The language of science

I am honored by President Joachim Hasse and the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery (EACTS) to have been invited to speak to you today. It is a special pleasure because to celebrate the millennium the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) and EACTS are honoring one another, and the seeds for this coming together began on both sides of the Atlantic during the year I had the privilege of presiding at the STS. Why did I hope the language of science might be of interest to you? The EACTS, with English as its of®cial language, is one of the great international melting-pots of thoracic surgery. For many of you English is a second language, and I supposed that this might present you with more challenge in presenting your work than it would be to do so in your own languages. Why is this topic of interest to me? I was stimulated to think about differences between the research environment in the US and elsewhere when David Nahrworld sounded an alarm in 1995 with the observation that the number of publications from US authors in peer-reviewed surgical journals had been decreasing [1]. He said `The most striking ®nding was the dramatic, signi®cant fall in the number of1⁄4research pages from the US and the increase in1⁄4pages from countries other than the US1⁄4' Most of the American Surgical Association audience believed this re ected a decrease in time and funds allotted to research in the US. It took a French colleague, during the discussion period, to reassure us Americans and to make us chuckle. Professor Henri Bismuth of Villejuif, France responded by saying that this `1⁄4may re ect the increased ability of non-American surgeons to write English1⁄4It is like the French complaining of more Americans in French restaurants. It does not mean that French taste is losing.' John Waldhausen, editor emeritus of our sister journal, added perspective by saying, `1⁄4we should be thankful that these manuscripts are1⁄4in English rather than in Mandarin Chinese, the language spoken by more people than any other in the world.' Shortly after the Nahrwold±Bismuth±Waldhausen exchange that called attention to language, my interest was further stimulated when I lectured in Vienna. My offer to speak in Viennese German, my ®rst language, was politely declined in favor of English ± their of®cial language. I then realized how much more work it would have been for me to speak in my mother tongue than in my daily language. During the discussion period, which was in German, my audience understood better, and expressed itself more clearly and succinctly, in its own language than in English. This was true despite their sophistication and good knowledge of English. Subsequent visiting professorships in the Netherlands, France and Japan enhanced my awareness of the language burden faced by English second language scientists. My personal editorial experience for the Annals of Thoracic Surgery (ATS), the European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and a number of other journals has made me sensitive to today's topic. In addition, friends in Europe and Asia, who have impeccable skill in their own languages, have repeatedly asked me to review or edit manuscripts from the language viewpoint. Ladies and gentlemen, with native tongues other than English, my hat is off to you. You have accepted and coped admirably with an English language burden, and my hope is that you will see my remarks as constructive. I began my audacious venture into language studies by consulting the late Professor Victoria Fromkin, former chairperson of our UCLA Department of Linguistics. She reminded me that mathematics is the most durable language of science and she stressed a commonalty among written European Journal of Cardio-thoracic Surgery 18 (2000) 642±648