, yes you are right; the dominance of any given language is the reflection of the power of its original users
Your point is valid.
The 'grateful'.... is an expression that shows ignorance of the author of the statement about of the wealth and richness of other languages.
It used to be Sanskrit (in ancient Hindoostan / India), Farsi (in central Asia), Greek (in the times of Aristotle, Archimedis, et al), Latin (for the likes of Galelio ....) ... and the times go on. So, nothing is permanant.
The Russians, French, Germans, Japanese (and now Chinese) have created a wealth of scientific literature... [As an example, the original theory of relativity was propounded by Einstein in German]... in the last 2 centuries....
Having said that, we also need to accept that most [certainly not all!] of scientific literature of the day is circulated in English language. So, it may be accepted as the more popular language of science. Thats all!
it depends on the topics for example English is the language of technology science, Arabic is the language of Islamic and historical science and so on
I feel that this categorization of languages into languages of science, religion, history of science, etc. is misleading. What makes a language a vehicle or carrier of anything is the fact that the culture from which it has emerged made what it is. In the case of English, for instance, it is science and technology, which does not mean that other languages are not right now been used in teaching and producing science. Arabic was the language of science, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, etc. when its culture produced knowledge of this kind. As has been pointed out earlier in this discussion by one of the RG colleagues, Chinese is predicted to take the lead in the future, maybe not in the near future. China is producing knowledge and implementing it in technology. So will any other language if the right conditions obtain.
What is important is to how one conveys the the things. Language is a medium of conveying ones research/ findings etc. All languages are nothing but the medium to convey the work/ findings etc. in Science. Today, we came across a number of papers, published in different languages too. Thanks to Internet. But, in general, one knows either his/ her native language or English or may be one or two more languages, but mostly not many/ all. Although, English is relatively common these days, Arabic, Indian, and many other languages have been doing better in past and even at present. Being grateful towards a particular language is a bit peculiar. What is to respect is Science and the expected outcomes for the better cause of society.
Regards
AK
Of course, science can be written and told in any language, but seems that the world has come to an agreement in this decade to use English as the common language for science communication. It has not been always English, and it does not have to be English in the future, though!
It is English. But the Grateful part I don't think is necessary.
Apart from regional history and culture, all articles on scientic, technological, medical research should be written in one language, or may be subsequently translated. I think, today english has become most popular language among the educated youth.
Math
Logic
bijective field theories
relations
implications
that enough
It is due to this that English is now considered the language of science. English hasn't always been the most common language in science and research. A little over 100 years ago, at the start of the 20th century, the dominant language for science was indeed German. And even before that, Latin.
Grateful for English is a pretty poor language that everyone can easilly use and mistakes doesn't corrupt it that much… Esperanto might be a good science language, for it is both simple and more accuarate than english. French used to be a science language, but even French can't communicate correctly with it… Feel grateful that Icelandic is not the language of sciences, for it is so f… hard none can master it!
Yes, I agree to this statement as 98% of scientific research papers are now published in English.
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