This isn’t as confusing as it sounds!
With A Level and GCSE results time here again, we thought we’d stop & take a look at English in the academic world.
English is a universal language – it’s the default language used for most global businesses and now it seems the world of science is no different.
It wasn’t always this way…
The history of science
English wasn’t always the language of choice for science. Think back to the very distant past and you see that Egyptian philosophers and stargazers told stories in hieroglyphs.
Then we moved on to Aristotle and Plato who wrote books in Greek, which were then translated into Arabic by their followers. After that we saw the Romans – Pliny the Elder and Galen – writing in Latin.
Fast forward right the way to the 1900s and German was the dominant language!
The modern world of academia – and English’s place in it
Now in the 21st century English has become the dominant language – not just for the science world but academia in general.
Why is this a problem?
We came across this interesting article that highlights the difficulties non-native speakers encounter:
- extracting knowledge from others’ work when undertaking research – reading papers in English will take much more time if you’re not a native English speaker
- publishing their own research findings – when you publish your own papers this will need to be done in English, which will also need to be proofread. Research also suggests that non-native speakers end up having more drafts of their findings rejected and will need to make more revisions
- attending and speaking at international events – this is an important part of extending your network but may prove to be a significant barrier. If you’re a speaker at an event, it’ll definitely take more time to put the presentation together if English isn’t your first language
- general collaboration with their peers
Embracing diversity
We need to make sure that we’re embracing diversity across the board – and science is no exception. Non-English speakers bring diverse views that can’t otherwise be accessed. It’s vital that future generations of non-native English speakers can proudly contribute to science.
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