ivamtogozhe: Всеобщая англификация - национальные дискурсы вымирают

Всеобщая англификация - национальные дискурсы вымирают

Naturejobs
Published online: 24 January 2007; | doi:10.1038/nj7126-454a

Lost in translation

English is the language of science. So to what extent are researchers who are non-native English speakers at a disadvantage? Bonnie Lee La Madeleine talks to scientists hailing from Japan to Germany.

Bonnie Lee La Madeleine

The nervous Japanese postdoc spent two weeks creating slides, 30 hours drafting a script and 44 hours rehearsing. Altogether, she spent one month away from the bench so that she would not disappoint her supervisors and colleagues during a short informal presentation, in English, before co-workers. Yet they remembered only the mistakes, she says.

Seasoned scientists also feel under pressure when speaking in English. Masahiko Takada at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience admits that, even after years of working in English, "I sometimes feel frustrated when I have to discuss research data with foreign scientists."

Language mastery, be it of one's native or adopted tongue, provides the communicative ease that says: "I am capable." In science, weak English hinders a successful career. Improve your English proficiency, and confidence will follow — or so the people of many non-English-speaking nations believe.

Concerns about the dominance of the English language in science are being raised around the world. Researchers in Germany and France, for example, are grumbling about the frustration of working and publishing in English — and, perhaps more surprisingly, so are those in nations that have typically been viewed as consumers of basic science, rather than contributors.

A recent study in South Korea estimated how much an English-dominated setting for science has cost that nation's scientific development. Kumju Hwang of the University of Leeds, UK, interviewed 15 Korean researchers and engineers working in the United Kingdom about their personal experiences in the international arena. All the respondents said that because of language issues they spend a large proportion of their time preparing presentations and papers, and practising language skills for discussion — and even then, they say, they still miss more than 50% of what they hear. Seven of the interviewees felt that this weakness contributed to Korea's status as a consumer of basic science, rather than a major contributor. Hwang also found evidence that the requirement for English in science communication shaped the way that the social hierarchy among scientists developed in Korea. Employers prefer to hire researchers who have studied or worked in English-speaking nations, rather than those who did their postdoctoral work in countries such as Japan or France.

Being misunderstood

Japan, on the other hand, has a history of translating science into and out of Japanese, so linguistic hurdles are accepted. Most Japanese researchers, when asked about such handicaps, will typically say that the language of science is English. Although nearly 75% of the 400 life-science journals published domestically in Japan are written in Japanese, these target applied rather than basic science researchers.

Basic science in Japan is becoming increasingly 'English only', as Japanese-language publications dedicated to those subjects disappear. RIKEN, one of Japan's most comprehensive groups of research facilities, has announced that its scientists published just under 2,000 original reports in English in 2005, and only 174 in Japanese. In Japan, a nation where English is the current language of knowledge production, domestic science society meetings are also moving towards English.

Internationally, reports expressing public concerns about adopting a single language for science appear periodically from different fields and nations — including those with far greater prowess in English than the Japanese, such as Spain, Germany and Portugal. Such essays and editorials lament the possible negative consequences of English-language dominance on national unity and economic stability in science and business.

"Insecurity in English is a widespread phenomenon," said Ulrich Ammon, professor of German linguistics at the University of Duisburg, echoing Takada's sentiment. "No one German is entirely comfortable speaking and writing in English."

Ammon, who edited a 2001 compilation of essays called 'The Dominance of English as the Language of Science: Effects on Other Languages and Language Communities', adds that lingering resentments exist in "those nations that once held strong positions and were home to international languages of science". In France and Germany, the older scientists still remember the days when they could command an international readership in their native language. Ammon suggests that the shock of being dethroned, combined with the growing frustrations of misunderstanding and being misunderstood, has frustrated some researchers.

Like Hwang's report, these essays argue that non-native English speakers working in science are disadvantaged. "Nationally, everything moves more slowly," says Ammon. "It takes longer to write, communicate and respond, and there is a higher risk of misunderstanding." The problem is exacerbated by a greater likelihood of being ignored if your English is poor, he says.

