Volum Ulo Magial BT

Casa Cărții de Știință
Cluj-Napoca, 2020
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Professor Gabriela DIMA
Professor Mariana NEAGU
Professor Floriana POPESCU
Associate Professor Gabriela Iuliana COLIPCĂ- CIOBANU
Associate Professor Corina DOBROTĂ
Associate Professor Carmen OPRIȚ MAFTEI
Associate Professor Isabela MERILĂ
Senior Lecturer Iulia Veronica COCU
* The contributions in Section 3 were double-peer reviewed

**The authors are solely responsible for the scientific accuracy of their contributions.
© Antoanela Marta Mardar, 2020.
Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Naţionale a României

Encounters across Linguistic, Cultural and Professional Contexts : In Honorem Professor
Elena Croitoru / ed.: Antoanela Marta Mardar. –
Cluj-Napoca : Casa cărţii de ştiinţă, 2020
ISBN 978-606-17-1655-5
I. Mardar, Antoaneta Marta (ed.)
81
Casa Cărţii de Ştiinţă

400129 Cluj-Napoca; B-dul Eroilor, nr. 6-8
Tel.: 0264-431920
www.casacartii.ro; e-mail: editura@casacartii.ro
CONTENTS
THE EDITOR’S NOTE .......................................................................................... 9

GLIMPSES OF PROFESSIONAL ENCOUNTERS.
Interview with Professor Elena Croitoru ............................................................ 13
SECTION 1. TESTIMONIES OF PROFESSIONAL ENCOUNTERS ............. 39
Hortensia PÂRLOG
Fond Remembrances .................................................................................... 41
Anna GIAMBAGLI
Translation Studies. Retrospective and Prospective Views:
A Comprehensive Culture-Oriented Work in Progress ................................ 43
Elena BONTA
To Madam, with Love ................................................................................... 47
Titela VÎLCEANU
In Witness Thereof... ..................................................................................... 52
Iulian MARDAR
Change of Course: To English! .................................................................... 54
SECTION 2. ELENA CROITORU’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND TRANSLATION
STUDIES ................................................................................................................ 61
ELENA CROITORU’S CURRICULUM VITAE .............................................. 63
ELENA CROITORU’S LIST OF PUBLICATIONS ......................................... 75
ELENA CROITORU’S INFLUENTIAL BOOKS REVISITED ...................... 86
Mariana NEAGU
Confusables as Translation Traps ................................................................ 86
Florina POPESCU
Mood and Modality....................................................................................... 90
Gabriela Iuliana COLIPCĂ-CIOBANU
English through Translations. Interpretation and Translation-Oriented
Text Analysis ................................................................................................. 96
6 Antoanela Marta Mardar (ed.)
Gabriel DIMA
The English Sentence Structure .................................................................. 100
Antoanela Marta MARDAR
Modals. Tenses. Aspect. .............................................................................. 102
Petru IAMANDI
Interpretation and Translation ................................................................... 106
Isabela MERILĂ
Didactica traducerii.................................................................................... 109
Iulia Veronica COCU
Limba engleză pentru TCM. (English for Machine Building Technology) ....... 111
Carmen OPRIȚ-MAFTEI
Culegere de texte pentru frigotehnie. (Compendium on Refrigeration
Technology) ................................................................................................ 113
SECTION 3. CONTRIBUTIONS IN HONOREM PROFESSOR ELENA
CROITORU .......................................................................................................... 117
Daniel DEJICA and Anca DEJICA-CARȚIȘ
The Translation Process: Traditional Approaches and Contemporary
Challenges .................................................................................................. 119
Gabriel DIMA
A Reading of Fake News in Romanian Online Press Headlines................. 137
Rodica DIMITRIU
Translating Voices of Theory: Eugene A. Nida’s Romanian Voice ............ 147
Imola-Ágnes FARKAS
Aspectual Cognate Object Constructions in English and Romanian ......... 170
A Comparative – Contrastive Approach to Auxiliary Verbs in English,
Romanian and Italian ................................................................................. 184
Iulian MARDAR and Antoanela Marta MARDAR
On the Use and Modification of English Idioms to Achieve Expressivity
and Humour ................................................................................................ 195
Nadia MORĂRAȘU
Linguistic Adaptation and Cultural Negotiation in Translating Romanian
Gastronyms ................................................................................................. 206
Ana Maria PÂCLEANU
On the Physics Jargon in Dan Brown’s ”Angels and Demons” ................ 222
Encounters across Linguistic, Cultural and Professional Contexts 7
Dana PERCEC and Loredana PUNGĂ
Shakespeare’s Complete Works in Romanian. Filiation or Dissidence? ... 231
Titela VÎLCEANU
Translation Studies and Pragmatics Inroads ............................................. 244
BOOK OF ABSTRACTS.................................................................................... 253
NOTES ON THE CONTRIBUTORS ................................................................ 259
THE EDITOR’S NOTE
The present volume is intended as a symbolic recognition of Professor

Elena Croitoru’s contribution to the development of English Linguistics and
Translation Studies by specialists and colleagues whose professional encounters
with her, along the years, could not be left unmarked.
Professor Elena Croitoru’s, didactic, research and evaluation activities, as
illustrated by her Curriculum Vitae and List of Publications, represent solid
evidence that the professional path chosen after university graduation originated in
her wish of building an academic career and of becoming a member of the academic
elite of “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați, and, later on, through hard work,
passion and devotion, of the Romanian and international academic elite.
The volume opens with an interview meant to give the readership some
glimpses of Elena Croitoru’s most representative professional encounters with
well-known and highly-valued Romanian and foreign specialists and academics
in the fields of English Linguistics and Translation Studies.
The first section changes perspectives bringing together testimonies of
Romanian and foreign academics and of former students who have professionally
and personally interacted with Elena Croitoru in numerous occasions.
Relevant information regarding Professor Elena Croitoru’s research and
didactic activities makes up the second section of this volume. Her Curriculum
Vitae, including the most relevant aspects of Professor Elena Croitoru’s
professional development and her complete List of Publications which open this
section are followed by a collection of reviews made to Professor Elena
Croitoru’s most relevant books by colleagues from the English Department of the
Faculty of Letters, ”Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați.
The third section, including personal contributions of specialists in the
fields of English Linguistics and Translation Studies, is completed by the
abstracts of these contributions and by the bio-notes of all the distinguished
academics from Romania and abroad who kindly accepted to mark their
professional encounters with Professor Elena Croitoru by means of the
testimonies, book reviews and research articles submitted for the present volume.
Thank you, all, from the bottom of my heart, for making this project
possible!

Teachers affect eternity; no one can tell where their influence stops.
Henry Brooke Adams
PROFESSOR ELENA CROITORU

GLIMPSES OF PROFESSIONAL ENCOUNTERS
Interview with Professor Elena Croitoru
AM: First of all, I would like to thank you for accepting my invitation to share,
with the readers of and contributors to this volume, memories about relevant
linguistic, cultural and professional encounters which have marked your
professional development and academic career.
Since this volume is a celebration of your professional achievements and a
means of marking some of your memorable encounters with Romanian and
foreign specialists in English lingustics and translation studies, maybe we could
start this interview with a description of your first encounter with the English
language.
EC: My first encounter with the English language was during the first of my high
school years. English became my first love even during my first English classes
and that was thanks to my teacher of English who was very gifted, enthusiastic
and passionate. She used to have all the skills of teaching English, both to
advanced students and to beginners. And, coming from the countryside, where I
had to learn Russian, I was only a beginner in English. That I was a beginner
didn’t matter to me, because I knew I could do it! And so it was, as I was able to
catch up with my advanced colleagues quite soon. I knew very few words in
English, having learnt them from the few English songs I had heard, but when
my teacher started speaking English it sounded wonderful. Even if what she said
during the first class was a small part of the basics of English and I didn’t
understand anything, every single word sounded like the most wonderful music
to my ears. I owe it to Mrs. Augustina Belțic that I fell in love with the English
language, and, what is more important, that I wanted to become a teacher of
English. However, she left us three years later, just before our high school
graduation, when we needed her so much, and nobody knew why. I missed her a
lot and I badly needed her, because it was my strong wish to take the entrance
examination to the English – Romanian language and literature BA programme

at ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași.
My wish came true and there I was, a first year student at ”Alexandru Ioan
Cuza” University of Iași. I clearly remember a memorable situation from my first
days as a student there. One morning I happened to be five minutes late at one of
my practical courses. As I entered the room, I saw my former teacher of English,
Mrs. Augustina Belțic, in flesh and blood. I stood agape and I could hardly react
when she asked me why I was late and warned me never to be late again. Some
of my colleagues did not agree to the very strict discipline she imposed on us,
but, although it may sound strange, that made us constantly stick to our work.
And it was hard work! Her way(s) of teaching English deserve(s) her
remembrance, the first being her professionalism and devotion to her students.
AM: You completed your undergraduate studies in English and Romanian

language and literature at “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi. Could you
tell us what impressed you most as a student of the Faculty of Philology in the
university city of Iași?
EC: The first memory that comes to my mind when I think about my time in Iași
is related to the oral entrance examination to the Faculty of Philology. Being very
emotional, I was nervous on the exam day. I had a lump in my throat, I could by
no means speak and, while kneading the pen in my hands, it broke letting the ink
spill on my white dress. It was professor Grigore Vereș (I learnt who he was later,
when he taught us a wonderful course of English literature) who managed to
unlock me. Then, he asked where I had got such a good command of English.
When I answered that I had learnt English in a high school in Galați having Mrs.
Augustina Belțic as a teacher, he smiled. I did not understand why, but I was to
understand that two months later, when I was to enjoy a series of truly inspiring
English lectures and seminars taught by her.
My faculty years bring back nice memories to my mind. The English and
Romanian language and literature lectures were completed by numerous English
practical courses and by interesting modules on general linguistics, the theory of
literature, the history of the English language, the history and geography of
England (in English), to which quite a number of optional courses were added.
I consider myself lucky because I belonged to the last five-year series of
students graduating in Iasi (1972) and because I could exploit my faculty years to
the maximum. As students, we always had a lot to read and work on, so I used to
spend hours in libraries, in the university rooms, and, most of all, in the famous
”Mihai Eminescu” Library, one of the greatest in our country. I remember how
amazed I was when I first went there. I saw so many books in such large library
rooms, and so many students and teachers reading there! There were also
countless books, courses of lectures, textbooks and practical courses at the faculty
bookshop. The students’ canteen was very large and clean, but there were so
many students from all the university faculties that we had to queue for at least
half an hour every time we went to have lunch or dinner (we very often skipped
over the breakfast because our classes started at 7.30 in the morning).
The memories of my faculty years, though distant in time, are still vivid in
my mind and heart, as if they had been yesterday. My former university
professors were great professionals. Some of them passed away (I owe my
gratitude to them) and quite a number of them, together with my colleagues
teaching there now, have become prestigious personalities of the international
academic research, bringing an invaluable contribution to both knowledge
development and the development of teaching English in our country, and voicing
their opinions in the international context.
Thinking about my collaboration with some of my former university
professors and with my colleagues at ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University and at
”Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iași, which started before the 1980’s
with the symposia and conferences they organized, I can say that it has constantly
improved and extended my professional horizon and my research approaches. It
has offered me numerous occasions for approaching different domains, especially
those of linguistics and translation studies and for sharing my teaching and
research experience with them and with colleagues in other universities in
Romania and abroad at the international conferences they organized, or as active
participants in the international conferences we organized. And, last but not least,
I am always saying, maybe for fear someone may have forgotten it, that, first of
all, I am the ”product” of ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași!
AM: You graduated the Faculty of Philology in 1972 and that was also the year
when you embarked upon building an academic career at the University of Galati,
more precisely at the Pedagogical Institute of Galați. What do you recall from
your first years of teaching activity?
EC: My first didactic activity (1972), on a wonderful golden autumn day (I
graduated in June), was a lecture on the English morphology to the second year
students of the Pedagogical Institute of Galați, followed by one on English
phonetics and phonology. The first question they asked when I entered the lecture
room was: ”Are you our new colleague?” We were all so young, happy and eager
to learn a lot of new things! And so we started learning and growing together! I
loved my students from my first classes, I respected them a lot and it was my
wish to make them very good professionals loving both their profession and their
students! From the very beginning, I strongly felt that they were my children! We
were very happy to spend whole hours not only during the official programme,
but also doing extra work in the phonetic lab of the Institute till late at night,
together with the very kind lab technician, Mr. Romel Halpern, who really liked
what he did! And so did my students!
I was very happy to continue my didactic activities, to which fabulous
cultural activities were added, with the students of the University of Galați (1974)
in English – French language and literature and English – Russian language and
literature. They were wonderful, hardworking responsible students who became
very good and passionate teachers of English, and some of them are my excellent
colleagues now!
AM: Four years after your appointment at the University of Galati, you took an
important exam which offered you the chance to meet Professor Leon Levițchi, a
member of the examination commission at the time. What was your encounter
with one of the greatest Romanian specialists in English linguistics like?
EC: The great late Professor Leon Levițchi from the University of Bucharest was
the specialist of the examination board for me to become full assistant professor.
The exam started with their attending my seminar in English morphology (the
subject: the English non-finites) at 8 o’clock in the morning, its content being
thoroughly analysed and highly appreciated by Professor Leon Levițchi, and
continued with a written examination (subjects: the English future tense and a
translation from Emil Gârleanu, a long and difficult fragment) which ended at 10
o’clock at night.
I have a very warm and dear remembrance of that seminar when my
students competed in answering all my questions making it very interactive.
Knowing about Professor Leon Levițchi’s prestige and his huge work and seeing
that I was overwhelmed by emotions and inhibited by the great personality of the
Professor, my students did their best to support me during the examination. Their
seminar activity was highly appreciated by Professor Levițchi and by the whole
examination board. I thank them all, from the bottom of my heart, once more after
more than four decades!
I cannot help mentioning that later on, Professor Leon Levițchi came to our
university for more years to teach to our students and took part in our symposia
every year together with the great late Professor Andrei Bantaș, who was his
collaborator in lexicography. They were our honour guests at all our symposia,
round tables and colloquia.
AM: Your doctoral research was supervised by Professor Andrei Bantaș, a well-
known and highly valued Romanian specialist in English lingusitics and
translation studies. What could you tell us about your professional encounter with
the one and only Professor Andrei Bantaș?
EC: I cannot but mention that my lucky talisman on the professional plan was
that my formation as an academic was guided by the two ”sacred monsters” –
Professor Leon Levițchi and Professor Andrei Bantaș.
It is both easy and difficult to speak about such great professionals,
specialists and Men. It is easy because they were well-known scholars and the
fathers of the English lexicography in our country, but, at the same time it is very
difficult, because it would take very long hours and lots of pages to write about
their vast work. Besides their books on the English grammar and their dictionaries,
I should mention the hundreds of wonderful translations from English into
Romanian and viceversa. One of Levițchi’s most remarkable translations is that of
Istoria literaturii române by George Călinescu, published by Iosif Constantin
Drăgan at Milan. As Professor Leon Levițchi told us after the last exam within my
doctoral stage (he was the president of the examination boards for all the exams
during my doctoral stage), he had finally seen the beautiful leather-bound volume
of the English version two weeks before, brought from Milan by Professor Ștefan
Avădanei from ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași. Professor Levițchi died
of a heart stroke three days later (1992).
In addition to his concerns in the fields of English grammar (morphology
and lexicology), lexicography and translation, Professor Leon Levițchi was famous
for his studies on Shakespeare’s work. His close collaborators were Professor Dan
Duțescu in translations and Professor Andrei Bantaș in lexicography, among others.
I was always amazed at seeing Professor Andrei Bantaș working on two novel
translations and on some book of exercises in the English grammar at the same time
when he came to our university for lectures on contemporary English grammar, for
the symposia and round tables we organized, or for the promotion exams of some
of my colleagues. I also learned from Professor Levițchi and Professor Bantaș how
to work with my students for the practice of translation. And that proved to be very
useful! Students were truly fascinated by Professors Levițchi and Bantaș, not only
by the content of their lectures, but also by their personalities, and by the English
cultural jokes Professor Bantaș used to tell them. One of the wins was that the
students worked even harder for the exams where the two professors were
examiners together with us.
Students used to ask both Professor Levițchi and Professor Bantaș a lot of
questions, aspect which pleased them a lot. I also asked them numerous questions
on topics of the English grammar, on my scientific concerns, on the curricula, etc.
And they were always so supportive, open, generous and modest. They were
special Men indeed! Professor Bantaș was very enthusiastic about the translations
of the students at the University of Galați and very often praised them on the
scientific events he attended. He was very surprised to see such good translations
from D. H. Lawrence, Fowles, a.s.o., especially when it was about very complex,
intricate and awkward sentences.
Professor Andrei Bantaș used to tell me: We shall leave this world soon
and everything will be up to your generation and to the next generations to leave
something behind! And so it was, as many of our students later became my
colleagues of whom I am so proud!
Professor Levițchi and Professor Bantaș did influence my academic career,
my research and the content of my didactic activities, in general, and the way(s)
of interacting with my students and the methods of teaching, in particular. Later
on, in the 1990’s, they greatly influenced my research activity suggesting me to
focus my doctoral dissertation on translation studies, especially on English for
Specific Purposes given the lack of studies and the research gap in this field in
our country.
I should mention that both Professor Levițchi and Professor Bantaș knew
about the handbooks on English for Specific Purposes written by my colleagues
(Nicolae Bejan, Eugenia Gavriliu and Carmen Racoviță) and I for students
specializing in ship building, machine building technology, metallurgy, food
industry and refrigeration and that those handbooks were among the first in our
country. They asked me to bring them copies for colleagues at other universities,
which I did when we met for the examinations within my doctoral stage,
especially at ”Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, where Professor Andrei Bantaș
was teaching at that time.
My admiration, respect, gratitude and (why not?) love go towards both
Professor Levițchi and Professor Bantaș and I can only say that I was blessed to
meet them and to professionally interact with them in so many occasions.
More than this, the fact that the admirable late Professor Andrei Bantaș,
the renowned scholar who represented Romania at international conferences on
translation studies, the God-blessed translator, the Man with a fascinating
personality was the scientific advisor of my doctoral dissertation, The
Interpretative Theory of Translation, is something I will always treasure and
cheerish.
AM: Your academic career was marked by administrative activities, as well, first
as the head of the Department of Romanian language and foreign languages, and
later on as the Dean and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Letters, History and
Theology (see Appendix 2). Would you mention some of the most important
achievements which marked these stages of your academic career?
EC: A great thing I managed to do as the Dean of the Faculty of Letters, History
and Theology was to found the master’s programme Translation and interpreting
for students majoring and minoring in English. I am very grateful to Professor

Alexandra Cornilescu from the University of Bucharest and to Professor Stelian
Dumistrăcel from ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași who accepted and
made great efforts to deliver lectures to our students in this master’s programme.
I am also grateful to my colleagues, who have taken great interest in this MA
programme along the years, and to my students who chose this programme and
made the most of it after graduation! We did a lot of beautiful things together,
one of them being the book English through Translations. Interpretation and
Translation-Oriented Text Analysis. I cannot but mention the hard work of
Gabriela Iuliana Colipcă-Ciobanu, both on the translations included in the
volume and on typing it, who is now a wonderful, exceptional teacher,
collaborator and colleague.
While being a Dean, I also managed to turn the phonetic laboratories of
our faculty into modern ones, to conclude an agreement with Scuola Superiore di
Lingue Moderne per Interpreti and Tradutori within the University of Trieste,
Italy and to provide, together with my colleagues, the formal tools for the
academic recognition of the students’ Erasmus mobility period at this faculty. My
colleagues belonging to the departments of Romanian and French also concluded
quite a number of bilateral agreements with universities from abroad, many of
them being still avalable to the students of our faculty.
The purchase of the simultaneous interpretation system and of TRADOS
soft, extremely necessary in practicing translation, both for the BA and MA
students, represent two important achievemens which I supported as the Dean of
the Faculty of Letters, History and Theology.
My colleagues at the English department and I, helped by the rector of our
university at the time, founded new specializations within our faculty in the years
when I was a Dean, i.e. Journalism – English language and literature, Theology -
English language and literature (with the kind support of Bishop Cassian Crăciun)
and History - English language and literature. Countless high school pupils
became students in these specializations in the following years.
Last, but not least, while being the Dean and later the Vice-Dean of the
Faculty of Letters, History and Theology, my colleagues from all the departments
of the faculty and I organized a long series of scientific events hosting numerous
participants from other universities in Romania and abroad and we started
publishing a series of conference volumes, many of which were later turned into
specialized reviews indexed in international data bases.
AM: You participated in countless conferences organized in Romania and abroad

and you organized not few, memorable conferences at our home university. I
especially remember the RSEAS Conference organized in 2004, when the
academic community of ”Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați benefited from
the presence of the distinguished Professor Geoffrey Leech (see Appendix 3).
What are your memories of this unique conference organized by our faculty?
EC: The RSEAS Conference I organized together with my colleagues at the
English Department in 2004, proved to be a memorable scientific event
characterized by high standards of quality, professionalism (I am referring to the
papers presented), emulation and competitiveness. So much the more, there were
very important guests coming from great universities from England, Japan, Spain,
Italy, Poland, a.s.o., famous specialists in the fields of linguistics, cultural studies,
translation, interpreting, literature, teaching methodology. The honour guest was
the famous linguist (at that time corpus linguistics researcher) Geoffrey Leech
coming from the University of Lancaster, England, whom I had met at two
international conferences at the University of Verona. He very kindly accepted my
invitation to our ESSE conference, and I was very grateful to him for that,
especially when seeing that many colleagues in Romania and abroad were getting
more and more interested in meeting Geoffrey Leech and in listening to his lecture.
Professor Leech highly appreciated the papers presented at the conference
and was fascinated by our country, by the splendid show presented by the folk
music and dances ansamble of “Dunărea de Jos” Cultural Center at the gala
dinner, by their national folk costumes which brought about a lot of debates on
the translation of culture specific elements, starting from the translation of the
words and collocations referring to the component pieces of their costumes.
To put it in a nutshell, the conference was a remarkable and memorable
event for all its participants, one we remember with great pleasure and
satisfaction.
AM: The RSEAS Conference organized in 2004 was the perfect ocassion to
strengthen old and establish new professional relationships with other
distinguished guests from Italy, Spain and Poland, among other countries. And
out of these countries Italy holds a special place in your heart considering the
professional encounters you had during a series of international conferences
organized in Verona (2001 and 2004), Trieste (2004, 2006 ) and Turin (2010).
Some names come to my mind: David Snelling, Anna Giambagli, Roberta
Fachinetti and Federica Scarpa and I know that each of these names brings back
countless precious memories to your mind. Would you tell us some things about
your encounters with each of the specialists mentioned above?
EC: My professional encounter with Professor David Snelling at the University
of Trieste in 1998 was another one of God’s miracles. I was particularly
fascinated by his teaching activities during the classes of simultaneous
interpreting. It was for the first time in my life that I had seen the special
equipment used for practicing interpretation and everything was so interesting!
Five years later, I returned to the University of Trieste on a didactic mission
within the Erasmus Programme. This mission helped me realize that, in spite of
the linguistic and cultural differences, the academic staff at Scuola Superiore di
Lingue Moderne per Interpreti e Traduttori (SSLMIT) also encouraged their
students’ hard work and commitment for good professional results after
graduation. Although my friend, Carina Cesa, had often told me: ”Pay attention,
don’t forget you are not in Romania! The Romanian students are used to working
for very long hours on their home assignments and do not rise against long and
hard individual study!”, Professor Snelling proved this view to be wrong. Why
do I say this? Because, while working with the students enrolled at SSLMIT,
checking their language mistakes and explaining to them how necessary the hours
devoted to serious individual study were, I heard Professor Snelling saying ”Oh,
this is music to my ears!”.
At that time I was also definitely fascinated by Professor John Dodds’
professional qualities. He kindly allowed me to attend his interestingly interactive
”show” classes where the students were challenged to consolidate not only their
knowledge of English, but also their general and domain-specific knowledge
which was essential for appropriately translating various specialized texts from
and into English.
Thanks to Professor Snelling I had the chance of meeting the admirable,
distinguished Professor Anna Giambagli, a great professional and the Erasmus
representative of SSLMIT, who kindly accepted to extend our bilateral agreement
with the University of Trieste in 2004, when she participated in the RSEAS
Conference organized by our faculty (see Appendix 4).
I must add that I am also very grateful to Professor Snelling for kindly
accepting my invitation to come and deliver lectures to our students majoring and
minoring in English and to conclude an extremely beneficial agreement with
Scuola Superiore di Lingue Moderne per Interpreti and Traduttori within the
University of Trieste. Many of our best students studied there between 2000 and
2013, which represented a unique opportunity for their professional and personal
development.
I also recall, with great pleasure, the memorable conferences at the
University of Verona (2001, 2004) organized by Professor Roberta Fachinetti, a
great and enthusiastic professional, who, though very young, had the great art of
organizing excellent conferences and of bringing together famous linguists and
researchers in connected fields. Those were the conferences where I met Geoffrey
Leech, Frank Palmer, Michael Stubbs, Jennifer Coates, Jan Svartvik, who
fascinated me because till then they had been only the authors of the books and
articles I had read and quoted.
My encounter with Professor Leech, in particular, was a memorable one.
When I caught sight of him in a group of conference participants during the first
coffee break (there were participants from many countries, especially England),
I stood agape gazing at him and I was unable to utter a word. So he came to me
and asked ”Do I know you?”. Finding it hard to control my emotions, I introduced
myself. I was about to say that, although I had quoted him hundres of times, I
didn’t even know if he was old, or young or if he still lived. Anyway, what I can
say now is that he was a very handsome, black-bearded man with an athletic
constitution and, to my great surprise, a very communicative and agreeable
person. It was on that occasion that Professor Leech kindly accepted my invitation
to the ESSE Conference we organized in 2004, occasion which brings back many
memories dear to me.
As regards the distinguished Professor Federica Scarpa from SSLMIT,
University of Trieste, she is a renowned specialist in the field of specialized
translations whose professionalism impressed me on the occasion of the 2010
ESSE Conference organized in Turin, Italy. Seminar 50 Identity and Cultural
Diversity in Specialised Translation (see Appendix 6) which we organized and
moderated together within this great international conference hosting specialists
from all over the world was truly enriching and proved, once more, that
intercultural communication is essential as it favours fruitful professional debates
and unexpected research results.
AM: Switching our attention to your professional encounters with Romanian

