Should Israeli Science Speak Hebrew_ – Forward

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Should Israeli Science Speak Hebrew?Clash Looming Over Widespread Use of English in Academia

By Nathan Jeffay

Published April 13, 2012, issue of April 20, 2012.

TEL AVIV — Israeli scholarship is widely cited the world over. But if state linguists have their way, much of that research

will become a whole lot less accessible to those who don’t speak Hebrew.

The Academy of the Hebrew Language is asking the Education Ministry to require universities to use less English —

the language in which many graduate-level courses are taught, and in which much of Israel’s scientific research isconducted.

“We would like to see a situation where teaching must be in Hebrew for all courses, with only very particular

exceptions,” such as those for foreign students, Gabriel Birenbaum, a senior researcher at the Academy, told the

Forward.

Much like France’s famed Académie Française, the Academy of the Hebrew Language, is in charge of developing the

language and encouraging its correct use. What makes Israel’s Academy, the AHL, unusual is that it is essentially the

same body that brought English into use.

In 1890 Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the key architect of Modern Hebrew, established the Hebrew Language Committee to

oversee the revival of the ancient tongue. After Israel became a state, the government transformed the committee into

the AHL. The government-funded body’s 23 members and 15 advisers are scholars, writers, poets and translators.

Education Minister Gideon Saar, who chairs the Council for Higher Education, which is in charge of the country’s

universities, has asked the council to come up with a position statement on language use in universities.

And this has many academics worried.

“Hebrew is the language of the Jewish People, but if you write your thesis in Hebrew, it is buried,” said Yehuda Band,

who heads the chemistry department at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Last fall, Band had informed postgraduate

students that English was to be the default language for written work.





He added that pushing students to write in English not only helps them to get their theses read and published, but also

benefits their career trajectory. “A student who can’t write in English is severely limited — it’s the language of science,”

Band said.

The new battle is essentially round two of a war fought a century ago. In the early 20th century, when the Hebrew

language was newly revived, leaders of the Zionist community campaigned to get all educational establishments in what

is now Israel using it.

When the Zionist movement was established in the late 19th century, it was not immediately clear that Hebrew would

be the language of Jews in Palestine. Theodor Herzl, the movement’s leader, initially thought it would be German. When

pioneers arrived, many just spoke only the language they brought with them — often Yiddish — and it was not until the

second aliyah, between 1904 and 1914, that Hebrew started to become dominant.

When the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology — prepared to open in Haifia 1913, it had planned to operate in

German because its leaders said that Hebrew simply didn’t have the words to teach science. But the school, caving to

pressure from ideologically driven students and Zionist leaders, adopted Hebrew as its language of study.

Today, though, postgraduate courses at Technion are most commonly taught in English. The Forward contacted all

seven Israeli universities for this article and all confirmed that they had classes taught and coursework assessed in

English.

Although the trend toward English is mostly at the postgraduate level and primarily in the natural, physical and

computer sciences, English is also being used more widely in undergraduate studies and in humanities courses at all

levels. In most institutions, there is an unwritten understanding that lectures, classes and seminars switch to English

when there is a presence of one or more non-Israelis, though the natural sciences faculty at Ben-Gurion recently

formalized this rule.

At Tel Aviv University seven humanities undergraduate programs — including archaeology, Jewish history and East

Asian studies — include courses and related assignments in English. And the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

recommends that students complete at least one course taught and assessed in English. The school’s rector, Sarah

Stroumsa, told the Forward that she would like to see the recommendation changed to a requirement.

In the so-called “Language War” of the early 20th century, some prominent scientists were among the campaigners for

Hebrew-only. But a century later, the scientific community is almost unanimously against this approach. Should the

Education Ministry demand that scientific institutions and university programs scale back on English, a clash between

government and academia is likely to ensue.

“I’m unabashedly Zionist and believe in Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people and all that that entails with

symbols and language,” said Moshe Koppel, a Likud party member, and a computer scientist at Bar-Ilan University in

Tel Aviv. “But since all the [computer science] publications are in English and we expect students to publish their

theses, it would be double the work for them to write it in Hebrew and translate to English.”

As far as the AHL is concerned, the gains of a century ago are simply being lost. “In those days you could understand

them [the Technion board in 1913], as it really was the beginning of Hebrew’s revival and many words were lacking, butthey managed,” the Academy’s Birenbaum, said. “But today, when Hebrew is much richer, we have this deterioration

toward English.”

He insisted that the AHL is “not against English,” but believes that its use must be limited to “maintain respect for our

own language.”

