Accurate scientific translation is vital, say Meredith Root-Bernstein and Richard Ladle

We all know that if you want to be a professional scientist in the 21st century, you have to communicate in English. This is not a problem if you are lucky enough to be born to English-speaking parents, but spare a thought for the majority of the world’s scientists who are forced to communicate the subtleties and significance of their research in an idiosyncratic foreign tongue.

A misplaced preposition or poor choice of verb can ruin a convincing narrative, reducing the probability of publication in a top international journal and limiting the impact of the research. Not only is this bad news for scientists struggling to communicate their work, it is also bad for science.

Science needs more trained personnel who can bridge the language gap. The need is particularly urgent in areas such as the environmental and agronomical sciences in which it is increasingly appreciated that regional and local interventions can have global impacts.

In an effort to disseminate their work, many foreign scientists spend precious research funds on private translation services. But standard translators may not understand the science, the structure of scientific papers or the technical language. The only alternative is to rely on bilingual colleagues to provide translation services as a favour.

But in a recent article in the journal Ambio: A Journal of the Human Environment, we suggest that university departments in non-anglophone countries could hire professional translators with a science background, just as they hire statisticians and technical specialists. Alternatively, they could offer attractive positions for bilingual or native English-speaking researchers, with a percentage of their time earmarked for assisting colleagues with translating, editing or writing papers and other research outputs. Such positions could be permanent or offered on a fixed-term basis to visiting academics. More.

See: Times Higher Education

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