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What is the correct order?

English translation: bilingual Peruvian-American, private Catholic school for girls


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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:order of adjectives in a phrase
English translation:bilingual Peruvian-American, private Catholic school for girls
Entered by: Polangmar
Options:
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03:02 Nov 16, 2009
English to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Education / Pedagogy
English term or phrase: What is the correct order?
Hi I want to write down on my CV that I attended an American-Peruvian, Catholic bilingual private school for girls. Is this the correct adjective order? If not, could you please provide me with the correct one? Thanks!
Cristina Heraud-van Tol
Peru
Local time: 03:50
bilingual American-Peruvian(,) Catholic(,) private school for girls
Explanation:
My version.

http://tinyurl.com/yzp5z36
http://tinyurl.com/yjzscxu
Selected response from:

Polangmar
Poland
Local time: 09:50
Grading comment
Thank you very much! I am changing it a bit.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +9bilingual American-Peruvian(,) Catholic(,) private school for girlsPolangmar
4 +3I attended an American-Peruvian, Catholic, bilingual private school for girls
Andrey Belousov
4 +1Depends...
Peter Moor
4A bilingual (Spanish-English) ...
Tina Vonhof
4split the adjectives into two groupsxxxmediamatrix
Summary of reference entries provided
Rules exist, but they don't cover all adjectives
Sheila Wilson

Discussion entries: 7





  

Answers


3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
what is the correct order?
Depends...


Explanation:
Cristina, where did you attend the school? In my opinion, if the school was in the USA, the order is just fine. If it was in Peru, you may want to change it to Peruvian-American,...

Peter Moor
United States
Local time: 03:50
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in DutchDutch, Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  chaman4723
2 hrs
neutral  NancyLynn: but inversing the order would place it on American soil, I would think - e.g., an African-American lives in the US, not Africa
11 hrs
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4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
what is the correct order?
I attended an American-Peruvian, Catholic, bilingual private school for girls


Explanation:
I don't see any problem

Andrey Belousov
United States
Local time: 03:50
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Joseph Tein: I agree with this ... Cristina's version sounds just fine.
1 hr
  -> I heard ya.... Many Thanks!
agree  Liam Hamilton
2 hrs
  -> Many Thanks!
agree  Jack Doughty: This seems fine to me too. There may be other acceptable word orders too.
4 hrs
  -> Thanks, Jack!
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15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +9
what is the correct order?
bilingual American-Peruvian(,) Catholic(,) private school for girls


Explanation:
My version.

http://tinyurl.com/yzp5z36
http://tinyurl.com/yjzscxu

Polangmar
Poland
Local time: 09:50
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in PolishPolish
PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
Thank you very much! I am changing it a bit.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  John Detre
5 mins
agree  Sheila Wilson: It's my preferred version (with the commas)
4 hrs
agree  · george ·: flows better :)
5 hrs
agree  Tony M: Yes, really feel that 'bilingual' belongs up front
5 hrs
  -> Yes, of course - everything becomes easy when it stops being difficult. :-)
agree  Flo Demolis: 'Bilingual' first
6 hrs
agree  Wil Hardman: Sounds better to me
6 hrs
neutral  xxxmediamatrix: 'bilingual American-Peruvian' reflects a rather poor understanding of American culture and linguistics.
8 hrs
  -> The question was about the word order - but indeed, you can rearrange "Catholic" and "private": bilingual American-Peruvian(,) private(,) Catholic school for girls.
agree  Goldcoaster
8 hrs
agree  Vicky Nash: with commas
14 hrs
agree  Phong Le
23 hrs
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9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
what is the correct order?
split the adjectives into two groups


Explanation:
Regardless of what the 'corrct' word order is, you will end up with something that is, let's say, 'inelegant'. It's always better to split up long strings of adjectives so readers don't forget half the list before they get to the noun.

There's also a risk (depending on who's going to read this) of confusion of the concepts 'American/Peru' (which is cultural) and 'bilingual' - as in Polangmar's answer, which begins 'bilingual American-Peruvian' which is a nonsense.

If you split the adjectives into two groups, you could even allow yourself the luxury of eliminating this confusion by adding another qualifier:

I attended a private Catholic school for girls offering bicultural (Peru/US) and bilingual (English-Spanish) education.

Note that 'private Catholic shool for girls' is a standard expression used in the education world.

As mentioned by other contributors, whether you put 'Peru' before or after 'US', and 'English' before or after 'Spanish', depends more on what you want to emphasise than on any grammatical rules.

xxxmediamatrix
Local time: 05:50
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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12 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
what is the correct order?
A bilingual (Spanish-English) ...


Explanation:
I would get rid of the words 'American-Peruvian' since these are countries, not languages. I suggest: a bilingual (Spanish-English) Catholic private school for girls in Peru.



Tina Vonhof
Local time: 01:50
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in DutchDutch, Native in EnglishEnglish
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Reference comments


5 hrs peer agreement (net): +3
Reference: Rules exist, but they don't cover all adjectives

Reference information:
Going out from the noun:
1. purpose eg flower vase
2. material eg glass flower vase
3. origin eg Venetian glass flower vase
4. colour eg red Venetian glass flower vase
5. size (plus lots of others) eg tall red Venetian glass flower vase
6. judgement and attitude eg nice tall red Venetian glass flower vase
The number comes first, so it's:
one nice tall red Venetian glass flower vase.

This order is quite logical - the purpose of a thing is very important - this vase would probably have been very different if it had been made to contain something else. Its material is also important, but the colour isn't. Nice is subjective and doesn't change the vase at all.

Unfortunately this list is far from being exhaustive - many adjectives get lumped together in No. 5.

Commas are sometimes dropped between short, common adjectives (as in my example), but are generally used.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2009-11-16 08:42:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

So, how does that help here? Not a lot, I'm afraid!

There are state schools and private schools, so I think that has to be kept. Bilingual could precede but, in my opinion, is best at the front of the list on a CV. Why? Simply because the other adjectives are purely informational, whilst bilingualism is a plus point for your CV. First in the list, it has added emphasis.

In the workshop I run for French job-seekers looking for work on the international scene, I would ask whether it was really necessary to say it all. Only the most important words should be on your CV - more words, fewer readers (unless all the words are very interesting). I would suggest:
[b]Bilingual Peruvian-American school[/b]. Or American-Peruvian, as suggested by Peter Moor.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 hrs (2009-11-16 12:23:58 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I hadn't considered the America vs Peru side of things but there is quite clearly some work to do on expressing that correctly, too

Sheila Wilson
France
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  · george ·
15 mins
  -> Thanks
agree  Wil Hardman
1 hr
  -> Thanks
agree  Flo Demolis: I agree that a shorter version would be better. The 'private school for girls' part doesn't add anything to the CV.
1 hr
  -> Yes, a school's a school - now, if it had been a boys' school :-)
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Voters for reclassification
as
PRO / non-PRO		Non-PRO (1): Tony M


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Changes made by editors
Nov 21, 2009 - Changes made by Polangmar:
Edited KOG entryCristina Heraud-van Tol's old entry - "What is the correct order?" => "bilingual Peruvian-American, private Catholic school for girls"
Nov 21, 2009 - Changes made by Cristina Heraud-van Tol:
Edited KOG entryCristina Heraud-van Tol's old entry - "What is the correct order?" => "bilingual Peruvian-American, private Catholic shool for girls"


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