Moshe Vigdor, director-general of the Council for Higher Education, which is looking into the subject for the education

minister, told the Forward that his organization aimed to find a “real pragmatic balance.” He indicated that the council

may be leaning toward some limitations on English. “We want to see that master’s degrees [theses] will be in Hebrew

and with [some] English or translation to English, if necessary,” he said.





talknic +1

Ben-Gurion’s Band dismisses the idea that the increased use of English has put in danger the gains made in 1913. “In

the early 1900s, the language was not established in the country,” he said. Today, Hebrew is the language of the

country. There’s no question about that, and our decisions are not going to change that.”

Contact Nathan Jeffay at [email protected]

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The Forward welcomes reader comments in order to promote thoughtful discussion on issues of importance to the

Jewish community. In the interest of maintaining a civil forum, the Forward requires that all commenters be appropriately

respectful toward our writers, other commenters and the subjects of the articles. Vigorous debate and reasoned critique

are welcome; name-calling and personal invective are not. While we generally do not seek to edit or actively moderate

comments, the Forward reserves the right to remove comments for any reason.

COMM ENTS (38)

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· 1 week ago

Rather myopic... apart from having to invent a host of new Hebrew words for Israeli discoveries, which in itself is fine,

there'd also be a need to invent Hebrew words for new English words that develop and new Hebrew words for Latin

naming conventions.

Then everything must be translated from Hebrew into English in order to relate it to the rest of the scientific world,





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100reader +2

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with new English words being invented for new Israeli discoveries named only in Hebrew

With Israel's propensity for being the only country in the world with its unique interpretations of International Law, the

UN Charter, Conventions, UNSC resolutions, why stop at science? Include International law. International relations.

The arts. Airline pilots. Air traffic controllers

Why stop there? Foreign languages should all be taught in Hebrew. Isolate Israel completely. Then Israel can truly

complain that 'no one understands us'

5 replies · active 1 week ago

· 1 week ago

I would agree that an aggressive version of a Hebrew "Académie Française" is ludicrous. But then so is your

polemic..

But not to worry, this is a non-issue.

· 1 week ago

Yours?"it does not help by moving the argument from one of appropriateness of the criticism to attacks on thecriticizer. "

You first agree. Then move the argument to an attack on the criticizer.

· 1 week ago

Talcknic don't you have anything better to do than spend time trying to bully people into agreeing with your

nonsense?

· 1 w eek ago

Address the points raised... thx shriber5 ...."The Forward welcomes reader comments in order to promote thoughtful discussion on issues of importance to the Jewish community. In the interest of maintaining a civil forum, the Forward requiresthat all commenters be appropriately respectful toward our writers, other commenters and the subjectsof the articles. Vigorous debate and reasoned critique are welcome; name-calling and personalinvective are not."





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100reader

Ira Grolman +3

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Ira Grolman +5

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JH Miasku +11

· 1 week ago

How is commenting that your polemic is as ludicrous as the the attempt by the AHL an attack, personal or

otherwise, on either the AHL or you. In fact, as several others have commented, this will be a non-issue and

you that neither one of us will need to worry about.

· 1 week ago

@talknic: You're right: your view is myopic and I'll also add hostile and unwelcome.

· 1 week ago

Well of course it's hostile. Take a look at the hysterical blog in which he/she/it demonizes israel for anything and

everything. Vile.

1 reply · active 1 week ago

· 1 week ago

Odd you haven't actually challenged anything Snr Grolman. Instead, you make accusations you can't actually

substantiate.

"hysterical blog in which he/she/it demonizes Israel for anything and everything." Only for what Israel has done

and continues to do and by which it demonizes itself. You could challenge what is on the blog. Sans abuse, falseaccusations, lies. Think you're up to it?

BTW .... I await a similar criticism of JH Miasku's post

· 1 week ago

This is a very interesting issue. In my field, astronomy, very few countries have enough people that it would make

sense to only communicate to people within the country. And, most people reading the astronomical papers writtenby Israelis will be non-Israelis, so it is important to communicate in a language that the larger community will

understand. This is true for other languages too, like Russian, French, Chinese, or Hindi, since, in the small

astronomical community, English is the only language that is universally understood.

On the other hand, new words and phrases are constantly being created in science — which enrich the language —

and languages that are not used for science are left out. After a while it will become impossible to discuss science in

a language that lacks the appropriate vocabulary. How would you discuss the fireball model for Gamma Ray Bursts

(GRBs) in a language like Bengali (6th most spoken language), which lacks the vocabulary to express these

concepts?

