Course Description
This is a course in translation in the biological/terrestrial sciences, covering especially biology, ecology, especially in Taiwan, and about anthropogenic changes to local and planetary ecology and what we can or should do about it. We'll approach this massive topic from different angles: science, technology, law, enforcement, and culture. There is some overlap with 科技翻譯; to avoid overlap our goal will be more appreciation of the natural environment we live in, from which we have become alienated in the course of modernity and postmodernity. The course relates to a concern of your instructor's, but it is arguably a common concern, and knowing something about it will probably serve you well as translators or in whatever walk of life you choose.
Every week, we'll try to get familiar with a certain plant or animal (probably a beetle or a spider or lizard, unless you want to bring a snake to class) in the local environment, and learn some of the technical language biologists learn to describe nature. Many weeks we will have short (1 hour) field trips to NTU's museums, indoor or open air: the herbarium, the zoological museum, the experimental farm, the "green" house, the ornamental plant greenhouse, the geo-specimen cottage, the geo-specimen corner, the insectarium, the 生態池, and the Fu Sinian Garden. Perhaps we will pay a visit to the botanical garden or to Yangming mountain or the Guandu nature reserve. So the course will also be a way to explore NTU and to a lesser extent Taipei. If possible, I will also ask graduate students in the sciences or even their teachers to come and share what they do with us.
The topics listed below for weeks 2-17 (16 weeks in total) are just possibilities. Actual texts week by week should be specific and challenging, though in initial classes we will do CE on easier texts.