Re: paleonet Discussion: Anglo-Saxon Science ( ... ) rest of theworld: Suggestions

[Peter Paul Smolka <smolka@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 12 Mar 2003, Niko Malchus wrote:

>
> Dear Xavier, Dear Paleonetters,
>
> Qu.: Do you think that the Anglo-saxon dominates the palaeontological world?
> if
> so why?

Two thoughts, one technical, one question:

1) Suspected domination of Anglo-Saxons:

This question was brought up years ago by a chair in one institute who
used an argumentaion like: "It anyway makes no sense to
publish in English..." (for above reasons).

I wondered as PhD student (1986/87) also why "English written
papers look so similar; where was the individual creativity
of the writer etc etc etc.?"

Later I found out (which might be ueseful for others) that
in the English speaking world there are courses, even for the
first semesters on "how to write a paper". The form is
nearly "prescribed" (like, for good reasons, the formalized
communication in air traffic), other items are formalized too.

It simply makes life easier for our English speaking colleagues
to know the rules earlier. It is not domination.

That is: It might be ueseful to put brief summaries of rules of
writing and related issues on the web so anybody, comparable
to a pilot, can apply the correct rules of communication.

It might appear that Anglo Saxons dominate the world - in fact
it is only that in other countries writing is not regarded as
"skill to aquire" but as "genious inspiration which either
is absent, present or comes as gift from above".

If in many countries writing would be regarded as general skill,
like a GIS, which is also "nothing special", life would
be much easier and heated discussions sometimes be less heated.

So: URLs of "web based courses on writing" (and related issues)
might be helpful for scientists from many countries
(for example as part of the paleonet list, the list server etc.).

>
> On the other hand, I would love to have a bunch of papers/books translated
> from Russian/Japanese/Chinese into a language I can understand, which would
> probably be English, simply because there are less people that understand
> German.

Some years ago, I think at the end of the eighties, I came accross
in the library of Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg
a translation of one or two series of the Communications of the
Soviet Acacdemy of Sciences.

If I remember it correctly this translation (the whole series)
was made by an Israelian Institute/Company.

Does anybody know (also for the community) whether this
translation is also web based available?

Are translations from other languages, such as, but not limited
to, Chinese, Japanese, Thailandic etc. of scientific journals
available web based? Maybe international organizations (or that
of the country) did so and we aren t aware of it.

I can imagine that Japanese and Chinese journals might
contain great contributions to progress. If above Israelian
translation service (if it still exists) includes also a Chinese
and/or Japanese line, of course also a line to Israelian journals
(in the sense of the Israelian language (I suspect it is Hebrew,
but my knowledge on that region is very limited)), it might be helpful
for the community to know about it, particularly if it might
be web based.

To avoid a new heated discussion: This thought inlcudes all other
languages as well, including Ebo, Haussa, Arabian, German, Vietnamese,
Australian, Greenlandic, Basque, Spanish etc etc. If above mentioned
Hebrew is an Arabian language and I unintentionally offended
somebody I hereby apologize in advance.
>
> Don't know if all this helps
>
> Anyway, Have a nice one,
>
> Niko
>
Best regards, Peter
>
>

**********************************************************************
Dr. Peter P. Smolka
University Muenster
Geological Institute
Corrensstr. 24
D-48149 Muenster

Tel.: +49/251/833-3989   +49/2533/4401
Fax:  +49/251/833-3989   +49/2533/4401
E-Mail: smolka@uni-muenster.de
E-Mail: PSmolka@T-Online.de
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