The length of the semester: the longer, the better?

In Taiwan's universities, one semester is about 19 weeks.

Compared to France's colleges' 11 weeks or even UC's 10 weeks, it's terribly long. 

The incredibly long semester is proposed and designed by the government (I guess the Ministry of Education?).

The officials believe that students learn more with longer school time, but the reality is just, if not the opposite, not as they expect to be.

I had the opportunity to be exchanged to UCLA for a quarter which only lasted for 10 weeks. I loved it! 

Due to the short span, instructors and students all keep interested in the courses throughout the whole quarter, thus always willing to absorb knowledge and obtain skills. Besides, since there's no much time to be wasted, the classes are more intense and efficient. I think very positively of the quarter system or not-so-long semester system. 

I did see the problem of short quarters/semesters. Some subjects are better learned with longer training, for example, foreign languages. To pick up a new language or improve the proficiency, a certain period of time is required. Intensity does not necessarily work in this case. 

But 19 weeks! That is way too much for most students and some professors to stay passionate about learning and teaching... An in-between length, maybe 13-14 weeks, should be adopted ASAP.

I am now in the 13th weeks, still 6 weeks to go.

image: http://keep-calm-and.tumblr.com/post/23771548502

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從科技翻譯談雅

去年順利申請到外文系的翻譯學程筆譯組，

所以這學期修了許多筆譯課程。

其中一門是科技翻譯。

科技翻譯的素材包括手冊類文件、科技論文及科技新聞等等。

學期初，老師要我們自己找一篇科技翻譯相關論文，
並寫下讀後感，作為第一份作業．
我找的論文題目是＜"雅"在科技英語翻譯中的體現＞．

「雅」是什麼？
這得從「信、達、雅」－翻譯三大原則先講起．

「信」是準確性，正確傳達原文意思；
「達」是傳達能力，完整表達原文意涵；
「雅」是語體風格，保留原文風格形式．

幾乎所有翻譯都不脫「信、達、雅」三大原則，
但在翻譯科技文章時，
許多人認為只要「信、達」，
也就是正確無誤地表達其內容即可．
「雅」則可有可無．

然而此篇論文指出，科技翻譯不該僅偏重信與達，
也要顧及雅．
那麼，科技翻譯的「雅」是什麼？

科技翻譯的「雅」，並不講究詞藻華麗、用字優雅；
而是要體現科技文章邏輯性強、用字精確的特點．
翻譯時要思考消化原文之邏輯概念，再用譯入語言（Target Language）通順地表達．

此外，科技文章有許多專業術語，譯者須瞭解該領域的背景知識、習慣用語，才能讓譯文簡單明瞭．比如說，論文中有個例子：molecular machine: 在科學界常譯為分子機制．
若譯者缺乏相關知識背景、照字面翻成分子機器，就會使中文讀者感到困惑．

這篇論文不只讓我更認識科技翻譯，
也釐清了「雅」的意義．

「雅」不是指譯文要優雅，而是得盡量貼近原文的語體風格．


<"雅"在科技英語翻譯中的體現>
http://www.docin.com/p-158810922.html