Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

semestre

English translation:

half-year

Added to glossary by mill2
Jul 15, 2013 15:18
11 yrs ago
11 viewers *
French term

semestre

French to English Science Meteorology
In this article about the historiography of climatology "semestre" is used & defined as follows a number of times:

Si la froidure printanière et/ou la fraîcheur estivale avaient dominé pendant ce qu’on appelle ainsi le *semestre* d’été (d’avril à septembre une fois de plus), la vendange devenait d’autant plus tardive.

I have not been able to determine whether semester is used in the same way in English (googling is hard because I get all these university websites with meteorology classes offered in the fall semester etc.). I have been translating this as "summer season" or "summer months" but given that the author indicates here that it is a specific term ("ce qu'on appelle ainsi..."), I need to make sure I have the right term in English. Thanks in advance!
Proposed translations (English)
3 half-year
5 +1 summer/winter semester
4 season

Discussion

Nikki Scott-Despaigne Jul 15, 2013:
In context, I don't think the target reader would have any difficulty with the precise term "semester" which also has the advantage of respecting the register of the original.
writeaway Jul 15, 2013:
I just posted several references indicating the summer half-year is used.
chris collister Jul 15, 2013:
By definition, a semester is 6 months, so if in doubt just put 6-month summer season, 6-monthly, or 6-month period, or even half-yearly (or some such)

Proposed translations

4 days
Selected

half-year

Answer posted for sake of glossary. not my field but research (done out of curiosity) shows it's a feasible solution.

Characteristic Analyses on Hydrological and Related Meteorological ...
gyqx.westgis.ac.cn/EN/abstract/abstract3270.shtml‎
Characteristic Analyses on Hydrological and Related Meteorological Factors on ... of air temperatures in winter half year is greater than that in summer half year.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 37 mins (2013-07-15 15:55:49 GMT)
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that seems to be a Chinese www. Here are some native En www:

Manual of Meteorology - Volume 1 - Page 121 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?id=jtI3AAAAIAAJ
William Napier Shaw - 1942
... though still equally high for the winter half- year from October to March, is only of the order of -5 for the summer half- year. Below that level at one kilometre it is ...

PDF (4732 KB) - American Meteorological Society
journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/JHM-D-12-091.1‎
by I Ott - 2013 - Related articles
Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-IFU), Karlsruhe Institute of ..... for the summer half-year in the Ammer catchment, all CLM simulations show ...

Bureau of Meteorology Research Report No. 70 - Model Verification
www.bom.gov.au/climate/ahead/rr70/verification.shtml
Bureau of Meteorology Research Report No. .... temperature over northern Australia during the summer half year, and eastern Australia through most of the year.

The summer 2007 - Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
www.ceh.ac.uk/documents/ceh_floodingappraisal.pdf
Agency); a substantial proportion of the meteorological data used was provided by the Met Office. ..... years. Wet sequences of months in the summer half-year.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks very much, writeaway"
+1
30 mins
French term (edited): semestre (d’été /d'hiver)

summer/winter semester

it is also used in climatology:

"... Under the EU project of the Alpine Space named MANFRED (Management strategies to adapt Alpine Space Forest to climate change risk) the assessment of the ozone removal capability by a high elevation mountain forest has been challenged. Ozone has been chosen because it is the air pollutant of major concern during the summer semester (while per particular matter is only of winter concern). ..."
[http://www.muw2013.it/wp-content/uploads/muw13_book_of_abstr...]

Average precipitation per summer semester. The maps are based on an automatic interpolation of climate data of individual weather stations without additional ...
[http://www.urbangreenbluegrids.nl/about-green-blue-grids/cha...]
Peer comment(s):

neutral writeaway : I wouldn't trust the English in an NL website or on an Italian one for that matter. I found summer half year in the context on actual English language websites. I'd avoid using semester/yes. summer half-year seems to be the jargon used
1 min
more lay people would understand "half-year" than "semester", sure. OTOH experts tend to know well their jargon, NL or I notwithstanding
agree philgoddard : It is mainly used in an academic context, but not always.
2 mins
Thanks!
Something went wrong...
3 hrs

season

April-to-September growing season.
Peer comment(s):

neutral Nikki Scott-Despaigne : As the French has gone with "semestre" then it's probably best to go with "semester" too. otherwise "saison" would have been used.
3 hrs
neutral Rachel Fell : I think season is fine, although here I think half-year is better, esp. as it says "ce qu’on appelle""
12 hrs
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

31 mins
Reference:

fwiw, hth

Characteristic Analyses on Hydrological and Related Meteorological ...
gyqx.westgis.ac.cn/EN/abstract/abstract3270.shtml‎
Characteristic Analyses on Hydrological and Related Meteorological Factors on ... of air temperatures in winter half year is greater than that in summer half year.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 37 mins (2013-07-15 15:55:49 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

that seems to be a Chinese www. Here are some native En www:

Manual of Meteorology - Volume 1 - Page 121 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?id=jtI3AAAAIAAJ
William Napier Shaw - 1942
... though still equally high for the winter half- year from October to March, is only of the order of -5 for the summer half- year. Below that level at one kilometre it is ...

PDF (4732 KB) - American Meteorological Society
journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/JHM-D-12-091.1‎
by I Ott - 2013 - Related articles
Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-IFU), Karlsruhe Institute of ..... for the summer half-year in the Ammer catchment, all CLM simulations show ...

Bureau of Meteorology Research Report No. 70 - Model Verification
www.bom.gov.au/climate/ahead/rr70/verification.shtml
Bureau of Meteorology Research Report No. .... temperature over northern Australia during the summer half year, and eastern Australia through most of the year.

The summer 2007 - Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
www.ceh.ac.uk/documents/ceh_floodingappraisal.pdf
Agency); a substantial proportion of the meteorological data used was provided by the Met Office. ..... years. Wet sequences of months in the summer half-year.
Note from asker:
I'm going to go with this, writeaway - thanks a lot for the great references. Do you want to post as an answer so I can give you the points? Otherwise I'll close without grading
Peer comments on this reference comment:

agree Rachel Fell : p. 65 at 5.2: http://www.niwa.co.nz/sites/default/files/slmacc_extremewind... Yes, I agree, and it isn't used in this way in the context. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/q/h/UK_climate_trends.... - pp. 3, 10...
15 hrs
thanks. I think that just using semester could be confusing in this very specific context. nice to know I'm not the only one who doesn't like semester.
agree Yvonne Gallagher : so why not post this as an answer?
17 hrs
Something went wrong...
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