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From: hinsenk@cyclone.ERE.UMontreal.CA (Hinsen Konrad)
Subject: Re: Single European Language
In-Reply-To: erik@kroete2.freinet.de's message of Wed, 21 Jun 1995 02:56:35 GMT
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References: <3rt4nj$38e@blackrabbit.cs.uoregon.edu> <DAAn2L.DCt@cwi.nl>
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Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 15:47:17 GMT
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In article <DAI5IB.nL@kroete2.freinet.de> erik@kroete2.freinet.de (Erik Corry) writes:

   But is it beneficial to students to translate the textbooks into
   their language. I think it isn't. The selection of mathematics
   books translated into a small language like Danish or Dutch is
   never going to be as big as that available in English. The fact

That depends on the level of the textbooks. Most students of science
or mathematics I know come to university whith a theoretical knowledge
of English, but little practical experience. They learn scientific
English together with their chosen subject (which, by the way, is an
investment in time for learning English that is rarely accounted for
in statistics). Therefore it makes sense to have entry-level textbooks
in everyone's native language. On the other hand, advanced monographs
for graduate students are so specialized that translation is close
to impossible for economic reasons.


Back to the topic of this thread, I think the accepted international
use of English in science should be of interest to everyone
thinking about international communication. Any observer of the
current situation in science will find that

1) Having a common language is extremely useful.
2) Communication in English between non-native speakers
   works rather well, although the complexities of English
   phonetics cause many problems (I know many scientists
   who avoid presentations by Japanese or Chinese scientists
   because they don't expect to understand much).
3) Communication between native and non-native speakers
   of English usually works well, but in case of
   disagreement, native speakers often use their
   linguistic superiority to "win" an argument by
   using complicated sentences or less frequent words.
4) Discussions about non-scientific topics (e.g. at
   lunchtime) are often very frustrating, and
   one can often observe a seperation of people into groups
   of different native languages.


My personal conclusion is that the ideal international language
should be nobody's native language and easy to learn for everyone.
Of all languages I know, Esperanto comes closest to this
ideal, although it certainly isn't perfect.

--
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Konrad Hinsen                     | E-Mail: hinsenk@ere.umontreal.ca
Departement de chimie             | Tel.: +1-514-343-6111 ext. 3953
Universite de Montreal            | Fax:  +1-514-343-7586
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