Språk och kvalitet i historisk forskning
(2013) In Historisk Tidskrift 133(3). p.483-505- Abstract
- This article discusses the role of language skills, mainly with regard to foreign languages, in historical research. Three principal functions of language as a historical method are identified: 1) language skills as a tool for acquiring knowledge of the international state-of-the-art; 2) language skills as a tool for communicating research; and 3) language skills as a tool for interpreting historical sources (written and oral). Based on a Google Scholar search for publications in the field of history in ten major languages, it is concluded that the dominance of English-language publications is smaller than generally assumed and that the three languages next to English – French, German and Chinese – together account for twice as many... (More)
- This article discusses the role of language skills, mainly with regard to foreign languages, in historical research. Three principal functions of language as a historical method are identified: 1) language skills as a tool for acquiring knowledge of the international state-of-the-art; 2) language skills as a tool for communicating research; and 3) language skills as a tool for interpreting historical sources (written and oral). Based on a Google Scholar search for publications in the field of history in ten major languages, it is concluded that the dominance of English-language publications is smaller than generally assumed and that the three languages next to English – French, German and Chinese – together account for twice as many publications as English. The article also shows that the knowledge of other foreign languages than English among younger Swedish historians (below the age of 40) is significantly smaller than among their older colleagues, and few younger historians are able to read more than one foreign language apart from English. The knowledge of non-European languages, moreover, is particularly small among all generations of Swedish historians, which hampers the efforts to promote research in global history in Sweden. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3801930
- author
- Eklöf Amirell, Stefan LU
- organization
- alternative title
- Language and Quality in Historical Research
- publishing date
- 2013
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Language, Historical method
- in
- Historisk Tidskrift
- volume
- 133
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 483 - 505
- publisher
- Svenska historiska föreningen
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000336234800010
- ISSN
- 0345-469X
- language
- Swedish
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 5d30677a-9eab-446d-b8ad-6775e326c276 (old id 3801930)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 14:19:17
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 20:25:37
@article{5d30677a-9eab-446d-b8ad-6775e326c276,
abstract = {{This article discusses the role of language skills, mainly with regard to foreign languages, in historical research. Three principal functions of language as a historical method are identified: 1) language skills as a tool for acquiring knowledge of the international state-of-the-art; 2) language skills as a tool for communicating research; and 3) language skills as a tool for interpreting historical sources (written and oral). Based on a Google Scholar search for publications in the field of history in ten major languages, it is concluded that the dominance of English-language publications is smaller than generally assumed and that the three languages next to English – French, German and Chinese – together account for twice as many publications as English. The article also shows that the knowledge of other foreign languages than English among younger Swedish historians (below the age of 40) is significantly smaller than among their older colleagues, and few younger historians are able to read more than one foreign language apart from English. The knowledge of non-European languages, moreover, is particularly small among all generations of Swedish historians, which hampers the efforts to promote research in global history in Sweden.}},
author = {{Eklöf Amirell, Stefan}},
issn = {{0345-469X}},
keywords = {{Language; Historical method}},
language = {{swe}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{483--505}},
publisher = {{Svenska historiska föreningen}},
series = {{Historisk Tidskrift}},
title = {{Språk och kvalitet i historisk forskning}},
volume = {{133}},
year = {{2013}},
}