January 29, 2010 | Although English is typically considered the international
language of science, it's hardly the only language heard in the offices,
hallways, and cafeterias of UCAR/NCAR, and it's not necessarily what staff
members converse in when they return home in the evenings.

An informal survey done by HR a few years back found that
the organization's staff can communicate in languages from every corner of the
globe: Span­ish, French, German, Russian, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Korean,
Hmong, Afrikaans, Malay, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Hungarian, Croatian, Polish,
Japanese, Portu­guese, Thai, Danish, Indonesian, and likely more.

Qian Wu (HAO), Charles Krinsky (NESL/ACD), Huaqing Cai (RAL), and Jielun Sun (NESL/MMM) converse as part of UCAR/NCAR’s English as a Second Language program.

Some staff members speak three or more languages—Marina
LaGrave (EO) can converse in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Italian—and others are familiar with languages that most peo­ple probably haven't even
heard of, such as Frisian, an endangered language from the Fryslân province of
the Netherlands spoken by Eric Gilleland (RAL).

And yet, speaking English as a second language can pose
unique challenges, particularly for scientific and technical staff who publish
in journals. Most scientific journals, from general publications such as Nature and Science to more specialized periodicals, are in English. Scientists
who publish in languages other than English risk cutting their research off
from the international science community. And even when a researcher whose
native language is not English can read and write English fluently, linguistic
research and anecdotal evidence show that patterns of argument and discourse
vary across languages and cultures, meaning that a scientist trained in Asia,
for example, may be inclined to structure a paper differently than a scientist
trained in the United States.

Polishing one's
English

UCAR/NCAR's Communicating Science Pro­gram (CommSci) seeks to equip all the organiza­tion's
scientific and technical staff to be world-class communicators. The program
started several years ago in response to staff feedback indicat­ing that
scientists, particularly non-native English speakers, wanted more training and
support for communicating their research.

Among the various resources that CommSci offers is an English as a Second Language
program. The ESL effort aims to help scientific staff who are not native
speakers become more comfortable with oral and written communication.

Jielun Sun, pictured here with Rick Anthes, Katy Schmoll, Eric Barron, and Jack Fellows, won a 2009 Outstanding Accomplishment Award for her mentoring activities within the ESL group.

Jielun Sun, who won a 2009
Outstanding Accom­plishment Award for her mentoring activities within the
ESL group, got involved about five years ago to improve her spoken and written
English."Lots of our staff speak English as a second or even third
language," she says. "Many of us can com­municate with colleagues without too
much trouble, but they don't correct our English. And when we write scientific
papers we need others to help polish our writing and do a final check."

The ESL group maintains an extensive list of resources on
its website, covering scientific papers and posters, oral presentations, and
more. It offers casual clinics on English writing and presentation by Mary
Golden, certified ESL coach and chief editorial assistant of Monthly Weather Review. With the help of
funding from HR, the group is currently in the pro­cess of lining up guest
speakers on English pronun­ciation and writing, according to Jielun.

One of the more visible ESL activities is TableTalk, a
low-pressure way to practice English conversa­tional skills while socializing
with both native and non-native speakers. TableTalk meets monthly in the
Foothills Lab cafeteria during lunch; dates are announced in Today@UCAR and can be found on the ESL calendar.

"ESL is more than language and writing," says Charlie
Krinsky (NESL/ACD), a native English speaker who's been helping lead TableTalk
for two years. "It's about making people feel welcome and helping them
understand American culture. And those of us who are native speakers get to
learn about other cultures."

The ESL group also plans cultural events from time to time
to help staff satisfy curiosity about other cultures, prepare for travel, and
simply have fun. In the past few years, it has hosted a Chinese New Year
celebration and two multicultural potlucks.

Library resources,
free Spanish classes

For staff who want to learn a language other than English,
the NCAR Library keeps audiocassette
tapes and compact discs on hand at all three campus libraries. The collection
includes Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese,
Russian, Spanish, Arabic, and Swedish. Librarian Leslie Forehand encourages
staff to stop by the Library to check out the collection, search the online
catalog, or contact her (forehand@ucar.edu or ext. 8505) for more information.

In addition, EO's Marina LaGrave, who works as a translator
and outreach coordinator, facilitates free, informal Spanish language and
culture classes at the Mesa Lab on Thursday evenings. The classes usually
attract about eight to 20 attendees, and participants are encouraged to bring
food and drinks. When Marina is not available, the more advanced students lead
the class, in keeping with the class motto of "Everybody teaches, everybody
learns." The group also goes on outings for salsa dancing, cooking classes, and
art museums, and students use their language skills at outreach events such as
Super Science Saturday.

"The class is primarily to learn to
speak Span­ish, but that's not all—it's like having a dinner with a group of
good friends," says Bob Tan (NCAR Director's Office).

Meet the polyglots

Janaki Srinivasan
(F&A)

Janaki, a software engineer in IT, was born and raised in
Hyderabad, India. She grew up speaking Tamil, her mother's native language. Her
school curriculum was conducted in English, as is common in India. She also
learned Hindi, India's national language, as well as Telugu, the state language
of Andhra Pradesh.

Janaki's husband speaks the same languages she does. They
speak mainly English with their children, who know some Tamil but were born
here. She uses Tamil, her favorite language, with her family in India.

Janaki especially appreciates how her ability to understand
musical lyrics in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu helps her better appreciate Indian
music and dance. "I find it extremely good to know different languages," she
says. "It's been a blessing for me and I feel that my kids are at a disadvan­tage
knowing only one language."

For many people, learning one foreign
language is challenging enough. But numerous UCAR/NCAR staff can converse in
more than two languages, some of which may be completely unrelated.

Rebecca
Haacker-Santos (EO/SOARS)

Rebecca speaks four languages: German, English, Spanish, and
Maya Q'eqchi'. She grew up in Germany and studied English in school (along with
a little French). She started traveling to Guatemala as a university student,
spending extensive time there through graduate school. During that time she
learned Spanish and Maya Q'eqchi', one of the many Mayan languages spoken in
Guatemala; she eventually landed a job that required use of both languages.

In 2002, Rebecca moved to the United States and began reviving
her English language skills. But at home she still speaks Spanish with her
husband.

"In each language I think and feel differently," Rebecca
says. "English is the business language that I work in, but I'm more
comfortable in Span­ish. And Maya Q'eqchi' is a beautiful language because it's
so ancient and descriptive."

Rebecca points out that the word hurricane comes from the
name of the Mayan god of wind and storms, Jun Raqan (also spelled Huracan).

Long Moua (CISL)

Long, a network technician, speaks Hmong, Lao, Thai, and
English. Long grew up in Laos speaking Hmong, his native language, and Lao, the
country's official language. Before coming to the United States, he lived for a
year at a refugee camp in Thailand, where he studied Thai. Today, he speaks
Hmong with his family. "I've been here for 24 years, but sometimes I can still
have prob­lems with English when I go through technical documentation," he
says.

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