Something’s been on my mind. For a while now. Gnawing at my hardwood hardwires. Gnagging with gnattish agnoyance.
I’ve had a history of travelling the world, visiting other countries, continents, Working in foreign climes, thoroughly enjoying my global cultural education. Maybe I inherited it from my Dad, who was a merchant sailor. Perhaps it’s more deeply routed in my Scottish ancestry. A nation who invented everything, and then decided Scotland wasn’t cold or wet enough1, so took their ideas to the rest of the world. (We also do a pretty decent line in racist stereotyping)
But now, the rest of the world is getting their own back. And not just on the Scots. Or the English, Welsh, Irish, North Americans (excepting Mexico), Antipodeans or any other native English speaking regions I may have neglected to mention.
No. English is the most common 2nd language around the globe (see also here and here), and it’s the current international language of science (From wikipedia: the Science Citation Index reported that 95% of its articles were written in English, even though only half of them came from authors in English-speaking countries.).
That puts native English speakers at something of a competitive disadvantage when it comes to applying for jobs in our natal countries. Not only do we have to compete with our linguistic fellows, but also those talented, intelligent folks filled with wanderlust from the rest of the world.
In my own way, I’ve been doing my best to buck the trend. My last six and a half years have been spent at the expense of the Finnish tax payer. And I barely even learnt to swear properly på Suomeksi. Now, I’m planning my next move to warmer climes – a fellowship in Mallorca. Which I’m extremely excited about, for a variety of reasons, some of which are even related to language. My wife is Catalan, and Mallorquí is a Catalan dialect. I’d love to speak another language properly, and speak with my in-laws more fluently. The theory is that you learn the language faster in Spain, as fewer folk know English2. Mallorca could be the exception that proves the rule though. At least my German is likely to improve.
But this digresses from my main point. Many of NN’s regular users are displaced. Here are just a few examples.
And then there are those who move (back and forth) between English speaking countries, which could potentially balance itself out.
But how many have gone from a non-English speaking country to an English speaking one, and how many have gone the other way? Ian Brooksy Brooks suggest academic migration may become a real problem in the States. How about other countries?
It’d be nice to have some data to back up my poorly phrased hypothesis and Ian’s concerns.
So, dear readers, answer if you can. Where have your academic travels taken you? What about the composition of your group or department? Is globalisation affecting linguistic groups in academia in different ways?
Good night, hyvää yötä, bona nit. Wherever you may be.
Getting to know the locals, Mallorca, last year. Thankfully, theoretical ecology ain’t all about algebra
1 If anyone can find a video or sound clip of Billy Connolly describing the emigration habits of Scots, particularly those who go down to the South Island of New Zealand, where it is even more wet and [fruity language] miserable than back home, I’d love a link!
2 Compared to Finland, where the average local speaks English better than I do. And the below average Finn still speaks English better than Bob. Although Bob does write very nicely, and seems to understand the correct usage of prepositions.
Very good post Dr. Fowler, yeees. Very good. I shall ponder, ruminate and have a lager, and post on my blog post and this tomorrow.
I’ve been to both the French and English parts of Canada for science. UofT is exceptionally international (the most international university on earth, but I don’t know exactly how they calculate it – if that’s % of students born outside Canada or number of countries represented)
Languages spoken by the people that I’ve shared a lab with during my PhD: English, French, Dutch, German, Croatian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Czech, Polish, Farsi, Norwegian, Hebrew, and Russian. Maybe also Italian, but I’m not sure if the Canadian born Italian student actually spoke the language with her parents or just used English at home. We had 14 of these languages represented all at once in the lab at one point in time. Norwegian was represented by a Chinese colleague who had done her undergrad in Norway, and still has family living there.
And I was always the go-to person for proofreading purposes and spelling questions, even though English isn’t my first language.
Is globalisation affecting linguistic groups in academia in different ways?
Of course it is. But I think the big factor will be who is willing to move, learn and adapt, not primarily the language skills. Yes, you need an ‘ability’ to pick up another language, but in my experience – as long as you are willing, chances are you can learn when needed. I have seen so many go from hilarious, school-learned English to good speakers and reasonable writers! I was one of them (ask my friend Sophie sometime how I used to pronounce ‘owl’ not that many years ago). None of my family speak more than a few words of English learned at school – I learned everything just by ‘exposure’ and struggling with the language. The foundation was laid at school, but I really only learned properly as a young adult. Just sayin’, so there’s no excuse (‘oh, but you already knew…’).
