Lotfi Abdolhaleem Mar 7, 2014:

النص العربي يصف الطالبة بأنّها في الفرقة الأولى من الكلّية ، وليس طالبة الكلية اللتي بالفرقة الأولى - لم أقصد التمييز هنا بين جامعة وكلية ؛ ونظراً لأن توصيف الطالبة هو بالكلمات الثلاثة: فرقة أولى من كلية ، رأيت من الأرجح أن تتصل الكلمات الثلاث بالرابطة. أما إضافة التأنيث فهو للطالبة وليس student ، وليس للصفة الأولى بأنها من الفرقة الأولى كلية حتى أقول female college freshman.

Houda Nashawi Mar 7, 2014:

Thank you Amel and Lotfi for your input. According to various dictionaries, a freshman can be a first-year student in a college, university, or even high school. Merriam-Webster even goes further to say that a freshman can be "someone who is starting a job or activity." But to avoid confusion, yes, I believe it is safer to say "first-year student".

And thank you Amel for clarifying the hyphenation :)

Arabic & More Mar 7, 2014:

Salam Lofti,
I'm not sure if your comment is a response to me or just a general comment, but my comment is only regarding the hyphenation of the words, which would be the same whether the student studies in a college or university. I agree, however, that you raise a valid point, because you can use the word "freshman" for someone studying in a university or 4-year college, but not for someone who is studying in a two-year college. If it is not clear, it would be safer to say "first-year college student." My perspective is as someone from the U.S., and it may be different elsewhere.

Regarding the word "freshman" itself, you should not say "freshman student." It is more natural to say "college freshman." Also, I would not specify "female" unless there is a strong reason for doing so. Usually one can discern the gender of the speaker from the surrounding context, and it is awkward in English to say "female college freshman."

Lotfi Abdolhaleem Mar 7, 2014:

النص العربي يصف الطالبة بأنّها في الفرقة الأولى من الكلّية ، وليس الطالبة الجامعية اللتي بالفرقة الأولى - على الأقل هذا ما فهمته!

Arabic & More Mar 7, 2014:

Regarding hyphenation... If you want to say "first-year college student," you should only hyphenate "first-year" as Houda stated. "First-year" acts as a single adjective to describe what type of college student it is, and it would be incorrect to include a second hyphen. You can see many examples of the correct usage by Googling the phrase and seeing how various universities and institutions write it:

https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals...

http://www.mcdaniel.edu/undergraduate/admissions/apply/appli...