Beyond its effect on policymaking and scientific research, language often determines who gets to do science.
"Paleontology already has a diversity problem, which is exacerbated by this," she says.A combination of geopolitical events — including World War I and its aftermath, which crippled German as a prominent language of science — the invention of the computer, and U.S. universities training many students from around the world elevated English in science, says Michael Gordin, a historian of science at Princeton University."The world is really at the beginning of this.
Raja-Schoob and others instead advocate for a multilingual way of doing science that could help to address the inequities in who gets to do science and what science is recognized.English is currently entrenched as the language of science, but the researchers who conducted these studies say there are ways to help elevate the work of scientists who don't speak the language.
Translating science is one key way. Some journals provide paper abstracts in several languages. The Cochrane Library, published by Wiley, includes translations of medicine and health evidence summaries across 15 languages, including for COVID-19. That's time-consuming and expensive, though advances in machine translation could help. Amano says he is skeptical of AI translations for science but is now testing their accuracy and effectiveness.
Collaborating with scientists who speak languages other than English, seeking out scientific papers in different languages, and not automatically undervaluing non-English science can all help as well, North says."If people don’t read these other languages, they are losing that knowledge," Gordin says.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
How a passion for research could hinder your career and exacerbate inequities in scienceEngineer-turned-sociologist Erin Cech describes how she coined the term ‘passion principle’, which challenges the belief that people should love their jobs.
Read more »
Dramatic photo shows ominous Cone Nebula like never beforeRobert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter sciencef1rst.
Read more »
An Astonishing English Cricketing Triumph Is Commemorated in Stirring Doc ‘The Greatest Game’: TV ReviewLanding on Sky’s U.K. arm as England’s cricketers enter the knockout phase of this winter’s T20 World Cup, Ashley Gething’s one-off documentary “The Greatest Game” benefits from innately dramatic r…
Read more »
Earth will warm beyond 'safe' threshold, but we may have time to cool it downHumanity has to act fast if we want to make a real difference.
Read more »
100 years after his birth, Kurt Vonnegut is more relevant than ever to scienceFor what would have been Kurt Vonnegut’s 100th birthday, Science spoke to literary scholars, philosophers of science, and political theorists about the messages he left for the scientific community—and why the famed author is more relevant than ever.
Read more »