Broken English

Don't say it in Russian,

Don't say it in German,

Say it in broken English!

Marianne Faithfull [1]

When Marianne Faithfull returned to the music scene in 1979 with a changed voice and a matured personality after having spent a decade in the rough, she was no longer the pop fairy of the sixties but had become “the artist people turned to to lead them through dark times.”[2] The eponymous song of her blazing album was dedicated to Ulrike Meinhof, and you cannot become much darker than that.

Luckily, the Broken English we have to deal with in this journal is of much lighter and basically scientific content. It also comes in very different shades – from mildly erroneous word orders to almost mystical phrasing such as “We share which this patient is beatify with us.” The former usually hints to authors having been educated in countries where English is taught early at school and whose mother-tongue is more or less related to the voice of Albion. Ze Germans are a prime example. In other parts of our diverse world things become more complicated. The languages of the Far East, for instance, have a totally different structure, not least expressed in their respective scripts, commonly based on pictograms and/or syllables rather than letters. When the thinking process itself functions in a different manner, expressing yourself in foreign words is a true challenge. Overall, though, the English language quality of the majority of manuscripts submitted to us is commendably good - given these circumstances.

Some authors, however, will (together with the scientific reviews) get the Editor's following boilerplate: “I do realize that English is not your native language. As the manuscript in its present form contains numerous spelling and grammatical errors, the necessary corrections are beyond the scope of the “polishers” routinely provided by the publisher. I suggest that you have the text checked by a (near-) native speaker before returning your revised version.” This means that there are more profound problems than a few forgotten articles or suffixes. Of note is the mention of the “polishers,” diligent editorial staff still being provided by Thieme Publishers for ironing out minor flaws free of charge for the authors (!). With their production unit for many journals and books being located in India they can usually resort to people with the necessary mastering of English, a service which should be acknowledged by our authors while we still have it. Others don't.

The second part of the Editor's recommendation mentioned above reads: “Alternatively you may want to use a professional scientific editing and translation service (which should then be credited).” …and costs money, of course. For this our publisher has teamed up with an established English editing service already embedded in the submission system - but there are, of course, other choices. Resorting to such professionals makes things relatively easy technically and will provide a reliable quality – at a price.

The so-called “native speaker” is also not necessarily a safe bet. Bear in mind that scientific or medical English is jargon and as such its appropriate use is restricted to those in the know. A brilliant and eloquent lawyer from, say, the Inner Temple may be at a complete loss when confronted with mortalities, morbidities, lethalities or fatalities – whereas he is totally at ease with paragraphs, clauses, sections, articles, and the like. The point of principle whether John Bird, born in Hackensack, New Jersey, can ever be considered a native speaker of “English” remains a moot point and shall not be discussed here any further.

And one last advice: stay away from automated translation programs. Coming up with a title like: “Point massage therapy congenital diaphragmatic hernia postoperative gastric retention of infant” will definitely not get you any further, but lead to immediate rejection - which is a shame, because research, writing, and submitting have already consumed our most valuable resource: time.

• References

• 1 Faithfull M, Genn D. , et al. Broken English. © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music Inc., London: 1979
• 2 http://www.mariannefaithfull.org.uk/biography/ , accessed March 2nd, 2018