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You understand Newton's laws perfectly in Hindi, Bengali or Telugu. Then the college textbook, the reference book or the online lecture is in English, and a paragraph you would read in a minute takes ten. Many Indian students are in this position, especially after moving from a state-board school to an English-medium college or coaching class. This post explains why science in a second language is hard, what research says, and a routine for building science English without losing what you already know.
Why is science English harder than everyday English?
Because science writing is a special kind of English, and it is hard even for native speakers. Catherine Snow (2010) described academic language as designed to be concise, precise and authoritative. To do that, it uses sophisticated words and complex grammar that can disrupt reading comprehension and block learning. Her conclusion was that students need help learning academic vocabulary and how to process academic language.
Look at a typical textbook sentence: "The net work done on a body by all the forces acting on it is equal to the change in its kinetic energy." It packs a whole theorem into one sentence, using everyday words like "work" and "net" in special senses. If you are still translating word by word, you can miss the structure even when you know the physics.
Does it matter which language you learned maths in?
A study by Spelke and Tsivkin (2001) taught Russian-English bilingual college students new arithmetic facts and number-based facts in one of their two languages, then tested them in both. Students retrieved exact number facts more effectively in the language they had been trained in. Approximate number facts and non-numerical facts transferred equally well between languages.
This helps explain a common experience: you can understand a physics idea in any language, but times tables, formula patterns and memorised constants come back fastest in the language you learned them in. That is normal, not a weakness. It also suggests practising problem solving, with its exact numbers, in the language of your exam.
Does language affect test scores?
It can. Abedi and Lord (2001) gave 1,174 eighth-grade students in the United States maths word problems in their original form and in versions rewritten with simpler language but the same maths. Scores on the simplified versions were slightly higher, and some groups gained more, including English language learners and students in lower-level maths classes. The language of a question, not just the maths, affected how students performed.
What are your exam options in India?
The JEE (Main) 2026 Information Bulletin lists 13 languages: English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. English and Hindi were available at all centres in India, and other languages at centres in the relevant states, with Urdu at all centres. The question paper appears in both English and the chosen language, and the bulletin says the English version prevails if there is any difference. The language is fixed when you fill the application form.
Rules can change each year, so read the bulletin for your exam year. Choosing your stronger language can help with long word problems, while knowing the English terms helps you check the English version when a translation reads oddly.
A routine for building science English
Keep a two-column glossary. For each chapter, list the key terms in English and in your language, with a one-line meaning. "Displacement: shortest distance with direction, विस्थापन". Twenty terms per chapter is plenty.
Learn the small words that carry meaning. "Net", "respectively", "at least", "neglect", "uniform", "in terms of". These change the answer and are easy to skim past.
Read one paragraph, then explain it out loud in your own language. If you can explain it, you understood it. Then explain it again in simple English.
Read the question twice. First for the situation, then for the exact quantity asked. Underline what is given and what is asked.
Practise the exact-number skills in the exam language. Do your timed numerical practice in the language you will sit the exam in.
Use your first language for hard ideas. When a concept will not click in English, learn it in your stronger language first, then come back to the English text.
When a concept is not clear in your textbook, a second explanation can help more than a dictionary. The Fermi Concept Library covers every concept in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and computing, each with its own lesson, so you can read a different explanation of the same idea before returning to your English book.
For parents, our post on mother tongue and learning looks at the same question for younger children.
Start your two-column glossary today with the first chapter you are studying this week.
