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In 2009 or 2010, a lecturer at a German university once used the term "Sitzcredits" in my presence. Probably it was her own invented compound or adopted by a peer, but I like it.

Now, what is meant by this? "Credits" refers to ECTS-Points which can be translated to Chinese by saying 学分.

"Sitz" refers to "sitzen" in German which means sitting and can be translated to Chinese by saying 坐.

What is meant by this in total is that these are credit points which are earned by sitting in a lecture, i.e. by mere presence in contrast to fulfilling a certain academic task like writing a report or giving a talk.

By my understanding of the Chinese language, simply putting both expressions/translations of the individual words together will lead to an incomprehensible result. Rather, we have to translate this term by saying: credit points earned by sitting.

Hence, I would suggest the translation: 由于在坐上赚的学分

Question: How would you, as a native speaker, translate this term? Am I on the right track with my translation? I would like to double check with experts before I use this Chinese translation. Is my translation comprehensible or not?

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在坐 = 出席 (attend)

You could translate "Sitzcredits" as 出席學分 (Attendance Credit) - credits earned purely by attending classes or lectures, It doesn't require students to complete anything else like write an essay or make a presentation

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    Would "听课学分" do just as well? What would you think of something like "出席/听课+[赚|得|?]分", so as to use it as a verb as well as as a noun?
    – Sanchuan
    Commented Jan 13 at 11:04
  • Thank you 🙏 Note that the initial term has a slightly derogative connotation as for "sitting" is not really an achievement. Do you think this is conveyed by your translation?
    – Christoph Mark
    Commented Jan 13 at 11:24
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If the lecturer wants to disparage, no one can impede her. Maybe Sitzcredits is just a personal joke of hers however.

Normally, the English phrase "Credit Points" is used in this context in German. I believe a bachelor student needs 60 points a year.

Beiwohnstudiumkreditpunkte 参加学分, or Anwesenheitsstudiumkreditpunkte 出勤学分 would be two more Deutsch-sounding names for Sitzcredit, but the message is the same: points obtained for next to no effort!

Sitzcredits maybe: 参加学分

But Tang Ho's 出勤学分 Anwesenheitsstudiumkreditpunkte is good! (Germans like long words!)

在场学分 am-Ort-des-Geschehens Studiumpunkte possibly holds more of the lecturer's perhaps intended belittling.

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