specialists in the field of English linguistics and translation studies, everybody
knows that these specialsists come from universities all over the country and
cover various areas of expertise which are directly or indirectly connected to your
areas of expertise. Considering English linguistics, let us bring to the fore the
names of some of the specialists in this field whom you encountered along your
career!
EC: I have already mentioned my collaboration with my former professors and
my colleagues teaching at ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University and ”Gheorghe
Asachi” Technical University of Iași.
As regards my profesional encounters with Romanian specialists and
colleagues from other universities, I should begin with the University of Timișoara,
where I presented my first conference paper in 1976. Later on, I became a
permanent active participant in the conferences organized by the West University
of Timișoara (together with Professor Andrei Bantaș till 1996). I remember that,
after presenting my paper at the 1991 conference, many of the numerous Romanian
and foreign participants asked me a lot of questions on the topic, which scared me
a lot and made me ask Professor Bantaș: ”Why did they ask me so many questions?
It means that they didn’t like my paper and I didn’t manage to make myself clear!”
Then Professor Bantaș explained to me that it was just the other way round.
Participants in conferences used to ask questions when they were interested in the
topic and that was how debates started. Besides the emulation and competitiveness
characterizing the conferences organized by the West University of Timișoara, I
very much admired the distinguished generous Professor Hortensia Pârlog (whom
everybody, Romanians and foreigners, used to call Aba), for being a thorough
professional, a person everybody loved and respected, an excellent conference
organizer and a great team leader. In 1996, Professor Hortensia Pârlog kindly
accepted to be a menber of the commission for my promotion as Associate
Professor. I even told her that she was my professional model, and besides, it was
from her that I had learnt how to make up a team and to organize a successful
conference. And I am very grateful to her for that!
As I can clearly remember, the yearly conferences organized by Professor
Hortensia Pârlog, Professor Pia Brânzeu and Associate Professor Luminița
Frențiu at the West University of Timișoara were marvellous. Besides the high
quality of the presentations in numerous and varied concurrent sessions, the very
large number of participants (many of which were specialists - native speakers of
English), the yearly volumes British and American Studies, Romanian Journal of
English Studies, Gender Studies and Caiet de semiotică (Booklet of Semiotics) of
a high scientific standing, which implied very hard work, professionalism,
enthusiasm and much devotion, I also remember the great gala dinners with
wonderful music and dances till late at night which were the perfect occasion for
starting new professional partnerships. All the aspects mentioned above favoured
my constant participation in the BAS Conferences for 16 years, participation
marked by a special Certificate of Fidelity awarded to me by the conference
organizers (see Appendix 7).
My professional encounters with the distinguished Professor Alexandra
Cornilescu at the University of Bucharest are also memorable. In 1996 she kindly
accepted to be a member of the comission of my promotion and later on, in 2000,
she accepted to support the didactic activity at our faculty by delivering lectures
in the framework of the MA programme Translation and Interpreting. Professor
Alexandra Cornilescu’s participation as guest of honour in the conferences we
organized is also worth including in the list of valuable professional exchanges
with the University of Bucharest.
I cannot but mention my professional encounters with Professor Dumitru

Ciocoi Pop who was the rector of ”Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu in the 1990s
and Professor Sever Trifu who was member of the comission for the public defence
of my doctoral dissertation in 1995, with Professor Mihai Zdrenghea at ”Babeș
Bolyai” University of Cluj, and, last but not least, my very long collaboration in
commissions for the public defence of his PhD students’ doctoral dissertations with
the late Professor Horia Hulban, my former university professor.
Last, but not least, I should bring to the fore my long collaboration with
my colleagues from ”Ștefan cel Mare” University of Suceava, the University of
Craiova, ”Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacău, University of Oradea,
”Ovidius” University of Constanța, the Maritime University of Constanța and
”Transilvania” University of Brașov.
AM: The public defense of your doctoral dissertation (The Interpretative Theory
of Translation) in 1995 published in 1996 (Interpretation and Translation)
represents a valuable contribution to the development of Translation Studies in
Romania and abroad. This is testified, on the one hand, by the fact that Eugene
Nida presented your book in his Contexts in Translating and by the fact that your
book has been quoted in numerous research studies and articles related to the
topic, on the other. I even dare say that your research interests have slightly
changed from that point on, your list of publications being a testimony in this
respect. Would you say this is true? What about your professional encounters
with Romanian specialists interested in Translation Studies?
EC: After the public defense of my doctoral dissertation, my research interests in
contemporary English grammar, especially in morphology and syntax, extended
to translation-related topics, or better said, it seemed very challenging to me to
investigate a lot of grammatical, lexical and semantic aspects from the translation
studies perspective. Furthermore, I suggested a lot of such topics both for MA
(1998-2014) and PhD (2008-2018) dissertations.
As regards the translation studies topics, I used to focus on equivalence
and translation strategies (even when working on English through Translations.
Interpretation and Translation-Oriented Text Analysis with my MA students)
because they were of utmost importance in the translation – oriented text analysis.
My research interests in this respect grew bigger and bigger after 1996, the
year when I had the honour to meet Eugene Nida, the great linguist and famous
Bible translator. My participation at the international conference organized by
“Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași in 1996, where Eugene Nida was the
honour guest, represented the perfect occasion for me to professionally interact
with him. I wrote to Eugene Nida on aspects of equivalence and adequacy and
his answer letter (see Appendix 1), which accompanied one of his very important
books, represented a great specialist’s confirmation of my views on the two
translation-related issues considered.
I was so happy to see that more and more colleagues at universities in
Romania and abroad soon became more concerned with translation-related topics
and that the international conferences organized both in Romania and abroad
started including special programme sections on translation studies. As far as I
can remember, the first international conference including a section devoted to
translation studies was organized at the West University of Timișoara, this
innovative approach being favoured by the presence of Professor Andrei Bantaș
as the honour guest of the conference.
As time went by, the international conferences organized in Romania
which included sections on translation studies started bringing together
Romanian and foreign specialists, thus turning the respective sections and events
into remarkable occasions for effervescent debates. I am happy to say that many
of my colleagues at the English Department, myself included, have presented
numerous papers on translation-related topics at such international conferences
and have ensured the publication of an annual review devoted to translation -
related issues, i.e. Translation Studies. Retrospective and Prospective Views in
the framework of our department research centre „Cercetarea de interfață a
textului original și tradus. Dimensiuni cognitive și comunicaționale ale
mesajului” (Interface Research of the Original and Translated Text. Cognitive
and Communicational Dimensions of the Message) (see Appendix 5)
As far as I am concerned, my growing concern with the theory and practice
of translation had a significant influence on my didactic activity, especially when
teaching aspects of the English morphology (the grammatical and stylistic values
of tenses in English and Romanian and their contextualizations, aspect, moods,
modality, voice, etc.) and syntax (types of sentences, types of adverbials, etc.) by
means of the comparative – contrastive method.
AM: The master programme in Translation and Interpretation led the way to
further professional encounters with specialists from ”Vasile Alecsandri”
University of Bacău and the University of Craiova. These two universities were
your temporary home during the years when you taught translation-related
courses as a visiting professor. What are your memories about your teaching
experience in Bacău and Craiova?
EC: It was my privilege to go on teaching a lot of the topics I used to teach to our
MA students to MA students at the University of Craiova (2004-2006), at ”Vasile
Alecsandri ” University of Bacău (2008-2013) and at ”Bogdan Petriceicu
Hașdeu” in Cahul, Republic of Modova (2001-2004), as a visiting professor and
within the Erasmus international programme at Suola Superiore di Lingue
Moderne per Interpreti e Traduttori, University of Trieste, Italy (2004, 2006). All
these periods enriched me and helped me to extend and bring my teaching
experience to higher standards, as well as to apply new methods of teaching and
interacting with students.
Each teaching experience brought me into contact with a new academic
community, with more specialists in the fields I was concerned with, opening new
horizons to me and being important ‘landmarks’ in my professional development.
AM: Scientific advisor of doctoral dissertations in the programme of doctoral

studies and Director of the Doctoral School of Social Sciences and Humanities at
”Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați represent the latest stages in your academic
career and a natural way of successfully concluding it. What would you like to
tell us about your professional encounters occasioned by the specific doctoral
activities organized in Galati and in other Romanian universities?
EC: First of all, it was my participation in quite a number of symposia, round
tables, professional department meetings (before 1990) and in numerous
international conferences organized in Romania and abroad (after 1990) that has
been the key to my professional growth. They have offered me memorable
occasions of meeting great Romanian and foreign specialists, of exchanging
ideas, of ‘building’ partnerships and professional relationships.
Another very important accomplishment has been my participation, as a
scientific referent, in commissions for the public defense of doctoral dissertations
at ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași (2007-2020), the University of
Craiova (2010-2014, 2020), the West University of Timișoara (2009), the
University of Bucharest (2005), on the one hand, and the participation of
specialists from ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, University of
Bucharest, University of Craiova, University of Timișoara in commissions for the
public defense of my PhD students’ doctoral dissertations, on the other.
I should also mention my participation, as a member of habilitation
commissions, at “Transilvania” University of Brașov (2016), University of
Craiova (2017), University of Pitești (2017, 2019) and ”Dunărea de Jos”
University of Galați (2015, 2017, 2020).
My participation in promotion commissions for didactic positions at
universities in our country, in commissions for awarding the Doctor Honoris
Causa title at ”Ștefan cel Mare” University of Suceava (July, 4, 2011), ”Dunărea
de Jos” University of Galați (May, 5, 2011), or for promoting the director of the
Council for Doctoral Studies at ”Ștefan cel Mare” University of Suceava (2012)
completes my list of encounters with valuable members of the Romanian
academic community which enriched me professionally and personally.
AM: Instead of a conclusion, what thoughts cross your mind when you look back
at your professional development and at the academic career, as a specialist in
English linguistics and Translation Studies, you have built at national and
international levels?
EC: The rooms of the Faculty of Letters and of the English Department have
always been my second Home and my students were, without exception, my
children and my friends, though many of them thought me to be very strict and
severe during classes and exams. That was just because I did want them to be
very good teachers, able to answer all the questions their students-to-be would
ask them and never to blush in front of them. I am sure most of them knew I loved
them and I respected them. Over the years, many of them told me that it was
obvious in the way I was completely absorbed by my profession and mission, in

my attitude towards them and towards everything I did, even in every piece of
my clothing. In the most difficult moments of my life, when I underwent two very
difficult operations, when my baby and my father died, or when I came from the
court to deliver my lecture after having divorced and it was so obvious that I had
cried a lot, it was my dear students who were there to support and encourage me.
Seeing tears in their eyes, I once more understood they loved me. In such
moments, they used to knock the stuffing out of me so that I no longer had time
to think about my problems and to feel any soul or physical pain.
A great number of the best of my students became my colleagues at the
Department of English, at the Department of Linguistics, Literature and
Journalism and at the Department of French Language and Literature. I am very
proud of them all and I love them while admiring their research and didactic
accomplishments, their taking over all the administrative responsibilities in our
faculty, as well as their developing partnerships with other universities in our
country and abroad.
I thank God for all His blessings and, most of all, I thank Him for the
most precious gift he gave me, besides the gifts of life and health, i.e. my
profession.
Appendix 1
Letter sent to Professor Elena Croitoru by Eugene Nida in 1997

Appendix 2
Article published in Viața Liberă, no. 4044/ year XIV, 8-9 March 2003
Appendix 3
Interview with Professor Geoffrey Leech at RSEAS Conference in 2004

(published in Mozaic universitar, year 1, no.1/ Nov. 2004, ISSN 1584-7942)
Appendix 4
Report on the RSEAS Conference by Anna Giambagli, SSLMIT, University of Trieste

(published in University English. The RSEAS Bulletin of the English Departments in
Romania, no.8/ 2005)
Appendix 5
The CNCSIS Certificate testifying

„Cercetarea de interfață a textului original și tradus. Dimensiuni cognitive și
comunicaționale ale mesajului” (Interface Research of the Original and Translated
Text. Cognitive and Communicational Dimensions of the Message)
as a class C research centre and Professor Elena Croitoru as its Director (2004)
Appendix 6
ESSE Conference, Turin, 24-28 August 2010, Seminar 50, convenor Professor Federica
Scarpa, co-convenor, Professor Elena Croitoru
Appendix 7
Certificate of Fidelity awarded to Professor Elena Croitoru

for participating in 16 consecutive editions of the International Conference British and
American Studies organized by the Department of English, University of the West
Timişoara
FOND REMEMBRANCES
Hortensia PÂRLOG
Whenever I go out to do some shopping or just for a walk, I am bound to meet

some former student(s) who would surprise me with stories about their
retirement, their current favourite pastimes, grandchildren. I know that the speed
at which time passes is circumstantial, but, in my case, frozen images of people I
met at a given moment in the past seem to be hidden in some drawer of my brain,
where they stay forever unchanged. In my mind’s eye, these persons are
untouched by time, and still look and behave as they did when I first met them.
This is how I remember them.
Elena Croitoru (or Nuți, as she is called by people close to her) was not my
student, although she could have been, as in 1967, when she was admitted to the
University of Iași, I was still a member of the English department there. I met her
much later, in Timișoara, where she had become one of our British and American
Studies conference constant attendees. She even won a diploma of fidelity for her
participation in sixteen editions of this conference, in spite of the distance that
separates Timișoara from her own home town, Galați, and especially of the
difficulty of travelling from one end of our country to the other. Later she also
accepted to be a member of a PhD thesis evaluation board in Timișoara, so we
must have last met about ten years ago again. But the image I have of her in my
mind is still that of the radiant, smiling, friendly, communicative person of almost
thirty years ago, and I find it hard to believe that she has reached the age when
those around her feel the need to present her with a Festschrift, thus expressing
their admiration, respect, and gratitude.
What connects us is not just our common preoccupation with translation
studies and grammar or our general academic interests. She has had the enviable
skill of writing good, well-documented books and articles, many with a didactic
character, clear, and accessible to students. We have also shared the privilege of
having common friends, whose company we greatly enjoyed: the admirable,
generous Professor Andrei Bantaș, her PhD supervisor, and the highly supportive,
understanding Professor David Snelling, Dean of the Scuola Superiore di lingue
moderne per Interpreti e Traduttori, University of Trieste, with whom we had
both established Erasmus exchanges between our departments.
What else do I remember about her? Professor Croitoru was the one and
only English department head, and later Dean of the Faculty of Letters, in the
country, who understood the importance of having the RSEAS (Romanian
Society for English and American Studies) conference move each year to another
Romanian university centre, as a networking opportunity, and took upon herself
the difficult task of organizing it in Galați in 2004. It was a memorable event,
impeccably run, where one of the keynote speakers that comes to my mind, whom
she had managed to bring over, was none other than Geoffrey Leech, the great
British linguist.
Professor Croitoru’s accomplishments that deserve remembrance are many
and varied; she has worked with devotion for her students and her department and
has been involved in numerous activities – research projects, supervision of
doctoral students, organization of international conferences, administrative work,
and, above all, high level teaching.
I wish her lasting good health, and a happy well-deserved retirement!
TRANSLATION STUDIES. RETROSPECTIVE AND
PROSPECTIVE VIEWS: A COMPREHENSIVE
CULTURE-ORIENTED WORK IN PROGRESS
Anna GIAMBAGLI
In the field of linguistics, Translation Studies has become a fully-fledged

academic research discipline only in recent times. The impetus given to this
branch of knowledge by some prestigious European Schools, suffice it to mention
those in Paris and Vienna, was, in fact, decisive throughout the second half of the
20th century. Thanks to the theoretical approaches of well-known scholars on the
international scene, Translation and Interpretation Studies represent, at present, a
fully-fledged domain from both a theoretical and a practical point of view.
Similarly to all hard and soft sciences, translation theory and practice resorts to
the established knowledge encouraged also by the circulation of such knowledge
at national and international conferences and scientific symposia.
The first years of the 21st century, on the other hand, were important for
Romania. The mechanisms for joining the European Union, of which the country
has been an official member since 2007, were in fact significantly accelerated
between 2004 and 2007 and brought about a subsequent intensification of the
Brussels - Bucharest political, economic and cultural relations. The reciprocal
knowledge about people and places throughout this epochal event, as well as the
previous and subsequent enlargements of the Union, acted as a precious source,
vital for a harmonious growth, united in its diversity, to foster the so-called
European system.
Although seemingly unrelated, these two considerations are in fact ideally
linked, in my opinion, by a solid common thread: the opening of the European
Union to the East has provided a fertile ground for a two-way dissemination of
academic knowledge in the vast domain of Translation and Cultural Studies, i.e.
from and to the EU. Such contribution and mutual enrichment have been,
undoubtedly, significant for both parties: on the one hand, the European Union
has channeled its historical research and linguistic investigation to the east of the
continent; on the other hand, Romania has contributed to enriching the already
rich European context with further innovative elements of reflection in the
specific domains of investigation.
A relevant proof in this respect is the 7th ESSE International Conference
“Cultural Matrix Reloaded” organized under the aegis of the Romanian Society
of English and American Studies (RSEAS), not by chance held in Galati and not
by chance in 2004, a crucial year, as previously mentioned, for the new
geopolitical order of a united Europe in the making. This international
conference, which was heralded to be a rich kaleidoscope of themes, closely
connected to the cultural background which was, already in those years, fully
identifiable in Linguistics, Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies, as well
as, of course, in Literature and Cultural Studies, i.e. as many areas of interest in
the sessions on which the Conference program was structured.
The author of these remarks was invited to present a contribution at this
conference on behalf of the University of Trieste, and of the Higher School of
Modern Languages for Interpreters and Translators (Scuola Superiore di Lingue
Moderne per Interpreti e Traduttori), in particular. Separate from this event,
“Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati and the University of Trieste had already
had fruitful exchange relationships between students and professors in the
framework of the Erasmus Program. The invitation of the Romanian colleagues
and of Professor Elena Croitoru and her dynamic team, in particular, was
therefore accepted by Trieste with great interest and enthusiasm.
The memories of this conference, though distant in time, remain vivid in my
mind and heart. Three intense days of plenary sessions, animated, certainly, by
prestigious personalities from the world of international academic research, and of
parallel sessions, one of which brought an invaluable contribution to the
conference, as a whole. It was a session dedicated to studies conducted by young
scholars who would gain, in fact, significant scientific and didactic experience in
the following years. Professor Croitoru’s choice, among others, of giving academic
researchers the chance to voice their opinions in an international context was a plus
from an academic point of view. It was an indication of intelligent open-
mindedness, and a guarantee regarding the continuity of theoretical and practical
knowledge development, irrespective the research field envisaged.
The wide variety of topics approached in the conference sessions
represents a good indicator of the spirit of openness and innovation within some
canonical strands of academic research and of the multifaceted approach which
Professor Elena Croitoru envisaged and succeeded in giving to the lectio
magistralis, planned interventions and debates cohesively and coherently
articulated throughout the conference. Implicit questions such as: “What is
culture today?” or “What is cultural identity in a language and in different
languages?” represented the background for further reflection and possible
answers from the perspective of the various domains taken into account
(theoretical and applied linguistics, language teaching, literature, translation, etc.)
In the framework of such kaleidoscopic exchanges and scientific
contributions, the conference in Galati provided, thanks to Professor Croitoru’s
long-term intellectual openness, the perfect occasion for approaching the domain
of interpretation, as well, which, among the ones mentioned above, is
undoubtedly the most recent acquisition within the domain of academic scientific
disciplines. Thus, I had the opportunity to share my teaching and research
experience with specialists from Romania and from other regions of the world,
discussing, specifically, theoretical and practical aspects of court interpreting
compared and contrasted with conference interpreting. This was a research based
on similarities and differences between two operational contexts which began to
arouse increasing interest from the international scientific community in the early
years of this century and which would record fertile developments in the
following years.
The challenging three-day conference in Galati took place in an organic
and structured manner, alternating well-balanced plenary sessions which were
starting points of open debate with other experts and the public with parallel
sessions, all of which were carefully, discreetly but well-perceptibly managed by
Elena Croitoru. She surely succeeded in giving the work an effective and efficient
format, first of all thanks to her intuition and experience, but also thanks to her
ability to carefully organize her result-oriented team work.
Elena Croitoru was also a constant point of reference, as editor-in-chief of

