English is the international language of science. Its near-universal use to communicate new findings and results arguably has had significant benefits, allowing people to gain access to the world's scientific knowledge by learning a single language.
But some areas of science are, by definition, local. Richard Primack, a biologist at Boston University, finds the fact that publications are overwhelmingly written in English by authors who live in developed countries problematic for a wide range of biological sciences, ranging from ecology and forestry to conservation biology. Flora and fauna vary wildly between the United States and Southeast Asia, for example — and so do the land management practices and threats from human development.
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To bridge the gap, he has taken a novel approach to translating and adapting his textbook, "Conservation Biology," into 30 editions for different countries or regions, in 18 different languages. Primack's approach, which he described in an essay this month in the journal BioScience, is novel: For 18 years, he has been recruiting coauthors who will translate and edit his textbook, adding context and examples that will make the work relevant for students in India, Japan, Latin America, or Italy.
The structure of the collaboration has been somewhat unusual. Coauthors identify local publishers who receive access to the content from textbook publisher Sinauer Associates.
Grants have helped support the creation of some textbooks, and at times the money comes directly from Primack — in one case, he bought a computer for a Hungarian scientist who needed the equipment to complete the project. In another, he sponsored a Latin American edition after a long and fruitless struggle to find funding.
Primack says the collaboration process is satisfying and time-consuming, involving hundreds of e-mails and learning on both sides. Many of the authors have never written a textbook before, so Primack will help them to think about what types of examples from their own country are best to include and which ones to leave out.
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He'll emphasize a rounded book that looks beyond a single species to many ecosystems.
But his coauthors teach Primack a lot, too.
"When I interact with these people, I learn a lot more about what's happening in these countries, and those examples get put back into the English language edition," Primack said.
For example, he said that his collaboration with a Japanese coauthor taught him about the transformation of the rural landscape of that country. As people have abandoned farming, former rice paddies and woodlots have either been transformed by intensive agriculture or abandonment, leading to changes in the bird species.
Kamaljit Bawa, a professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts Boston coauthored the South Asian textbook with Primack. That edition included many local examples, such as the fate of the tiger. The image on the cover featured a golden langur monkey.
"You also don't want to just pick up an example because it's local — you want to find the one that best illustrates the concept," Bawa said.
Some significant changes and additions were needed for South Asia, Bawa said, including beefing up a small section of the original book that dealt with the role local communities take in managing biodiversity.
Primack hopes that other authors and textbook publishers will consider using a similar model to create locally relevant, translated editions of textbooks used in economics, medicine, and geography.
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Carolyn Y. Johnson can be reached at cjohnson@ globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @carolynyjohnson.