Felling Language Barriers: An Open, Online, Multilingual Dictionary of Forestry

Of the 1,147 undergraduates enrolled in the Faculty of Forestry, 42.5% are international. Of those, 205 are participants in the ‘3+2’ program, taking 3 years of courses at a partner university in China then transferring to UBC to complete two additional years of coursework and receive a UBC degree. Although all English Language Learners (ELLs) meet English proficiency standards, the challenges presented by technical and forestry-specific jargon add a significant barrier to learning. At the suggestion of current 3+2 students, we propose to create an open, online, multilingual forestry dictionary in the form of a wiki that students can grow and refine. The dictionary would cater to the diversity of languages in our Faculty and provide a BC forestry context to key terms and their definitions. This dictionary would be a vital tool for international students as they transition to UBC, making it easier to learn and thrive.

Patrick Culbert, Instructor, Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry