I was drafting this as a reply, when I realized that I now have my very own local soap-box. So I am using it to best advantage. As someone said in a comment thread somewhere that I can’t search, if the reply gets too long, may as well make it into a blog post.
Sara Abdulla has provoked a bit of kerfuffle in the Opinions forum by citing Jose Roso’s reply to the Editor’s opinion entitled “Comedie Francaise”, that originally appeared in Nature in June this year.
As written in the opinion piece, and I fully agree, “Multilingualism has […] practical benefits. French scientists who speak regional languages in addition to the national tongue testify that early bilingualism has helped them go on to master English and other languages. Some even argue that the thought processes involved have helped them to be better and more creative scientists.”
In support of Jose’s letter, warning that Castilian speakers are losing their right to education in parts of their own country, Carlos wrote that “highly successful catalan pop-stars sing in spanish, best-selling catalan writers write their books in spanish, and some of the most important editorials and print houses of the hispanic world are based in Barcelona”.
From my point of view, that means the Catalan children of Spain have sufficient access to Castilian Spanish to be able to communicate with the rest of their nation. And on top of it, they grow up bilingual, which is a real plus. After all, “las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas.” However, Carlos certainly has, and has made use of, the right to make sure his children are educated exclusively in Castilian Spanish elsewhere in his country. A Basque speaker in Madrid soon will have the converse right, and it’s a strength of Spain, although one would hope that there are places where one could choose a middle road between these extremes.
My half-siblings in the U.S. went to a (rare) public school system in which they spoke all French during the day in the first grades of primary school, slowly phasing it out as they move up into high school. They are now bilingual and do quite brilliantly in their English-speaking classes. None of the kids in that program spoke French before starting, and perhaps all don’t speak French as well as the two I know. But they will all go to university armed with an additional tool to apprehend the world.
I don’t see the problem with offering regional language instruction in school when it is historically justified. Being multilingual is a huge gift, and I suspect that the people who are most against it are not well versed in the languages they are rejecting.
However, why does English enjoy such a favorable prejudice to the extent that in Holland, Portugal and Finland, most doctoral theses are written in English, with no historical claim to legitimacy in these countries? Might it someday be the more widely spoken Mandarin, Russian or even Castilian?
I think this is extreme and a shame – there are ideas that are best expressed in other languages, with their cultural nuances. We scientists are nothing if not human, and have no claim to absolute neutrality. Such a pretense of impartiality to the universe we describe is illusory and does a disservice to our discipline by denying the use of metaphor. And metaphors are most easily, if not exclusively conveyed with language.
Sara had asked, “What’s your view on the role and effects of minority languages in science education, and about related science education policies?” and few actually answered her on that point, this being an emotionally laden issue.
My point of view is that science and math instruction is still best served by offering them in the majority language of a country, no matter how “small” that country may seem to be, once abstract concepts begin to be introduced. This means pretty early on, usually. However, cultural subjects such as history and literature are best served by maintaining the option of regional language instruction into secondary education, or if it’s the majority language of a “small” country (eg. Finland), all the way through state-sponsored education.
I’d encourage you to leave your comments here, but also to go on over to the forum thread and leave them there.
As a minority speaking scientist (Swedish speaking as one of about 9 million) this is an interesting question that has been discussed a lot in the University setting back home.
The dissortation situation in Sweden is depending on which subject you have. Most of them would be in English, in Natural sciences it is a must.However, since a few years Graduate students are encouraged to write an “easy read and explain your research project” passage in Swedish in the thesis summary. That way the science will be more accessable for “regular Swedes” who have paid for lots of the research with their tax money. It is also very good to write your research in your own language, imho, since that means you understand it more on a base level.
My main concern is that all the universiteis in Sweden soon will give all their classes in English – at least that is one of the suggestions in the Bologna process that is impletmented at the moment. Although most of the text books for my undergrad in biology were in English, and I had a fairly good understanding of the language, the lectures were in Swedish as well as the supplements. This was a good mix since it forced us to translate the English descriptions of “basic science” into understable Swedish as well as allowing a good environment for discussion since all students knew thier “mother tounge”. It also made those awkward moments when a Swedish lecturer with less than perfect English gave a lecture to all Swedes in hard-to-understand English.
I understand that this would mean that it would be impossible for foreign students but I feel that the potental loss of basic understanding if all education were in English (not to mention that noone would be trained in writing sceince in Swedish) is larger than …
I’ll stop now since the comment has gotten very long.
“the potental loss of basic understanding if all education were in English (not to mention that no one would be trained in writing sceince in Swedish) is larger than …”
Yes, that’s exactly what I meant. If foreign students are to transfer to Sweden (or France) well, by gum, they can learn some of the language, no? Or is it too late?
I’ve given masters’ courses in English here in France on behalf of one Polish Erasmus student among the thirty other French-speaking students. Would it be too much to hope that Erasmus students might go to countries where they have already a basic understanding of the language, and the support materials (eg. slides, handouts, textbooks) could be in English, but the course itself delivered in the native language – or the other way around (although there is a greater offering of textbooks in English)?
Then again, that might mean that Sweden would be a less attractive country for foreign students than England or Spain. It’s just that, hearing the English that is proffered by some of my French colleagues, I wonder if even the occasional non-French speaking exchange student wouldn’t understand better in French.
Very interesting. Last year I attended the two-week International Course in Economic Botany at the University of Leiden which was conducted in English. That’s probably because the lecturer, Prof David Mabberley, is an English speaker though. I did wonder how this would work given that almost everyone in the class was a Dutch undergrad, however they all (embarrassingly) seem to speak virtually perfect English.
As far as I’m aware though the rest of their ‘non-international’ lectures are given in Dutch.
