Turkish, The Language of Science and Education
Bilim ve Öğretim Dili Türkçe

Author : Mustafa ÇAKIR
Number of pages : 724-737

Abstract

We regard the system, through which we realize ourselves, make sense of what’s going on, and reconstruct the universe we live in, as language. Results of scientific studies are also reported through this language. In contemporary western countries, scientific report were published in Latin previously, but later on the scientist started to produce in their national languages. In Turkey, we avoid using Turkish al a language of science, disfavor it, oppose the idea of creating new terms, and take stand against instruction in the mother tongue, but still claim that we do science in this way. No institution can produce anything of higher quality than the qualities of its employees. Teaching foreign languages, teaching a subject in a foreign language, and publishing a scientific report in a foreign language are all different matters. Therefore, widespread use of a given language never necessitates setting Turkish aside. We should pay attention to our mother tongue, make effort to teach it, and especially the unnecessary efforts to teach through a foreign language instead of overcoming in adequacies in teaching foreign languages. We should give up the baseless opinion that Turkish is not a language of science; we should see the fact that it isn’t Turkish, which is insufficient, but those who avoid using it themselves. We are able to teach the youth neither their own mother tongue nor a foreign language properly. We give our academicians, scientists higher points in their academic promotions, reward them in this way for their publications of their reports written in a foreign language in internationally well-known journals, but we consider publications in Turkish inferior. Every responsible scientist living in this country must use the scientific knowledge he produces primarily for the prosperity of this nation and country. He must be a careful and attentive researcher who uses not only every single statement or phase but also every single letter mindfully. In addition, he must be a good citizen, a patriot who loves Anatolian territories, Turkish flag, conventions, and traditions.

Keywords

Language of science, responsibly of scientists, teaching foreign language, teaching through foreign languages

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