seminar, conference, and symposium

SEMINAR, CONFERENCE, AND SYMPOSIUM

These three terms are widely used in formal statement concerning academic activities. Let us take a look at a dictionary how these three terms are defined. New Oxford American Dictionary defined them as seen below.

A seminar is, generally, a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is requested to actively participate.

A conference is a meeting of people who "confer" about a topic.

A conference is 

- a formal meeting for discussion: he gathered all the men around the table for a conference.

- a formal meeting that typically takes place over a number of days and involves people with a shared interest, esp. one held regularly by an association or organization.

symposium |simˈpōzēəm|
noun ( pl. symposia |-zēə| or symposiums )
a conference or meeting to discuss a particular subject.
• a collection of essays or papers on a particular subject by a number of contributors.
• a drinking party or convivial discussion, esp. as held in ancient Greece after a banquet (and notable as the title of a work by Plato).

In Indonesia, we can find them used by many educational institutions to name their formal and scientific meeting.  Udayana University call its scientific activity or seminar by using the term 'conference': ICAL (international conference on austronesian linguistics). We can find the term 'conference' used by Indonesian University of Education (UPI) Bandung: CONAPLIN (conference on applied linguistics).  

In political activity it is very popular to hear the term 'conference', such as Asia Africa Conference. We have also Round Table Conference or Konferensi Meja Bundar as it is popularly spoken in Indonesian language. 

Symposium is used by MPG EVA to name its activity: ISLOJ (International Symposium on the Language of Java) and ISMIL (International Symposium on Malay/Indonesian Linguistics).

The term 'seminar' is the commonest term used by many people and institution.

To sum up, of course based on my sense, seminar is the commonest term used in Indonesia, whether it is for formal one or not. If someone used the term 'conference', it seems that the meeting is greater and more formal than seminar. Indonesian people used to hear the word 'conference' in formal sense to refer to two examples namely Asia Africa Conference and Round Table Conference. These two political meetings are widely known in Indonesia and they are translated into "Konferensi Asia Afrika" and "Konferensi Meja Bundar". We have also scientific meeting called "Konferensi Masyarakat Linguistik Indonesia". It seems that, if we read it, this conference is only for one who knows well about linguistics. It is only who are experts in linguistics that can take part in the conference.

The term 'symposium' is not as popular as the term 'seminar' and 'conference'. It is rarely used in Indonesian. In my sense, symposium is a limited meeting not as big as seminar or conference.  A symposium is only followed by limited participants who concern on a specific topic to discuss. In Indonesia, the word seminar has become the most popular and the commonest term used to name big and formal meeting as well as semi formal meeting to discuss a certain topic. Every body can join the seminar, whether their have back ground on the theme or topic of the seminar or nor. Common participants who do not have any back ground on the topic are allowed to be participants as far as they interested in it. 

Because conference and symposium (in common meaning in Indonesia) are more formal, they are only followed by very limited participants. All the participants should know the topic discussed in the conference or symposium.  It seems that common people are not allowed to take part in a conference or symposium.

SEMINAR, CONFERENCE, AND SYMPOSIUM