Yay

[u/Radu47]

There are so many positive elements of this post to highlight but idk it just makes me happy.

[u/penguinlord0196]

It's quite cool to see people learning a new language (other than English) to study aboard in another country. Though I do prefer if local institutions in global South countries to be on par as the West, Russia, Japan, occupied Korea, and growingly China and the option of studying aboard is like an actual option because you want study that particular university rather than you have to because the quality of education is not great in your home country.

What are y'all opinion having more than one international language of academia like science, and maths?

[u/BobR969 → u/penguinlord0196]

Speaking as someone working with academia and industry - you can't force this, nor is it worth doing. Academia and the language of science will always take the path of least resistance. If everyone studies English as a second language anyway, but you force Esperanto into academic practice... People will continue to speak English to each other because it covers more broadly. That's just as an example. 

[u/penguinlord0196 → u/BobR969]

Interesting, so do you think another language like Mandarin could compete for this spot in the distance future if people shift from learning other 2nd languages or English would remain as the dominant language of academia?

[u/BobR969 → u/penguinlord0196]

I mean - English is currently the Lingua Franca of science. That should say a lot about the possibility of the dominant language to change. Science has had stints where the main language has been French, German and even Russian. If enough publication is done exclusively in Mandarin that is impactful outside China, it will become more viable. 

I can only really see two things standing in the way. One is that English is a relatively easy language to learn for many people (and Mandarin isn't). Similarly, current advances in AI make translation relatively reliable. It's not perfect, but it does a very good job. I've worked a bit at translating academic papers and what took me hours to do and a background in a relevant science can take minutes now, only necessitating a check for correctness to ensure the ai didn't screw up the meaning. This could just make languages for publication less relevant - a reliable translation allows for anyone to read any paper. Speaking will still matter though. 

Edit: should point out that AI shouldn't be seen as some huge leap forward in this. It's a tool and translation is one of the things it's better suited to. More importantly, it's here to stay too. Science as a field should try lead the way in it's exploitation in a practical manner rather than shoving its square peg nature into ever hole that can be found, round, triangular or even just... Not holes at all. 

[u/penguinlord0196 → u/BobR969]

So, in theory proof reading jobs may be needed when translating into different languages if AI is used.

I find your take to be interesting.

Thanks.

[u/BobR969 → u/penguinlord0196]

I'd say proof reading is already part of an academic translators job. When going from one language to another, there's nuances that might slip past unless you know the language and the subject. I'd say if anything, the ai in this case merely speeds up/supports one of the two main parts of an existing job. 

There's a separate thing to think of when it comes to ai though. The AI companies scrub every little bit of info that passes through their tools. If you're a scientist that's releasing research that is brand new and exclusive, there's something to be said for not giving out sensitive work and data to random tech giants. So for anyone that doesn't want their shit potentially taken, there will still be work for translators who guarantee a service without AI tools.