What exactly is stopping English speakers to go to different countries? I think that’s an even more interesting question. You did it, Bob did it. You know you’re ‘stars’ where you are, and you say you didn’t even have to pick up the language (come on, I bet you can swear!!). What’s the barrier that’s keeping more English speakers from applying for jobs in ‘non-English speaking countries’ (I hate the ‘non-’ expressions – if you’re not this, you’re just ‘non-something’)?
Just another disturbing observation about myself is that I only have English as another language. All my French and Spanish seem to have disappeared over the last decade. I suspect my processors are only big enough for one foreign language… may need to upgrade. And I’m not even mentioning that I struggle with some less frequently used German words these days… (it’s pathetic).
P.S. Just on your comment on the ‘competitive disadvantage’ when applying for jobs: in Southampton, I had a PhD studentship specifically for applicants from other EU countries. The normal PhD studentships were open for UK citizens only, if I remember correctly…
Mike: this is an interesting question indeed (thanks for the link) and as both you and Brooks and others have mentioned, I have a feeling that is more nonEnglish people moving to English places. Then again, it is a feeling… anecdotal… maybe there is as much travel from nonEnglish people to nonEnglish places? ( I doubt it but I am not sure, haven’t seen the studies, if there are any?)
I think we might move towards more of what Steffi is eluding too… that certain positions require a citizenship in order to protect it from “all foreigners”. Certainly in Sweden there are lots of discussion at the moment on how the educational system should look since we don’t have tuition fees but currently a lot of foreign people applying to undergrad and grad school… and then what happens afterwards etc.
My own reasoning for not moving to a nonEnglish place was partly influenced that I felt hesitant about moving to France/Germany to pursue research and then talk French/German all day in lab (as my friends from these places ensured me we would do and which makes sense to me) and then keep up with the English in the papers. (no, my French/German isn’t that fluent… but exposure does wonders, I know). But sure, if the position I am in wouldn’t have opened and the one in UK wouldn’t have either, I wouldn’t have said non to the move at all. Just no my first choice… (I think some people would have fancied the stay in Europe though – since US is far away from home.)
Steffi and Åsa, as you’ve noted, the major publication language in science is English. To get ahead in science in any country, it’s imperative that you understand English. It’s almost beyond my comprehension how so many non-native speakers can learn to communicate so effectively in a 2nd technical language! Yet they do, and I have the impression they often head towards English speaking countries for work.
The UK has a strong, proud tradition in my field (ecology and evolutionary biology; as a Dutch friend informed me last night!). This means that it’s a magnet for good researchers, and also means the UK maintains a strong research base by consistently attracting the best researchers. The US also has an extremely strong scientific tradition, and certainly attracts (and headhunts) the best talent from around the world.
In my current (and past) department, the number of native speaking permanent researchers (i.e., Finnish/Swedish speaking Finnish nationals, or simply native English speakers in the UK case) relative to the total is 11/12 (Helsinki, Finland) and 21/24 (Glasgow, UK).
Having just done the calculations, I’m surprised how similar they are (0.917 vs 0.875)! Doesn’t seem to support my idea after all. However, Ian and Eva seem to have another story. Finland has been estimated to have 4% of non-nationals in permanent academic positions, which seemed remarkably low to me when I heard it. Unfortunately I can’t find the report now.
I also think it’s important to differentiate between permanent and non-permanent positions in this situation. Moving abroad for a short term phd or post-doc will also have competitive impacts on the local academic population, but I guess the proportion that remains, looking for permanent positions, will tail off after this stage.
While I think the teaching of a 2nd language in the UK schools ain’t great (we start around age 12, and can give up by age 16 – hell the teaching of English in UK schools is pretty woeful), I still come back to the need to continue communicating science in English, which reinforces our linguistic laziness. Then there’s the problem of facing competition from everybody else in Europe, who seem to get English taught to them as a 2nd language. And then a 3rd and 4th if their really interested.
Hm. I was born in an English-speaking country (Canada; yeah yeah, we’re bilingual, allegedly – what’s your point?); lived a year in another English-speaking country (Wales; yes, I know); and now live in the same English-speaking country as before.
Maybe you could use me as a negative control in the experiment, or something.
I think, in science, we’re an unusual subset of the population, in that we are actively encouraged to migrate ("Don’t postdoc in the same place you did your PhD, young fella!!!!! [etc.]). And some countries seem to encourage it more than others (I’ve been in a couple of labs with Dutch PhD students, who seemed to have a requirement that they spend some time in another lab abroad).