Translation Studies Retrospective and Prospective Views (TSRPV), the review
born in 2007 as a natural emanation of the 2004 RSEAS conference. From its first
publication, TSRPV was quickly established as one of the leading international
scientific debate forums able to catalyze significant teaching and research
experiences in the fields of linguistics and Translation Studies. And all this under
Professor Elena Croitoru’s constant careful and authoritative guidance, who
maintained and enriched the scientific quality of the review thanks to a rigorous
qualitative selection of the contributions published throughout the years.
This remarkable conference organizing and editorial activity which started
in the early years of this century has been strengthened and enlarged, as expected,
given the enlightening guiding which I could benefit from. My having
participated in the initial stages of this conference-related activities and my being
included in the Advisory Board of TSRPV represented and still represent for the
Higher School of Modern Languages for Interpreters and Translators, relevant
points of my professional growth.
A complex and challenging event such as The 7th International Conference
“Cultural Matrix Reloaded” (2004) would have been incomplete without the
socializing component: the splendid river cruise, the gala dinner, the cultural
evening with the pleasant operetta show, i.e. some of the numerous moments
which facilitated, from a more informal but equally significant point of view, the
mutual knowledge and dialogue between the participants, making my memories
of Elena, of Galati, of Romania unforgettable.
TO MADAM, WITH LOVE
Elena BONTA
Gratitude is the memory of the heart (Italian proverb)
The proverb seems to me to be the best way to begin the testimonial that is meant to
bring together thoughts of gratitude to a Great Professor: Dr. Elena Croitoru, who
brought an invaluable contribution to the development of a fruitful academic
collaboration between “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați and “Vasile Alecsandri”
University of Bacău, a collaboration based on mutual exchange of expertise.
I can easily recollect a cold rainy autumn day, back in 2008. I was as shy
as a first-year student, standing in the Faculty doorway and waiting impatiently
for our guest, the distinguished Visiting Professor Elena Croitoru, for her classes
in our faculty. I still could not believe that she had accepted our invitation to
collaborate with our Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. We felt
it as a great honour and a favour done to our faculty, as many other universities
would have been more than pleased to have her as a Visiting Professor.
There she arrived, with a gentle and sincere smile on her face, arms largely
open to meet me as if, through that gesture she would have liked to embrace all
the teachers and students in the faculty, at the same time. That marked the
beginning of a long and wonderful cooperation that lasted for 5 years.
Her first teaching day in our faculty finds the same narrative expression in
one former student`s testimonial:
I remember the first time she walked through the door, it was very cold
outside and she had to drive through such a nasty weather, but that is not
why I say she is amazing. Even though outside the weather was gloomy,
she walked into the room smiling, and greeted us warmly, and started
talking to us on different topics. It was as if she had known us for a long
time, and that was how she made us feel about her. (Ioana- Alexandra Sion –
MA student 2010-2012)
For five years, Professor Croitoru delivered the course Theories of

Translation to the MA students, enrolled in the English Language.
Communication Practices study programme and she proved once more, that she
is an expert in the field.
The room was always full of students as the classes were very interesting,
challenging, pleasant and inspirational. A very kind personality, Professor
Croitoru has inspired students with her deep knowledge and passion for the
subject – as this is what a great teacher does: she inspires (“The mediocre teacher
tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great
teacher inspires.” – William Arthur Ward)
Her interactive way of teaching, the relaxed environment she secured

during the courses and the motherly approach to explaining the
translator’s job was an inspiration for me as a teacher. (Antoanela Dumea –
MA student, 2010-2012)
Out of this wonderful experience, not only students but also we, the
professors in the Faculty of Letters, have been taught many lessons that have
made us all understand, at least, three important things:
1. Teaching is a gift
You need to be born with the gift of being a teacher: to love what you are doing,
to love students and to facilitate their learning, to prove dedication to your job
and to turn the daily teaching job into the art of teaching. This is also noticed in
excellent preparation and organization skills, strong work ethic, as well as in an
endless enthusiastic behaviour.
Professor Elena Croitoru has got the gift of teaching. Here is how two of
the former MA students mention this:
I had the opportunity to meet and learn from professor Croitoru as a first
year master’s degree student, at an age when dreams are big, and the
hunger for good books and great people is even bigger. Such a person, for
me, was Mrs. Croitoru. I am sure that everyone can agree when I say that
professor Croitoru possesses the qualities of a true professional in her
field, a skilled teacher and a great person (Cristina Rebegea, MA student,
2010-2012)
I recall the class hours spent together; beyond the exceptional

professionalism, the teacher proved to be a warm and close man to the
students in revealing the mysteries of literary translations (Victoria
Băncilă – MA student, 2013-2014)
2. It is important to display modesty about your own knowledge but to

display the traits of your personality through the actions performed
Professor Elena Croitoru`s name and plethora of activities that materialized in a

very rich scientific research work – that has brought a real contribution to the
research work in the field of linguistics and through which she kept enriching the
epistemological reflexion about the study of language and its use - had been
familiar to our students long before her presence in our Faculty. That was due to
the fact that articles, books and coursebooks written by her had been part of the
compulsory bibliography BA students used to get for their classes in Morphology
and, MA students, for their Translation Theories and Translation Practice classes.
Professor Elena Croitoru belongs to the category of “teachers of a
developmental personality” who, according to Swist, 2009 (quoted in Jurczak &
Jurczak, 2015: 84) are characterized by a great desire to make changes in the
educational space and to stir passion in students.
Moreover, Professor Croitoru has always proved to be a teacher leader,
displaying passion for both teaching students and mentoring fellow teachers. Our
younger colleagues, lecturers and assistant professors in the Department of
Foreign Languages and Literatures, have benefited from the expertise, the pieces
of advice they got from her and from examples of good practices in professional
and research work. She was part of the scientific committee of the international
conferences organized by the Faculty of Letters along these years, a plenary
speaker in these conferences, as well as a member of the scientific committee of
Interstudia, the review of the Interdisciplinary Centre for the Study of
Contemporary Discursive Forms (INTERSTUD), in the Faculty of Letters,

“Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacău. She has also done us the honour of
being a member of associate-professorship or professorship examination boards
within our Department.
3. Approachability and friendliness, along with promotion of respectful

interaction are part and parcel of the behaviour of a great teacher
University students need these teacher`s traits, as much as younger students in

the pre-university system do, as these traits are meant to create a positive and
developmental study environment.
Professor Elena Croitoru has offered the students the image of a warm,
accessible and flexible educator: always calm and friendly, always energetic,
always positive, always helpful and responsive, always fostering growth and new
ideas. She has also esteemed students as valuable and has built an outstanding
caring relationship with them. Former MA students talk about the atmosphere
created during courses, as well as about the help they got unconditionally during
seminars, during extra hours or in writing their dissertation papers.
I remember I felt relaxed, and comfortable in her presence. (Ioana-

Alexandra Sion – MA student, 2010-2012)
She was very understanding of every student’s problem, because you know
that most students that follow the master’s programme work at the same
time. Mrs Croitoru Elena took advantage of every spare minute to teach
us. Even at the end of the course she would sacrifice her time to give extra
help to students who needed it. (Viviana Bursuc – MA student, 2011-2013)
4. Creating a sense of community needs to be a main objective for teachers

and educators
It is well-known that a sense of identity within a group is considered to bring

adjustment and success to classes. Professor Elena Croitoru has always provided
a way for students to be and to feel included, thus answering their need for
belonging to the community of learning. She has also developed collaboration
between students, as well as a sense of responsibility to their own work or to the
others` work. At the same time, she gave them the strength to take new steps
towards decoding the mysteries of translation studies. It is absolutely amazing
how one of the former MA students expresses her feelings about the way her
Professor was focusing on establishing a good relationship with students:
What stroke me the most was the passion with which she talked, not only
of her work, but of her students as well; the fact that she would constantly
mention different projects and publications on which she had worked with
her students, side by side. There was always “my students and I”, “me and
them”, “we have decided” when she explained theoretical issues. She
would always mention them and the work that they had accomplished
together ‒ such a wonderful “we” for any student! (Cristina Rebegea, MA
student, 2010-2012)
For all these lessons and for having the unique opportunity of working
together, the MA students and the faculty teachers are and will be always grateful
to Professor Elena Croitoru; we will always say, quoting from Marcel Proust:
“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming
gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
THANK YOU, dear PROFESSOR, for challenging us all to think further
and work harder!
On behalf of the students and the teaching staff of the Department of
Foreign Languages and Literatures, the Faculty of Letters, “Vasile Alecsandri”
University of Bacău.
References
Jurczak, I. & E. Jurczak 2015. Personality of the Teacher as an Important Element in the
Educational Process of the Child, No.5 (2)/2015, 79-88.
https://www.edsys.in/35-inspirational-quotes-for-teachers-appreciation/
IN WITNESS THEREOF...
Titela VÎLCEANU
It is extremely hard to describe encounters with people who have shaped the
present and the future by refusing to take the back seat and watch things happen.
Definitely, Professor Elena Croitoru would and will not take a seat - she has
simply stood up becoming outstanding - she is not part of the change, she has
driven the change.
There are many things that bind me to Professor Elena Croitoru.
Institutionally, professionally and personally, I owe her viable pathways and
vistas. Back in 2004 she was a founding member and scientific advisor of the
first Master's programme in English language and literature at the University of
Craiova - Cultural unity and diversity in the teaching and learning of English
in the European context - the title of the programme seemed programmatic at a
time when Romania was not a Member State, and when the scientific cross-
fertilisation and harmonisation of interests and sustainable practices was still a
desideratum. Yet, Professor Elena Croitoru has always been ahead of her time,
exploring opportunities, pioneering and leaving permanent marks. As if you
could track time by following in her footsteps.
I also have vivid memories of the conferences that she organized at her
home university and which I so eagerly attended every time. It was not just the
feeling of being "in good company" - leading figures such as Geoffrey Leech
wholeheartedly accepted Professor Elena Croitoru's invitation - such events
created enduring bonds among the academia and set up high standards.
I have always been honoured to be a member of the PhD thesis defense
committees at "Dunărea de Jos " University of Galati. Professor Elena Croitoru
has been and is a PhD supervisor unconditionally investing time and energy and
sharing her expertise. She is a well-known scholar in Theoretical and Applied
Linguistics -Translation Studies, included - chartering Romanian contributions
in these fields on the bigger map of world research.
Last but not least, my gratitude goes to Professor Elena Croitoru for
believing in me, for encouraging me every step of the way, for boosting my
capabilities at the beginning of my career and ever after. As she most likely did
with many other colleagues from her home university and elsewhere.
I stated that it is extremely hard to describe encounters ... I would add
"blessed" encounters even if I might be accused of using inflated language ... it
is, however, my way of paying the deepest respect and showing the highest
admiration.
CHANGE OF COURSE: TO ENGLISH!
Iulian MARDAR
My name is Iulian Mardar and I am a teacher of English. Nothing out of the

ordinary so far, but if you knew that I did not enter the Faculty of Letters to
become a teacher of English, you would like to know what happened. As a
consequence of your unuttered question, you are about to read a true story.
It was 1990. I had just finished high-school and it was time for me to take
an entrance exam to a faculty of my choice. I had made up my mind the previous
year, therefore I went to Iași, to follow what I thought it was my dream: becoming
a teacher of philosophy. After failing in the exam so hard that the entire
population of three counties around heard about the fall, my father asked me if it
had been possible for me to change my mind and choose a profession which could
bring me a little more money than the one of a philosophy teacher. I still
remember his words: “If you don’t want to die of starvation, try another faculty.”
And so I did. I decided that I wanted to be a teacher of Romanian, since I liked
both literature and grammar. The Romanian literature and the Romanian
grammar. I had a year at my disposal to learn both of them. When the time came,
I went to the University of Galați to apply for the exam. I was really excited about
that because I was almost sure that I would pass the exam and become a respected
teacher of Romanian literature, in a respected high-school, talking about
Eminescu, Arghezi, Marin Preda and other great Romanian writers. The entire
momentum which I had been building for months went to the dogs when I was
asked what foreign language I had chosen for the entrance exam. Nobody had
told me that I was supposed to take an exam in a foreign language. It was an
honest mistake. My parents had probably supposed that my English was very
good, since I used to sing in English all the time, in my room and I used to have
good grades in school. What they did not know was the fact that, in many cases,
I had no idea what I was singing, and that the good grades were exclusively due
to the fact that I could read better than anyone in my class. I could pronounce the
words with an American accent, but that was all I could do in as far as the English
language was concerned. So, I failed again. My English did not work at all, during
the exam, because there was nothing that I could work with.
The next logical step was to find a teacher for me. My father, who did not
know any teacher of English in Galați (my parents lived all their life in a small
village, far up north in Galați county), asked one of his friends, a teacher of Math
who lives in Galați, to find a good teacher of English for me. My father’s friend
found one. He was good. So good, that it took him only a minute to realize that I
knew close to nothing. I was not able to do something as easy as conjugating the
verb to be in Present Simple. I knew ”I am” and “You are” from ”I am a woman,
you are a man”, one of Supremes’ greatest songs, but I did not know any songs
with “she is, he is” and so on… What a challenge would have been for that teacher
to take me from zero to hero and help me pass the exam! A challenge he never took.
Desperate situations call for desperate measures, therefore my father asked
another friend of his for help: a university professor who taught Romanian. It was
November, already, and we needed somebody able to work a miracle, not to
mention the fact that finding such a teacher was a miracle in itself. Since
Christmas was around the corner, the miracle happened and the professor put in
a good word for us and then told us the name of the one who was to become more
than a teacher to me: Elena Croitoru. I had never heard of her, I did not know
who she was and I did not know what to expect.
One almost winter-afternoon, I knocked at her door. The door opened and
a young woman, shorter than me, very energetic and who seemed to have a lot of
things to do, invited me in. She pointed to a chair, behind a desk. I sat there and
I waited. Soon, she came back with a book. It was a book in English. I started
reading. I guess she liked it, because she did not correct my pronunciation. “Now,
translate, please!” she said. I stopped after the first two words. I remember exactly
that the third word was not known to me. And so were about 90 percent of the
words in the text. When she checked my grammar, she saw that it was the shortest
check in the world. I was the same zero who had made the other teacher say a
very loud “no”. Even though it did not seem possible, her face became more
serious. Without saying a word, she went to the bookcase which was packed with
books, pulled two of them and gave them to me. “You need to learn both of them
before we even start. This is the base of the English grammar.” The books were
the class books for the fifth and the sixth grade. I was supposed to learn two-year
worth of English in one week. No matter how hard I tried, all I could do was to
learn one. I studied about seven or eight hours a day, getting little help from a
friend of mine who was still in high-school. Anyway, I was very proud of the
result. One year in one week – that was something!
Back to her apartment. I carried both books with me, although I had learned
only one. I thought that I would impress her to tears. I was wrong. She opened
the first book and asked me a question from there. I knew the answer. She started
turning pages, randomly, back and forth, asking me to build sentences using
different tenses and words from the book. I did not make any mistake. Then she
opened the second book. I thought that she did it as a joke, thinking that learning
one book in one week had convinced her that I had what it took, but she was not
in the mood for jokes. After two or three questions which I was not able to answer,
she gave me the book back and asked me to get out of her house. Now, after so
many years, I tend to believe that maybe it was not that way and that maybe I like
to describe that scene as a dramatic one, but I have told this story so many times
in my life, to so many people, that it has to be true. “Get out of my house. You
are wasting my time. If you want me to teach you English so that you can pass
the entrance exam, you have two more days to learn the second book. Now, go
home!” Maybe those were not the exact words, but they are very close.
Two days later, in which I had probably slept only a couple of hours in total,
I knocked at her door again. I was exhausted, my eyes were red and the fact that, at
the time, I was weighing only 62 kilograms (oh, the good old days!) made her go
easy on me in the sense that she did not let the few mistakes I made weigh too much
in her decision. ”Good. We start next week, on Monday. Bring a notebook with
you.” And that was the beginning of a journey that I will never forget. A journey
which was to influence my life in ways that I had never thought of.
In little over six months, she managed to teach me all the English that I was
supposed to have learned from the fifth grade (back then, the students would start
studying French in the third grade and English in the fifth grade) to the twelfth.
How was that possible? Many people would answer this question using phrases
such ”hard work” and ”wasting no time”, and they would not be wrong, but there
was a secret ingredient which lead to her success: intuition. Had it not been for
that, I would not be a teacher of English, now. A great teacher is the one who sees
in her students something that the students themselves fail to see. There were
times when I did not believe that I could do it. There were times when I thought
that it was too hard for me and there were times when I wanted to abandon the
fight. She picked me up every time and she believed in me even when I did not
believe in myself. If the Romanian football team had a coach with her spirit, we
would probably win the world cup. It is not an exaggeration. It is the truth.
The ones who know Professor Elena Croitoru certainly noticed that she has
so much energy and that she simply cannot talk slowly. When she talks, she gets
passionate no matter the subject. Going back to my training days, the passion with
which she was talking about the relations between tenses in English made me
passionate about the system of tenses, too. It took me years to understand that she
played an important role in changing my destiny or, I should rather say, in
fulfilling the real one. Now, when I visit my own past and see it with the eyes of
my mind, I see clearly what she did and I can explain many of the things that I
did, apparently for no reason, at that time. I did not know then, but now I
understand why, even before I became a philology student, I had the English tense
system pined to the wall, in my room. There were three sheets of paper, each of
them representing one of the three levels of time – present, past, future – with the
twelve corresponding tenses, with formulae and examples, just like she had
explained them to me. They were right above my head, and the first thing that I
would do in the morning, before getting up, was to read them out loud and to
make more sentences according to the models. I did not know then, but now I
understand why, with just a month before taking the entrance exam, she asked
me whether I would consider applying for the English-Romanian section instead
of the Romanian-English one. She was serious about it, and when I said that I
would like to keep my initial choice, she said that she respected a man who was
constant in his decision, but what happened on that day, when we had that short
dialogue about me changing my option, had a butterfly effect. Three years after
that, when I was in my third year as a university student, I found myself taking
notes in English while listening to a lecture on Romanian literature, givrn in

Romanian. I was doing that with the enthusiasm of somebody who knew he could
do it. Her suggestion, to apply for the English-Romanian section, had put a
thought in my mind: that I had the potential of becoming a teacher of English, not
a teacher of Romanian who had to study English just because the rule said that I
should study a foreign language. I did not understand then, but now I know why
she was so enthusiastic about all the good answers that my fellow students and I
would sometimes give during the translation seminar. She was building
confidence in us, just like a good teacher always does.
Going back to my first encounter with Professor Elena Croitoru, I did not
know then, but now I know why she asked me to make the super-human effort of
learning two class books in one week (which I did in nine days): to see if I get
what it takes. Surprisingly, that was the second time when the method was tried
on me. The first time had happened five or six years before, when Fița Lovin, the
great athlete from our city, who was to become my coach for three beautiful years
at Dunărea CSU (University Sports Club). She selected about 15 boys and girls
from different schools and asked us to run a distance which she knew it was
greater than any distance that each of us had ever run in our lives. Then she asked
us to leap like a frog more times than we had ever leaped. After that, she told us
to go home and come back in a week, to start training. She knew that we would
not be able to walk the next days. When the week passed, only six of us returned:
three boys and three girls. We were the ones who had what it took to be an athlete.
To cut a long story short, by the end of the university I had already changed
my options. I knew that I liked English more, but I still did not know why. I
passed my graduation exams and I was ready to start working. I applied for a job
and I got one as a teacher of Romanian and English in one of the high-schools in
Galați. Today, I remember many of the moments when I was teaching English,
but only a few moments from the Romanian classes and I can explain this, but
back then I did not know why I was feeling better when I was teaching English,
as I did not understand exactly why I had chosen professor Elena Croitoru to be
my coordinator for my post-graduate dissertation, even though the theme of the
post-graduate year was Teoria și Practica Textului. I think that I was one of the
few who chose to write his dissertation in English: Possibilities and
Impossibilities in Translating Poetry.
After my first year as a substitute teacher, I took the exam for “definitivat”
exam, but… in English. My father, who must have noticed that I was more
inclined to be a teacher of English, advised me to change my option, again. And
he was right!
After three years of teaching English at School No. 3, I left the country. I
went to Taiwan, where I taught English for six years. After only one year, I
became the head teacher in one of the best bilingual schools in the North of
Taiwan, despite the fact that I was not a native speaker of English. Many teachers
of English, Taiwanese or coming from the English speaking countries, wanted to
know what my secret was, why I was able to speak English so well and especially
why I knew a lot more grammar than they did. Every time, the answer was the
same: I had great teachers at “Dunărea de Jos” who inspired me, but the one who
turned my life around and took the challenge of teaching me English in less than
a year, when I could not put two words together in the language of Michael
Jackson and Freddie Mercury, was Mrs. Hellen Taylor. ”So, an American
teacher”, they would say, before the truth being revealed: ”No. She is as
Romanian as I am, and her real name is Elena Croitoru.” This is how more than
a dozen teachers of English from Taiwan, Canada, The United States, Great
Britain, South Africa and Australia heard of Elena Croitoru and the story with the
two class books learned in nine days. If, at the end of my career, there is one
person feeling so lucky of having been my student, then I will be able to say that
I have done something good in my life.
Talking about my career, it is important to say that (I was very close to
write “mention should be made”, but it would have ruined the flavour of these
pages) my career was definitely influenced by my parents and the wonderful
teachers of English I had in high-school and at the University, every single one
of them, but Elena Croitoru’s name is written all over it.
It is said that life beats reality, and it is said for a good reason. I was still in
what I call my training days (a name inspired by a very good movie – Training
Day – with Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke, among other Hollywood stars)
when, having the intention of making me more hard working and take things more
seriously, she mentioned the fact that she knew a much younger girl, in the
seventh grade, as I recall, who would have “taight me a lesson and shown me
how those exercises should have been solved” if she had been there. She did not
mention her name, but she told me on several occasions that she was better than
me, in spite of her being approximately six years younger. As it happens when
you are told that somebody else is better than you, I decided that I did not like
that girl at all, even though I had not met her. Anyway, I entered the faculty and
I soon forgot about that girl. I was a university student and she was not even in
high-school, so it was beyond my dignity to let myself bother by that comparison
any longer. The year was 1992.
In 2007 I decided to come back to Romania and open my own school of
English. I had made enough money In Taiwan to buy a small apartment for me
and to open a business, and that was possible thanks to all my teachers of English
and all the professors who influenced my life, but especially to the one who did
not abandon me when I was about to quit. I decided to pay her a visit, just to say
“thanks”, but I did not have her phone number any longer. I went to the university,
hoping that I would see all my beloved teachers, but they were still on vacation.
There was only one person who could help me: a university assistant who had her
phone number. I presented myself and I convinced her to give it to me. I called
Professor Croitoru and she was happy to meet with me and talk about the good
old days and my future plans. So, we did.
And she changed my life, one more time! Not only did she convince me to
become a student again and go for my M.A. degree, but she asked me if I would like
to meet her assistant, a young teacher of English. I accepted. The young assistant
turned out to be the one who had given me her phone number. Not so much of a
coincidence, you might say, but this is not all: she used to be the girl in the seventh
grade which I had decided, in 1992, that I did not like too much and whose name I
did not know. And this is not all: when we realized that we liked each other and that
it was time to move together, I met her father who was – this is reach! – one of my
father’s friends when he was young. More than that, he was also born and raised in
my small village! We eventually got married and Professor Croitoru became our
godmother. She is also the godmother of our first born, Ioan-Cristian.
How my life would have been without meeting professor Croitoru, I’ll
never know. All I know is that I like this life, the way it is now, after having been
turned around more than once by Mrs. Elena Croitoru, the one and only.
ELENA CROITORU’S CURRICULUM VITAE
Name CROITORU ELENA

E-mail elena_croitoru@yahoo.com
Nationality Romanian
EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2017 - present Scientific advisor of doctoral dissertation within the

