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Language most useful for science world? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Antiprism Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5418 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 22 03 February 2010 at 12:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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My current dream - if I am clever enough - is to be a mathematician, or possibly a physicist. This could easily change as I'm not even at university yet, and so know almost nothing about maths or physics really. However, I want to be prepared just in case I do end up working in the science world.
Which language is the most useful after English? I know before the war it was German. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| namsskogan Newbie Norway Joined 5597 days ago 18 posts - 53 votes  Speaks: Norwegian* Studies: German | Message 2 of 22 03 February 2010 at 2:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ancient greek and latin, perhaps? Edited by namsskogan on 03 February 2010 at 9:48pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Rikyu-san Diglot Senior Member Denmark Joined 5530 days ago 213 posts - 413 votes Speaks: Danish*, English Studies: German, French | Message 3 of 22 03 February 2010 at 2:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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There are probably many paths you can take.
The Chinese are producing more and more scientific work. Some of it is of questionable quality but most of it is not. It is expected that by 2020 they will produce more peer-reviewed articles than any other country in the world, even surpassing the US. I don't know how much of it is published in English or Mandarin but if the trends in your future field involves, or could involve, contact with Chinese scientists, it might be worth considering learning Mandarin. It is said that Mandarin is very hard as your first foreign language, but some people have perservered in spite of this and learned Mandarin as their first second language - through self-study. A different approach - and one that you can combine with your English and any other language your want to pick up - is to take a look at Sanskrit. English is related to Sanskrit - khandi is the word we use for candy. Let me give you a quote from one of my Sanskrit books - by Thomas Egene, Introduction to Sanskrit vol. 1 p. xi: "There are several reasons to study the subtle and refined language of Sanskrit. The sound, script, grammar, and systematic nature of the language is charming in itself, something of great beauty. The study of Sanskrit creates orderliness within the mind because Sanskrit is a hihgly systematic language, reflecting the orderliness of natue itself." Sanskrit and science are completely compatible, according to Vyaas Houston, director of the American Sanskrit Institute. Take a look at this article that is of particular relevance to your fields of study: http://www.americansanskrit.com/read/a_techage.php (If you decide to pick up Sanskrit, drop me a PM and we can exchange ideas and tips). German would also be a good choice, besides Mandarin and Sanskrit. German is a very orderly language. There are plenty of learning materials available for all three languages to keep you busy and enchanted for years. Some of it is free (FSI German Basic and FSI Chinese (Mandarin)), other programs cost money (Assimil, Pimsleur, Michel Thomas (for German and Mandarin, there are no Assimil, Pimsleur or MT for Sanskrit - so you have to follow a different path to learn Sanskrit). All of them are useful and suitable for different learners - and you can get plenty of helpful advice from users on this site to decide which ones to begin with and what to do later on - but the most important thing is to get started so that the enchantment can begin. German and Sanskrit can be studied at the same time if you follow the Introduction to Sanskrit series (one lesson per week) and follow a suitable German course (like Assimil or Pimsleur and then FSI German Basic). Learning languages of high quality will develop your thinking skills and imagination, ingenuity and perserverance, all useful for innovative scientists... Edited by Rikyu-san on 03 February 2010 at 2:21pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Antiprism Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5418 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English* | Message 4 of 22 03 February 2010 at 3:01pm | IP Logged | ||
They would be useful if I was a science historian, or interested in reading old works in their original form. But I was thinking more along the lines of 'which language, after English, are most scientific papers published in today and which language do most non-english-speaking/poor-english-speaking scientists speak?'. Thankyou for your reply though. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5587 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 5 of 22 03 February 2010 at 3:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'd go with German and Russian. Russia's rocket program is top notch, and they're years ahead in rocketry and science. Germany is the home of fantastic engineering. Take a look at the quality of Mercedes, My dad went to a plant once and the effort they put forth into producing a product is unbelievable. Everything fits together perfectly, and if there is a problem, you can bet your bottom dollar they will do everything to fix it.