My view is that preserving a linguistically diverse globe is a worthwhile goal, so it makes sense to try to keep

languages like Hebrew up-to-date in terms of scientific vocabulary. However, realistically, most science is going to be





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JH Miasku +4

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g_jochnowitz +10

done in English.

3 replies · active 1 week ago

· 1 week ago

Quite and well put JH Miasku .

· 1 w eek ago

@talknic You misunderstand me. I think it is important that scientific discovery continues multilingually, in

English certainly, but also in Hebrew. Israel has a prestigious history of science in both languages — and even

though this is difficult to maintain, the effort is ultimately worthwhile.

From glancing at your website, which Mr. Grolman pointed out, I suspect that your are not particularly

interested in this issue. Instead, you probably spend your time lurking around Jewish-themed websites, likethe Forward, trying to incite against Israel in any way you can.

· 1 week ago

Please read carefully ... " ...new Hebrew words for Israeli discoveries, which in itself is fine, there'd also be a

need to invent Hebrew words for new English words that develop and new Hebrew words for Latin naming

conventions" on this you seem to agree.

However, what is being proposed goes a lot further. From the article:"....if state linguists have their way, much of that research will become a whole lot less accessible tothose who don’t speak Hebrew .... The Academy of the Hebrew Language is asking the EducationMinistry to require universities .to use less English.... “We would like to see a situation where. teachingmust be in Hebrew for all courses, with only very particular exceptions,” ..... "..this has manyacademics worried":

"trying to incite against Israel in any way you can" Do you also falsify your work in astronomy? Where

Israel purposefully disregards its obligations to the Law, the UN Charter & its own declaration and by doing

so places civilians in danger, it is quite deserving of criticism.. Especially from those in whose name it

exists.

· 1 week ago

Once when I was visiting Israel, cousins of mine took my wife and me to a mall. There I saw a young mommy,

daddy, and little boy. They were speaking Chinese, which I know because I taught in China in 1984 and 1989. I

spoke to them in Chinese and learned the mommy and daddy were both physicians who had come to Israel to study

esoteric specialties. The classes they took were in English. They wouldn't have come to Israel had the courses been

taught in Hebrew. The little boy, on the other hand, spoke Hebrew perfectly.





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shriber5 +2

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DavidAllyn +6

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benjilachkar +3

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Andi Pacurar +4

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BillP51 +2

I had a wonderful time translating from Hebrew to Chinese in a conversation between them and my cousins, one of

whom didn't speak English.

· 1 week ago

Given that English Universities are trying to boycott Israeli ones, I wouldn't be surprised if they end up conductingexperiments in Hebrew and Chinese.

· 1 w eek ago

I'm just curious, does anyone know how the French, Russians, Germans, Japanese, Chinese (all countries with very

strong national-linguistic identities) deal with this issue? Do their graduate schools teach predominantly in English?

This doesn't appear to be a problem unique to Israel.

2 replies · active 4 days ago

· 6 days ago

I Know that the French teach in French but publish in English more and more and this exact same debate has

been occurring there.

· 4 days ago

In a nutshell, they do not deal with this issue easily -- it is a real debate in many places. In French-language

Canadian institutions, certainly, there is no consensus on how to deal with this issue. Graduate schools teach

almost entirely in French in those institutions, but many publish papers in English.

· 1 week ago

This aspect does not need regulation: if one wants to write and publish his/her paper in Hebrew, let that be! if one

wants to write and publish his/her paper in English, let that too be! The only thing is for tutors to make the student

aware of the consequences. Simple: and informed choice. Is there anything better?

· 1 week ago

Sure, lets copy the French, what could go wrong.





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Colin Wright -1

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· 1 w eek ago

'Should Israeli Science Speak Hebrew?'

Go for it. I'm 100% for this idea.

· 1 week ago

Israeli scientists speak Hebrew and English and Russian. What matters is the science not the language used to

make it.

Still Israeli scientists and I know some do speak Hebrew on and off the job.

1 reply · active 4 days ago

· 4 days ago

Of course. Everyone speaks Hebrew (except to non-Hebrew-speakers of course); it's a question of in what

language one publishes, and teaches. It is not an easy issue by any means.

· 1 week ago

Who is this "talknic" who is trying to dictate what people say here?

If you want to become a dicatator go to Cuba talknic or Venezuela. Just get the hell out of here.


