volunteer work vs voluntary work

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lucalita009

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Please help me to distinguish "volunteer work" from "voluntary work".

We say "volunteer students" or "student volunteers"?

Thank you so much
 

lucalita009

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Please just say what you think. It may be helpful for me.
 

Raymott

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Please help me to distinguish "volunteer work" from "voluntary work".

We say "volunteer students" or "student volunteers"?

Thank you so much
"Volunteer work" = "Voluntary work".
Either "volunteer students" or "student volunteers" is OK.
 

Raymott

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Please just say what you think. It may be helpful for me.
My opinion above. Other people might prefer one term or the other, but they basically mean the same.
But don't worry - David L. will correct me if I'm wrong. :)
 

albertino

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Q1:Voluntary work(A job you are not paid for): British English = Volunteer work: American English;
Q2: I would prefer "Student volunteers" to "Volunteer students"
Student as an adjective modifying volunteers, which classifies what kind of volunteers they are: students
Volunteer(a nominal adjective) modifying students seems to fall short of such classification. On the contrary, it wants to indicate that some of the students are volunteers compared with those who are not.
 
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Raymott

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Q1:Voluntary work(A job you are not paid for): British English = Volunteer work: American English;
Q2: I would prefer "Student volunteers" to "Volunteer students"
Student as an adjective modifying volunteers, which classifies what kind of volunteers they are: students
Volunteer(a nominal adjective) modifying students seems to fall short of such classification. On the contrary, it wants to indicate that some of the students are volunteers compared with those who are not.
I think the context would be necessary in either case.
I also prefer "student volunteers". But this could be misunderstood as meaning "trainee volunteers", that is, they are only studying to be volunteers, and are not full volunteers. (Of course, it doesn't mean that, but it could be taken to mean it).
 

lucalita009

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There are also:
volunteer program , voluntary program
volunteer student , voluntary student
Are they right? And are there any differences between them?
 

Raymott

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There are also:
volunteer program , voluntary program
volunteer student , voluntary student
Are they right? And are there any differences between them?

No, a volunteer program is a program run by volunteers, or a program for volunteers.
A voluntary program is one which is not mandatory. For example, an anger management program in jail for violent prisoners may be mandatory. They have to do it. It's not voluntary.

A voluntary student is a student who studies of his own free will. A non-voluntary student may have been forced to study by his parents, etc.
A volunteer student is, as we discussed, a student volunteer.
But, as I said, the difference between these terms can depend on the context in which they're used.
 

albertino

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The Google search engine churns out the following results:
Student Volunteers: 660,000 entries
Volunteer Students: 34,700
Voluntary Students:6,890

This may be helpful in deciding which one is more favourable.;-)
 
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