Hidden heroes of science communication

 In light of considerations from Imperial College to close its Translations Studies Unit, Jiayi Huang explains the impact this could have on the future of scientific translation and highlights the importance of this little-known occupation

The recent disclosure that Imperial College is considering the future of their Translation Studies Unit is rather worrying. This little unit embedded within this giant institution famous for its scientific, engineering and medical research does a very important job within the UK – namely training translators to work in the scientific, medical and technical fields (henceforth collective referred to as “science”). This movement tells us two things which have prompted this article: the increasing undermining of languages in British educational establishments, and the lack of appreciation of the role that translation plays in science: both of which have attributed to the shortage of trained scientific translators.

Scientific translation is not a new phenomenon. It has its roots in the Antiquity, when the prominent scientific figures included Aristotle and Archimedes. Thinking over the history of science, some of the most influential scientists – Galileo, Ptolemy, Laplace, Newton, Marie Curie, Einstein, Planck – all wrote in another language before their works were translated into English. In the renown of these scientists, people often forget the small print that bears the translator’s name; but without these translators, their works would never have been accessible in their full force.

Where did the need for translating science come from? Scott L Montgomery, author of Science in Translation, attributes this to the need of mobilising and transferring knowledge between cultures in order to build societies. “How is knowledge rendered mobile? What makes it able to cross boundaries of time, place, and language? The answer would appear simple.”“…Translation has been a crucial force behind both the creation and the continual refertilisation of science.”

Indeed, it is obvious from the history of science that scientific development was not solely restricted to the English-speaking countries. Science has been revised and interpreted from culture to culture, era to era: translated, then applied, then innovated. In the same way that scientific ideas are not static, so is the case for the communication of scientific knowledge across the world, permitted by translation.

People are often confused about the job of a scientific translator. Scientific translators are simply translators who translate scientific content. This could come in the form of journal articles, medical reports, textbooks, TV documentaries etc. All translators specialise in certain subject areas. When it comes to science, there are translators who specialise as medical translators, technical translators, patents translators, technical patent translators, and so on. Sonia Jankowiak, pharmaceutical and medical translator, explains the work she does:

“I work for scientists and medical professionals who want to publish research in peer reviewed journals or who found research in a language they don't understand. I also work for pharmaceutical companies who require translation for their clinical trials documentation such as consent forms for clinical trial participants.”

Walking through Imperial College, one might immediately notice the strong presence of international students. Surely there are more than enough people to do scientific translation? It is often a myth that people who speak another language can automatically translate. There is a difference between understanding and translating it into another language. Here is an illustration: a child asks you what sodium is. You understand the word, but how do you explain it to a child with no notion of chemicals? What do you do? You translate. Now imagine doing that into another language with its own cultural conventions and grammatical structures, for a readership with a different mentality, history, identity, and philosophy. Make no mistake. Translation is a complicated process, especially when translating into the language of a developing country where scientific terms have no equivalent (yet).

Let’s say for instance that you, the reader, protests: Science is universal! Sodium is the same in Britain as in another country, with only the language difference. You can use a dictionary! However, scientific texts are not lists of facts. They are discourses: a presentation of “ideas”. Science is universal, but to ‘write’ about science is to submit to language, which is culture-bound.

“There is… no science without the varied discourses of literacy and orality that give it reality in the world of human understanding,” says Montgomery.

Here is an example of why language is important to scientific texts. In French, the conditional tense is often used to relate scientific theories. This indicates that the author is referring to something that is an ‘allegation’, but which is not proven (or at least they’re not claiming responsibility for it!). The English conditional doesn’t convey the same meaning. To translate this on a text-level equivalent (word-for-word, tense-for-tense) without cultural understanding could lead to some misunderstandings.

The scientific translator is a cultural and language expert of both the source language and the target language (often the mother-tongue of the translator). They are adept and thorough at researching (for background information, scientific context, as well as finding and creating new terminology in their language). They also know their readership and the scientific conventions of that country. In short, the translator might or might not be a scientist, but they still need to understand the science (perhaps to the level of experts) in order to translate accurately.