Doctoral School of Social Sciences and Humanities ,
“Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați
Member of doctoral steering committees
Lectures of English for scientific purposes taught to PhD
students belonging to: The Doctoral School of
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, The Doctoral
School of Fundamental and Engineering Sciences, The
Doctoral School of Biomedical Sciences (2019-2020) and
The Doctoral School of Social Sciences and Humanities
Member of commissions for the public defence of the
doctoral dissertations at “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”
University of Iași (2007- present) and at the University of
Craiova (2011-2014, 2020)
Member of habilitation commissions (”Dunărea de Jos”
University of Galați, University of Craiova,
”Transilvania” University of Brașov and University of
Pitești)
ARACIS evaluator, member of Commission 2 –
Humanities and Theology
2012 - 2017 Director of the Doctoral School of Social Sciences and

Humanities, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați
2011 - 2013 The training program for rasing awareness in Distance
Learning quality assurance, organized by Spiru Haret
University, the Commercial Academy, Satu Mare,
Romania and TÜV Austria in the framework of the
Project POSDRU / 86 / 1.2 / S / 60720 Development and
implementation of a monitoring, continuous improvement
and quality assessment system in open- and distance
higher education based on performance indicators and
international quality standards.
2011 ECDL Certificate (European Computer Driving License
Core), series RO 072437
2008 - present Doctoral supervisor (according to the Ministry of
Education order no. 4963/31.07.2008)
2008 Postgraduate Course Certificate in Quality Management
in Distance Education
2004 – 2017 Director of the Research Center Interface Research of the
Original and Translated Text. Cognitive and
Communicational Dimensions of the Message
2004 – 2012 Vice Dean of the Faculty of Letters
2002 Professor
2000 – 2004 Dean of the Faculty of Letters, History and Theology
1997 – 2000 Head of the Department of Romanian language - Foreign
languages, Faculty of Letters, History and Theology,
“Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați
1996 – 2002 Associate Professor
1996 Doctor in Philology (Ministry order 3543/03.04.1996)
1995 Doctorate in philology, Contemporary English Language,
Translation Studies
Public defense of the doctoral dissertation The
Interpretive Theory of Translation; doctoral supervisor:
Professor Andrei Bantaş, and president of the
examination boards during the doctoral stage: Leon
Levițchi
1981 – 1996 Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Letters and Sciences /
Faculty of Letters, History and Theology, “Dunărea de
Jos” University of Galați, (Professor Andrei Bantaş -
president of the examination board)
1976 - 1981 Assistant Professor (Professor Leon Leviţchi - president
of the examination board)
1974 – 1976 Trainee assistant, Faculty of Pedagogical Education,
Department of Foreign Languages, University of Galaţi
1972 - 1974 Assistant Professor
Department of Philolgy, Pedagogical Institute of Galaţi
1967 – 1972 BA Diploma in philology: English Language and
Literature – Romanian language and literature, Faculty of
Philology, “Alexandru. Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi
1963 – 1967 Baccalaureate diploma, humanist studies “Mihail
Kogălniceanu” Highschool of Galaţi
ACADEMIC EXCHANGES
2008 Consultant for proposals and suggestions as an Erasmus

coordinator in the Program initiated by the European
Commission’s Directorate General for Education and
Culture on the impact of the Erasmus program on higher
education institutions. Partners: The Center for Higher
Education Policy Studies (CHEPS) at the University of
Twente, Netherlands, ECOTEC Research and Consulting
Ltd., Birmingham, UK, the International Center for
Higher Education Research (INCHER - Kassel),
University of Kassel, Germany
2006, 2008 Evaluation expert, member of the selection board for
European Commission translators (September 2006) and
assessor at the European Commission, selected by the
European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO), Brussels,

Belgium (2-3 June 2008), member of the selection board
for EU translators (highest level – heads of units) contract
EPSO/01D/2008/1459
1998, 2004, Visiting professor and faculty representative with
2006 teaching and Monitoring missions in the framework of
Socrates - Erasmus Programmme at Scuola Superiore di
Lingue Moderne per Interpreti e Traduttori, University of
Trieste, Italy
2008-2013 Visiting professor at “Vasile Alecsandri” University of
Bacău, MA studies
2004-2006 Visiting professor at the University of Craiova, BA and
MA studies
2001-2004 Visiting professor at “B. P. Haşdeu” University of Cahul,
the Republic of Moldova
1996 - 2017 Member of promotion commissions for the academic
positions of associate professor and professor at “Al. I
Cuza” University of Iaşi, University of Bucharest,
University of the WestTimişoara, Politehnica University
of Timişoara, “Babeş Bolyai” University of Cluj-Napoca,
“Gheorghe Asachi” Tehnical University of Iaşi,
“Ovidius” University of Constanţa, “Stefan cel Mare”
University of Suceava, University of Craiova, University
of Arad,“Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacău and
Maritime University of Constanța
1992-2011 Participant in a series of projects organized by the British
Council in Bucharest and Iaşi
2009 Organizer of the testing session - English for finance and
banking for the Foreign Languages Center FIDES
2000-2011 Member of promotion commissions for highschool
teachers organized by the School Inspectorates of Galaţi,
Brăila, Constanţa, Vrancea and Tulcea
2000 English for finance and banking, course organized for
BCR (Romanian Commercial Bank) by CFCTT,
University of Galaţi.
DIDACTIC ACTIVITIES
A. at “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați
• doctoral studies: English for Scientific Purposes
• undergraduate studies: Contemporary English language - morphology,
syntax,
• master studies: Translation theories and Text interpretation and
translation
B. at other universities
• Translation theories in the MA programme Communication practices.
The English Language, Faculty of Letters, “Vasile Alecsandri”
University of Bacău (2008-2013)
• Contemporary English Language, Modality, Translation theory and
practice, Constrative Aspects in the MA programme of the Faculty of
Letters, University of Craiova (2004-2006)
• Contrastive aspects (Romanian- English) in teaching adjectives,
pronouns and modal verbs in the framework of Socrates-Erasmus
Programme Scuola Superiore di Lingue Moderne per Interpreti e
Traduttori, University of Trieste, Italy (2004, 2006)
• Translation theory and practice and Text linguistics at “Bogdan
Petriceicu Haşdeu” University of Cahul, Republic of Moldova (2001-
2004)
SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY
• participation in international conferences:
✓ EUROFAN New Directions of the European Fantastic after the Cold War
University of Salzburg, Austria (2011)
✓ The ESSE International Conference, University of Torino, Italy, co-

convenor of Seminar 50 Identity and Cultural Diversity in Translating
Specialized Discourse (2010)
✓ (Inter) Cultural Communication, The Technical University of Brno, the
Czeck Republic (2006)
✓ LSP - Searching for Common Solutions in Higher Education, University
of Plovdiv, Bulgaria (2006)
✓ ICAME 25th Conference: The International Computer Archive of Modern
and Medieval English. Corpus Linguistics, University of Verona, Italy
(2004)
✓ Differences between Literary and Non-Literary Texts - Peter Newmark,
University of Trieste, Italy (2003)
✓ Drama Translation and Theatre Practice, University of Salzburg,
Austria (2002)
✓ Modality in Contemporary English, University of Verona, Italy (2001)
✓ Stilul jurnalistic, University of Trieste, Italy, (1998)
• keynote speaker (plenaries) invited at International Conferences organized in

Romania and abroad:
✓ Choice in Translation. ’Caught in the Middle’ at the International
Conference Choice and Common Sense, organized by the University of
Craiova and the Uiversity of Belgrade (2019)
✓ (Trans)cultural, Imaginary, Humorous, at the International Conference
Language and Literature: European Landmarks of Identity. From the
Liguistic to the Cultural Imaginary, University of Piteşti, (2013)
✓ Transcultural Flows – Refashioning New Identities, at the International
Conference Cultural Spaces. Identity within/beyond Borders, organized
by „Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacău şi Atatűrk Üniversitesi,
Erzurum, Turkey, in Bacău (2011)
✓ English as a Lingua Franca in Cultural Filtering, at the International
Conference Specialized Discourse: Theory and Practice, University of
Galati, (2009)
✓ Collocations and Colligations in Translating Specialized Language, at
the International Conference Specialized Discourse: Theory and
Practice, University of Galati, (2006)
• chair / co-chiar at International Conferences organized in Romania and

abroad:
✓ Co-convenor of Seminar 50 Identity and Cultural Diversity in
Translating Specialized Discourse, The ESSE International Conference,
University of Torino, Italy, (2010)
✓ British and American Studies, University of the West Timișoara (1998-
2011);
✓ Translation Studies: Retrospective and Prospective Views, “Dunărea de
Jos” University of Galaţi (2008-2011)
✓ Communication and Argumentation in the Public Sphere: In Search of a
New Rhetoric, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi (2009)
✓ Identity, Alterity, Hibridity, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi (2009)
✓ Feminine Representations in the European Culture of the XXth Century,
“Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi (2009)
✓ Culture, Subculture, Counterculture, “Dunărea de Jos” University of
Galaţi (2007);
✓ The Future Is Now , the 14th International Congress of Applied
Linguistics (AILA), Madison University, Wisconsin, USA (2005)
✓ The Fellowship of Cultural Rings, 2005, “Dunărea de Jos” University of
Galaţi (2005)
✓ Cultural Matrix Reloaded, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi,
(2004)
✓ Other conferences organized by: “Ștefan cel Mare“ University of
Suceava (2003, 2005), “Ovidius” University of Constanţa (2008),
University of Craiova (2005), ”Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacău
(2010, 2011), “ Dunărea de Jos“ University of Galați (2000-2011)
• member of the scientific committee of international conferences:

✓ The Scientific Conference of Doctoral Schools, “Dunărea de Jos”
University of Galaţi (2012-2020)
✓ Translation Studies: Retrospective and Prospective Views, “Dunărea de
Jos” University of Galaţi, (2006-2011)
✓ Messages, Sages and Ages, “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava
(2009)
✓ The 1st International Conference on Linguistic and Intercultural
Education, University of Alba Iulia (2008)
✓ Intercultural Communication and Literature, “Dunărea de Jos”
University of Galaţi (2008-2011)
✓ Specialized Discourse: Theory and Practice, “Dunărea de Jos”
University of Galaţi (2007, 2009)
• member of the scientific committees of reviews and volumes:

✓ the Annals of “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, fascicle Language
and Literature (1997 –2013)
✓ the volume of the International Conference Messages, Sages and Ages,
Suceava (2006) http://www.msa.usv.ro/organizers.php;
✓ the Annals of the University of Craiova (2005, 2006)
✓ the Annals of the University Oradea, Philology Series, fascicle Language
and Literature (1996)
• director of the project Translation Studies: Retrospective and Prospective

Views approved by the Ministry of Education and Research in 2008, and member
of the same project in 2006 and 2007
• scientific referent of books and articles for publication (Macmillan, Polirom,
Journal IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
http://www.ieeepcs.org/activities _publication_transactions.php, Center for
Language Research, editor Thomas Orr, University of Aizu, Japan; Respectus
Philologicus ISSN1392-8295, Vilnius University Kaunas Faculty of Humanities,
Lithuania. Jan Kochanovski University of Humanities and Natural Sciences
Faculty of Humanities in Kielce, Poland, etc.
EDITING ACTIVITY
• editor-in-chief of the review Translation Studies. Retrospective and
Prospective Views (no. 1, 2, 3/2008, 4, 5, 6/2009, 7, 8, 9/2010, 10, 11, 12/2011,
13, 14, 15/2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
• general editor of the volume Culture, Subculture, Counterculture (2008)
• editor/co-editor of volumes The Fellowship of Cultural Rings (2006) Cultural
Matrix Reloaded (2005)
• scientific reviewer of books: Milea, D., Spaţiu cultural şi forme literare în
secolul al XX-lea. Reconfigurări (2005); Stan, S., Ipostazele modernităţii (2008);
Mohor-Ivan, I., English Literature in the 17th and 18th Centuries (2012)
• scientific coordinator of the volume: English through Translations.
Translation – Oriented Text Analysis (2004)
• scientific reviewer of lectures and monographies: Gavriliu, E. English
Literature through Texts, Milea, D. Elemente de poetică a povestirii, Iamandi, P.
American History and Civilisation, Gavriliu, E. British History and Civilisation
(2000-2005)
• member of the editorial board of the volume Colocviile Filologice Gălaţene
(2005, 2006)
• member of the scientific committee of various reviews: Interstudia, (Bacău),
2010-2016, Intercultural Communication and Literature, nos. 1, 2, 3, 4/2008,
2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, Translation Studies:
Retrospective and Prospective Views, (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013,
2014, 2015, 2016); Concordia Discourse vs. Discordia Concors; Researches into
Comparative Literature and Contrastive Linguistics, Cross Cultural and
Translation Studies, (Suceava) 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016),
Specialized Discourse. Theory and Practice, 3 /2010; Lexic comun – lexic
specializat, (2009, 2010); Analele Universităţii Maritime din Constanţa (2011,
2012, 2013, 2014); LIBRI-Linguistic and Literary Research http://www.libri.
broadresearch.org (2009, 2010, 2011, 2015), etc.
ORGANIZER OF SCIENTIFIC EVENTS

• organizer of the International Conference Translation Studies: Retrospective
and Prospective Views. (2009, 2010)
• member of the organizing committee of the International Conference

Translation Studies: Retrospective and Prospective Views (2012, 2011, 2007,
2006)
• manager of the International Conference Translation Studies: Retrospective
and Prospective Views 2008 (project financed by the Ministry of Education and
Research – commission 12, contract no. 234M/2008)
• organizer of ESSE/ RSEAS International Conference Cultural Matrix
Reloaded (2004);
• member of the organizing committee of the International Conference
Fellowship of Cultural Rings (2005)
• organizer of Philological Colloquia (1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, the 2001
edition being dedicated to Eugen Coşeriu)
• co-organizer of Philological Colloquia (2003)
• member of the organizing committee of the Students Symposium
Shakespeariana (1996-2008)
EVALUATION ACTIVITIES
• assessor of the European Personnel Selection Office – EPSO and member of
Selection Board: Bruxelles, Belegium, (2008, 2006)
• expert evaluator at the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher
Education (RAQAHE – ARACIS) (2007-2020)
• expert evaluator at the National Council for Scientific Research in Higher
Education (NCSRHE – CNCSIS) (2007-2010)
• member in the commissions for granting the title of Doctor Honoris Causa
by “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi (Professor Stelian Dumistrăcel - 5 May
2011) and by “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava (Professor Adrian
Poruciuc - 4 July 2011)
• member of the commission for promoting the director of the Council for
Doctoral Studies at “Stefan cel Mare” University of Suceava (2012)
• member of habilitation commissions:„Transilvania” University of Brasov
(2016), University of Craiova (2017), University of Pitesti (2017, 2019)
• member of the national project for designing alternative English (L1 and
L2) textbooks for students in the IXth , Xth, XIth and XIIth forms, in partnership
with the Ministry of Education and Research and Teora Publishing House
MEMBERSHIP OF SCIENTIFIC AND PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

• member of the national board of the Romanian Society for English and
American Studies
• member of the Romanian Society for English and American Studies - RSEAS
(1990-2014)
• member of the European Society for the Study of English - ESSE (1991-2014)
• member of the Romanian Association of American Studies – RAAS (2009-
2014)
• member of the Modern Language Association - MLA (2012-2014)
• member of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign
Language
• founding member of the International Women’s Review Board, The American
Biographical Institute. (2008)
AWARDS AND PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION

• Special Diploma for participating in 16 consecutive editions of the
International Conference British and American Studies organized by the West
University of Timişoara, Faculty of Letters, Department of English Language and
Literature
• Diploma of Honour awarded by the National Council for Scientific Research
in Higher Education (NCSRHE – CNCSIS - Consiliul National al Cercetarii
Stiintifice în Invățământul Superior) for the activitiy carried out in the Comission
of -humanities and economics, as well as for the personal contribution to applying
the stategy of higher education reform for scientific research in Romania (2003)
• included in Enciclopedia personalităţilor din România Hűbners Who is Who,
Schweiz, (2009)
• included in 21st Century Intellectuals (2004)
• included in Who’s Who in Romania (2002) and Who’s Who of Professional
and Business Women (2005, 2008)
INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMES AND RESEARCH

CONTRACTS
• member of the research team in the International FP6 Project “Society and
Lifestyles: Towards Enhancing Social Harmonization through Knowledge of
Subcultural Communities” CIT5, contract no. 029013; http://sal.vdu.lt/
team/team_ugal.php. (2006-2009)
• Erasums coordinator at the Faculty of Letters (bilateral agreement with the
University of Trieste 2001- 2013)
• coordinator within the National Project with the Education Board (won by
competition) and first author of XIIth form L1 alternative English textbook
(order no. 3918/11.06.2002)
• coordinator within the National Project with Teora Publishing House for
writing three alternative English textbooks for the X form (L1) (order of the
Education Board no. 4144/18.07.2001), IX (L1-L2) (order of the Education
Board no. 4144/18.07.2001) and XI (L1-L2) (Education Board order no
4144/18.07.2001)
• coordinator within the National Project with the Education Board (won by
competition, order no. 4055/26.06.2000) for writing the alternative English
textbook for X form (L2) (also first author)
• participant at the SOLE Project Sofianet ODL Leaining Centre European
Network Galați, National Dissemination seminar (2004)
• participant in seven training programmes for the managers of
CENTRANAV, ICEPRONAV, Iron and Steel Works in Galați, within their
development and research contracts with the University of Galați (1981-1988)
• participant (as a documentation translator) in seven research university
contracts with a number of departments (physiscs, chemistry, metallurgy,
materials processing, plastic deformations and heat treatments, welding, ship
building, fishing techniques, milk technology, wine technology, etc) having the
Ship Building Yard of Galați, the Rolling Mill Plant of Galați, the Iron and Steel
Works of Galați, the Institute of Food Chemistry in Bucharest, the Naval
Mechanical Enterprise of Galați etc. as beneficiaries (1981-1989).
ELENA CROITORU’S LIST OF PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS AND DICTIONARIES
2004 Confusables as Translation Traps, Iaşi: Institutul European

2002 Mood and Modality, Iaşi: Institutul European
Modals. Tenses. Aspect, Galaţi: Editura Fundației Universitare
”Dunărea de Jos” Galați
The English Sentence Structure, Galaţi: Editura Fundației Universitare
”Dunărea de Jos” Galați
1996 Interpretation and Translation, Galaţi: Porto-Franco - book presented
by Eugene Nida în Contexts in Translating, Chapter
Representative Treatments of Translation, John Benjamins
Publishing Company, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, 2001, pp. 99-100
Syntactic and Semantic Aspects of the English Sentence, Brăila:
Evrika.
1994 Contemporary English Language, Galaţi: Academica
1991 Limba engleză pentru TCM, Galați: Tipografia Universității “Dunărea
de Jos”
1981 Limba engleză pentru frigotehnie, Galați: Tipografia Universității
“Dunărea de Jos”
CO-AUTHORED BOOKS
2004 English through Translations. Interpretation and Translation-

Oriented Text Analysis Galaţi: Editura Fundației Universitare
”Dunărea de Jos” Galați (coordinator and co-author)
2005 English Language and Literature. Representations and

Reconstructions București: Editura Didactică și Pedagogică
(co–author)
2003 Entrance Examination Tests. A Guidebook, Brăila: Evrika (co-author)
2002 Manual de limba engleză pentru clasa a XII-a, L1+L2, București:
Teora. (first author)
2001 Manual de limba engleză pentru clasa a XI-a, L1+L2, București:
Manual de limba engleză pentru clasa a X-a, Limba 1, București:
Manual de limba engleză pentru clasa a IX-a, L1+L2, București:
2000 Manual de limba engleză pentru clasa a X-a, Limba 2, București:
1998 Didactica traducerii, București: Teora. (co-authored with Bantaș
Andrei)
Culegere de texte pentru traducere (Limbaje funcţionale), vol. 2,
Brăila: Evrika. (first author)
1996 Culegere de texte pentru traducere, vol. 1, Brăila: Evrika. (first author)
1981 Limba engleză contemporană. Sintaxă şi lexicologie, Galați:
Tipografia Universității “Dunărea de Jos”. (co-author)
1979 Limba engleză contemporană. Fonetică şi fonologie. Morfologie,
Galați: Tipografia Universității “Dunărea de Jos”. (co-author)
TRANSLATIONS
2002 Vinul – aliment, tonic si medicament by Mircea Leonte (collaboration

with Floriana Popescu) ), Galaţi: Pax Aura Mundi
2003 Conul Leonida faţă cu reacţiunea, by I.L.Caragiale in Antares.
2002 Balada vinului by Horia Furtuna, in Akademia
CHAPTERS IN BOOKS
2013 ’On the Usefulness of Shared Syntax. A Case Study: Temporal and
Conditional Clauses in English, Romanian and Italian’, in D.
Dejica & S. Chirimbu (eds.) Investing in Science and Research.
Linguistics, ESP, Cultural Studies, USA, Utah: ECKO
Academic House Publishing, pp. 48–68, (second author,
colaboration with Mardar Antoanela Marta)
’Interaction through Translation with Humour’, in E. Bonta (ed.)
Perspectives on Interaction, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge
Scholars Publishing
2010 ’Cultural Contextualizers in Translation’, in H. Pârlog, L. Frențiu &
L. Frățilă (eds.) Challenges in Translation, Timişoara: Editura
Universității de Vest, pp. 21-38
2009 ’Introduction: Translation and Norm’, in F. Popescu (ed.),
Perspectives in Translation Studies, Cambridge Scholars
Publishing, pp. 96-100
’From Collocations to Harmonic Phrases’, in F. Popescu (ed.),
Perspectives in Translation Studies, Cambridge Scholars
Publishing, pp. 131-143
2007 ’Explicitation and Deletion from the Perspective of Teaching LSP
Translation’, in D. Galova (ed.) Languages for Specific
Purposes. Searching for Common Solutions, Cambridge
Scholars Publishing, pp. 207 – 223
’Introduction’ to Chapter III - Languages for Specific Purposes –
lexicology, terminology, translation studies, in D. Galova (ed.)
Languages for Specific Purposes. Searching for Common
Solutions, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 178-181
2005 ’Translating Culture Specific Elements in I. L. Caragiale’s Plays’, in
S. Coelsch-Foisner & K. Holger (eds.), Drama Translation and
Theatre Practice, Frankfurt au Mein: Peter Lang, Europä
Verlag, pp. 181-95
BOOK AND DICTIONARY REVIEWS/PRESENTATIONS
2011 Hulban Horia: Dicţionar englez – român de expresii şi locuţiuni, in

Ethos –The New View, 1/ 2011, Iași: Institutul European, pp.
76-77
2009 Cerban Mădălina: A Systemic Functional Description of the Simple
Sentence Structure, Craiova: Universitaria, in Intercultural
Landscapes: Beyond Language and Cultural Ego Craiova:
Universitaria
The Great English - Romanian Dictionary of Idioms – GERDI,
Bucuresti: Coresi, in Translation Studies: Retrospective and
Prospective Views, Galați: Galați University Press, pp. 157-158
2000 Popescu Floriana: Tempo – aspectualitate contrastivă, in the Annals
of “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați, pp. 149-150
1998 Croitoru Elena: The Didactics of Translation, book presentation, in
University English, Bulletin of the English Departments in
Romania, published by RSEAS, No. 6/1998, pp.19-20
1981 Iarovici Edith & Rodica Mihăilă-Cova: Lexicul de bază al limbii
engleze, in Buletinul Universității din Galați, pp. 12-16
ARTICLES
2014 ’Decoding New Patterns of the Fantastic in the Translation of Modern

Romanian Fairy Tales’ in H. Hulban (ed.) Ethos - The New
View, Iaşi: Institutul European, pp. 38-45 (co-author)
2013 ’(Trans)Cultural, Imaginary, Humorous’, in Language and Literature.
European Landmarks of Identity/ Langue et Littérature.
Repères identitaires en contexte européen, Al. Mustăţea, L.
Soare (eds.), Pitești: Editura Universității din Piteşti, pp. 25-36
2011 ’Translating Identity: Rethinking, Right Wording and
Reconceptualization’, in Romanian Journal of English Studies,
Timişoara: Editura Universității de Vest, pp. 146-154
’Identity and Cultural Diversity in Translating ’Law’ in
Collocations’, in Translation Studies: Retrospective and
Prospective Views, Galați: Galați University Press, pp. 38-49
(second author)
2010 ’Proverbs: Terminology and Possible Interpretations’, in Interstudia,
Bacău: Alma Mater, pp. 199-207
’Male-Female Opposition in Translating (Pro)Nouns of Address. A
case study “Adela” by Garabet Ibrăileanu’, in Communication
Interculturelle et littérature: Feminine Representations in the
European Culture of the 20th Century, Galați: Europlus, pp.
509-514
’The Hol-Atomostic Level of Maritime Texts in Translation’, in
Translation Studies: Retrospective and Prospective Views,
Galați: Galați University Press, pp. 78-83 (second author)
’English as a Global Lingua Franca in Cultural Filtering’, in A.
Drăgan & A. Gâţă (eds.) Specialized Discourse. Theory and
Practice, Galați: Galați University Press
2009 ’(Pro)nominal Forms of Address inTranslation’, in Mélanges
Francophones, Actes du colloque international Journées de la
Francophonie Le stéréotype en langue et littérature, Galaţi:
Galaţi University Press, pp. 322-329
’Creating ”Absence” in Translation’, in Romanian Journal of English
Studies, Timișoara: Editura Universității de Vest, pp.115-127.
’Proverbs: Cultural and Linguistic Forms of Identity in Translation’,
in Translation Studies: Retrospective and Prospective Views,
Galați: Galați University Press, pp. 36-42
’On the Challenges of Confusables as Translation Traps’. in Lexic
comun - Lexic specializat, Galați: Galați University Press,
pp.142-145
’Idiomatic Expressions with and as Modalizers in English and
Romanian’, in Interstudia - Language, Discourse, Society,
Bacău: Alma Mater, pp. 25-32
’Identity and (Un)translatability’, in Identity, Alterity, Hybridity in I.

