Lingua Franca
Lingua
Franca is, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, defined by any various
language used as common or commercial tongues among peoples of diverse speech. A
Lingua Franca is essentially a language used for speakers of different
languages to understand each other. Due to the United States’ prevalence in the
world, English is a Lingua Franca in many circumstances. Being a scientist, the
Lingua Franca used in science is of the most interest to me so this post will
focus on English being the “language of science and technology”. Since
languages are a tied to culture, heritage, and national identity it seems
counter intuitive that scientists from other countries such as France would
want to write up their science in English. With the understanding that
scientists strive to create a collaborative environment and a strong community,
it is easy to see why many sacrifice their language to provide their knowledge
to the scientific community. In my own research, I find it useful that every
study that I need to reference to complete my work is in English, although I do
run across some papers in other languages which are not of much use to me. Science
is primarily spread in one language (although many journals still publish in
other languages, but most translate them to English in addition) and this
allows for the research to have the widest possible circulation as well as the
high impact. Statistics indicate that most cited scientific papers are in
English and this suggests that publishing in English will in fact yield “greater
impact in the international scientific community” (Garfield 1989).
Developing
English as the Lingua Franca of science and technology leads to many advantages
and disadvantages depending on where you’re from. With the current Lingua
Franca “native English-speaking countries and researchers are at a clear
advantage in science communication in a highly competitive arena” (Bitetti and
Ferreras 2017). Researchers that are non-native English speakers must spend
time to learn English and this time could be better spent conducting research. Bitetti
and Ferreras made a reference to a common phrase in academic research, “publish
or perish” and they alter it to “publish English or perish”, meaning research
published in English will have a higher impact on research due to the higher
citation rate. If you don’t publish your work in English, then your work will likely
go unrecognized.
In my own
experience, English makes science more rewarding in instances outside of
research and science communication. A year ago, I attended the Biophysical
Society Conference and many international scientists attended the conference.
During the normal hours of the event, I shared my science and exchanged ideas
with Korean, Mexican, Japanese, and Iranian scientists to name a few. During
the more social/mixer events after the normal hours, we discussed cultures from
our various countries. I feel it is important to learn about the cultures of
other nations and if science did not have a Lingua Franca, specifically English,
it would have been far more difficult for me to connect with these individuals
from other countries.
References:
"Lingua Franca." Merriam-Webster.com.
Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Garfield, Eugene (1989). The English Language: The Lingua
Franca Of International Science. The
Scientist.
Di Bitetti, Mario S., Ferreras, Julian A. (2017). Publish (in English) or perish: The effect
on citation rate of using languages other than English in scientific
publications. Ambio 46:1. 121-127.
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