Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

 About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

You are not logged in. [Log In] Wordsmith.org » Forums » (Old) Weekly themes. (have been consolidated into a single forum above) » English as a global language
Register User    Forum List        Calendar     Active Topics     Search     FAQ
Topic Options
#20223 - 02/26/01 02:28 PM English as a global language
curmudg Offline
stranger

Registered: 02/26/01
Posts: 1
In the academic world, scholarly publications are intended for worldwide scrutiny. For this to happen, the language of publication must be one that is generally known to the discipline. Time was, every learned person knew Latin. But that time is gone. Time was, most scientific publication was in French. German had its heyday. It helps to know Russian. Knowledge of French and German remains valuable. But more and more, most of what is written appears in English, either immediately, or in translation. Scientific English is robust: authors whose native language is not English can get away with all sorts of grammatical errors without much harm to the intelligibility of their message. It is accessible, since so many people know English in any case. In no language is scientific expression particularly rich in wordplay, so little is lost in the shift to English.

The languages of the world are a treasure trove of ways of seeing and savoring. But science is already its own language and nothing much is lost if most scientific publication is in English. Convenience is gained. Thus I welcome this part of a trend which, taken as a whole, has minuses as well as pluses.


Top
#20224 - 03/09/01 04:45 PM Re: English as a global language
deguoren Offline
stranger

Registered: 02/26/01
Posts: 6
Loc: USA
But science is already its own language and nothing much is lost if most scientific publication is in English. Convenience is gained.

I agree. However, there is one major drawback. As many scientists publish in English only, even if it is not their mother tongue, scientific languages other than English do not develop further. This may result in problems in teaching science. More and more english words are used untranslated in other scientific languages.

Therefore, I prefer those journals which are bilingual. However, there are only a few of those.


Top


Moderator:  Jackie 
Forum Stats
8419 Members
16 Forums
13684 Topics
209695 Posts

Max Online: 3341 @ 12/09/11 02:15 PM
Newest Members
Stephen A, fgjhgjk, Nora Francis, sabosophie, Lore Lorena
8419 Registered Users
Who's Online
0 registered (), 42 Guests and 2 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters (30 Days)
LukeJavan8 84
jenny jenny 67
wofahulicodoc 46
endymion6 43
BranShea 36
Rhubarb Commando 23
Buffalo Shrdlu 19
Faldage 18
zmjezhd 16
Jackie 15
May
Su M Tu W Th F Sa
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31
Board Rules · Mark all read
Contact Us · Wordsmith.org · Top

Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 2013 Wordsmith