Mohor & G. Colipcă (eds.), Galați: Galați University Press, pp.
453-460
’Adjectives and Adverbs as Intensifiers and Modalizers’, in Melanges
francophones - Formes textuelles de la communication: De la
production à la réception, A. Vâlcu, A., E. Ganea & C. Andrei
(eds.) Galați : Galaţi University Press, pp. 216 - 221
2008 ’Translation as Cultural Negotiation’, in Romanian Journal of English
Studies, Timişoara: Editura Universității de Vest, pp. 94-101
’Small Culture and ‘Local’ Language in Translation’, in Culture,
Subculture and Counterculture, Galați: Europlus,pp. 178-185
2007 ’The Meta-Model in Translation’, in The Romanian Journal of
English Studies, Timişoara: Editura Universității de Vest, pp.
61-72
‘Translation as Intercultural Communication’, in Translation Studies:
Retrospective and Prospective Views, Galați: Europlus, pp. 60-
68
‘Ten Milestones on the Translator’s Land: From Private to Public’, in
Communication and Argumentation in the Public Sphere:
Public Space versus Private Space Galați: Galați University
Press, pp. 313-318
‘Modality and the Translator’, in Mapping the Future: Permanence
and Change, Iaşi: Universitas XXI, pp. 343-350
’Negotiating Meaning in Grammatical Constructions with Some
English Confusables’, in Journal of Language and Linguistic
Studies.
(https://www.jlls.org/index.php/jlls/article/view/36/37)
2006 ‘Translation and Meaning. A Cultural-Cognitive Approach’, in The
Romanian Journal of English Studies, Timişoara: Editura
Universității de Vest, pp. 191-202
‘Collocations and Colligations in Translation’, in Annales Universitas
Apulensis, Alba Iulia: Editura Universității ”1 decembrie1918”
din Alba Iulia, pp. 293-300 (first-author)
‘Sages on Messages in Bridging Cultures and Ages’, in Messages,
Sages, and Ages, Suceava: Editura Universițății din Suceava,
pp. 611-619
’Modulation – A Translation Strategy’, in Translation Studies:
Retrospective and Prospective Views, Galați: Editura Fundației
Universitare ”Dunărea de Jos” Galați, pp. 32-47 (first-author)
’Anglicisms in Romanian and Italian’, in The Circulation of Cultural
Models within the European Spaces, Galați: Editura Fundației
Universitare ”Dunărea de Jos” Galați, 78-82 (co-author with
Dumitrașcu Antoanela Marta)
’Explicitation in Translation’, in The Fellowship of Cultural Rings,
București: Editura Didactică și Pedagogică, pp. 146-154
’Collocations and Colligations in the Specialized Discourse’, in
Specialized discourse. Theory and Practice, Galaţi: Europlus
(first author with Dumitrașcu Antoanela Marta), pp. 103-113
’Using the Explicitation and Translation Strategies in Teaching ESP’,
in Translation in LSP in Higher Education – Searching for
Common Solutions. Brno, the Czech Republic. (CD version)
2005 ‘Translation and the Myth of the Native Speaker’, in Omul si mitul,
Iași: Universitas XXI, pp. 228 - 234
‘Traps in Translating Literary Texts’, in Tradition, Modernity and
Post-Modernity, Iași: Universitas XXI, pp. 406 - 416
‘Translating Some Culture Specific Elements in Ion Creangă’s
“Amintiri in copilărie”’, in Colocviile Filologice Gălăţene,
București: Editura Didactică și Pedagogică, pp. 203 - 211
‘From a Linguistic to a Cultural View on Translation’, in Cultural
Matrix Reloaded, București: Editura Didactică și Pedagogică,
pp. 405 - 412
2004 ’Cross-Cultural Awareness in Translation’, in The Annals of the
University of Craiova, Craiova, pp. 69 - 81
’Mood and Modality’, in The Annals of “Dunărea de Jos“ University
of Galaţi, Galaţi, Galați: Editura Universității, pp. 49 – 55
2003 ‘Equivalence and Adequacy in Translating Poetry’, în Limbaje şi
comunicare, Suceava: Editura Universității din Suceava, pp.

309 - 317
‘Negociating Meaning in Translating’, in Living in between and on
Borders, Iaşi: Universitas XXI, pp.170 - 178 (co-author)
‘Focus on Target Text Production’, in Living in between and on
Borders, Iaşi: Universitas XXI, pp 161 - 169 (co-author)
‘Translating Poetry’, in Living in between and on Borders, Iași:
Universitas XXI, pp. 94 - 100
2002 ‘Translating Historical and Religious Texts’, in Cercetare şi istorie
într-un nou mileniu, Galați: Editura Fundației Universitare
”Dunărea de Jos” Galați, pp. 25 - 32 (first author)
2001 ’The Realis-Irrealis Distinction as Part of the Mood System’, in The
Annals of “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi - Colocviile
Filologice Gălăţene, In Honorem Eugen Coşeriu, pp. 59 - 62
’Factual vs. Theoretical and Hypothetical Meaning’, in The Annals of
“Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, Galați: Editura
Universității, pp. 151 - 158
2000 ’Difficulties in Translating ”Wine – Nutrient, Tonic and Medicine”’,
in The Annals of “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, Galați:
Editura Universității, pp. 42 - 49
’Translating Collocations’, in The Annals of “Dunărea de Jos”
University of Galaţi, Galați: Editura Universității, pp. 14 - 18
‘Communicative Competence and Translation Competence’, in The
Annals of “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, Galați:
Editura Universității, pp. 192 - 199
‘Adequacy and Equivalence in Translation’, in From Margin to
Centre, Iași: Universitas XXI, pp. 86 - 90
‘A Few Remarks on Translating the Imperfective into Romanian’, in
Studii de limbi şi literaturi moderne. Studii de anglistică si
americanistică, Timişoara: Mirton, pp. 48 - 56 (first author)
‘Faithfulness’ in Translating Poetry: On Leon Levitchi’s Translation
of ”Zamfira’s Wedding”’, in Studii de limbi şi literaturi
modern. Studii de anglistică si americanistică, Timişoara:
Mirton, pp. 40 - 47 (first author)
1999 ’Problems of Translating the Imperfective’, in The Annals of
“Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, Galați: Editura
Universității,
’The Relevance of the Translation Description Method for the
Practice of Translation’, in The Annals of “Dunărea de Jos”
University of Galaţi, Galați: Editura Universității, pp. 184 - 188
‘Non-Equivalence at the Word Level. Formal Differences’, in Studii
de limbi şi literaturi moderne, Timişoara: Mirton, pp. 22 - 28
‘Text, Interpretation and Translation’, in British and American
Studies, “Ovidius” University Press, Constanţa, pp. 214 – 222
‘Translating Idioms’, in British and American Studies Timişoara:
pp.196-201.
1998 ’Translation Competence and the Teaching of English’, in The Annals
of “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi Galați:Tipografia
Universității “Dunărea de Jos”, pp. 1 - 6
’Translation and Interpretation’, in “Colocviile Filologice Gălăţene”,
1948-1998. 50 de ani de învăţământ superior, Galați:
Tipografia Universității “Dunărea de Jos”, pp. 4 -10
‘Translating Idioms’, in “Studii de limbi şi literaturi moderne”,
Timişoara: Mirton, pp. 8 - 15
‘Translation and Interpretation’, in “Colocviile Filologice Gălăţene”,
1948-1998. 50 de ani de învăţământ superior, Galați:
Tipografia Universității “Dunărea de Jos”, pp. 4 - 10
1997 ‘The Tense System in English and Romanian’ in The Annals of
“Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi 1996-1997, Galați:
Tipografia Universității “Dunărea de Jos”, pp. 7 - 16
‘Ways of Expressing Futurity in English and Romanian’ in in The
Annals of “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi 1996-1997,
Galați: Tipografia Universității “Dunărea de Jos”, pp. 29 -35
‘Translation-Oriented Text Analysis’ in The Annals of Oradea
University, Oradea, pp. 69 - 86
‘Translation as Text (Re)Production’, in Studii de limbi şi literaturi

moderne, Timișoara: Tipografia Universității de Vest, pp. 159 -
166
1996 ’Cohesion and Coherence in Interpretation and Translation’, in The
Annals of Oradea University, Oradea, pp. 37 - 50
‘Register, Interpretation and Translation’, in Studii de limbi şi
literaturi moderne, Timișoara: Tipografia Universității de Vest,
pp. 41 - 50
1995 ’Coherence in Interpretation and Translation’, in The Annals of
“Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava, Suceava, pp. 42 - 45
1990 ’English for Specific Purposes’, The Annals of “Dunărea de Jos”
University of Galați, Galați:Tipografia Universității “Dunărea
de Jos”, pp. 10 - 16
’Language for General Purposes (LGP) and Language for Specific
Purposes (LSP)’, in the Annals of “Dunărea de Jos” University
of Galați, Galați:Tipografia Universității “Dunărea de Jos”, pp.
17 - 25
1989 ’Difficulties in Translating. Compound Nominal Phrases (CNP)’, in
The Annals of the University of Suceava, Suceava.
’Dificultăţi ale traducerii textului tehnico-ştiinţific englez’, în Galați
University Bulletin, pp. 10 - 16
1988 ‘Consideraţii teoretice privind analiza textului ca etapă premergătoare
traducerii (TOTA)’, in “Lucrările Sesiunii Jubiliare de
Comunicări Ştiinţifice – Limbile moderne în contextul
dezvoltării învăţământului tehnic şi contribuţia lor la formarea
viitorului specialist”, Iaşi, pp. 24 - 31
1987 ‘Relaţii sintactice la nivelul propozitiei şi frazei în discursul tehnico-
ştiinţific englez’, in “Studii şi comunicări ştiinţifice”, Bacău,
pp. 200 - 205 (first author)
1984 ‘Izolarea subordonatelor în limbajul tehnico-ştiinţific englez’, in A IX-
a Sesiune Tehnico-Ştiinţifică a Industriei Textile, Iaşi, pp.112 -
115, (co-author)
‘Seminarul problematizat la studenţii nefilologi’, in A IX-a Sesiune
Tehnico-Ştiinţifică a Industriei Textile, Iaşi, pp. 50 - 59, (first
author)
‘Conectivele în limbajul tehnico-ştiinţific englez’, (co-author) in A IX-
a Sesiune Tehnico-Ştiinţifică a Industriei Textile, Iaşi, pp. 132
- 137, (co-author)
1976 ‘Raportul dintre modernizarea conţinutului şi modernizarea formei în
predarea limbii engleze’, in Studentul de azi, profesorul de
mâine, București: Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, pp. 206 -
211
ELENA CROITORU’S INFLUENTIAL BOOKS
REVISITED
CONFUSABLES AS TRANSLATION TRAPS
Elena Croitoru (2004) Iași: Institutul European, ISBN 973-611-299-31
Mariana NEAGU
This book, totalling 748 pages and 5, 000

words continues its author’s primary interest
in the field of translation concretized in her
Ph.D-based book Translation and
Interpretation (1996) and the volume she
edited English through Translations.
Interpretation and Translation-Oriented
Text Analysis (2004). It also precedes
subsequent contributions in the same field
(On the challenges of confusables as
translation traps, 2009) and materializes a
project encouraged by the well-known
Romanian lexicographers Leon Levițchi and
Andrei Bantaș (the author’s mentor).
‘Confusables’ is a term used for two or more words that are easily confused
with one another because of similarities of form (look-alikes) and /or meaning
(mean-alikes). Similarities of form may appear in spelling (such as desert and
dessert, personal and personnel) and/or pronunciation, in the case of homophones
(words pronounced the same but with different spellings and different meanings:
fair and fare, stationary and stationery, gait and gate. Similarities of meaning
arise in pseudo-synonyms such as imply and infer.
Confusables are also referred to as confusibles, confusable words or
confusing words. Previous works on confusables such as Laurence Urdang’s
Dictionary of Confusable Words (1988) and Adrian Room’s Dictionary of
Confusable Words (2000) consider confusable words as being pairs and sets of
words that are subject to uncertainty in the minds of even native speakers of
English. This idea is shared by Croitoru (2009), who assumes that the sources of
confusion are polysemy (multiple-related meaning) and collocational idiomatic
patterns (collocative meaning). The latter source could explain why the dictionary
Confusables as Translation Traps also includes phrasal verbs and idiomatic
expressions that may turn into confusable units1 when translating from English
into Romanian and vice versa.
The book is structured in four parts: (1) Confusable Words and Phrases
(2) Practical Applications (3) Index of Romanian Words (4) Answer Key.
In the first part the lexical entries are organized alphabetically; they belong
to informal and formal language and sometimes to professional jargon2
(diagnosis, diagnostic, diagnostics). Each entry provides useful information such
as phonemic transcription, grammatical status, register, shade of meaning,
characteristic of one of the principal geographic varieties of English (e.g. council
in British English), contextualization and Romanian equivalent(s).
The distinction between two main types of confusion-generating forms, i.e.
at phonological level and at morphological level can be illustrated by lots of
examples taken from the dictionary. The former level is noticeable in vowel
alternation (precede-proceed), vowel - diphthong alternation (draught-drought),
consonant alternation (concede-conceit), consonant addition (climatic-climactic),
1
Potentially confusable expressions have subsequently been collected by Yuri
Dolgopolov in his Dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More than 10,000 idioms and
collocations, published in 2010.
2
For a discussion of confusables in ESP translation see Popescu (2019), who considers
English paronyms and other confusables in shipbuilding and maritime texts and contexts.
vowel or consonant alternation + shift of stress (canal-channel). The latter type

(level) includes noun-noun pairs (base-basis), adjective-adjective pairs (classic–
classical, comprehensible-comprehensive), noun-adjective pairs (clinic-clinical),
verb-verb pairs (merge-emerge), noun-verb pairs (device-devise). The last kind
of information provided for each entry, i.e. Romanian equivalent(s), greatly
contributes to the originality of this work, as this dictionary has been the only
bilingual work on confusables in Romanian lexicography. The difference in
meaning and usage between confusables is especially essential; hence, its merit
as a regular explanatory dictionary.
This characteristic is enhanced by the second section, Practical
Applications, which contains 103 translation exercises on troublesome words
from English into Romanian and vice versa. The exercises, characterized by
variety and different degrees of difficulty, are designed to reinforce the
explanations provided in the previous section, to extend the reader’s knowledge
of translation gaps and develop his linguistic sensitivity and accuracy.
The third section offers an Index of Romanian words and phrases
corresponding to the English troublesome words, collocations and idiomatic
expressions presented in Part one.
The fourth part is an Answer Key section which comprises clear answers to
the exercises and serves as a self-evaluation source for autonomous learning.
The Dictionary. Confusables as Translation Traps also has an
Alphabetical Index which allows readers to locate the entry quickly and rounds
up its very friendly structure. The list of References attached at the end displays
a wide range of sources the author chose to rely on: earlier monolingual reference
works by British and American lexicographers and bilingual dictionaries by
Romanian linguists who focused on phrasal verbs (Gheorghițoiu 1998),
collocations (Pârlog and Teleagă 1999, 2000) and on specialized terminology
(accounting, finance, etc.)
The dictionary is unique as it is the first attempt to provide a complex
lexicographic inventory of commonly confused and misused words, phrases and
expressions characterized by outward similarity. Through its inclusion of
Romanian equivalents for each troublesome word, the book is a helpful and useful
tool for EFL students at different levels of proficiency, adults learning English
independently and translators. It is also an enjoyable read and an indispensable
resource for Romanian teachers of English, authors of textbooks and
lexicographers.
References
Croitoru, E. 2004. Dictionary. Confusables as Translation Traps. Iași: Institutul
European.
Croitoru, E. 2009. ‘On the Challenges of Translation as Translation Traps.’ In Analele
Universității „Dunărea de Jos” din Galați. Lexic Comun/Lexic Specializat, II,
Galați: Europlus.
Dolgopolov, Y. 2010. A Dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More than 10,000 idioms and
collocations. Jefferson, North Carolina and London: McFarland & Company, Inc.
Gheorghițoiu A. 1998 Dicționar englez-român de verbe cu particular adverbial,
București: Teora.
Pârlog, H. and M. Teleagă 1999. Dicţionar englez - român de colocaţii nominale.
Timişoara: Editura Mirton.
Pârlog, H. and M. Teleagă (coord.) 2000. Dicţionar englez - român de colocaţii verbale.
Iaşi: Editura Polirom.
Popescu F. 2019. ‘Paronyms and Other Confusables and the ESP Translation Practice.’
In The Annals of “Ovidius” University of Constanța: Philology Series, Vol. XXX,
1/2019, Constanța: Constanța University Press.
Phythian, B.A. 1990. A Concise Dictionary of Confusables: All Those Impossible Words
You Can Never Get Right. New Jersey: Wiley.
Room, A. 2000. Dictionary of Confusable Words. New York: Routledge.
Urdang, L.1988. Dictionary of Confusable Words. New York: Balantine Books.
MOOD AND MODALITY
Elena Croitoru (2002) Iaşi: Institutul European, ISBN 973-611-196-2
Floriana POPESCU
The resourcefulness of the numerous

concepts of English grammar has been
inspirational and fruitful not only to
philologists and linguists, but also to language
teaching methodologists, teachers and
philology students and undergraduates. A
consistent host of monographs beginning with
Leonard (1909), and finishing with the
recently published volume by Aarts (2011)
have dwelt on English grammar, which was
seen as a whole. Monographs have also been
dedicated to the in-depth study of
grammatical categories, such as tense, aspect
and modality (Portner 2009). Grammatical
categories and concepts themselves have also made the subject of minute research
published either in monographs, such as mood and modality (Palmer 1970) or
modality and English modals (Palmer 1990) or in substantial collections of
studies and articles.
Linguists and researchers in our country have contributed to this type of
literature with a substantial amount of writings which have laid the basis of the
present-day Romanian School of English Studies. Of the hundreds of popular
volumes making the English grammar accessible to Romanian learners, none of
my selections would ever waive such authors as Levițchi (1970) and Bădescu
(1963). Monographic studies of grammatical categories seen as a whole
(Duțescu-Coliban 1983) have been complemented by those focusing on discrete
lexical classes, or on grammatical categories such as tense, aspect and mood.
Although linguists claim that the interest in the studies of modality was triggered
by Palmer’s approach to mood and modality, the Romanian School of English
Studies will produce Bîră’s views on “Aspects of Modality”, expressed in her
doctoral dissertation, which was published in 1978, when Romania was passing
through its totalitarian years and little, if anything would go through the Iron
Curtain. Ever since this contribution, which did trigger the interest of the
Romanian academics in this topic, studies of modality and modal verbs have
complemented this literature with a wealth of other approaches.
Elena Croitoru’s Mood and Modality stands alone among the above-
mentioned contributions and this is so for a number of reasons which are beyond
any debate. The seven chapters of the book have a coherent architecture which
relies on several layers of approach that subsume (a) classifications, (b)
specifications regarding semantic features, notional contrasts, (c) relationships
between moods and modal verbs, between modality and temporality and between
modality and adjuncts, subjuncts and disjuncts.
Chapter 1. “Views on Modality”, is double-aimed, dwelling on the multi-
faceted definition of modality to explore deontic and epistemic modality,
propositional and event modality. A rather subjective grammatical category,
modality needs an interpretation not only “as a matter of degree and as the attitude
of the speaker” but also as it was viewed by functional grammar, aspects which
are discussed further in the same first chapter. The second aim of this introductory
chapter is to describe the relationships between modality and pragmatics, on the
one hand, and between modality, communication and translation, on the other.
Thus, modality is placed within the discourse context to reveal its new valences
resulting from contextualization, and the examples of the modal verb will (pp. 25-
25) as well as their subsumed commentaries are relevant. As for modality and
communication, one cannot help admitting that “the only way of letting the others
know their feelings, emotions and attitude is by using their native language
system of words” (Croitoru 2002: 27), although “[I]t is almost intolerable that
needs, affections, hatreds, introspections which we feel to be overwhelmingly our
own […] should be voiced” (Steiner 1975: 175, quoted in Croitoru 2002: 27).
Translations have also demonstrated that modality is highly difficult to translate,
it requires deep grammatical and cultural knowledge as it is both context- and
language-dependent.
Chapter 2. of this monograph, i.e. Modality Expressed by Modal Verbs,
mirrors the ways by which modality is expressed by modal verbs. A picture of
modal verb characteristics and their values as arbitrary syntactic symbols,
together with a rich illustration of their deontic and epistemic uses reflecting the
speaker’s grammatical competence, constitute a wide but necessary preamble to
the individual portraits of modal verbs. One after the other, the modal verbs can
and could, may and might, must and have to, shall and should, as well as will and
would are neatly presented with each of their deontic and epistemic values.
Chapter 3. Modality Expressed by Modal Phrases and Modal Idioms, has
a worthwhile particularity in that it not only distinguishes modal phrases from
modal idioms, but it also presents a substantial collection of English-Romanian
idioms and phrases (pp. 99-125). Of these, my selection of beautiful and wise
proverbs includes: “he that can stay, obtains/ cu răbdarea treci marea”, “he who
pays the piper may call the tune/ cine plăteşte lăutarii, acela comandă dansul”,
“he that will eat the kernel, must crack the nut/ cel ce vrea să mănânce miezul
trebuie mai întâi să spargă coaja”.
The strong relationship between the key words of the monograph title
makes the core of Chapter 4 Modality and Moods, which, in addition to the
delineation of aspects related to all of the finite moods (indicative, conditional,
subjunctive and imperative) and the non-finite infinitive and modal concepts, also
approaches their semantic and pragmatic dimensions. An interesting relationship,
which had been established and strongly argued between modality and synonymy
(Zdrenghea and Hoye 1995), is prefaced by a brief discussion on synonymy at
grammatical level, where it is manifest in the case of performative verbs, as in
the sentences below, which are quoted from the book under survey (p. 176):
(a) Your presence at that session is requested.
(b) It is requested/necessary that you should come to that session.
(c) They requested that you should come to that session.
Most of the commentaries on modality and synonymy compares sentence
pairs where modal values involved by certain verbs convey similar meanings
expressed by (performative) verbs, as in the case of “We promise you high
wages” and “You shall have big salaries” (p. 177). This well sustained discussion
of synonymy and modal verbs reaches the conclusion that context determines the
different meanings derived from the fundamental values of each mood (p. 182).
Chapter 5. Notional Contrasts: Real vs Unreal, Factual vs. Theoretical
and Hypothetical Meaning approaches the mood-based concepts of factuality,
non-factuality and counter-factuality. After a brief theoretical account of direct
and indirect conditions, a tabular parallel is produced for the sake of clarity and
disambiguation as well as for the emphasis of specificity. Four types of open
conditions are dwelt on with both theoretical details and illustrative sentences. A
second parallel puts side by side open and hypothetical conditions to separate the
former conditions which “leave unresolved the questions of fulfilment” from the
latter, which “convey the speaker’s belief that the condition is/will not be
fulfilled” (p. 189). An interesting discussion brings to light a set of negative
conditions introduced by but for, except for, or else, and, and unless, each of them
with its more or less clearly established semantic value. For just one example,
while but for suggests only one idea, i.e. “But for Jim we would have missed the
train” is meaningfully similar to “If it hadn’t been for Jim, we would have missed
the train”, except for is a source of ambiguous reading. Thus, “Except for Smith
they would have failed” may read as “If it hadn’t been for Smith to help them/ If
Smith hadn’t helped them…” but in the sentence “Except for Smith they all
failed” it will read as “With the exception of Smith, they all failed” (p. 197).
This complex chapter analysed the real-unreal opposition in terms of
synonymy and concluded that “different modals, modal phrases and verb forms
can be used in conditional sentences to render synonymic variants of sentences”
(p. 209). The distinction between factual and theoretical meanings is exhibited in
a tabular presentation where there is no room for ambiguity. Hypothetical
meaning is characterized as having an implicature, which is opposite to the
statement the speaker made, and is described to occur in several types of clauses
and to make use of certain grammatical markers. These grammatical markers are
revealed to be mainly tenses of the indicative and of both the analytic and
synthetic subjunctive. References to such distinctions as realis and irrealis and

