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Ann Thorac Surg 2007;84:363-364
© 2007 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Editorial

Cardiothoracic Surgeons Divided By a Common Language

John R. Benfield, MD*

Division of Thoracic Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, California

* Address correspondence to Dr Benfield, 11611 Terryhill Place, Los Angeles, CA 90049 (Email: j.benfield@verizon.net).

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Cardiothoracic surgery and science are globalized. Only 8% of the world’s population speaks English, but it is the language of science. That was not the case when the earliest written communications about surgery, known as "The Edwin Smith Papyri," came from Egypt in approximately 17th century B.C. Successively, the language of science became Greek, Arabic, Latin, French, and German.

Approximately 60% of the original articles in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery and The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery are now from English as an International Language (EIL) authors, previously referred to as nonnative speakers. The EIL authors, editorial reviewers, and readers suffer from what I call the English Language Burden (ELB). The editor of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery has recognized this burden [1]. He has personally done language editing for some EIL manuscripts, and he has enlisted the help of peers to edit others.

What is the ELB? It is a struggle with the use of English to express ideas and subtleties and to represent a position in controversial matters. It is a weak appreciation of the conventions of discourse in English. The result of the ELB is suboptimum, sometimes poor, ability of EIL authors and speakers to say what they mean. It is not a matter of grammatical accuracy. Translators and computer programs cannot alleviate the ELB.

How did I become interested in the ELB? English is my best language, but I am fluent in German, which is my native tongue. More than 10 years . . . [Full Text of this Article]






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