michael sylvester wrote: > > > Just curious as to Freud's English skills.I imagine he had some since > he practiced in England,
He translated JS Mill into English for Brentano. He could also speak in English, but well. There is a audio tape available on the internet from late in his life in which he says a sentence or two about psychoanalysis in English. My recollection is that it is difficult to understand without a transcript. > And didn't he give some lectures at Clark U with G Stanley Hall? Yes, but he gave them in German. > And while on this subject,with all those psychologists (William James) > going to Leipzig did the > Americans know German? Must be tough listening to lectures in German. James had been raised in various places in Europe and was competent in several languages. Hall had already been to Germany on a previous study trip before he went to "post doc" with Wundt. Because there were virtually no graduate schools in the US at the time, anyone wanting graduate training pretty well had to go to Europe. German medical and scientific degrees were considered especially prestigious. Several other American psychologists who studied in Germany were not fluent. (At one medical school, there were so many Americans, they lobbied to have lectures delivered in English. The Germans refused, as I recall.) Cattell hired another (German) student to be his translator. (Wundt was considered to be a bit of a "PhD mill" by other German psychologist-philosophers for the number of international graduates he turned out.) However, it was still a time when Americans still felt having a familiarity with major European languages was a part of being an educated person. > Also to those tipsters who have gone to international conferences , I > would imagine your colleagues overseas know English.Do you get a > translation of your presentations in various languages? I guess going > to Israel to deliver a paper,English would be understandable. Sometimes "international" conferences in Europe are held in English in order to attract Americans. Sometimes they specify a range of acceptable language (e.g., English, French, German). (Canadian Psychological Association conferences are held in English and French.) In Europe (except the UK) it is generally expected that educated people will know more than one language (often English is the common "second" language). Generally speaking, the Dutch and Danes are most likely to be able to operate well in English. Germans next. The French are generally least accommodating. (I haven't been to Italy, Spain, or eastern Europe, so I am not sure on conventions there.) > Is English the language of psychology? Btw,Mandler has a work titled > The language of psychology in English.What are the reputable > scientific psychology journals in other languages? Every major country has its own "reputable" psychology journal. Some of the cross-national ones (e.g., /European J. Cognitive Psych/.) are published in English. Still, it is my impression in areas of psychology that consider themselves to be "experimental," English has strengthened its hold even further (as researchers from non-English speaking countries want to be integrated into an international scientific community. But, in areas of psychology in which cultural issues have come more to the fore, national traditions in psychology have started to strengthen somewhat in the past decade or two.) Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [email protected] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================== --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
