Best foreign language to study for differential geometry?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion highlights the perception that English is the dominant language in research mathematics, particularly in differential geometry. While it is acknowledged that a small but significant community of Sinophone scholars exists, and that some research has been published in other languages like French or historically in Russian, the consensus leans towards English as the preferred language for disseminating important research findings. The conversation notes that while there may be niche journals allowing publications in other languages, these are typically internal and not widely recognized. Historical context is provided regarding the publication of Russian papers prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, emphasizing that scientists often preferred English for broader impact. Overall, the discussion underscores the challenges of accessing non-English research in mathematics.

Which language would best prepare me to contribute to differential geometry?

  • Mandarin Chinese

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Russian

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    2
thalassophile
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I want to be able to read bold research that hasn't yet been translated into English. There are so many wide-open problems out there in this field...
 
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I thought English is the standard language in all of research mathematics. Are there really 'a lot of' people doing research in differential geometry who publish their results in any other language?
 
Latin...? I don't know...or Greek..? Definitely not French, that I know
 
Well, I do know there's a small but influential Sinophone community of scholars within this field (Yau and Chern come to mind, among others), and I know that French geometers have "done" differentiable manifolds. I was just wondering what you guys thought.
 
I seriously doubt ANY researcher, regardless of field, would be crazy enough to publish results they considered to be important in any other language but English.

I am sure there are a few journals around where you are allowed to publish articles in other languages, but that is generally "internal" journals (proceedings of various national academies etc) that are meant to show journalists, politicians etc what scientists are doing with their funding.

Before the fall of the Berlin wall there were still important papers being published in Russian and sometimes it took a few months before they were translated to English, but that was for political reasons; the scientist themselves would have preferred to publish in English.
 
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