indicative-subjunctive complement the observations and commentary on the
interpretation of facts as different from conditions and constructions with a
hypothetic essence.
Chapter 6. Modality and Tense begins with a diachronic and synchronic
survey of the basic points in the TAM triangular interpretation of the English verb
system, which relies basically on tense, aspect and modality. As the meanings of
modal verbs may be influenced by their cohabitation with a particular tense, this
topic is approached at length in this chapter which in the end sees tense as a kind
of modality (p. 280).
Assigned to the verb constellation by numerous linguists, adverbials may
be vehicles apt to convey modal shades of meaning. The final chapter in this
monograph, Adverbial Expressions of Modality, tackles the relationship between
this lexical class and the sentence truth-value. Another direction of discussion
follows the relationship which was established between adverbials and the
concepts of modality. Modal verbs appear more frequently with such emphasizers
as well and necessarily and with such minimizers as possibly and conceivably.
Adjuncts, subjuncts and disjuncts are also carriers of modality, and they express,
for example:
(a) amazement: Never have I heard such rubbish.
(b) irony: You always don’t know where he is.
(c) honest manner/way: He questioned her (quite) fairly.
Although a tiny percentage of what this monograph presents about mood
and modality in English and a few considerations of their translational aspects
related to the Romanian language were unveiled in this review, hopefully it is a
convincing invitation for the reader to spend some time with it. I am convinced it
may be a worthwhile reading experiment and a pleasant experience.
What I particularly like about this book is both its content and format. The
table of contents itself shows that the book was designed starting from a higher
level of knowledge in the fields of modal verbs and modality, which makes it not
boring at all to read. Its user friendly format, its graphics and its presentation of
theoretical and illustrative elements which is rendered in a concise style with a
few tabular presentations concur to assuring a practical view of the problem in
focus. Without being adorned with too many introductory and concluding
paragraphs, the book invites readers to generalizations and the formulation of
their own personal conclusions. The monograph ends with a substantial index,
which is very helpful for the easy identification of the envisaged key concepts.
What makes this book remarkable among the other works on moods and
modality published in Romania is its being introduced in the bibliography of the
latest edition of the grammar of Romanian elaborated and published under the
aegis of the Romanian Academy. Thus, it was nationally acknowledged as a work
of value, and I consider it deserves this modest gesture of respect and honour.
References
Aarts, B. 2011. Oxford Modern English Grammar, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Avram, L. 2012. ‘Perfectivity might not scope over modality’. In Bucharest Working
Papers in Linguistics, 2012, 111-131.
Bădescu, A. 1963. Gramatica limbii engleze, Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
Bîră, E. 1978. Aspects of Modality. Bucureşti: Editura Universităţii.
Comrie, B. 1985. Tense. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Comrie, B. 1976. Aspect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Duţescu-Coliban, T. 1983. Grammatical Categories of English. Bucureşti: T.U.B.
Leviţchi, L. 1971. Gramatica limbii engleze. Bucureşti: Editura didactică şi Pedagogică
Palmer, F. 1970. Modality and English Modals. London: Longman.
Palmer, F. 1990. Modality and English Modals. 2nd edition. London: Longman.
Portner, P. 2009. Modality, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Leonard, M. H. 1909. Grammar and Its Reasons, New York: A.S. Barnes and Co.
ENGLISH THROUGH TRANSLATIONS.
INTERPRETATION AND TRANSLATION-ORIENTED
TEXT ANALYSIS
Elena Croitoru (coord.) (2004) Galați: Editura Fundației Universitare “Dunărea

de Jos” Galați, ISBN 973-627-128-5
Gabriela Iuliana COLIPCĂ-CIOBANU
Perhaps more than any other project

coordinated by Elena Croitoru, English
through Translations. Interpretation and
Translation Oriented Text Analysis (2004)
best demonstrates her dedication to and
enthusiasm for her profession as a university
professor who cherishes particularly
communication and debate with the students
on matters of academic – here, translation-
related – interest. As early as 1996, in her
book Interpretation and Translation (Galați:
Porto-Franco), Elena Croitoru had expressed
her adherence to the Translation-Oriented
Text Analysis (TOTA) model proposed by
professor and translator Andrei Bantaș, her mentor (1988, 1991 qtd. in Croitoru
1996: 121-122), with a view to improving the product of the translation process,
i.e. the translated text (TT). Several years later, she decided to test in practice the
efficacy of this model closely working with the first generations of MA students
specializing in Translation and Interpreting (1999-2002) at “Dunărea de Jos”
University of Galați. The outcome of long hours of translating and discussing
translation choices, which involved teacher and students alike, was a set of
thoroughly commented upon samples illustrative of a wide range of text types,
registers, Romanian and English culture-specific elements, which would become
the very core of an invaluable practice-oriented instrument meant for
undergraduate and especially graduate students, but also for “less experienced
translators” (2004: 5). Actually, the foreword advertises it as “an interesting and
challenging guidebook” which addresses “a readership interested in both
acquiring/ improving their knowledge of English and learning/ perfecting their
translation skills” (2004: 5).
Given that it is intended mainly for didactic purposes, the book opens with
an introductory study, authored by Elena Croitoru, that provides, in a nutshell,
the theoretical framework guiding the readers along the ‘intricate ways’ of “the
interpretative stage within the translating process” (2004: 5), generously
illustrated with examples of how to cope with various difficulties posed by
extratextual and/or intratextual factors in translating literary and specialized texts.
As a matter of fact, the principal criterion in devising the structure of the
bulk of the volume is the domain for which the samples translated and analysed
are representative. That was actually the case in the two-volume series Culegere
de texte pentru traducere (1996, 1998), co-authored by Elena Croitoru, Floriana
Popescu and Gabriela Dima, that served as its origin, as well. As for the broader
division in parts, the criterion of sample selection is the source culture; thus, Part
I gathers English Culture Samples (to be) translated into Romanian, whereas Part
II includes Romanian Culture Samples (to be) rendered into English.
In both parts of English through Translations. Interpretation and
Translation Oriented Analysis, the largest share is devoted to samples from literary
texts, for, as Elena Croitoru points out, literary discourse is “a mirror of the national
mentality, traditions, and rites, of the cultures involved in the translation process”
(2004: 5). Moreover, “literature provides a wide and varied range of translation
traps” which may create numerous problems to those translators unable to
appropriately decode the text to be translated (2004: 5). As expected, samples of
prose dominate the literature sections in each of the two parts, where the English
culture is represented by Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, Charlotte Brontë, Henry James,
Wilkie Collins and Joseph Conrad, and the Romanian culture by George Călinescu,
Marin Preda, Panait Istrati, Eugen Barbu, Duiliu Zamfirescu and Lucian Blaga. The
sections on drama bring to the reader/translator’s attention samples from George
Bernard Shaw and I. L. Caragiale, respectively. Essays, criticism, journalism and
poetry are not ignored either.
It is worth mentioning that the literature sections set the pattern for the ones
to follow by providing first an example of sample translated and analysed, then
inviting the readers to face the challenges of a translator’s job and to embark on
interpretation and translation practice starting from a number of new samples.
Each of the two parts of the book incorporates, next to literary texts, a
relatively large number of samples from specialized texts pertaining to the fields
of both humanities (linguistics, art, history, philosophy, religion) and sciences
(geography, economics, science and technology). These offer to those chiefly
interested in improving their skills in translating one or more categories of ESP
texts the chance to get familiar with the particularities of these texts, though the
translated and commented samples, as well as to further practice, through the
additional (untranslated) ones. Special mention should be made here of the last
task proposed in the ‘Science and Technology’ section of Part 2. Romanian
Culture Samples: the readers are expected to comment on several samples
selected from Mircea Leonte’s study of wine as nutrient, tonic and medicine,
translated from Romanian into English by Elena Croitoru and Floriana Popescu,
who are thus revealed as participants in this project not just as coordinators of
student teams, but also as experienced translators.
The largely didactic nature of English through Translations is finally
confirmed by the Answer Key section: its authors, Floriana Popescu and Gabriela
Dima, provide there (possible) translation solutions to the readers challenged to
interpret and translate individually the English and Romanian culture samples
recommended for further practice throughout various sections of the book. The two
mini-dictionaries that close the book, compiled by the same authors, are meant to
be equally comprehensive and helpful to the readers/would-be translators.
For all the years that passed since its publication, English through
Translations. Interpretation and Translation-Oriented Text Analysis has
remained, most likely, at least in the Romanian academic environment, a unique
tool for young translators and students specializing in translation. It is the
enduring evidence of how a collaborative project, like this coordinated by Elena
Croitoru, could successfully unite professors and students in the endeavour to
conceive a reader/student-friendly, practice-oriented didactic material that will
not lose its relevance and will be used by the next generations of BA and MA
students as one of the essentials of their training as accomplished translators.
References
Croitoru, E. (coord.) 2004. English through Translations. Interpretation and Translation-
Oriented Text Analysis, Galaţi: Editura Fundației Universitare ”Dunărea de Jos”
Galați.
Croitoru, E. 1996. Translation and Interpretation. Galaţi: Porto-Franco.
Croitoru, E., Popescu F. and Dima G. 1996. Culegere de texte pentru traducere, vol. 1,
Brăila: Evrika.
Croitoru, E., Popescu F. and Dima G. 1998. Culegere de texte pentru traducere (Limbaje
funcţionale), vol. 2, Brăila: Evrika.
THE ENGLISH SENTENCE STRUCTURE
Elena Croitoru (2002) Galați: Editura Fundației Universitare “Dunărea de Jos”

Galați, ISBN 973-8352-20-7
Gabriela DIMA
Considering the domain of English syntax,

Professor Elena Croitoru described some of
her major teaching coordinates in her book
entitled The English Sentence Structure
published by the Foundation of “Lower
Danube” University of Galati in 2002.
Aimed at being a university course for
undergraduate students, the book is structured
in 15 chapters and covers topics in traditional,
structural and generative-transformational
grammar, offering a different perspective on
approaching the syntactic analysis of the
English sentence, by using a corresponding
terminology and by highlighting the
contribution to the domain of both Romanian and foreign specialists.
At a time when students could barely access online information and when
English books on syntactic theory could be acquired with much difficulty,
professor Croitoru’s book provided a handy means for the philology students in
Galati to understand, identify and practice basic syntactic concepts such as: the
well-formedness of an English sentence, the categorial constituent structure,
movement transformations, valency, clause structures, grammaticality, etc.
The book is quite dense, the theoretical considerations are clear and richly
illustrated by plenty of examples which are meant to foster students’ learning by
observing and comparing concepts in various contexts.
Concepts from traditional syntax include the English sentence and
reinterpretations of its typology and of the major parts of the sentence, such as
the subject and the predicate, with an accent on predication and transitivity.
With reference to structural syntax concepts are introduced alongside with
their functionalities in the clause and their representation as clause elements. For
instance, the book offers a minutely description of adjuncts, subjuncts, disjuncts
both from a semantic and syntactic point of view.
Transformational - generative grammar is mostly represented in the book,
being the subject of discussion in Chapters 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, and 14. Professor
Croitoru selects major concepts and explains the hierarchy of the phrases within
the constituent structure of the sentence, by using TG methods. By means of
phrase markers or labelled bracketing the author clarifies on Wh-movement,
extraposition, ambiguity.
Even if the structure of the book gravitates around the three types of
grammar, the reading of each chapter shows an overlapping of the basic concepts
used by the author with a view to present linguistic facts in progress, from
traditional to modern: “The well-known four types of sentences have been
established on the basis of the overlapping between the form of the sentences (the
deep and surface structures and the phonological/graphic peculiarities) and the
communicative function of each formal type (pragmatic aspects such as the
speaker's intention, pointing to the illocutionary force of the utterance)” (Croitoru
2002: 13)
Characterized by a dynamic approach of one of the most debated area of
linguistics, i.e. syntax, professor Elena Croitoru’ s book has become along the
years one of the most valuable instruments for understanding English syntax by
philology students and, we can even say, by teachers of English seeking to revive
and improve their knowledge of English syntax.
MODALS. TENSES. ASPECT.
Elena Croitoru (2002) Galați: Editura Fundației Universitare “Dunărea de Jos”

Galați, ISBN 973-8352-21-5
Originating in the Elena Croitoru’s interest in the

multifaceted nature of modality in English and
based on/ supported by her comprehensive
approach to the close relationship existing
between mood and modality in the same
language, the course book Modals. Tenses.
Aspect is the perfect illustration of how
theoretical notions, accessibly presented in the
form of tables comparing and contrasting the
most common uses and meanings of tenses in
their simple and continuous aspects are creatively
blended with practical aspects put at work
especially in challenging translation exercises
from Romanian into English and vice-versa.
Chapter 1. Modal verbs. Modal phrases. Modal idioms opening this
course book is structured in such a manner as to demonstrate the author’s view
that, although “the English modals and their phrases, are often assumed to be
perfect synonyms”, modal phrases are merely used “to fill the gaps where simple
modals cannot occur due to deficient syntax”. Moreover, due to a series of
contextual factors, “modal verbs and modal expressions are not perfect semantic
equivalents, which can be used interchangeably, semantic distinctions and
differences in distribution indicating that the parallelism is only partial”.
Envisaging the possible use of certain modals auxiliaries as marks of the
Conditional and the Subjunctive Moods, Chapter 2. Uses and Meanings of
Modals, enlarges on the deontic and epistemic values of modal verbs which are
presented in tables including valuable indications about the modals’ time
reference and their corresponding translation into Romanian.
The paired or grouped presentations of modals and modal phrases, where
appropriate, (can vs. be able to, could + present infinitive vs. could + perfect
infinitive, may vs. may + perfect infinitive vs. may/might as well vs. might vs.
might + perfect infinitive, must vs. must + perfect infinitive vs. have/have got to,
shall vs. should, will vs. would) are supported by rephrasing and translation
exercises meant to illustrate temporal and semantic differences between the
modal verbs and modal phrases envisaged. Very useful proves the comparative –
contrastive approach to the uses of can-could-may-might in section 2.11of
Chapter 2 which helps the target readers become aware of the fact that certain
modal values may be expressed by 2, 3 or even 4 of the modals envisaged, the
differences between them being either in terms of register (formal/ informal) or
in terms of time reference (present/past/future). Whenever relevant, reference is
made to differences in terms of variety of English (British vs. American English).
The following 7 chapters of this course book, (Chapter 3. Uses and
Meanings of Simple and Continuous Present Tense, Chapter 4. Uses and
Meanings of Simple and Continuous Past Tense, Chapter 5. Uses and Meanings
of Simple and Continuous Present Perfect Tense, Chapter 6. Past Tense and
Present Perfect. Past Tense and Past Perfect, Chapter 7. Uses and Meanings of
Simple and Continuous Past Perfect Tense, Chapter 8. Uses and Meanings of
Simple and Continuous Future Tense and Chapter 9. Ways of Expressing
Futurity) focus on a comparative - contrastive presentation of the tenses
envisaged and of the specific time indicators associated with them. The
theoretical tasks, meant to check the target readers’ understanding of the key
concepts introduced in each chapter, are followed by translation exercises from
Romanian into English which draw the target users’ attention to verb forms in
Romanian (prezentul, imperfectul, perfectul compus) which often represent traps
in translation due to their corresponding to various tenses in English. The literary
texts selected by the author for translation from and into English are particularly
challenging, the target users being often exposed to a series of unexpected and
stylistically marked uses of tenses.
Similarly to section 2.11 in Chapter 2, sections 9.1 and 9.2 in Chapter 9
are particularly useful as they contrast, on the one hand, uses and meanings of
Present Tense Simple and Continuous (for future) with uses and meanings of
Future Tense Simple and Continuous, and uses and meanings of Future Tense
Simple and Continuous with uses and meanings of Future Perfect Tense Simple
and Continuous, on the other.
Chapter 10. Conditional Clauses brings together uses of Present and
Past Conditional in main independent clauses and in conditional clauses and a
clear and accessible presentation of the standard, mixed and special conditional
sentences in English with indications of common means of translating them into
Romanian.
Chapter 11. Sequence of Tenses and Chapter 12 Reported Speech provide
a valuable collection of schemes pointing out the most important grammatical
restrictions which need to be closely observed in English in the case of complex
sentences made up of a main clause and a temporal, direct object or attributive
clause, among others.
Modals. Tenses. Aspect is completed by the author’s conclusions that a
proper interpretation of linguistic phenomena is closely conditioned by the
discourse context, speakers always choosing “modal verbs, modal expressions,
modal idioms, and verbal forms which will best suit their communicative
intentions in a certain situation”. In other words, the speakers’ choice involves
“pragmatic elements in addition to syntactic and semantic ones” and “it is only in
the real-world context of the utterance that one can determine the meanings and
functions of modal expressions, the intensity of the modality expressed, the
appropriateness of their use, and the equivalence of semantically related modal
verbs, or of a modal verb and a cognate “true” verb or modal paraphrase”. (p.154)
As regards tenses, the author points out that “[e]very utterance establishes its
own spatio-temporal point of reference - the zero - point of the deictic system - in
relation to which the entities, events and states-of-affairs referred to by the speaker
may be identified. This temporal point of reference can be used to identify one of
the possible world-states to which the speaker can refer in the utterance and to
which he can relate other world-states by means of tense”. (p. 157)
A truly valuable material for undergraduate students, Modals. Tenses.
Aspect is undoubtedly a reliable source of information and point of reference for
teachers of English working with intermediate and advanced students or simply
for those who need to clarify problematic theoretical aspects or to refine their key
knowledge regarding the morpho-syntax of the English verb.
INTERPRETATION AND TRANSLATION1
Elena Croitoru (1996) Galați: Porto-Franco, ISBN 973- 557-430-6
Petru IAMANDI
In comparison with many other academic

disciplines or interdisciplines, translation
studies is a relatively new area of inquiry,
dating from the second half of the twentieth
century and emerging out of other fields such
as modern languages, comparative literature
and linguistics. By its nature it is multilingual
and also interdisciplinary, encompassing any
language combinations and a range of types of
cultural studies including postcolonialism and
postmodernism as well as sociology and
historiography. Because of this diversity, one
of the biggest problems in dealing with
translation studies is that much of it is spread
across such a wide range of books and journals. Hence there have been a number
of experts of key writings on the subject, including Hans-Joachim Störig’s Das
1
Book presented by Eugene A. Nida in his study Contexts in Translating, Amsterdam
and New York: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2002, pp. 99-100 available at:
https://books.google.ro/books?id=eXI9AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA116&lpg=PA116&dq=ele
na+croitoru+galati&source=bl&ots=0U8hsifp1d&sig=ACfU3U2w5glSZ-
moDvIktJaor0-ZoUCnYw&hl=ro&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiks-q--
P7gAhXE0KQKHa11BRM4FBDoATAGegQICBAB#v=onepage&q=elena%20croitor
u%20&f=false (consulted on 11 August 2020)
Problem des Übersetzens (1963), Andrew Chesterman’s Readings in Translation
Theory (1989), André Lefevere’s Translation/ History/Culture: A Sourcebook
(1992), Rainer Schulte and John Biguenet’s Theories of Translation: An Anthology
of Essays from Dryden to Derrida (1992), Chan Sin-Wai and David E. Pollard’s
An Encyclopedia of Translation (1995), Douglas Robinson’s Western Translation
Theory from Herodotus to Nietzsche (1997) and Lawrence Venuti’s The
Translation Studies Reader (2000). Others, such as Elena Croitoru’s Interpretation
and Translation (1996), Mona Baker’s The Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation
Studies (1998), Susan Bassnett’s Translation Studies (2002), and Jeremy Munday’s
Introducing Translation Studies (2008), have attempted to bring together the main
concepts and give a description of the field.
A pathfinder in Romanian translation studies, Elena Croitoru’s book is a
solid theoretical introduction to students, researchers, instructors and professional
translators. It sets out to give a critical but balanced survey of many of the most
important trends and contributions, discussing on the one hand the interplay of
language, translation and interpreting, and on the other hand the norms,
constraints and rules that operate in the translation system, interrogating
traditional tenets of translation, and moving the focus on the agents of translation
and interpretation - the translators themselves - rather than the texts, in an effort
to theorize, describe and understand the socio-historical place and role of the
translator. Using various analysing methods, the author applies the different
contemporary models to illustrative texts in brief case studies so that the reader
can see them in operation and be encouraged to further explore and understand
translation issues.
Each of the five chapters surveys a major area of the discipline and
illustrates its richness. Although each is designed to be self-standing, conceptual
links between chapters are cross-referenced; the progression of ideas is from the
introductory (presenting the main issues of translation and the interpretive
process in Chapter 1, to the more narrow (the translation and interpretation of
ESP in Chapter 2, discourse analysis, interpretation and translation with special
reference again to ESP in Chapter 3, difficulties in translating EST in Chapter
4, and methodological aspects of translation competence in the final chapter).
While the progression is from abstract to concrete, it is also conceptual, since
some theories and concepts are constantly revisited, with clarity and a major
consideration. Throughout the book the emphasis is on encouraging reflection,
investigation and awareness of the new discipline, and on applying the theory to
both practice and research.
In recent years, and since the publication of Elena Croitoru’s book, the field
has continued to grow with a considerable increase in the number of publications
(monographs, edited volumes, journals, online publications) and the borrowing
of concepts from new fields such as cognitive studies, sociology, literary theory
and corpus linguistics. In spite of that, Elena Croitoru’s book has not lost its
seminal importance. It has contributed to the continued development of
translation studies and it can very well serve as a coursebook for undergraduate
and postgraduate translation, translation studies and translation theory students,
stimulating them to pursue their interest in this dynamic discipline.
DIDACTICA TRADUCERII
Andrei Bantaș and Elena Croitoru (1998) București: Teora, ISBN: 973-20-0019-8
Isabela MERILĂ
The 80s and 90s were a great time for

publications on translation and teaching. It is
the age of Peter Newmark’s A Textbook of
Translation (Prentice-Hall 1988), Roger T.
Bell’s Translation and Translating: Theory
and Practice (Longman 1991) or Mona
Baker’s In Other Words. A coursebook on
translation (Routledge 1992), to name only a
few. Didactica traducerii, by Andrei Bantaș
and Elena Croitoru, is part of this same
tradition and, just like the first three names
listed have long been recognized as bringing
relevant contributions to the field of
translation studies, the same can be said about
the last two in relation to the development of the same field in Romania.
Their book is, first of all, an introduction to the complexity of translatology and
there are several indications of the fact even before reaching the text itself. The
list of quotations that open it and serve as mottoes is one, as they come from both
authors and translators, as well as originating from different cultures,
backgrounds and moments in time. Then, there is the table of contents, which
reads as follows (translation ours): Chapter 1. untitled, containing definitions,
classifications, a selection of theories and perspectives on translation; Chapter
2. The translator and the writer; Chapter 3. Interpretation; Chapter 4.
Translation and interpretation; Chapter 5.“Equivalence” in translation;

