18 Comments
913
Wikipedia gives 'Literary science' as the English equivalent of 'literatuurwetenschap'. It's the scientific study of literature.
I am still confused. If I want to say "I am studying Dutch literature." Would it be translated as "Ik studeer Nederlandse literatuur." or "Ik studeer Nederlandse literatuurwetenschap."?
The Wikipedia page does have this in the references, which I guess makes sense to me and must be a thing in Euope (not convinced that it is science though, then again maybe it is as scientific as political science?): Lacking a standard English-language equivalent, the term Literaturwissenschaft (and its equivalents in several other languages) is often translated as "literary theory", "literary criticism", or "literary studies"
Hey! Political science is a science, it's a social science just like economy and sociology, it's not a joke! lol kisses her political science books
Yeah fair point, I remember losing myself into the depths of Wikipedia after I wrote the comment looking at articles about the history of science and realised that the definition of science is a lot more broad than I'd ever thought. Interesting stuff. Also I have social science degree myself so I wasn't trying to denigrate :P
I would also suggest that Wikipedia is a good starting point for linking to better sources for research (on any given topic), but when I teach, I do not allow my students to use Wikipedia as a valid source, as it is often often wrong/not completely accurate!
- 1396
There is a Wiki on en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_science. It seems to be a European term. I would expect "literary studies" or "literary theory" in North America. As for "literature science," given as correct answer earlier in the lesson, Google results seem to be all lists with "literature, science." Is the term "literature science" actually used anywhere in the world?
I am a native of the UK and have never heard of the phrase "literary science" until now. We would say 'literature', I think. To distinguish between the study and the enjoyment of literature you would use a different verb - say "I love to study literature" rather than "I love to read literature".
"Literature" is the most common in anglophone academia, but "literary studies" shd also be accepted here
In Danish, there is a similar word: "litteraturvidenskab".
It is often translated to "Comparative Literature".
- 913
The use of the article here is the same as in English:
- I love literary sciences
- I love the literary sciences
- I choose literary sciences
- I choose the literary sciences
All are valid sentences.
The term in English for literatuurwetenschap (and for the German "Literaturwissenschaft") is "Literary Studies" or merely "Literature".