· 1 week ago

Who is this shriber5 who, rather than adhere to the comment policies, instead derails, makes false accusations

and tells people to" get the hell out of here"?

Meanwhile, the issue is not whether or not Israeli scientists 'speak' Hebrew, English or Russian on or off the job.

It's about the adoption of Hebrew as the primary language for all education including science, using English "with

only very particular exceptions". One of Israel's official languages is Arabic is it not??





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100reader

talknic +1

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100reader +1

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talknic 0

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· 1 week ago

The official languages of Canada are English and French, yet except for the small handful of francophone

institutions, the language of instruction at university is English. Are you saying that all Canadian universities

should teach its courses both in English and French?

· 1 week ago

You can read what I was saying. It's still there.

Nice of you to bring Canada to the table. It has two languages and except for the small handful of

francophone institutions, they all instruct in English, one language. Citizens are treated equally.

· 1 week ago

I see

Therefore do you believe that Israel should use Hebrew in all of its institutions - except for the small

handful of Arabic language schools?

· 1 week ago

LOL.. If you'd seen, you wouldn't be trying to put your straw in other peoples mouths.

· 4 days ago

"Except for the small handful of francophone institutions" -- what are you talking about? We have

English- and French-language tertiary institutions, roughly in proportion to the population. French-

language colleges and universities are not some kind of exception to the rule, and all of them instruct inFrench. Actually, this very same debate has been quite a hot one among French-language universities in

Canada.

· 1 week ago

Talknic is trying to monopolize the discussion.





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· 1 week ago

"“Hebrew is the language of the Jewish People, but if you write your thesis in Hebrew, it is buried,” said Yehuda

Band, who heads the chemistry department at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Last fall, Band had informed

postgraduate students that English was to be the default language for written work"

This is true of most languages with few speakers.

Danish, Dutch and even French scientists often make sure that their work is published in English so it can reach a

wider audience.

This doesn't mean that they speak English at home.

This is an artificial controversy.

It used to be said (as a kind of joke) that Hungarians (probably Hungarian Jews) wrote some of the best studies in

psychoanalysis. No one was sure though because very few Psychoanalysis outside Hungary read Hungarian.

Bottom line, there will always be a few international languages in which scientific work is done. Centuries ago it wasLatin.

Then it used to be German, English, French (and sometime Russia during the cold war) and one or two other

European languages. Now it's mostly English that is used as a kind of Lingua Franca.

MOdern Hebrew has created one of the richest literatures in the world and for that alone it should be proud.

.


· 1 week ago

Some seem to have trouble understanding the issues relating to countries whose language has, at the most, 7-8

million speakers versus one with hundreds of millions.

· 6 days ago

The issue is not what people speak at home.

Hebrew is not an International language...

"Now it's mostly English that is used as a kind of Lingua Franca" EXACTLY....

· 6 days ago





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Bill 0

"The issue is not what people speak at home."

It is one important issue out of a number of other important issue.

The language of home, the language of the public square (both the legal and the marketplace place language), the

language of government , the language of poets and novelist are important issues.

The language of science like the language of the marketplace is Hebrew along with some important world language

like English.

Both business people and scientists need to communicate with their counterparts in other countries and languages.

As long as the language of home and public sphere (especially the later) is and remains Hebrew there is no reason

to fear the erosion of Hebrew.

I was reading that more than 250 books of poetry and 350 novels are published in Israel every year. Israelis buy more

than 10 millions books a year.

Not bad for such a small country.

Long may it continue.


· 5 days ago

"The language of science like the language of the marketplace is Hebrew"

MFA website says otherwise

· 4 days ago

Sounds like you are reading it wrong.

· 3 days ago

I would like to see an enrichment of Hebrew--one Israeli friend of mine has told me that she is appalled by the tinyworking vocabulary of the average Israeli. The language needs to grow, but I doubt that scientific fields are the ones

that would help enrich the working vocabulary of the average Israeli.

A good friend of mine some years ago, a Swede who had gotten his PhD at a technical university in Sweden, told me

that he had had the option of writing his dissertation in Swedish or in English. He said that virtually all the students

wrote in English; they had to in order to participate in their fields in any meaningful way. Sweden, which is larger than

Israel by just over a million people, is simply not a large enough community to support a technical language.

Heck, in fifty years we may be asking our students to write their dissertations in Mandarin, but as of today, English

is the ONLY way to go in technical fields. Israel profits from and has an enormous impact on world science; that

would be greatly diminished if Israel opts to Hebraize the sciences.




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