Creating workspaces to publish in French, Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese, for example, with journals from other countries, is absolutely essential.
My name is Luís Baptista. I am a professor at the New University of Lisbon, which in Portuguese is called Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. I am a sociology professor, primarily working on urban issues, but I am also interested in other topics. One issue that is very important to me is the question of linguistic practice in scientific production. It is a subject that interests me greatly, especially in a context of enormous changes regarding the importance of languages in research and publication.
Sociology, as a formal discipline, only began to be studied in universities after the 1974 revolution—that is, after democracy. Many of the people who worked in sociology had been exiled, mainly in French-speaking countries. When sociology started to be structured academically, it was these exiled professors—mostly from France, Switzerland, and Belgium—who came to teach and help establish the discipline. As a result, Portuguese sociology has had a long-standing connection with Francophone culture. I can say that this history is very important because the first generation of Portuguese sociologists had a deep knowledge of French-language sociology. This shaped our subject matter and way of thinking, which is quite different from the Anglo-Saxon approach.
This strong Francophone influence was an important foundation that continued through various academic relationships. However, the growing dominance of English has led new generations to lose some of this connection to the Francophone tradition. For example, we used to have an institution called the Franco-Portuguese Institute, which supported many professors coming to Portugal. However, the lack of funding today has weakened this exchange. The new generation might be interested in maintaining these connections, but it has become more difficult. This is also a political issue.
In practical terms, even Francophone colleagues are now publishing in English because they need to internationalize their work. I believe the best way to maintain collaboration—such as through AISLF, where a significant number of Portuguese researchers continue working with French colleagues—is to establish a shared translation policy. Translation is just as important as publishing in French because if students today cannot read French as we did in the past, they still need access to French-speaking authors in another way. Translation is absolutely essential.
I even think that translation is crucial not only for French but also as part of a broader strategy for Latin languages. When I was president of the Portuguese Sociological Association, my colleagues from Spain, France, and Italy and I proposed creating a movement to hold conferences in our own languages. Each speaker would speak in their language, and the others would make an effort to understand. This would help develop new ways of relating across languages and challenge the assumption that English is naturally the language of science—it is not. We can make efforts in this direction.
In social sciences, we work at both national and international levels. If we prepare a report for, say, a municipality, it makes no sense to write it in any language other than our own. Research should be conducted in our own language, reflecting the civic importance of our work for national development. We need to challenge the growing belief that publishing in English is the only way. If we do not take action in the coming years, English will achieve total dominance, and people will come to believe that it is the only scientific language. But history has proven otherwise. For example, German was once a major language in sociology, but it has lost influence—even though there are still outstanding German-speaking sociologists.
What we must do is promote a vision of diversity. This is crucial for sociology because sociological perspectives cannot be hegemonic—they must reflect different points of view.
