Query: Spetskurs

[Edward M Dumanis]

No, it would not be.
Just look at the websites which contain "objazatel'nyj spetskurs" like,
i.e.,
http://www.mmonline.ru/news.php?mid=308&topic=131,149
http://db.projectharmony.ru/upload/events/pi_2004_5_27-6_11_9.doc
http://www.petrsu.ru/Chairs/Histne/spec.html
http://edu.gov.kz/?lang=ru&id=373 where they discuss "spetskursy po
vyboru" for the students of the 3rd year, and "objazatel'nyje
spetskursy" for the students of the 4th year, and many-many others.
However, "spetskursy po vyboru" are electives.

Sincerely,

Edward Dumanis <dumanis at buffalo.edu>

On Mon, 1 May 2006, Tatyana Buzina wrote:

> I would agree with Svetlana Grenier that "elective" would be a good translation, at least starting with 1991 and up to the present. Students have a wide variety of courses to choose from (up to 10 courses per year), those courses change from year to year, and the only thing mandatory about them is that you have to take some of them (the number of "spetskurses" to be taken varies from major to major). As to the topics as such, no "spetskurses" are mandatory. When it comes to the five-year curriculum, it specifies only slots for those courses, but not their names. On the other hand, there are "kursy po vybory," and they are different from the "spetskursy" because students do have a very limited selection (they can only choose between two courses), and those are listed in the curriculum with their titles. These KPVs can be changed, too, but it's a slightly more cumbersome process. 
> Regards,
> Tatyana
> 
> >I second Maryna Vinarska that it is neither independent nor elective
> >course.
> >I have always translated it as 'Topics in [the name of the subject].'
> >
> >Sincerely,
> >
> >Edward Dumanis <dumanis at buffalo.edu>
> >
> >
> >
> >On Mon, 1 May 2006, Maryna Vinarska wrote:
> >
> >> "Paul B. Gallagher" <paulbg at PBG-TRANSLATIONS.COM> wrote: And would "Spetskurs po chemu-to" 
> >> («óÐÅÃËÕÒÓ ÐÏ ÔÁËÏÍÕ-ÔÏ ÎÁÐÒÁ×ÌÅÎÉÀ (ÔÁËÏÊ-ÔÏ ÔÅÍÅ)») be "Independent 
> >> Study in Such-and-Such Area/Topic"?
> >> 
> >> ...........................................I wouldn't translate it like this. It is not smth like an independent study in American universities. The best is to translate it literally unless you can invent smth in English stating that the focus of that course was on this and that.
> >> I don't remember where the English translations of my transcripts are, but in one German translation, made by a certified translator, I have the following: Sprachlicher Spezialkurs and  Spezialkurs: fremdsprachige Literatur. Why not translate it in a similar manner into English? 
> >> 
> >> That what Svetlana Grenier said about our "spezkursy" is true for Ukraine as well. At least up to 91. "Spez" meant that the focus was on smth particular.
> >> 
> >> However, I wouldn't translate it as "an elective" either. An elective course in American universities means that it is up to you what class you choose. There was nothing like this in our universities. The program was one and the same for everybody. You couldn't avoid those "spezkursy". They were as obligatoty as all the other courses you _had_ to take. 
> >> 
> >> Regards,
> >> MV
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 		
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> 
> -- 
> Tatyana V. Buzina,
> Associate Professor, Chair,
> Dpt. of European Languages,
> Institute for Linguistics,
> Russian State U for the Humanities
> 
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