Thank you for posting, Alix! I am a non-native English speaking scientist and I have often wondered about it in the context of my own productivity. Working on a manuscript that has 17 previous draft iterations can easily make a biologist think about linguistic bias in academia.
This is actually the good news that I wanted to share—this linguistic injustice within “thought leaders” is an issue that we are already working on. The general idea is that non-native English speakers spend more effort in conducting scientific activities (reading and writing papers and preparing presentations etc), but the experience/insight of the writer overpowers native-speaker status.
A thought leader has to have ideas. Being able to form grammatically correct and aesthetically pleasing sentences is just the final packaging. In the end, it is the community that determines how important the presentation part actually is. Therefore, it has been also interesting to read the replies.
Furthermore, I think in case of “lectures, presentations, chairing etc” native speakers have only a minute advantage. Yes, when I was living in US (and I started ‘thinking in English’) - presenting got easier! However, the main skill comes with experience. If you done it hundreds of times—so you don’t get nervous, can get/keep the attention of the audience and find ways to explain/emphasize key points in that sea of information.
Thank you for posting, Alix! I am a non-native English speaking scientist and I have often wondered about it in the context of my own productivity. Working on a manuscript that has 17 previous draft iterations can easily make a biologist think about linguistic bias in academia.
This is actually the good news that I wanted to share—this linguistic injustice within “thought leaders” is an issue that we are already working on. The general idea is that non-native English speakers spend more effort in conducting scientific activities (reading and writing papers and preparing presentations etc), but the experience/insight of the writer overpowers native-speaker status.
A thought leader has to have ideas. Being able to form grammatically correct and aesthetically pleasing sentences is just the final packaging. In the end, it is the community that determines how important the presentation part actually is. Therefore, it has been also interesting to read the replies.
Furthermore, I think in case of “lectures, presentations, chairing etc” native speakers have only a minute advantage. Yes, when I was living in US (and I started ‘thinking in English’) - presenting got easier! However, the main skill comes with experience. If you done it hundreds of times—so you don’t get nervous, can get/keep the attention of the audience and find ways to explain/emphasize key points in that sea of information.
Maybe I am wrong. Cheers!
Thank you Peeter for this message! This is quite interesting, I’ll reflect on this!