>>1153For better or for worse (worse, mostly) English is the de facto language of science and the world. At this point, it is those who refuse to learn English, who sequester themselves in their own language that are holding back progress. Spain has it's own internet and language subculture, Germans and Russians too, Chinese and Japanese as well, French too. So now I am expected to learn Spanish, German, French, Russian, Chinese and Japanese fluently just so I could speak to those people instead of them just learning English? I'd be open to all of us learning a common language like Esperanto, but I don't see a big push for it.
And for the record, English is not my first language. I'm also not opposed to learning languages, I am learning one now because I live in a non-English speaking country that isn't my own. I also speak a little Spanish and I did five and two years of Italian and German, respectively. But I have no illusions that without years of intense study and immersion I could get close to a level in those languages where I can understand their scientific literature. Most people don't have time for that.
We can analyse history for why English is the dominant language but crying about spilled milk isn't going to change the fact that for now we're stuck with English. You can get with the times, or continue complaining that Chinese scientists only learned English and not every language on the planet.