aaus-list @ ukrainianstudies.org -- RE: [aaus-list] translating academic ranks

[Roman Senkus <r.senkus@utoronto.ca>]

Introducing new calques and neologisms (docent-professor????) that  
would be incomprehensible, if not risible, to Ukrainian speakers is  
not the way to go. Americans should look beyond the eastern seaboard.  
The widely used Russian-English dictionary compiled under the  
direction of A. I. Smirnitskii  defines Russ. "assistent" as  
"lecturer." British universities have lecturers, senior lecturers, and  
professors--ranks that are more or less equivalent to the North  
American assistant prof., associate prof., and full prof respectively.  
(For more info, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lecturer). I  
recommend using a translation of the Brit equivalent of associate  
prof.--the senior lecturer, i.e., "starshyi vykladach" (of course, ni  
z kym asociovanyj).

Quoting Laada Bilaniuk <bilaniuk@u.washington.edu>:

> As far as faculty ranks, I agree with Paul that ?asystent? is not an
> adequate translation for ?Assistant Prof.?, rather that this closest to
> ?dotsent.?  It seems that in Ukraine there are only two faculty ranks,
> dotsent and professor, while in the US we have three, Assistant Prof.,
> Assoc. Prof., and Prof.  Being at the Associate Prof. level myself, I am
> stuck trying to figure out what to put on business cards and correspondence.
> I?ve come up with some possibilities:
>
>
>
> Dotsent-Profesor (??????-????????)
>
> Or
>
> Asots. Profesor (????. ????????), or spelled out, ???????????? ????????
>
> I think the latter version is better not spelled out, since the word isn?t
> meant to signify ?association,? it just signals a foreign rank system.
>
>
>
> Please let me know what you think or if you have other suggestions.  Thanks!
>
>
>
> Laada
>
>
>
> --
>
> Laada Bilaniuk
>
> Associate Professor
>
> Department of Anthropology
>
> Denny Hall M37, Box 353100
>
> University of Washington
>
> Seattle, WA 98195-3100
>
>
>
>   _____
>
> From: aaus-list-bounces@ukrainianstudies.org
> [mailto:aaus-list-bounces@ukrainianstudies.org] On Behalf Of D'Anieri, Paul
> J
> Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 6:24 AM
> To: Adrian Ivakhiv; aaus-list@ukrainianstudies.org
> Subject: RE: [aaus-list] translating academic ranks
>
>
>
> To answer your question most directly, no. It is just about impossible to
> translate US (I'll leave the Canadians to speak for themselves) academic
> ranks into Ukrainian, because the systems are set up differently, and the
> postions do not directly correspond. Same with the various administrative
> units. The problem is not US/Ukraine, but US-Europe. Things are simply
> conceptualized and organized differently, and there's no direct
> correspondence. That being said, here's an effort to provide some
> clarification.
>
>
>
> I essentially agree with Bob Kravchuk's evaluation: The kandydat nauk is not
> the exact equivalent to anything in the US system. In terms of the
> expectations for receiving the degree, it's probably closer to an MA with
> thesis. However, functionally, it plays the same role as the PhD: it
> qualifies one to begin a career as a faculty member, and, for those not in
> academia, it is accepted as demonstrating credentials as a researcher.
>
>
>
> I could be wrong, but in my mind the Ukrainian "dotsent" is equivalent to
> the US Assistant Professor. I might see the "assystent" as equivalent to our
> "lecturer," a non-tenure track position that does not carry faculty rank. I
> don't see any direct correspondence between our Associate Professor and
> anything in Ukraine. In the US, the "Associate" signifies above all that one
> has been granted tenure.
>
>
>
> In my work, I've found "department" to be the rough equivalent of "viddil."
> Finding a US translation for the European "Faculty" is harder. I think that
> due to the different organizational structures, there's not a direct
> corresponding division at most US universities. I've never found a
> satisfactory way of translating into Ukrainian what we have at Kansas (and
> many other US universities): a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences that
> covers everything Physics to Economics, to literature and Philosophy.
>
>
>
> The terminological confusion is increased by the fact that the word
> "college" is used to mean two completely different things in the US. It can
> mean either an institution primarily focused on teaching liberal arts and
> sciences to undergraduates (and it appears in many names; Dartmouth College,
> Williams College, etc.), or it can mean a division within a university (as
> in the example above, or a "college of veterinary medicine, etc). In this
> second context, the word "school" has the exact same meaning (e.g. Harvard
> Law School).
>
>
>
> Hope that helps.
>
>
>
> Paul D'Anieri
>
> ________________________________
>
> Paul D'Anieri
> Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
> Professor, Department of Political Science
> The University of Kansas
> 1450 Jayhawk Blvd., 200 Strong Hall
> Lawrence, KS 66045
>
> (785) 864-3661 (office)
> (785) 864-5331 (fax)
>
> danieri@ku.edu
>
>
>
>   _____
>
> From: aaus-list-bounces@ukrainianstudies.org
> [mailto:aaus-list-bounces@ukrainianstudies.org] On Behalf Of Adrian Ivakhiv
> Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 8:57 AM
> To: aaus-list@ukrainianstudies.org
> Subject: [aaus-list] translating academic ranks
>
> Is there a proper way to translate North American academic ranks to
> Ukrainian?  I see a general trend towards the following on Russian on-line
> sites, but with some departures from it (e.g., "tenure track" defined as
> "Professor", etc.):
>
>
>
> Assistant professor (British lecturer and senior/principal lecturer) =
> assystent
>
> Associate professor (Brit. reader) = docent
>
> Full professor (Brit. professor) = professor
>
> Ph.D. = kandydat nauk
>
> Researcher (or research fellow) = nauchnyi sotrudnyk
>
> Graduate student ("postgraduate" in U.K.) = aspirant
>
> Undergraduate = student
>
>
>
> Are these correct for Ukraine as well?
>
>
>
> How about the following:
>
> Ph.D. candidate (is this 'kandydat' or is that reserved for completed
> Ph.D.s?)
>
> Postdoctoral fellow
>
> Adjunct professor
>
> Research professor
>
> Chair
>
> Distinguished professor
>
> Department (viddil?)
>
> Faculty (kafedra?)
>
> School (fakul'tet?)
>
>
>
> And is it correct to use "Dr." for ranks beneath full professor and "Prof."
> only for full professors, or is it commonly used for all tenured (or
> tenure-track?) ranks?
>
>
>
> (Incidentally, someone who knows the answers to these questions should add
> them to the Wikipedia "professor," "lecturer," and "academic rank" sites.
> Ukrainians could even beat Russians in getting there.)
>
>
>
> Thanks very much,
>
> Adrian Ivakhiv
>
>
>
>



_____________________________________

ROMAN SENKUS / POMAH CEHbKYCb
Director, CIUS Publications Program www.utoronto.ca/cius
Managing Editor, www.encyclopediaofukraine.com

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