Re: Study plan
Explanation:
Daniel, I am sorry if I offended you or in any way affected your ProZ points/ratings. I wish I could revert my post to "agree", since I did so with your first suggestion, but this site will not allow me. I am in fact new to this forum and did not know it would cause such a commotion.
However, I stand by my statement, and here is some background to it.
The Oxford Spanish Dictionary, Third Edition (2003), which specializes in American English, translates "plan de estudios" only as "syllabus".
The Harper Collins Spanish Unabridged Dictionary, Seventh Edition (2003), translates the phrase only as "curriculum, syllabus".
The Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition (2003), which also specializes in American English, has entries for "curriculum" and "syllabus", but not for "study plan", a phrase it does not even give as a definition or synonym of either of the above.
The same happens in Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999) and Longman Advanced American Dictionary (2000) two other dictionaries that specialize in American English.
I have an Honors Bachelor's Degree in Education with the Major in English as a Second Language and an Honors TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) Certificate accredited by TESL Ontario. I worked as an EFL Teacher in Cuba for 13 years and have worked as an ESL Teacher and TESL Trainer in Canada for a couple of years.
I can tell you with absolute certainty that "study plan" is NOT a standard term used as a synonym of "curriculum" or "syllabus" in the education field.
You may find anything on the Web, including Spanglish, but it does not necessarily mean that it is correct or standard. If you google for "I could care less" you will find 301,000 hits, but it is still an absurd incorrect oxymoron to say the least.
The fact that a phrase can be found on the Web does not make it automatically correct when no single dictionary records it and all of them consistently give a different translation for the term.
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Note added at 16 hrs 2 mins (2005-08-30 14:06:11 GMT)
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Simon & Schuster's International Spanish Dictionary, Second Edition (1999) translates "plan de estudios" only as "curriculum, syllabus".
The Larousse Unabridged Dictionary Spanish-English/English-Spanish (2000) translates it as "course of study, curriculum, syllabus".
Vox New College Spanish and English Dictionary (1994) translates it only as "curriculum".
Marina Orellana's Glosario internacional para el traductor, Fourth Updated Edition (2003), renders it only as "curriculum".
The same happens in ESPASA Calpe's Diccionario Inglés-Español.
The Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus has entries both "curriculum" and "syllabus", but does not mention "study plan" even as a definition or synonym of the above.
The same happens in the Oxford Dictionary of English, Second Edition (2003), arguably the most respected English dictionary available.
Give me one, at least one, dictionary, either bilingual or monolingual, where "study plan" is used as a synonym of "curriculum" or "syllabus", and I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Until then, my point has been overwhelmingly proven.
The only correct translations of "plan de estudios" are "curriculum, syllabus, course of study". Anything else is dead wrong or, as I suspect in this case, another awful example of Spanglish.
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