Sorry if someone said that already, I’m in a rush and only skimmed the comments.
P.S. I once took an undergrad course in Music History. One of the professors was Egyptian. He apologized for his accent, telling us that he learned English from a French person, teaching in Egypt.
His English was, predictably, excellent.
Mike: there’s a big misunderstanding – at least speaking for the education you get in Germany. English is not ‘taught as a 2nd language’ in terms of the level and depth to which it is taught. It is simply ‘school English’, same as any language taught anywhere else at school. Maybe a few more lessons a week, and for a few more years than you would get for a foreign language at school in the UK. But getting proficient – not to mention getting efficient at communicating – in the language is a completely different kettle of fish.
Anyone I know who only learned English at school and never did anything with it is, frankly, not very good at it. Anyone who learned it in school and – using that as a starting point – started reading English literature, watching English movies, lived in an English-speaking country for a while, and/or maybe uses English regularly in their job – now we’re talking. Think of learning to ride a bicycle and then never doing it versus regularly going on proper mountainbike rides.
So (to kind of get back on topic) – what I was trying to say is that it’s just as open to you to move to non-English speaking countries and apply for jobs there as it is for us to move to English speaking countries. Simple as that. (And by the way, there are some pretty strong scientific traditions in other countries, too. My decision was driven by wanting to learn the language properly…)
P.S. I don’t even know why I am trying to make this point with you, since you clearly did go to another country…
I’m perhaps a more controlly control than is Richard W. I’ve spent most of my life in one English-speaking country, the US (yes I know), and three postdoctoral years in another English-speaking country, ummm … England. To make my controlliness even more negative, I don’t consider myself to be truly proficient at speaking any second language (unless you count Summoning Unfamiliar Horses Across a Field or Paddock as a language). Reading is a different matter, but not especially relevant to this discussion.
I’ve heard all kinds of languages spoken at work, though: Spanish, Russian, German, Czech, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Portuguese, Japanese, Polish, Turkish, etc. My father had quite a few Japanese postdocs, colleagues, and visiting scientists in his lab; one of them must have taught me how to use chopsticks properly when I was quite young, because within memory, I’ve never not been able to handle them. No one else in my family is comfortable eating with chopsticks.
I may have said this before, but many moons ago my parents (who are English, BTW) both studied Russian, as at that time it seemed that Russian might become the lingua Franca of science, or at least of Physics. This would have been in the 1950s.
How times change, I suppose.
I don’t consider myself to be truly proficient at speaking any second language (unless you count Summoning Unfamiliar Horses Across a Field or Paddock as a language
Kristi, I wouldn’t dismiss that so easily. There are many people who might stand there for hours and not get anywhere. And it reminds me of Gandalf…
I have never lived outside the U.S. and, therefore, have only a limited grasp of English (American that is with several dialects including Southern in my repertoire). My PhD mentor was encouraging enough for us to look for post-docs outside the U.S. However, with limited access to funding in other countries and many more (and less expensive) opportunities here it wasn’t really much of an option. I know that for many U.S. born graduate students the thought of leaving the States for any amount of time made them think that they would be at a disadvantage when applying for grants (i.e. NIH and NSF) in the future because they were not becoming part of the U.S. funding system early on in their careers. I don’t know if that is true or not, but it was a view held by many. So, even if English is the “language” of science the ability to get funding is the “driver”. Only when the opportunity to get funding in other countries is on par or better than in the U.S. will you see more emigration from here to there (at least in my opinion).
So, even if English is the “language” of science the ability to get funding is the “driver”
That’s a great point, Craig, and it can be challenging for a US citizen to find funding for a postdoctoral fellowship outside the US. Though an NIH NRSA can be taken abroad (I did it), as long as there is good justification for doing the research in that particular lab.
Kristi, you mention that you were able to take your grant abroad – I’m pretty sure NSF grants can be too… and they even have an Office of International Science and Engineering (love that name, by the way: ‘international science’..). Other organizations offer grants specifically for international applicants – the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for example offers scholarships (random example given here – and for some reason I neglected to mention before that that I also had a DAAD scholarship while in the UK, as well as a studentship from Southampton).
So I’m pretty sure there are opportunities for US graduates and post docs, but they may just not be that well advertised? If there was a change in culture, would this perception that going abroad may hinder getting funded later go away?
Generally, I would be excited if there was more active collaboration to get US graduate students to go abroad – let’s start with the US and EU…