What makes you keep on reading articles in your non-English native language, while the same information might be published in English?

Question

As a future French PhD student (in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning) that legally HAS TO write his thesis in French, I am a bit concerned about the fact that less people would be able to read it and it got me thinking: why do you keep reading articles in your native language, when some ideas you find might also be published in English?

1. To those who are not English native speakers, do you read articles in your native language?
2. If so, what is it that you find in these articles compared to English-written ones? Are you just looking for useful information for your own research or are you motivated by something else?
3. How would you cite these articles in your own English-written paper?

I understand that using one's own native language can be justified for some fields such as social sciences, but here I am asking about "exact" and computer sciences.

Answer 1

1. I don't usually read articles in my mother tongue. But I do regularly read articles in a language that is neither English nor my mother tongue (French, to be precise).

2. With regards to my mother tongue, the few exceptions are resources (articles, books) I received from some of my collaborators. I refer back to them purely for convenience. For French:

• there is (at least until very recently) still active research in my area performed by researchers who publish heavily in French; to gain access to those results sometimes it is necessary to read the original articles.
• there is a large corpus of useful literature from even the mid twentieth century that still hasn't been completely distilled into English language textbooks. (For mathematics, this refers mostly to particular arguments used in proofs. Quite often the same result would be available in English, but using a different method of attack. But there are also cases such as [from outside my field] The EGA.)
• translations may contain "errors". Sometimes it is good to go back to the original source.

3. I just cite them as I would any other source. Most style guides have sections on special rules for non-English and/or non-Latin-alphabet sources. Just follow them.

Answer 2

Your three-part question is quickly answered:

1. Yes I read articles in my native language
2. Almost never because very few exist except older ones (ca. 1960s and older) and possibly bachelor or masters theses.
3. I would definitely cite them if they contained anything useful

Your concern is valid, regardless of preferences, using a common language ensures better spreading of the science. This does not mean non-English science is in any way uninteresting but will obviosuly be harder to find and read. It will be up to scientists in that language to bring the research to general attention. A possibility with thesis work is always to publish it or parts of it in journals and then translated. In such cases nothing is lost (except time for the complete re-writing)

EDIT: This answer was written for the original question which subsequently has been changed, also in terms of focus.

Answer 3

As a native English speaker who's working abroad, I am finally at the point where I can directly read the scientific literature in the local languages. However, in the past, I haven't hesitated to cite references in French (my "original" second language) when it was appropriate to do so. There are no challenges to do so, really, except making sure that you have the correct abbreviation for the journal title.

However, I would agree with the other posters that indicate that, today, scientific work needs to be in English if it is to reach the widest possible audience. Between the fact that a thesis gets nowhere near the number of "hits" as the papers that are derived from it, plus the fact that it's in a foreign language, and I would expect you to get very little in the way of citations for your thesis.

Answer 4

• I do read scientific literature in my mother tongue (German).
  For papers, that are mostly classics and not so recent. However, it is quite common in my field to write theses in German. And there are still serious and good scientific books as well as text books written in German, which I enjoy reading and citing as well.

• I'm also writing my thesis in German.

  • Main reason: My old university required that (would need to ask special permission for any other language). I changed university, but I'm not going to change the language as well.
  • The findings are/will be published also in English. So not having the thesis in English doesn't matter that much in terms of availability in English.
  • Second main reason: the thesis is the place where things are formulated in a less condensed manner than the papers. Such theses are good for teaching students who are usually not yet that fluent in English (applies to some kinds of foreign students as well!) nor in the subject.

• The same (more detailed, elaborate, less "it follows trivially" jumps of thought) is often true also for technical reports, which I read for exactly this reason (any kind of language I understand).

• I cite literature I read in any language I understood (which not that much more than German and English, as I'm not as fluent in other languages).

• For the books, there is sometimes an English as well as a German version. But of course I cite the version that I acutally read.
  (If I'd be concerned that the English-only reader would not get from "Leary & Skoog: Instrumentelle Analytik" to "Leary & Skoog: Instrumental Analysis", I may put a note that points to the English version)

• Finally, how would you read and cite e.g. DIN 38402 A 51 if not in German?

Answer 5

Although this may not answer your question, I just wanted to say that I did my PhD in France and did not write my thesis in french. I just wrote a summary (about 3 pages) in french, the rest was a compilation of articles. Since a serious publication can only be written in english nowadays, translating it in french would be a waste of time.

You should discuss with your advisor and see any way to get your thesis published in english. I do not think any legal argument holds.