Social inequality

Some European scholars have spoken out against the switch to English. A 2003 Finnish editorial warned that adopting English in Finland would alienate the lay people from theproducts of science. In this rallying cry, three Finnish academics contend that if university research focuses exclusively on the use of English, their own language will "gradually lose its ability to depict new concepts and phenomena and their subtle differences". They fear that this trend could create social inequality between those who can and cannot speak English.

In Spain, library science researchers Maria Bordons and Isabel Gomez at the Centre for Scientific Information and Documentation in Madrid used data from a survey of Spanish publication trends to try to understand how incentives designed by the Spanish government to aggressively increase the use of English in science are affecting researchers' publication preferences.

Bordons and Gomez found that reports on basic science, particularly in molecular biology and immunology, were published predominantly in English journals, whereas those on applied science were published in national journals in Spanish — mirroring the situation in Japan. They argued that these non-English journals, which are on the decline for both basic and applied science, are vital for knowledge transfer at the national level.

Two groups within the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a joint statement in 2004 asserting that non-English-speaking scientists prefer to be published in international journals. According to a study on publication preferences in addiction research, published by a different WHO body, this may be problematic in research fields where local traditions and experiences factor into a study.

According to Eugene Garfield, the inventor of the Science Citation Index, which tracks journal articles around the world via citation counts, local journals written in the native tongue can still play a part in an international setting. But "the burden of that communication belongs to the researchers," Garfield says. "It is up to the individual to decide when and how often it is necessary to translate his or her findings for local consumption."

In Japan, review publications written by Japanese experts for non-English-speaking researchers and engineers have driven technology transfer since the seventeenth century. Hitoshi Okamoto, a lab head at RIKEN, says that these national-language publications exist to cement ideas and lubricate discussions between scientists and technicians. If such journals are indeed the locus of local knowledge transfer, then the disappearance of national-language publications in Spain is a concern.

Move to English

"Japanese scientists must work to communicate and write in English," says Minoru Kimura, president of the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Japan Neuroscience Society, and a researcher at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine. "But they must also present findings in a logical and attractive fashion, which seems independent of language." Perhaps, as Garfield suggests, it is a cultural, not linguistic, restraint that confines the communicative reach of Japan's researchers.

To build that communicative confidence, Japanese is slowly being eliminated from Japan's primary scientific content. Discussions in many of its newly established research institutes, and some university laboratories, are supposed to be conducted in English. According to white-paper reports of several Japanese institutes, as well as reports from Japanese ministries that oversee science and technology, this move to English aims to attract increased international attention and participation. For faster-paced interaction in competitive international settings, the increased exposure to English is beneficial — especially for younger researchers.

For this reason, Japan's more ambitious science societies are also moving to English-only. It is a move that is reluctantly accepted. "There are members who do not support this change," says Kimura. "They argue that presentations and subsequent discussions in English at the Japan Neuroscience Society annual meeting are less active than those in Japanese."

Society journals are also switching to English to make Japanese research accessible to scientists from other countries. This development, too, has its critics. Articles published in English only "may be good for Japanese scientists who are proficient in English, but this is not necessarily good for Japan", says Takada.

Meanwhile, Japanese scientists must budget for translation costs and subsidized language and communication training to increase exposure to, and proficiency in, English. Editing companies charge researchers US$500 to $800 per manuscript. Language training can cost $2,000 for a ten-week course, or about $50 per hour for a private lesson. These costs are additional burdens, and slow down scientific activity in the laboratory. Yet some science facilities, most notably the three RIKEN institutes dedicated to life sciences, are adopting English in all scientific activities, including administration.

"It is important to use English as an official language, especially for international participants," says Takada. "However, it is critical to use Japanese for effective communication in, for example, a committee, to ensure that important decisions are sufficiently considered."

Bonnie Lee La Madeleine is programme coordinator at RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Wakoshi, Japan.

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