Abstract

In most branches of academia some „specialist English" has been adopted as a global standard of communication. These trends have sparked a demand for regulation that defends the use of German and prevents further adoption of English. It is argued that the use of English in academia leads to the establishment of elites, which hampers and may even destroy communication between the scientific community and the general public. In this paper it is argued that the technical jargon of the disciplines is unsuited for an exchange of ideas with the general public. The core businesses of academia should be clearly differentiated from those „unrelated services". The adoption of a unifying standard of communication is part of an efficient organization of academia. If defensive regulations that prescribe the use of German are implemented, then competitiveness of the German academic system will be depressed.