Re: Planet of the New Papers

[Michael Mortimer <mickey_mortimer111@msn.com>]

Mike Taylor writes-

> Jerry D. Harris writes:
>  > I'm a bit dismayed at some of the voices resounding on the list
>  > intimating some inherent superiority of English over any other
>  > language.
>
> I don't believe I've seen one single message on this thread that
> intimated any such thing.  What has been stated is that "one" has an
> inherent advantage over any other number as the number of different
> languages in use in scientific discourse.

Exactly.  English isn't superior to other languages (or at least, I don't 
know of any reasons it is*), it's just the most prevelent online and in 
scientific papers.  Also a very common second language for non-native 
speakers.  While there may be more Chinese speakers, less of them are 
participating in major scientific institutions, the World Wide Web, and 
technical publications.  I think we can all agree that the internet in some 
form is the communication method of the future.  With increasing 
digitization of scientific papers, and increasing technological power, I 
doubt this language thing will be an issue in ten years.  No doubt 
translation software will improve enough by then to make it inconsequential 
what language anything was originally written in.  Such software may even 
make a global language unnecessary if it's integrated properly.

* Considering further, English IS superior to other languages currently for 
the important reason that keyboards are designed for its use.  While you can 
get other European languages typed up relatively easily, Asian languages are 
far more difficult.

Mickey Mortimer