The problem is that very few translators with a humanities background have an interest in science. And few people with the scientific background are trained in the skills of transferring language and ideas cross-culturally. Some scientists even hire someone to write for them, let alone translate.Those that possess both the scientific knowledge and the language skills are rare indeed.

So who are the people who make up this scarce breed called scientific translators (traductor scientiae)? In the past, bilingual scientists translated texts from within their field which were beneficial to their own research. However, as science has developed on a colossal scale since the twentieth century, the need for scientific translators has become pressing.

In order to fill this void, the modern-language graduates who are willing to do scientific translation step in. For them, they have the choice of pursuing industry experience or studying the MSc in translation at Imperial College. In this specialised course, language students learn to translate science and to do research into the scientific fields; science students hone their craft at transferring information cross-culturally. If Imperial College really do decide to close their translation unit by the time this article is published, then it would be a great loss to the science community.

The trend of using language graduates in scientific translation is also evident in the industry as the Head of the English Translation Unit at a major European research centre affirms, when talking about the educational background of their staff:

“The French translators have a physics graduate who acts as a consultant for the translators in physics matters. Otherwise, we rely on in-house experts to provide us with explanations and terminology. While on the English side, we naturally try to recruit language graduates with some knowledge of and interest in physics, technology, computing and science generally.”

He goes on to explain the reason they hire language graduates:

“The traditional separation of career paths at a relatively early age in the British education system ensures to preclude attracting applications from sufficiently literate scientists or language graduates with some competence in scientific matters. Consequently we have to compromise and take the best brains we can find with the appropriate language skills and at the very least an interest in and proven aptitude for science and technology. The ideal for us would, in theory, be a science-cum-modern-languages graduate, but such skills are hard to find in combination.”

Though rare, science-cum-modern-languages graduates do exist in the minority. Fiona Whiteside, scientific translator, explains why she chose translation: “Translation was always something I was interested in – although I ended up studying Chemistry and French and afterwards worked in a laboratory.It was only when I wanted a job with more flexibility due to a young family that I looked more seriously into translation as I wanted to work from home.I have the scientificbackground and language experience (I also worked in sites in Europe).”

Nevertheless, scientific translators are made up more and more of language graduates who decide to pursue this niche market, either out of interest, or pragmatism. In the twentieth century, English is the language of science. Can we say then, that the days of scientific translation are soon over? We should bear in mind that Latin, Arabic and German were once ‘languages of science’. English, because of its widespread use, has variations all over the world. For instance, British and American medical terms are different, not to mention English from India, Australia, Canada etc. Montgomery also points out that not all technical fields favour English. Physics, biology and engineering might have a strong preference for English, but chemistry and mathematics are often written in the local language (up to 55%). He also explains that nations such as Germany, France, Russia, and Japan still retain knowledge lead in certain fields, and thus publish in their own languages.

And there is another issue to consider concerning the use of English as the main language, as the Head of the English Translation Unit (above) explains:  “There is an alarming dearth of professional English-speaking scientific or technical translators and we have some difficulty in identifying suitable candidates to fill posts. [The centre] has two official languages - English and French, and English being increasingly the language of science and technology.”

The lack of English mother-tongue scientific translators would become an issue, if English is to prevail as the language of science. Not everyone will write in English, but if English is to be the lingua franca, surely a lot of papers would need translation ‘into’ English. At Imperial College this year, only 5 out of 55 students are translating into English; considering this is the only course in the UK to train scientific translators, this reflects accurately the need of English mother-tongue translators in the industry.

Finally, it is just as important to translate science from English into people’s native languages. The aim of scientific research ultimately lies in communicating findings to the world, not just the scientific world, but to the layperson. This could only be done in people’s native language. What is the point of scientific advancement, if people (all over the world) cannot understand and therefore benefit from it? Must we continue to ignore other languages? Must we continue to adopt the imperialistic attitude of forcing others to write in a language that’s not their own? Must the contribution of scientific translators continue to be small (invisible) print? In the twenty-first century, scientific translators are needed more than ever. Let’s make sure they don’t become an extinct species.

Author: Jiayi Huang is a Freelance Translator & current MSc student studying Translation at Imperial College London

Further reading: Montgomery, Scott L. (2000). Science in Translation: Movements of Knowledge through Cultures and Time. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.