Chapter 6, untitled, focusing mainly on text and context; Chapter 7. The
translatability of the text; Chapter 8. Language variations; Chapter 9. Register,
interpretation and translation; Chapter 10: English language teaching and
translation; Chapter 11. Didactic translation and translation competence;
Chapter 12. The history of translations in Romania; Chapter 13. Simultaneous
and consecutive interpreting; Chapter 14. Hypotheses on translating poetry.
One aspect which transpires from these titles is the interdisciplinary nature
of the book, as matters of philosophy, history, didactics, literature and linguistics
are taken into consideration in view of their connection to the field of translation.
This is particularly salutary in the context of education, as it allows the student-
future specialist to consider multiple viewpoints and it provides a rounded history
of research to serve as a basis for further, more specific explorations.
The same intention and approach are reflected by the bibliography, where
there are titles as old as 1942 (Ortega Y Gasset, Miseria y esplendor de las
traductiones) and as recent as 1993, i.e. five years before this study’s date of
publication (Beaugrande’s Discourse Analysis in the Teaching of Translation,
Crisafulli’s Culture and Text: Equivalence Revisited, Gentzler’s Contemporary
Translation Theories, and others). Besides coming from different decades of the
20th century, the voices referenced also come from a variety of cultures, Romania
being represented by Șt. Avădanei, N. Bejan, G. Dima, E. Gavriliu, Al. Graur, G.
Ionescu, I. Kohn, A. Nicolescu, F. Popescu, T. Slama-Cazacu, G.I. Tohăneanu
and, least surprising of all, L. Levițchi.
Accordingly, the book has not lost its relevance in the current setting. It
could just as successfully be used today as part of or basis for an introductory
lecture on translation studies be it at undergraduate or, even more appropriately,
at graduate level guiding even more generations of students than it already has on
the path of their professional development.
LIMBA ENGLEZĂ PENTRU TCM
(ENGLISH FOR MACHINE BUILDING
TECHNOLOGY)
Elena Croitoru (1991) Universitatea “Dunărea de Jos” Galați
Iulia Veronica COCU
English for Machine Building Technology, a

264-page textbook, written by Professor
Elena Croitoru in 1991, represents an
unprecedented, ground-breaking, ESP
teaching material, which aims at helping
engineering students acquire valuable
knowledge in reading, writing and translation
skills and in the ESP terminology related to
their prospective field of expertise.
English for Machine Building
Technology conveys well-documented
information and it focuses on a wide range
of topics students will tackle during their
years of study, divided into 13 learning units:
Unit I. Turning - Process Capabilities, Lathes, Tools; Unit II. Boring –
Machines, Tools; Unit III. Trepanning – Round Disks, Circular grooves, Deep
Holes, Machines for Deep-Hole Trepanning, Tools for Deep-Hole Trepanning;
Unit IV. Planing – Process Capabilities, Planers, Workholding Methods and
Devices; Unit V. Shaping – Process Capabilities, Machines, Tool material and
Design; Unit VI. Broaching – Applicability, Broaching Machines; Unit VII.
Drilling – Machines, Drills, Selection of Drills; Unit VIII. Reaming – Process
Capabilities, Workpiece Material and Hardness, Machines, Reamer Design,

Selection of Reamer; Unit IX. Counterboring – Tools, Spotfacing, Roller
Burnishing, Fillet Rolling; Unit X. Tapping – Machines, Die Threading, Solid
Dies; Unit XI. Lapping – Machine Lapping between Plates; Unit XII. Milling –
Milling Machines, Knee-and-Colum Machines, Bed-Type Machines, Automatic
Controls, Adapters and Attachments. Unit XIII. Multiple-operation Machining
in Bar or Chucking Machines (Screw Machines or Turret Lathes) – Process
Capabilities, Types of Machines, Manual Turret Lathes, Automatic Turret lathes,
Single-Spindle Bar Machines, Multiple-Spindle Bar Machines.
Each of the 13 above-mentioned units starts with a domain-specific text,
introducing appropriate terminology and is subsequently divided into 6 sections
(Technical vocabulary, Exploring the logical pattern of the text, Checking
comprehension, Use of language, Guided writing and Translation practice),
which are meant to deepen the acquired vocabulary.
The translation practice section (Romanian – English) from each unit,
which may be considered of an utmost importance, includes original, yet
accessible, texts taken from studies written by well-known Romanian specialists
of that time in the domain of machine building technology, which constitutes very
good practice for students who want to expand their vocabulary.
The last 61 pages of the book consist of a series of Supplementary English
Texts for Translation Practice, which are extremely useful even today, since they
take students deeper into the domain-specific terminology, thus helping them
when conducting their research for the Bachelor’s thesis, the latest information
usually being available in English and the terminology being basically the same
at present in the sphere of machine building technology.
Even though the task Professor Elena Croitoru embarked upon was a
tiresome one, which took a lot of research and was time-consuming for a non-
specialist in the domain of machine building technology, the end result was an
innovative book which is up-to-date and highly helpful even nowadays.
CULEGERE DE TEXTE PENTRU FRIGOTEHNIE
(COMPENDIUM ON REFRIGERATION
TECHNOLOGY)
Elena Asandei (1981) Galați: Tipografia Universității din Galați
Carmen OPRIȚ-MAFTEI
Although Professor Elena Croitoru’s research

interests mainly lie in the spheres of
translation studies and English grammar, she
has a long-standing interest in English for
Specific Purposes (ESP). Her productive
collaboration with the Faculty of
Engineering, “Dunărea de Jos” University of
Galați is worth mentioning here as it provided
valuable insights into the teaching of ESP.
Professor Elena Croitoru’s teaching
activity conducted in the early ‘70s with the
students specializing in Thermal Systems &
Equipments enabled a fine grained analysis of
the specialized language, which resulted in
numerous research papers published in academic periodicals and conference
proceedings volumes and several course books.
Mention must be made here of her rigorous research in this field conducted
when ESP was in its early years, thus making it more valuable as there were not
many books and articles available at that time.
Her first attempt to design a basic course to meet the needs of the students
specialising in refrigeration technology was published in 1981 - Culegere de texte
pentru frigotehnie - Compendium on refrigeration technology. Little previous

research was available at that time, therefore she relied heavily on books written
by Romanian specialists (Stămătescu, C. Tehnica frigului; Chiraleu, I. Instalații
frigorifice; Barbu V. Mașini frigorifice; Ciobanu V. Tehnologia fabricatiei
mașinilor frigorifice) and on dictionaries (Levițchi L. Dicționar englez-român;
Popa M. Pandrea L. Dicționar de termotehnică, mașini termice și agregate
frigorifice englez-român Editura Tehnică București 1979) so that the resulting
material proved an invaluable sourcebook for students.
This textbook paved the way for more research which materialized into other
domain-specific didactic materials such as Limba engleză pentru TCM - English
for Machine Building Technology, 1991. Her most important findings related to the
complexity and challenges of translating specialized language were incorporated in
her PhD dissertation Interpretation and Translation, published in 1996 a research
which devoted special attention to the difficulties in translating passive
constructions, modal verbs, compound nominal phrases and technical terminology.
Regarding the structure, the Compendium on refrigeration technology consists of
seven units (Unit 6 including only texts) as follows: Unit 1. Matter, Internal
Energy, Heat, Temperature: Part 1 - 1. Mater and Molecules; 2. States of Matter –
a. The solid state, b. The liquid state, c. The vapour or gaseous state; Part 2 – 1.
Internal Energy – a. Internal kinetic energy, b. Internal potential energy; Part 3 –
2. Heat – a. The effect of heat on the state of aggregation; Part 4 - 3. Temperature –
a. Thermometers, b. Centigrade scale, c. Fahrenheit scale, d. Temperature
conversion. Unit 2. Heat transfer: Part 1 – 1. Direction and rate of heat flow; 2.
Methods of heat transfer – a. Conduction, b. Convection, c. Radiation; Part 2 – 1.
Specific Heat, 2. Sensible Heat, 3. Latent Heat; Part 3 – 1. The melting or fusion
temperature, 2. Saturation Temperature, 3. Total Heat. Unit 3. Thermodynamic
Processes: Part 1 – 1. The effects of heat on volume, 2. Expansion of solids and
liquids, 3. Density; Part 2 - 1. Pressure – Temperature - Volume Relationships of
Gases, 2.Temperature - Volume Relationships at Constant Pressure, 3. Pressure -
Volume relationships at a Constant Temperature, 4. Pressure - Temperature
Relationships at a Constant Volume; Part 3 - 1. Ideal or Perfect Gas, 2. Processes
for ideal gases. Unit 4. Refrigeration and the vapour compression system: Part 1 -
1. Refrigeration, 2. Need for thermal insulation, 3. The heat load; Part 2 - 1. The
refrigerating agent, 2. Ice Refrigeration, 3. Liquid Refrigeration, 4. Vaporizing the
refrigerant; Part 3 - 1. Typical vapour-compression system, 2. Division of the
system, 3. Condensing Units, 4. Hermetic motor- compressor assemblies, 5.
Definition of a cycle, 6. Typical vapour-compression cycle; Part 4 - 1. The
compression process, 2. Condensing Temperature, 3. Condensing pressure, 4.
Refrigerating effect. Unit 5. Survey of refrigeration applications: Part 1. - History
and scope of the industry; Part 2 - 2.Classification of applications, a. Domestic
Refrigeration, b. Commercial Refrigeration, c. Industrial Refrigeration, d. Marine
and Transportation Refrigeration, e. Air Conditioning; Part 3 - Food Preservation,
Deterioration and Spoilage; Microorganisms; Yeasts; Moulds. Unit 6. Methods of
food preservation: Preservation by Refrigeration; Refrigerated Storage; Storage
Conditions; Storage Temperature; Mixed Storage; Product Chilling. Unit 7.
Methods of Food Preservation (continued): 1. Freezing and Frozen Storage,
2.Freezing methods – a. Immersion Freezing, b. Indirect Contact Freezing, c. Air
Blast Freezing, d. Quick Freezing and Sharp Freezing; 3. Packaging Materials, 4.
Frozen Storage.
This textbook places a great emphasis on vocabulary acquisition since
technical students are familiar with basic English grammar and are much more
interested in expanding their technical vocabulary. Therefore, the selection of
domain-specific texts is of utmost importance as they introduce the new technical
and highly technical vocabulary. Moreover, oral skill production is encouraged
by the follow-up questions which are meant to assess the students’ level of
understanding and to incorporate and consolidate the newly introduced words. A
plethora of specifically-designed exercises (such as rephrasing, fill in the blanks,
practise on the text, relationships between statements, translations) is provided to
refresh English grammar, to facilitate vocabulary acquisition and improve the
students’ communicative skills.
All in all, Compendium on Refrigeration Technology proves a well-
designed textbook, suitable for the students who need to focus on developing
specialized language and communicative competencies through stimulating
activities and spontaneous interaction.
References
Asandei, E., 1981. Culegere de texte pentru frigotehnie (Compendium on Refrigeration
Technology) Universitatea din Galați, Facultatea de Invățământ Pedagogic,
Catedra de Limbi și Literaturi.
Barbu V., 1965. Mașini frigorifice, București: Editura Didactică și Pedagogică.
Chiraleu, I. et al., 1962. Instalații frigorifice, București: Editura Tehnică.
Ciobanu V., 1974. Tehnologia fabricatiei mașinilor frigorifice, Galați.
Croitoru, E., 1991. Limba engleză pentru TCM (English for Machine Building
Technology)
Croitoru, E., 1996. Interpretation and Translation Galați: Porto Franco.
Levițchi, L., 1974. Dicționar englez-român, București: Editura Academiei.
Popa M. and Pandrea L., 1979. Dicționar de termotehnică, mașini termice și agregate
frigorifice englez-român, București: Editura Tehnică.
Stămătescu, C., 1973. Tehnica frigului, București: Editura Tehnică.
THE TRANSLATION PROCESS:
TRADITIONAL APPROACHES AND
CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES
Understanding translation and translation studies

The past decades witnessed an avalanche of efforts towards establishing
translation studies as a discipline in its own rights. Encyclopaedias and
dictionaries covering all possible concepts in translation studies were edited
(Shuttleworth and Cowie 1997; Delisle 1999; Baker and Malmjaer 2001; Kittel
2007), translation studies readers and handbooks appeared (Venutti 2004;
Munday 2008; Baker 2009; Gambier & van Doorslaer 2011; Malmkjær and
Windle 2011; Sin-wai 2015; Malmkjær 2018), and numerous extended studies
focusing on the history and development of the discipline, or on the theories,
approaches, methods, etc. used by translators were published (Nord 1991;
Neubert & Shevre 1992; Hatim and Mason 1993; Leviţchi 1994; Bell 1994; Wills
1996; Chesterman 1997; Fawcett 1997; House 1997; Pym 1998; Croitoru 1999,
2004, 2006; Munday 2001; Dimitriu 2002; Pârlog 2002; Cronin 2003; Ionescu
2003; Snell-Hornby 2006; Vîlceanu 2008 – to name just a few).
Although a young discipline, translation studies has thus managed very
quickly to set up its concepts and define its research methodologies. In an
anniversary issue of META, Maria Tymoczko (2005) sums up the principal
trajectories of research in translation studies that are likely to be productive in the
coming decades and presents different attempts to define translation. Her
conclusion is that there is no agreed definition of translation and that “such a
definition is impossible because translation, like the concept game, discussed by
Wittgenstein, is an open concept” (Tymoczko 2005: 1085).
In the introductory part of the Routledge Encyclopaedia of Translation

Studies, Mona Baker (2001) states that “Translation studies is at a stage of its
development when the plurality of approaches that inform it or are capable of
informing it can be overwhelming, and the temptation for many has been to
promote one approach with which they feel particular comfortable and dismiss
the rest.” (Baker 2001: xiii).
The lack of consensus on the concept of translation and the diversity of
approaches to translation studies would discourage any researcher who would
aim to draft a state-of-the art of the discipline. That is why, the following
paragraphs are only meant to contextualize the concept and highlight what is
generally agreed upon in translation studies with relevance to the translation
process.
Etymologically, translation is ‘carrying across’ or ‘bringing across’
(Wikipedia). In a general dictionary, the term translation is defined as (1) the act
or an instance of translating; (2) a written or spoken expression of the meaning
of a word, speech, book, etc. in another language (The Concise Oxford English
Dictionary). This distinction is explained by Shuttleworth and Cowie (1997) in
more specific terms in their Dictionary of Translation Studies:
“Translation. An incredibly broad notion which can be understood in many

different ways. For example, one may talk of translation as a process or as
a product, and identify such sub-types as literary translation, technical
translation, subtitling, and machine translation; moreover, while more
typically it just refers to the transfer of written texts, the term sometimes
also includes interpreting.” (Shuttleworth and Cowie 1997: 181)
The first sense of translation as given by the OED is seen by Shuttleworth

and Cowie as process and focuses on the role of the translator in taking the
original or source text and turning it into a text in another language, while the
second one centres on the concrete translation product produced by the translator.
Shuttleworth and Cowie’s definition illustrate the potential confusion of
translation with interpreting, which is strictly speaking ‘oral translation of a
spoken message or text’ (1997: 83), but due to the nature of my study, here I shall
not go as far as to cover interpreting as well.
Hatim and Munday (2004) also take this stand and provide a threefold
definition of translation which includes process and product:
“Our threefold definition of the ambit of translation will thus be:
- The process of transferring a written text from a SL to a TL,
conducted by a translator, or translators, in a specific socio-cultural
context.
- The written product, or TT, which results from that process and
which functions in the socio-cultural context of the TL.
- The cognitive, linguistic, visual, cultural and ideological phenomena
which are integral part of 1 and 2.” (Hatim and Munday 2004: 8)
Translation methods and translation processes. Traditional and

contemporary approaches.
In a paper presented at the EU Marie-Curie High-Level Conference Series in
Vienna, Gutt (2007) applied to translation a series of statements which can be
considered to be valid for all fields of science:
“A theory is the way we look at the world. Everyone is entitled to his/her
own theory.
1. Every translator has a theory of translation.
2. Our theory determines how we interact with the real world.
3. The better our theory agrees with reality, the more successful our
interaction with reality will be.” (Gutt 2007)
In time, such theories or views of translation were transformed into translation
methods in their own rights, which reflected the way translators or translation
scholars approach translation ‘in the real world’, in other words, in practice.
In the past, preference was shown for the grammar translation method
(Anderman 2007) especially for the teaching of Greek and Latin. As Anderman
explains, ‘Translation … came to be associated with the process of testing the
knowledge of grammar and vocabulary in the foreign language and the
'equivalents' found in dictionaries and vocabulary lists were viewed as
constituting the authoritatively correct answers’ (2007: 52).
Other translation methods include literal and free translation. Although
very heavily criticized already centuries ago, according to Furuno (2005), literal
translation was the main practice in Japan until very recently. However, as Furuno
explains, this method is changing rapidly these years as
“The traditional English–Japanese literal translation method, which was

considered to be faithful to the original, has been criticized in recent years
by writers, professional translators and translation educators, who argue
that literally faithful rendering of the source text does not convey its
message, and that a translation should be expressed in natural Japanese.”
(Furuno 2005: 157)
Since the formulation of the Skopos theory (Reiss & Vermeer 1984), which
emphasises the function of the translation in the target culture, the purpose of the
translation has been considered a very important factor in translation theory. The
functional translation method so-created takes into account, among other aspects,
such factors as age, sex, educational background and social class of the audience
(O'Connell 1998).
Other cultural aspects as power, asymmetry in cultural exchanges, ethics
and the engagement of translators have been discussed in the specialised
literature. Venuti (1998) recommends a translation method of ‘foreignisation’ in
order to respect and represent the ‘otherness’ of the foreign text, language and
culture. An example of translation scholar who uses translation as a form of
political action and engagement is Baker (2006).
Modern developments in science and technology and the occurrence of new
media have called for the creation of new translation methods. From 2001 to 2007,
on a yearly basis, The EU Marie-Curie High-Level Conference series gathered
translation scholars from all over the world to meet the present-day challenges in
translation. The newly-proposed methods and approaches to multidimensional
translation (Gerzymisch-Arbogast 2005) have been gaining ground and cover areas
of research which include a wide range of traditional translation and interpreting
scenarios that are media-supported, including traditional interpreting, all kinds of
written intralingual und interlingual translation, synchronization, voice over, live
subtitling, media interpreting, localization, free commentary, theatre translations,
sight translation and many others.
Regardless of the translation method selected, all translation implies a
process or series of steps and decisions to be performed or taken. In very broad
terms, the translation process is ‘what happens linguistically and cognitively as
the translator works on the translation’ (Hatim and Munday 2004: 346). A more
detailed definition of the term is given by Delisle (1999) in his Terminologie de
la Traduction:
“Translation process – the cognitive activity where <translators> establish

interlingual <equivalences> between <texts> or text segments.
Note 1. – During this complex operation, the translator proceeds in a more
or less conscious and methodological fashion to interpret and analyze the
features of the <source text>, to apply <translation procedures>, to explore
the resources available in the <target text>, to select the appropriate options
for re-expressing the ideas expressed in the source text, and to verify the
equivalence chosen.
Note 2. – In recent years, cognitive linguistics has provided significant
insights into the cognitive process of translation.” (Delisle 1999: 191)
The last decades have witnessed an ever-growing interest in the translation

process. Representative scholars who have dedicated most of their research in
this direction include Nida (1964), Lörscher (1991), Kussmaul (1995), Beeby et
al. (2000), Schäffner & Adab (2000) – to name just a few. Questions and debates
on the degree of interpretation on the part of the translator in the translation
process (Nida 1964; Hervey, Higgins, and Haywood, 1995), or on what is
maintained or what is lost through the translation process (Gile 2004) are
common in translation studies.
Much research has also been dedicated to the steps which are taken, or as
Venuti (1995) puts it, ‘rationalized’, in the translation process. Just like there are
different views on the methods used in translation, so too, there are different ways
in which translation is approached as a process.
For Bell (1994), the translation process consists of two parts and is a
conjunction of text analysis and text synthesis. The analysis of the ST results in
a semantic representation of the text, which ‘combines all the information we
have into a single, abstract, universal schema which forms the basis of our
understanding of the text as text readers and our transformation of it as

translators’ (1994: 68). In this process, Bell identifies as crucial ‘the ability to
recognize the alternatives that are available in the original, the choices that can
be found in the TL and the realization that choices foreclose others’ (1994: 72).
Hervey and Higgins (2004), also see the translation process as a two-step
activity which involves understanding the ST and formulating the TT. In their
conception,
“the translation process can, in crude terms, be broken down into two types
of activity: understanding a ST and formulating a TT. While they are
different in kind, these two types of process occur not successively, but
simultaneously; in fact, one may not even realize that one has imperfectly
understood the ST until one comes up against a problem in formulating or
evaluating a TT. In such a case, one may need to go back to square one, so
as to reconstrue the ST in the light of one’s new understanding of it (just
as a translation strategy may need to be modified in the light of specific,
unforeseen problems of detail). In this way, ST interpretation and TT
formulation go hand in hand. Nevertheless, for the purposes of discussion,
it is useful to think of them as different, separable, processes.” (Hervey and
Higgins 2004: 7)
Reiss (2004) sees the translation process, or as she names it, the ‘translating
process’ (2004: 162-171) as consisting of two phases: the phase of analysis and
the phase of ‘reverbalization’. In the phase of analysis,
“In order to place a functionally equivalent TL text beside an SL text the

translator should clarify the functions of the SL text. This may be done in
a three-stage-process, which may, in principle, be carried out either by
starting from the smallest textual unit and ending with the text as a whole,
or by beginning with the text as a whole and ending with the analysis of
the smallest textual unit. […] (In practice, the conscientious translator
reads the whole text first to get an impression; from a text-linguistic point
of view, the text is nowadays regarded as the primary language sign.)”
(Reiss 2004: 162)
The three-stage process which Reiss suggests for the phase of analysis
consists of establishing the text-type, ‘a phenomenon going beyond a single
linguistic or cultural context’ (Reiss 2004: 163), establishing the text variety, ‘the
classification of a given text according to specifically structured sociocultural
patterns of communication belonging to specific language communities’ (Reiss
2004: 165), and analysing style, ‘the analysis of a particular textual surface’, by
which she means ‘the ad hoc selection of linguistic signs and of their possibilities
of combination supplied by the language system (Reiss 2004: 166).
The stage of reverbalization is seen by Reiss (2004: 166) as a ‘linear one
constructing the TL out of words, syntagmas, clauses, sentences, paragraphs,
etc.’. It is during this stage that
“a decision has to be made for each element of the text whether the
linguistic signs and sequences of linguistic signs selected in the TL in
coordination with a sign form and sign function can guarantee the
functional equivalence for which a translator should strive, by due
consideration of text variety and text type.” (Reiss 2004: 166)
In the reverbalization stage, Reiss suggests several ‘modes’ (2004: 167-

