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Against the backdrop of globalization, German is losing ground as a language of science and scholarship. Particularly in the natural sciences and engineering, it has lost prestige. Lest the German language become internationally irrelevant, a movement has now formed opposing the monopoly enjoyed by English. Among its proponents is the Goethe-Institut. What is the aim of this linguistic-political offensive?

German as a language of science and scholarship has been put on the defensive. Kai O. Arras experiences this daily. The 39-year-old “Junior Research Leader” for robotics at the University of Freiburg exchanges views and information with his colleagues in English. Technical articles are written only in English. Reading them is often anything but an aesthetic experience: “When I read a paper from Japan, I prepare myself for the worst”, says the engineer. Not more than 20 per cent of the scientific articles that he regularly reads are, in his opinion, written in good English. Translations? Not a chance.

Dictatorship of rankings

For these reasons, one day it went too far for Ralph Mocikat. That was when the physician and immunologist witnessed how, even at conferences for a German audience, lectures were held only in English. This surrender of German scientific culture caused the professor to found the “Working Group for German as a Language of Science and Scholarship” (Arbeitskreis Deutsch als Wissenschaftssprache / ADAWIS) in 2007. It is committed to linguistic diversity and the preservation of German as a language for science and scholarship. The Working Group focuses on the natural sciences, computer science and medicine, because these are the areas where, according to the ADAWIS, Anglicization has progressed the furthest.

Why do German researchers give up their mother tongue so readily? After all, German was once a world language in the humanities and natural sciences. “Because they are afraid that their articles won’t be sufficiently quoted in the Anglophone world”, answers Mocikat – a circumstance that inevitably leads to an ever more progressive decline in German-language articles in the important citation databases.

Here the researchers are dancing round a Golden Calf: the so-called impact factor. Only those that are frequently quoted in selected, internationally prestigious journals come to enjoy a high rating. According to Mocikat, the quality of an author’s work is inferred from the ranking of the scientific or scholarly journals in which he publishes. This inference is not always justifiable. The impact factor is determined by an American private company, Thomson Reuters, and published in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). In the long term, therefore, Mockiat calls for the counterweight of a multilingual European citation database.

The polyglot science

In the meantime, a counter-movement has indeed been formed, which is supported by major scientific and scholarly organizations. The offensive is not about banning English as the international language of science and scholarship. Rather, the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft / DFG) has found its way to a “pragmatic principle of multilingualism”. The principle, formulated by DFG Vice President Luise Schorn-Schütte, affects applications and assessments of grant applications – for example, applications for the Excellence Initiative.

According to this principle, applications and assessments of applications should be written in the language commonly used in the relevant field. Whereas natural scientists and engineers, for example, would formulate their applications and assessments in English, scholars in the humanities and the social sciences would continue to write theirs in German – unless, of course, the application or assessment came form the pen of an Anglophone humanities scholar or social scientist.

Renaissance of multilingualism?

Deutscher Akademischer Auslandsdienst / DAAD), the Goethe-Institut and the University Rectors Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz / HRK) also espoused multilingualism. “The internationalization of science and scholarship means that a multilingual scientific and scholarly community has emerged for which, on the one hand, English is the lingua franca for global professional communication, and which, on the other hand, has not abandoned its own several languages”, state the Presidents. They therefore call for more interpreters at conferences, funding for scientific translation and German courses for visiting scientists and scholars.

At the beginning of 2010, the DAAD again addressed a memorandum to the public on the promotion of German as a language of science and scholarship. This time the academic organization discussed linguistic-political guidelines. For example, the outstanding conditions for teaching, research and publication should in the long term awaken an interest in Germany that extends to its language: “Excellent science and scholarship promotes the German language”. Among the measures could be the strengthening of the study of German at home and abroad and the export of German courses of study at foreign universities.

The DAAD has also committed itself to using German more often in its public relations. This linguistic-political thrust has already borne fruit. The public has been made aware of internationalization and its consequences for the German language and culture. Some researchers are rethinking things. “I can hardly imagine German being used as the language for robotics”, says engineer Arras, but he still finds it a good idea that other disciplines are insisting upon multilingualism.