When I worked in the lab I was pleased to learn, from a French colleague, that the French word for ‘sample’ is ‘echantillon’.
“Would it be too much to hope that Erasmus students might go to countries where they have already a basic understanding of the language and the support material is in English”
see, I would think that this is an ok idea – although “in the name of free movement betwen countries” apparently we should all speak one language and the lectures should be in that language too. I get that I know sound like a minority raving for “my language is my language” but seriously, I don’t think it is impossible to learn a new language… (guess why?) and if nothing else, specifically on undergraduate level, it is so much easier to learn a language if you hear it and then can read in “your own language”. (the whole idea that Erasmus was intended to study language as well as a subject seem to have gotten lost .."
I have been part of courses with one foreign student, and in one of them – since all the material for the class was in English – the student said “please keep the lectures in Swedish and maybe I can ask questions in English afterwards?” I get that this maybe can’t be used in the bigger picture?!
I wonder if even the occasional non-French speaking exchange student wouldn’t understand better in French."
I would have been happier if the French post doc who gave lectures in one of my graduate classes would have given the lecture in French instead of English. Sorry to say, it was impossible to understand and in French we could’ve picked up the context better… :) Same goes for some Swedish lectures whose English were less than understandable…
“Then again, that might mean that Sweden would be a less attractive country for foreign students than England or Spain.”
But what if the tendency to teach classes in [broken] English makes the native students worse in knowledge.. aren’t you scared of loosing them? And, very non pc thought, what if the foreign students you change the language tp English for don’t know the language as well as promised so no one can really master the class?
I visited a friend in Sweden several years ago, and it would be my top choice for a sabbatical location (though sabbaticals have been effectively eliminated at most universities, including the one where I work). I would consider moving to Sweden permanently, if I could find a teaching and research position – if I were successful, then I would fully expect to work intensively at becoming proficient in the majority language. In fact I’d be rather disappointed if everyone spoke English to me, and I had no external incentive to learn Swedish.
The debate continues in the forum thread mentioned above…
Ummm, quandry. The debate has been more active here than in the above thread recently. Are there netiquette rules about this? Hope I don’t break the good china.
So, I feel the importance of teaching science in any country’s native tongue(s) is that most of the students will not continue in academia. In a degree of Forestry Management in Finland (or Sweden, France, Estonia…), for example, most will go on to work in a Finnish (…) government institute, where almost all communication will be in Finnish. Or from Biology they become school teachers, where all the teaching will be in Finnish, Pharmacologists become Pharmacists, etc etc etc. I guess you get the point.
It becomes important to develop a scientific vocabulary in all languages for this reason.
Mike, I think you make a really good point that has been neglected until now. This also touches on the other hot political issue of educating more Ph.D.s than a given country knows what to do with. France is even more prone to this than the U.S., where Ph.D.s do complain publicly about the disconnect between supply and demand (cf. GrrlScientist). France just ships them out for a nearly mandatory foreign postdoc stint and then loses most of them to foreign employers, because of a huge hiring bottleneck and a moribund private sector for scientists (with a slight exception for chemistry). Ph.D.s here can not get recycled back into the system to be a school teacher – there is separate certification and you have to start all over with 20-year-olds (and a lot of suspicious looks). However, they must go somewhere as members of society – and you’re right, their knowledge should be expressable (is that a word?) in their own language, in order to benefit the society that invested in them.
Heather, I’ve been wondering whether to chip in on this one or not… I think the big thing here is that there has to be a distinction between writing your thesis and/or hearing all lectures in English.
I agree very much with Eva (also from my own experience) that students will probably get a lot more out of hearing the ‘basics’ lectures in their native language (although most of the terms used will be English, the further away from the ‘basics’ you get, of course). You can concentrate on the science that way, without being distracted by possible problems with the language. It’s also important to remember that not everyone has the same language skills – would we exclude potentially very talented scientists if everything was taught in English even in other countries?
However, when it comes to thesis writing – I think it’s an excellent idea to write in English. This will train people to formulate their ideas in today’s lingua franca of science (and there has to be one – just happens to be English these days, so what?), and it will even make it easier to publish on your project afterwards! This writing thing is a very important point – I see manuscripts from non-native English speakers every day, and there are a lot of people out there that really struggle to express their science in English. I suspect that it must take them a lot longer to write up their research, and there’s a chance not every point they are trying to make will be caught and interpreted correctly by the editor or copy editor! What can be improved is help and assistance on thesis-writing by universities/colleges – in an ideal world, every non-native English speaking student would have an editor to go over their writings and assist.
Finally, your last statement, ‘…in order to benefit the society that invested in them’ gives me a bad conscience. I’m German and did my first degree here.. and then did my PhD in the UK, on a UK studentship. What to do with that?..
P.S. It really is quite clear that the discussion in the opinion forum really has nothing to do with English as the common scientific language, but instead is about political issues in countries with a multilingual population – isn’t it?
Sorry, Steffi, I was out of the blogosphere…
What do you think of writing your articles in English, as most are, and then sticking them in your thesis with introductory summaries in the native language, and framing it with an introduction and discussion in the native language? This is how most biology theses are written in France.
I think you’ve certainly given back plenty to the U.K. if your scientific contributions have been written in English! :-) but you shouldn’t really have a bad conscience unless Germany can offer proper working conditions for its women scientists such that they can realistically have a life outside the laboratory.
(puts on flame-proof suit)
I agree about the divergence of threads.
OUT OF THE BLOGOSPHERE???
I agree that writing your thesis up as ready-to-go (or even better: already published) articles with summaries in the native language is a stellar idea.
And I realise that I called Åsa Eva. Förlåt!