Ever notice how many great physicists come from Germany and Russia? :D Although Steven Hawking is my favorite. :) -Jordan Edited by datsunking1 on 03 February 2010 at 3:03pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Antiprism Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5418 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English* | Message 6 of 22 03 February 2010 at 3:06pm | IP Logged | ||
Wow thank you for your long response! I was afraid the answer might be Mandarin :(. I guess I have to consider how long it would take me to learn Mandarin to a high standard and how much free time I actually have. Do you think most Chinese scientists can speak English, or at least publish their papers in both English and Mandarin? I have been considering learning German, but more because of their literature, I think almost all German scientists speak pretty good English. At least, our English universities seem to have lots of German professors. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Antiprism Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5418 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English* | Message 7 of 22 03 February 2010 at 3:20pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes Germany and Russia are pretty awesome at maths and physics! And France, for maths anyway. I think they are the country with the most Field's medals. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Rikyu-san Diglot Senior Member Denmark Joined 5530 days ago 213 posts - 413 votes Speaks: Danish*, English Studies: German, French | Message 8 of 22 03 February 2010 at 4:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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We had two threads going about English and Mandarin as universal or global languages and/or the lingua franca of the present and the future. Other contestants for this role were Spanish, Arabic and Esperanto. Many valid arguements in favour of the different langugages were put forth.
I don't think we should highjack this thread and start another discussion about this. Instead, I would like to zero in on your specific situation and just let the lingua franca discussion loom in the background. Whether or not you choose to pick up German, Mandarin, Sanskrit, Latin or Greek - and possibly French - depends a great deal on your own preferences and the future you yourself would like to live in. If you want to communicate with Chinese scientists, wouldn't it be useful to be able to read, comment, blog, present and discuss findings and research methods in Mandarin? If you speak only English, you communicate through their second language and you have no influence on the outcome of the situation because you have to rely on their ability to communicate their ideas to you. If you commit yourself to learning the language to a high level (it will take you years, but as Lao-tsu once said, nature doesn't rush things yet get everything done. So there is no need to rush things), you will increase your choice. You won't have to limit yourself to written works in English but will be able to move about at ease in any situation. You can also use it when travelling to China to participate in conferences or as a tourist, and the ancient culture will open its doors for you. So - even if the Chinese would publish every single article in English, there are still valid arguments in favour of learning the language and familiarize yourself with their culture and way of thinking and get more choices when dealing with them. It will simply take yourself and your future possibilities to a higher level. In fact, this argument - that you will have more choices if you learn another language - could also be put forth in favour of German and Russian. And the cool thing is that you don't have to choose. Polyglots on this site like Iversen, Prof. Arguelles and Irish Polyglot are living proof that we can become multi-lingual if we choose. Not without effort, but the good life is all about effort, so at the end of the day there is nothing new under the sun. Sanskrit is not spoken by many, and is probably a rarity within the scientific community. The benefits of Sanskrit, however, does not come directly from speaking and writing Sanskrit in a professonal context but from what it will help you accomplish in terms of your own development. As just one example, Sanskrit is now affecting my Danish (my mother tongue) and my English. How? Well, that is one of the mysteries of this ancient but very much vibrantly alive language. I have set aside at least ten years to move ahead in my chosen languages. I know that I will be able to use the languages at still higher levels as I go along - from the stumbling and stuttering beginner to smooth near-native fluency - and it doesn't matter to me how long it takes as long as I feel that I progress. The fact that it will take a long time does not deter me. On the contrary, seeing language learning as a long-term project only highlights the fact that I will learn a lot and have many positive experiences. The important thing - apart from getting started! - is to celebrate your languages. And as Doviende (a user of this site) puts it in two of his mottos: "Many people overestimate what they can do in a day, and vastly underestimate what they can do in a year" "Don't try to be good, just try to be better. Good will happen by itself." I think these two mottos are true and have adapted them into my own routine. Edited by Rikyu-san on 03 February 2010 at 5:04pm 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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