"The course I studied at university is medicine."

[hardyweineberg]

"The course I studied at university is medicine."
Source: me plus this is how people usually talk in my country

In British English, is it correct to call "engineering", "law", and "medicine" courses, or should I use "subjects"?

 

[Barque]

"Course" works.

"The course I studied at university is medicine."

I studied medicine at university.
Or more likely: I went to medical college/school.

 

[Tarheel]

@hardyweineberg Well, you're from there, and I'm not. However, I have watched several Mark Angel videos, and the English they speak is so natural that they could be from this area. (Except, of course, nobody speaks Igbo here.) What's my point? I don't know. I forgot. (I would expect to hear something like what Barque said.)

Maybe it makes a difference what part of the country you're from.

(Mark, Emmanuella and Success get most of the laughs. You can find those videos on YouTube and other places.)

 

[hardyweineberg]

@hardyweineberg Well, you're from there, and I'm not. However, I have watched several Mark Angel videos, and the English they speak is so natural that they could be from this area. (Except, of course, nobody speaks Igbo here.) What's my point? I don't know. I forgot. (I would expect to hear something like what Barque said.)

Maybe it makes a difference what part of the country you're from.

(Mark, Emmanuella and Success get most of the laughs. You can find those videos on YouTube and other places.)

Oh! I see where the confusion might have come from.

I was trying to say that people in my country call "law", "medicine", "engineeering" etc courses; I wasn't sure whether that was the right word.

If I wan't to be specific, this is how such conversations usually go:

Person 1: What course did you study at university?

Person 2: I studied medicine.

 

[Barque]

Person 1: What course did you study at university?

Person 2: I studied medicine.

The question seems odd to me. A course normally refers to a specific class. I have a degree in Commerce. The courses I took were Economics, Accounting, and Management.

 

[5jj]

Person 1: What course did you study at university?

Person 2: I studied medicine.

This is far more natural:

1. What did you study at university?
2. Medicine.

 

[hardyweineberg]

The question seems odd to me. A course normally refers to a specific class. I have a degree in Commerce. The courses I took were Economics, Accounting, and Management.

That was the question.
I wanted to know whether "medicine", "law" etc could be referred to as "courses" and what the right term is?

 

[Barque]

It depends on context. Medicine can be a course. If you're studying for an MBBS, anatomy can be one of your courses.

 

[jutfrank]

If somebody asks you which course you study, then you should give them the name of the course, not the subject. If the name of the course is 'Medicine', say that. In writing, use capital letters accordingly.

Courses and subjects are very different things so don't confuse them.