This will be my last semester of module reviews, since I will be going for internship in the next semester. Didn't take many modules this semester, just two MPEs and 2 UEs since I had 2 S/Us remaining.
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CM4012 - STRUCTURAL DETERMINATION (3 AU)
Type: MPE
Grade: B
Comments: Taught by Profs Robin Chi and Leung Weng Kee. Prof Chi's part was relatively easier to understand and had less content. In contrast, Prof Leung's style is to provide you with a basic concept, while you read up the details on your own. His uploaded lecture notes are not enough; you'll need to make your own notes as well from the short videos he posted and from what is discussed during lecture time. Good thing: both midterms and finals are open book, with Prof Leung's midterm also being open internet. Finals for my semester had 5 questions: first 2 questions were on assigning the chemical shift on H NMR and C NMR, and determining how many different H and C signals for a given compound (standard stuff you have been doing during class time). Third question was on determining the correct structure (out of 4 provided) based on the H NMR and C NMR chemical shifts provided. Question 4 and 5 were on Prof Leung's part, which included NMR and X-ray crystallography. Most of the content was covered before in tutorials or during the weekly reflection sessions (a bit like a weekly test, except that it's not graded).
CM4013 - CURRENT TOPICS IN ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY (3 AU)
Type: MPE
Grade: B
Comments: Taught by Prof Bonanni (who also teaches CM9102) whose style is pretty fixed: 2h lecture time per week + online LAMS sequences for some parts + clickers during lecture time to reinforce concepts. Bonus marks were awarded for participating in the clickers. Databook of relevant equations are provided during the midterm exam. Finals were a tad tricky, especially with many 'propose the best method based on certain criteria provided' type of questions. There was a mix of MCQs, True/False questions and open-ended questions.
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A bit of info for people considering taking introductory modules in translation: NTU offers English to Chinese translation and vice versa only. All classes are taught mainly in Chinese, with the occassional English. You can attend the first lesson to get a better feel of classes if you cannot make up your mind. That said, if you are looking for an easy mod to S/U, don't consider this. If you are looking to score, bear in mind that many of your classmates are majoring in Chinese and would probably have better language proficiency. That said, there is flexibility in assignments and tests to express yourself in either English or Chinese. Choose your better language (mine is English, unsurprisingly). Dictionaries are allowed for midterm and finals. HT9101 allows the use of electronic dictionaries as well.
HT9101 - TRANSLATION - HISTORIES, THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES (3 AU)
Type: UE
Grade:S
Comments: Taught by Prof Uganda Kwan, this module focuses more on translation principles and theories, as well as the history of translation in the East and West. It reads like a history mod in Chinese (which I do not like) and I found myself distracted most of the time. Not the fault of the Prof, she is really good at teaching. However, you do get to watch 3 movies related to translation as part of the course (movie titles change periodically). I watched Babel, Lost in Translation and Devils on the Doorstep. For the first two movies, we had to write a short report answering the questions provided during tutorial. For the last movie, we had to write a midterm report on it (~3000 words, either in English or Chinese) to be submitted via Turnitin. There was another final report based on the street where you stay at. Another ~3000 words on the history of the street name, how it got its Mandarin Chinese translation, propose a better translation for the place etc. There is also a compulsory individual presentation based on the contents of either report. I was selected to present on the translator featured in the film Devils on the Doorstep. For finals, there were only 2 questions: one was a statement about translation principles and a translation concept, where you had to bring in examples from one of the movies watched in class. The second question was to translate a passage (mine was a news article) from English to Chinese. I barely finished translating this part when time was up. 2.5h paper but time allocated does not seem to be enough for me, when I had to flip the dictionary ever so often. You are allowed to bring a cheat sheet for finals.
HT9102 - LANGUAGE FOUNDATION FOR TRANSLATION (3 AU)
Type: UE
Grade: S
Comments: Taught by Prof Wang Shengyu this semester (covering for another Prof). She teaches well in my opinion, and what you learn is directly applicable to improving your translations. You'll get to learn the differences between English and Chinese, how to ensure that your translations sound natural in the target language etc. A bit of linguistics knowledge would help, as you'll need to identify the parts of speech, such as nouns, verbs, conjunctions, prepositions, attributive clauses etc and know the Chinese terms for them as well. There is a midterm exam and a group presentation (which turned out to be individual due to the small class size of my tutorial group). Presentation topic is based on last week's lecture and readings. A ballot was done on the first tutorial to decide the order of presentation. Finals involved 3 questions: translating English sentences to Chinese, identifying parts of speech in an English passage and discussing the differences in Chinese and English language, and lastly to translate a short story from Chinese to English. A maximum of 2 paper dictionaries (English-Chinese and Chinese-English) are allowed for the examination.
