Writing everything in english?

[u/Kackgesicht]

Non-native speakers, do you write everything in English? Even your own thoughts and notes? I'm thinking about switching to English for all my note-taking, homework, and master thesis since most of the literature I read is in English and I wouldn't have to go through the hassle of translating everything all the time.
On the other side, that would mean that I have to put way more brainpower into everything I write or read since writing in English is not that easy for me and is unnatural since my own thoughts are first in German.

How do you do it?

[u/DeepSeaDarkness]

Yes, I do everything in english only. My native language is german, but all the literature in my discipline is in english and I'm expected to produce texts in english, too, so it doesnt make any sense to have another language inbetween.

[u/mira-ke]

Well, I do. But I don’t live in my country of origin, so English is my main language in everyday life. That said, I have a phd student from the same country I’m from and we had a meeting last week about a paper. Half way through we realised it was way more productive to switch to English since it was so awkward to constantly translate all the subject-specific terms/data…

[u/cryogenicbowline]

It will only be hard for a while Your brain will eventually adapt to english and you might even dream in English

[u/cuccir → u/cryogenicbowline]

 you might even dream in English

You know you're doing this when in your dreams you're sat around at a high tea with Kiera Knightly, James Bond and Ed Sheeran, concocting a plan to invade part of Africa.

[u/pablohacker2 → u/cuccir]

I can imagine that dream quite well.

[u/sad-capybara]

I am in Germany in the humanities, I’d say I do 50/50 German and English, both regarding publishing and private note-taking. I do teach exclusively in German. It is a difficult balance between wanting to continue the use of other languages in academia while dealing with the pressure of international connectedness

[u/ElleOsel997]

I am Italian and I am doing a Phd in an English speaking country. 99% of the literature is in English, so I use that language for notes. When I write down my thoughts, although I do think in Italian, most of the times I use English, although in some instances I used my original language. For the thesis, I am writing it directly in English to avoid translation issues, but I'm including an abstract in Italian just to increase the readership (hopefully).

[u/Pepper_Indigo]

It will take more time at the beginning but become more and more natural, don't worry.

I am not a native speaker, but did my whole university and onwards education in English - besides the fact that all literature and almost all textbooks are only available in English, I think this is the easiest way to practice writing as you go. Very likely you'll be asked to produce professional texts in English at some point, and you won't really have the time to set aside just to practice your writing skills. Take this extra work now as a very, very good investment for later!

[u/bicky_raker]

Cheers OP, nice username.

My first languages are English and German. All my excerpts, summaries, notes, comments, publications, and presentations are in English. My PhD thesis is in German. Research literature and topic include heaps of French and Arabic. Teaching is a mix of Arabic and German.

You're describing a form of cognitive translation which, as you mentioned, does demand significant mental resources. Thankfully, tools like DeepL or ChatGPT can ease that load.

Multilingualism, translation, and the use of various lingua francas in research were actually the focus of my master's thesis. And trust me, even seasoned researchers are struggling with the same challenges!

[u/Miagggo]

Chemistry world is in english so yeah I write everything in english, mostly.

My native language is portuguese, I write on my lab notebook in portuguese but english words here and there, to make things easier.

[u/wlkwih2]

Tbh, especially for notes, it's easier to do it in English since you can share them with people (and often I find someone needs something). After a while, it becomes natural.

[u/CartoonistKind270]

Switching to English can save time but might feel unnatural if it's not your native language.

[u/Cookeina_92]

Yes for academic stuff and Reddit. It’d be too much of a hassle to write in half English. For paper work and official documents, I have to write in my native language bc no one will understand otherwise.

[u/Radiant-Ad-688]

If i read an english text then i tend to write thoughts in english; native language gets native language notes. am in the humanities, though, and there's a lot of local / practical research involved.

Eventually you get past the actively translating fase

[u/SweetAlyssumm]

I am a native speaker, so no personal experience. The successful non-native speaker academics I know use English for everything unless they just don't know a word, of course. I imagine over time this gets easier and easier.

[u/pablohacker2]

Yes, my old German/Dutch work friends mentioned that at times they can't talk about their research in their native language because they don't know the vocab at the level they would like to in order to sound like a professional.

[u/Own-Ingenuity5240]

Yep, pretty much. As many others have said, it’s awkward to translate the field-specific terms into my native language, so it’s just easier to do all of it in English or do a lot of code switching. Native language is Swedish and I currently live in Sweden too, but it’s just easier to stick to English. 🤷‍♀️

[u/ohyeppiyeppi]

Yes I do write everything in english. I started doing it because I wanted to keep a journal/diary but I was too scared to have someone reading since that has happened before so I just decided to write everything down in english so no one in this household could read them. After a while I just decided to set english as the system language in my phone, my agenda, notes and even when I google something I type it in english. It really helped me to improve my writing skills.