Transcending
language barriers to environmental science.

Tapping into non-English-language science for the conservation of global biodiversity

Non-English-language science can fill gaps in English-language science

Languages are still a major barrier to global science

Over a third of global scientific knowledge may be available only in non-English languages

Ten tips for overcoming language barriers in science

Ten things you can start doing today for tackling this multifaceted problem

Embrace linguistic diversity

See the coverage of our work by Nature

See the latest news from translatE

Our mission

One third of global scientific knowledge may currently be ignored because it is available only in languages other than English. On the other hand, about half of decision makers may not be utilizing scientific evidence that is available only in English. 95% of the world population may be missing out on the opportunity to make their best contribution to science because their first language is not English.

Clearly, tackling any global challenge, including the biodiversity crisis, hinges on the effective production and smooth flow of scientific information globally, yet this flow is severely hampered by the existence of language barriers. The translatE project applies scientific approaches to address this important, yet often overlooked challenge of transcending language barriers in science, with the aim of maximising scientific contributions to the conservation of the earth’s environment.

We believe that scientific communities need more concerted efforts for understanding and overcoming language barriers. If you are interested in our project, please get in touch with us. Let’s work together to tackle this important challenge.

Funding

translatE is funded by the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT180100354), the University of Queensland strategic funding, and the 2021 University of Queensland grant for mentoring and diversity in biology.

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Read our latest Publications

Gain an insight into the TRANSLATE project by viewing our our latest peer-reviewed publications.

Our latest news

We are pleased to see the publication of our latest paper "The role of non-English-language science in informing national biodiversity

After Science updated its editorial policy to ban the use of text generated by AI tools in scientific papers, we

Prof Tiffany Morrison at James Cook University, Australia and her team are now looking for participants in their survey: new