Curriculum Vita or Curriculum Vitae

I got away without taking Latin in school; however, according to the Oxford American Dictionary, the singular is curriculum vitae and the plural is curricula vitae.

Now I'd like to know what the abbreviation is CV. I thought it was c.v., but the dictionary says I'm wrong.

http://language4you.wordpress.com

oops, that's me above, p

gee, i guess i contradicted myself a bit. I originally said is WAS course of ONE'S life. Well, I still stand by general gist of what I just posted.

Gee, I'm just full of typos today. ...i... should be ...I... and ...is... should be ...it... Normally I wouldn't bother, but I know how picky some can be out here. I've been corrected out here enough before for what was obviously just a typo. I suppose a pedant like me deserves it.

curriculum vitaes

I should add, though, that in Italian language a rule of good use would require that other language words are NOT declined; e.g., "curriculum vitae" can, and it would not be considered as wrong, mean MORE than one CV, provided that the whole sentence is not in Latin of course. I hope my considerations were useful. Regards.

Rubbish. Curriculum is indeed Latin, but it is neuter. The ending "-um" indicates singular. If plural, the ending is "-a". Think of gymnasium - that is one gym, and more than one gym is gymnasia. Also data is plural, and datum is singular. I suspect that all of you do not know that there were three kinds of gender: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Data, gymnasium and curriculum are all neuter nouns.

hello, guys, could you please tell the difference between cv and resume?

My experience with resumes vs. curricula vitae is limited to helping to design my boyfriend (Ph.D., Sociology) design his CV, and designing my and friend's resumes. The Doctor is helping me write this response. :)

Resumes are usually short and current, and there's a standard that one should not exceed two pages (one page in my experience). The content is usually explicitly tailored to the job one is applying for. (i.e. If you're applying for a manager postion, you would list experiences and past positions that detail how you would be right for that job.)

Curricula vitae tend to be longer in length (three to 20+ pages), and they typically list—literally—the life of one's academic accomplishments: every paper they've written, every work that they've had published, every presentation at a regional conference they've given, every talk or lecture they've been invited to give, every grant they've applied for: whether they've received it or not, every committee they've sat on, every journal they've reviewed for, every award they've ever won, every position they've ever held, every course they've ever taught, every graduate student they've mentored, and if they're just starting out, they may also include their references, such as their Dissertation Chair and Committee members and other important people in their field.

I think that covers most of it. I hope that helps.

Is it proper to just say "vita" instead of curriculum vitae?

@ Sean - technically i think no (see the back and forth above), but many educated people in positions of influence do it anyway and get away with it. Now, don't go putting that on the top of your CV, but in conversation and informal correspondence I don't think anyone will notice or mind.

bakwass&cheep

If it refers to a load of job histories for one person, the plural would be CURRICULA VITAE (course of one life), but the equivalent for multiple people would be CURRICULA VITARUM (courses of many lives).