171) for different ‘normal’, ‘special’, and ‘problematic’ cases which may occur
in translation.
For Nida and Taber (1969), the translation process consists of three stages:
analysis, transfer, and restructuring. In the analysis stage, the translator analyses
the SL message into its simplest and structurally clearest forms or ‘kernels’; in
the next stage the translator transfers the message at this kernel level, and
eventually, the translator restructures the message in the TL to the level which is
most appropriate for the audience addressed.
Gerzymisch-Arbogast (2005) adapts Nida’s model and uses it to introduce
multidimensional translation. Gerzymisch-Arbogast’s translation process
consists of three overlapping phases: reception, transfer, and reproduction. In the
reception phase, as suggested by Gerzymisch-Arbogast,
“In contrast to most other existing translational text analysis methods,

which proceed from an a priori established category roster and do not allow
for the systematic description of ad hoc individual text features or
idiosyncrasies (e.g. Nord 1988), it is suggested for multidimensional

translation tasks – as a general principle – to analyze texts more flexibly in
a bottom-up fashion according to their individual (‘salient’) features.”
(Gerzymisch-Arbogast 2005: 6)
Text analysis is thus seen as a ‘flexible’ activity which focuses only on those
features of the source text which are most ‘salient’. In Gerzymisch-Arbogast opinion,
‘this, of course, does not mean that linguistic and/or other collective categories are
not valid at all, but does mean that text analysis should not be restricted to pre-
established categories and needs to be flexible enough to accommodate singular text
features too, e.g. typographical idiosyncrasies or innovative categories, e.g. speaker-
hearer relationships’ (Gerzymisch-Arbogast 2005: 6).
In the transfer phase, the translator draws a ‘comparative compatibility
analysis’ in order to verify whether the text features are compatible with the target
‘material’ in content, form, structure and mode. Gerzymisch-Arbogast states that
the resulting (partial) incompatibilities will raise translation problems that need
to be solved when re-formulating the target product in the reproduction phase.
In his book After Babel, Steiner (1994: 296-302) proposes a four-part
process of translation. The first step, i.e the step of “initiative trust,” describes the
translator’s willingness to take a gamble on the text, trusting that the text will
yield something. As a second step, the translator takes an overtly aggressive step,
“penetrating” and “capturing” the text (Steiner calls this “appropriative
penetration”), an act explicitly compared to erotic possession. During the third
step, the imprisoned text must be “naturalized,” must become part of the
translator’s language, literally incorporated or embodied. Finally, to compensate
for this “appropriative ‘rapture,’ “the translator must restore the balance, attempt
some act of reciprocity to make amends for the act of aggression. His model for
this act of restitution is, he says, “that of Lévi-Strauss’s Anthropologie structurale
which regards social structures as attempts at dynamic equilibrium achieved
through an exchange of words, women, and material goods.” Steiner thereby
makes the connection explicit between the exchange of women, for example, and
the exchange of words in one language for words in another.
Venuti (1995: 308) mentions a complex translation proposed by Blanchot,
which implies a multitude of steps from the selection of foreign texts to the
implementation of translation strategies to the editing, reviewing, and reading of
translations.
A similar complex model is proposed by Hervey, Higgins, and Haywood
(1995) where editing, for instance, is seen as ‘the last stage of the translation
process, consisting in checking over the draft of a written TT with a view to
correcting errors and polishing up stylistic details (1995: 221).
Dejica (2010) sees translation as an activity, during which, the translator
transfers into a target text – with a specific purpose in mind – the writer’s intention
expressed in a source text. This definition encompasses three main concepts which
reveal the stages of the translation process on which this approach is based.
‘Transfer’ is used with a double connotation: that found in Shuttleworth and Cowie
(1997) and Hatim and Munday (2004), to imply that in this study Dejica sees
translation as process, and that found in Nida and Taber (1969) and Gerzymisch-
Arbogast (2005) to refer to the second stage of the translation process, i.e., that of
transfer, where the analysed ‘material’ is transferred into the mind of the translator
and compared for translation purposes. ‘Purpose’ is used like in Vermeer (2000) to
refer to a decision-taking activity in the transfer stage of the translation process; in
this stage, choices are made against the language and cultural resources identified
in the preliminary steps and the target text is produced. The ‘writer’s intention’ is
used like in the functionalist approach to translation, i.e., the ‘skopos theory’ (Reiss
& Vermeer 1984; Holz-Mänttäri 1984; Nord 1988; Snell-Hornby 1988; Vermeer
2000); Dejica uses the IATRIA approach to identify and analyse the ‘material’, i.e.,
the information universe constituents, so as to facilitate text understanding in the
reception phase, against which the writer’s intention can be hypothetically
identified and established. The three stages of the translation process, i.e., reception,
transfer, and reproduction can be visualized in Fig. 1:
Fig. 1 Translation Process Stages

(following Nida, 1969 and Gerzymisch-Arbogast, 2005)
The reception stage is the first phase of the translation process, synonymous to
text understanding. During the transfer stage, a series of steps are suggested to be
performed, which aim at clarifying the intention of the writer, establishing the
translation purpose and identifying corresponding constituents (individual
constituents or holons) in the target language. The reformulation stage consists
of one step during which the translator produces the target text.
Based on this three-stage translation process, Dejica (2010) suggests the
following sequence of steps for the translation of pragmatic texts, materialized in
a nine-step translation process:
Fig. 2 The translation process (Dejica, 2010)

In developing this translation process, Dejica (2010) used a holistic and
interdisciplinary approach built on concepts developed in or central to other
disciplines such as text linguistics, pragmatics, semantics, genre analysis, or
cultural studies.
This overview of the translation methods and translation processes shows
the diversity and flexibility of approaches in translation studies. If Bell (1994),
Hervey and Higgins (2002) or Reiss (2004) see the translation process as
consisting of two stages, i.e., source text analysis and target text production, other
translation theorists, such as Nida and Taber (1969), Gerzymisch-Arbogast
(2004) or Dejica (2010), see it as a more complex activity, which involves also a
phase of transfer where compatible features are analysed in a comparative
manner. Steiner (1994) describes the translation process in more metaphorical
terms; in his four-stage translation process, the extra stage implies a pre-analysis
of the text during which the translator decides whether s/he ventures to ‘gamble’
with the text. Blanchot (cf. Venuti 1995) or Hervey, Higgins, and Haywood
(1995) propose an extended translation process, which, in their views, covers
other activities as well, i.e. text editing, revision, etc.
The translation process: future research and pedagogical challenges

Nowadays, humanities in higher education seem to experience serious changes
and to face many challenges.
In the last ten years in Europe, on several online forums and discussion
groups, there have been many negative reactions regarding the possible
discontinuations of the interpreting programs at several universities in Germany
and the UK. In Romania, the signals form the labour market and employers are
that higher education is still too theoretical and that the students need more
practical skills to be able to meet the requirements of their future employers. In a
keynote speech, Professor Mircea Dumitru (2016), Rector of the University of
Bucharest, stressed the fact that tertiary education has become increasingly
pragmatic and that certain disciplines in the humanities, such as philosophy or
history, are no longer part of the academic curricula in some universities in Asia,
which led to discontinuation of the departments which managed them.
On the other hand, the translation profession today has grown in

importance due to the need of translation professionals in international trade, the
need for cooperation in such areas as industry, transportations, communications
or entertainment, the proliferation of international institutions, and ultimately the
enlargement of the European Union.
We believe that the academic community in general and the humanities
and social sciences in particular cannot remain unresponsive to such seemingly
contradictory signals, and that immediate action should be taken as to the
relevance and content of the curricula for both labour market and overall
development of students, the relevance and nature of research and publication
activities, and last but not least, the role of the university in society. Translation
Studies as a discipline and as an area of research will also have to adjust to these
changes.
To be efficient on today’s translation market, translation projects must
meet challenging technological requirements and translators need to have a fresh
input on speed, volume, and quality. The traditional translation process proceeds
from source text understanding in the reception stage, continues with the
identification and analysis of target language features in the transfer stage, and
ends with the production of the target text in the reproduction stage (Fig. 1).
Besides offering a solid base for text understanding, these steps are meant
to ensure the quality of the target text; however, since they may prove time-
consuming, they may not always be cost-effective. In a time when most
translation of pragmatic texts is done with the help of software, when target texts
are created in a matter of seconds, and when students and perhaps some
translators do not even read the source text before they process it with the help of
dedicated software, we have to rethink the way translation processes are taught
and researched so as to produce target texts at the same qualitative standards as
in traditional translation scenarios. We illustrate this change of perspective and
the way the translation process has evolved in practice in the past years in Fig. 3:
Fig. 3 The modern translation process
As Figure 3 shows, source text understanding is done after the actual

creation of the target text in the production stage, sometimes in parallel with the
assessment of the qualities and properties of the target text, produced by using
dedicated software. This change of perspective raises the following teaching and
research questions, which should be explored by TS scholars:
- Translation process
o Assessment procedures: Are the current target-text assessment
procedures still valid or should they be reconsidered? What will be
the role of the translator in the language assessment process, since
spelling, grammar, punctuation are performed automatically? Will
there be any special translation assessment techniques or software
created to facilitate the assessment process? How can we make
sure that the meaning of the text is conveyed with accuracy and
what new assessment techniques can be developed to certify this?
o Target text creation - Production stage: Since translations are
done automatically in an open, collaborative environment
(Google Translate, Bing, etc.) how could students, translators,
researchers contribute to improve the output? What skills do they
need to produce valid changes? How much can we rely on their
contributions, which will be used later on by the software to
generate new translations?
o Source text - Reception stage: Will students/translators still need

fundamental translation concepts or concepts borrowed from
related disciplines such as linguistics, discourse analysis,
pragmatics, sociolinguistics, etc., or have such concepts become
obsolete?
The answer is they do, now more than ever, since (1) these
concepts may ensure a solid ground for source text understanding which
is essential for the production of different versions of the source text,
depending on the requirements of the client (reduction or expansion of
the text, a text written for a different audience, a source- or target-
language oriented version of the source text, etc), and (2) for the moment,
the existing software on the market cannot produce such different
versions of the source text. In this context, some of the questions to be
addressed are: When should these concepts be introduced in the
translation curricula?, How much time should we assign to introduce and
to familiarize students with them, since new concepts have also become
important and the number of hours is regulated? What concepts can be
used or borrowed from these disciplines to develop Translation Studies?
- Curricula development: Given the requirements on the market regarding
the use of dedicated translation software, what additional disciplines
should be introduced in the translation curriculum to create or develop
technical abilities? When should we introduce disciplines such as
Translation assessment, Computer-assisted translation, Translation
environment tools, Management of large translation projects and of the
translation flow, etc., in the curriculum? At BA or MA level? How can
we increase the role and involvement of the language industry
representatives in the development of a modern translation curriculum?
- Other questions and research initiatives: How can genre analysis
contribute to the development of modern translation studies? How and
when can translators apply genre specificities to target texts produced
using dedicated software? How can we develop efficient processes for
hypertext translation? What will be the evolution of fundamental
research in Translation Studies?
The answers to some of these questions will probably reshape the future of
the translation profession, and at the same time will show us new ways of teaching
and doing research in Translation Studies.
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A READING OF FAKE NEWS IN ROMANIAN ONLINE
PRESS HEADLINES
Gabriela DIMA
Introduction
Literature concerning contemporary Romanian vocabulary abounds in articles
debating English loanwords, providing definitions, classifications and
contextualizations, reinforcing both the phenomenon of globalizing the English
language and the openness of the Romanian language to welcoming new English
words.
It has become a truism that the vocabulary of a certain natural language
represents a rich source for describing the latter’s evolution in accordance with
the progress of the society which it defines and labels from a cultural, political,
scientific and economic point of view. This interdependent relationship is
reflected in the structure and lexical units of the vocabulary of a language at a
certain period.
Concerning the structure of the Romanian vocabulary, reference is
generally made to its being divided into fundamental vocabulary and the great
mass of vocabulary which includes archaisms, regional words, slang words,
neologisms, technical and scientific terms belonging to specialized Romanian.
Nowadays, among neologisms, Anglicisms are present in an impressionable
number in everyday communication rendering remarkable linguistic facts of texts
from various domains such as: politics, economy, culture, media, press, etc.
Since numerous Anglicisms have been invading the Romanian media
discourse, in general, and in the Romanian press, in particular, special attention
will be devoted to a handful of Anglicisms used in the Romanian online press
which activate not only the phatic function within the communication matrix, but
also the manipulation function. This trend manifests in the written and online
press, mostly on TV and on websites where Anglicisms automatically catch the

readers’ attention by their usage in contexts where they become “trendy terms
which tart up a banal meaning with an aura of technical sophistication” (Pinker
2004:162) and which can sometimes disrupt a bona fide communication.
Within bona fide communication, a unique reality is accepted by the social
community in transmitting the message, lacking ambiguities and contradictions
and supporting a mutual understanding between the sender and the receiver.
By extension and from a theoretical point of view, Anglicisms should be
used in the mass media in such a way that they should preserve objectivity. To
put it differently, Anglicisms should be used so as to avoid a non-bona fide
communication, which leaves room for various interpretations and results in the
audience being uncertain about their appropriately and correctly decoding the true
nature of the message: “All things are subject to interpretation whichever
interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth”
(Nietzsche in Johnson 2008: 211).
Fake news in News

One of the Anglicisms which may contribute to the readers’ failure to discover
the truth and admit interpretations is fake news, a lexical collocation including
the noun news, similar to breaking news, hot news, hard news, soft news, stop
press news, etc.
Fake news and breaking news are somewhat similar in their opaque
semantic meaning and, in some interfaces, different in their usage: fake news
occurs mainly in the written and online press, whereas breaking news is mostly
characteristic to TV broadcasting and websites, bringing to the fore an immediacy
of events which cannot escape the public eye.
According to Cambridge Dictionary online, breaking news means
“information that is being received and broadcast about an event that has just
happened or just begun.” In Romanian mass media, breaking news may have both
positive and negative connotations which can raise a wide range of feelings in the
public such as: curiosity, interest in novelty, sometimes fear or contempt, etc.:
“Evident, o ştire pozitivă nu e breaking news, nu e pe prima pagină a

ziarelor, nu generează nici audienţă şi nici tiraje. În schimb, o ştire
negativă face furori, rating, generează dezbateri aprinse [...]”/ It becomes
evident that good news is not breaking news, is not found on the
newspaper’s front page and does not gain in audience or circulation. On
the contrary, bad news can spark a furore, increase rating and cause
ardent debates” (www.dcnews.ro in Corolawebsite/Journalistic/
104022_a_105314).
The term breaking news is translated into Romanian as ştiri de ultimă oră
and appears on TV screens on a horizontal, text-based line, called burtieră in
Romanian, giving brief and immediate information about the events, happenings,
persons, etc. to be spoken about. Very frequently, on the screen display, there can
occur a news ticker, also a horizontal, text-based line which is still informative,
but its reference time can be different from that of the breaking news. Instead of
news ticker, Romanian journalists use another Anglicism, the term crawl,
meaning “a bulletin, explanation, or credits run up or across a TV screen”
(Collinsdictionarycom): “Întrunit în şedinţă publică în ziua de 31 octombrie 2013,
Consiliul Naţional al Audiovizualului a analizat raportul întocmit de Serviciul
Inspecţie […] cu privire la conţinutul unor ştiri difuzate pe crawl în zilele de 9 şi
10 octombrie 2013 […]“ http://www.cna.ro/Decizia-nr-598-din-31-10-
2013.html?var _recher che=crawl
Corpus analysis of fake news

Appeared in the American press towards the end of the 19th century, fake news
was named ‘Word of the Year’ in 2016 and 2017 by Collins, Oxford and
Macquarie Dictionaries:
“Collins said that “fake news” started being used in the noughties on US
television to describe “false, often sensational, information disseminated
under the guise of news reporting”. Its usage has climbed since 2015,
according to the dictionary, and really took off this year, with its ubiquity
to be acknowledged with a place in the next print edition of the Collins
Dictionary” (https://www.theguardian.com 2017).
In what concerns its stylistic value, fake news is an oxymoron. The

Romanian equivalent of the term is ştiri false, which is used to express different
attitudes, from neutrality to non-agreement, underlining the idea that the term
hides the truth in order to manipulate the public upon which it has a noteworthy
impact:
“În ultima vreme, în România, vînătoarea de fake news a ajuns sport

național. E pasionant, fiindcă ele, fake news-urile, în sensul de minciuni
propriu-zise, scot capul rar. Dar post-adevărul e, dialectic, un gen care
amestecă adevărul și neadevărul. Și, de multe ori, al doilea rămîne nerostit,
ca premisă subterană.” (Comănescu 2019 in https://dilemaveche.ro) (In
Romania hunting for fake news has become a national pastime sport. This
might be attractive, since, fake news, meaning lies in the true sense of the
word, comes out rarely. But the post truth is dialectic by nature, a concept
that intermingles truth and untruth. And, for so many a time, the latter has
kept silent, buried in the depth. - our translation)
In what follows, we provide a quantitative corpus analysis meant to

illustrate the frequency of the collocation fake news in various headlines from
Cotidianul.ro and HotNews.ro, along the year 2019: “The function of headlining
is complex: headlines have to contain a clear, succinct and if possible intriguing
message, to kindle a spark of interest in the potential reader, who, on average, is
a person whose eye moves swiftly down a page and stops when something catches
his attention.” (Crystal and Davy 1979: 174,177)
The number of fake news headlines reach 28 in Cotidianul.ro, with the
highest frequency of occurrence in May, August, September and November. The
collocation fake news is used by politicians (1a, c), economists (1b, 1d, 1e)
sociologists, among others, and it is related to issues which the authors consider
to be important both for the large public and the target users. A selection of
headlines is presented below:
(1) a. Europarlamentarele nu scapă de Fake News.

(26 May 2019 - R.C. 3
https://www.cotidianul.ro/europarlamentarele-nu-scapa-de-fake-news/)
b. Fake news, alimentat cu combustibil românesc
(10 May 2019 - R.C. 8
https://www.cotidianul.ro/fake-news-alimentat-cu-combustibil-romanesc/)
c. Un fake news despre români bântuie Franţa
(16 May 2019 Magda Colgiu 15
https://www.cotidianul.ro/un-fake-news-despre-romani-bantuie-franta/)
d. Finanțele acuză un fake-news legat de împrumuturi
(10 September 2019 Cosmin Pam Matei https://www.cotidianul.ro/finantele-
acuza-un-fake-news-legat-de-imprumuturi/)
e. Fake-news-ul care a bântuit în presă
(6 September 2019 Cosmin Pam Matei 6
https://www.cotidianul.ro/fake-news-ul-care-a-bantuit-in-presa/)
The graphic below represents the frequency of the headlines containing the
term fake news from Cotidianul.ro, registered for each month. They refer especially
to topics related to political events such as national Presidential elections and
European Parliament elections, finances, migration, etc.
Frequency of "Fake News" Headlines in 2019

(Cotidianul.ro)
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Fig. 1: Frequency of fake news headlines in Cotidianul.ro in 2019
As regards the number of fake news headlines In HotNews.ro, the 42 lines

identified occur especially in August, February and November and are related to
the domains: Actualitate (Top News), Politică (Politics), Economie (Economy),
Internaţional (International), Esenţial (Basics), Opinii (Comments), etc. A
selection of headlines is presented below:
(2) a. Orban promite că anul viitor nu va apărea nicio taxă nouă și face
noi precizări despre taxa auto: „Așa se nasc fake news-urile”
(Vineri, 8 noiembrie 2019, 19: 46 în Actualitate | Politic / Friday, 8
November 2019, 07.46 PM in Politics
https://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-politic-23477533-orban-promite-anul-viitor-
nu-aparea-nicio-taxa-noua-face-noi-precizari-despre-taxa-auto-asa-
nasc-fake-newsurile.htm)
b. Facebook ia măsuri anti-fake news: Compania va eticheta clar știrile false

(Marți, 22 octombrie 2019, 14:33 în Economie | IT/ Tuesday, 22 October
2019, 02.33 PM in IT,
https://economie.hotnews.ro/stiri-it-23440596-facebook-masuri-anti-
fake-news-compania-eticheta-clar-stirile-false.htm)
c. Liberalii cer retragerea proiectului rectificării bugetare. Dancă: E un

fake news. Se bazează pe încasări suplimentare fictive.
(Marți, 6 august 2019, 17:08 în Actualitate | Politic / Tuesday, 6 August
2019, 05.08 PM in Politics
https://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-politic-23300830-liberalii-cer-retragerea-
proiectului-rectificarii-bugetare-danca-fake-news-bazeaza-incasari-
suplimentare-fictive.htm)
d. Trump neagă că ar fi vrut lansarea de bombe nucleare asupra

uraganelor: Nu am spus niciodată așa ceva. Fake News!
(Luni, 26 august 2019, 12:57 în Actualitate | Esențial / Monday, 26
August 2019, 12.57 PM in Basics
https://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-esential-23331728 -trump-neaga-vrut-
lansarea-bombe-nucleare-asupra-uraganelor-nu-spus-niciodata-asa-
ceva-fake-new.htm)
The graphic below represents the frequency of the headlines containing the
term fake news from HotNews.ro, also registered for each month.
Frequency of "Fake News" Headlines in 2019

(HotNews.ro)
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Fig. 2: Frequency of fake news headlines in HotNews.ro in 2019
A reading of the articles from the two sources (Cotidianul.ro and

HotNews.ro) headlined by fake news will indicate the use of the term in the article
body more than once, showing either the authors’ propensity for sophistication,
the reinforcement of the news presented or, on the contrary, the manipulation of
what other press media have said, leaving the readers in a haloo of uncertainty
when two or more articles debate the same topic.
Fig. 3: Fake news concordance in CoRoLa http://corola.racai.ro/

The term has not been included in DEX, but on researching the topic, we
have found it by accessing the computer corpus for the Romanian language,
CoRoLa, http://corola.racai.ro/, which contains over 1 billion words from 70
scientific domains, audio texts, etc. The print screen below presents some
concordance lines with the term fake news to show that this collocation is still
recorded in specialized databases of the Romanian vocabulary.
The corpus analysis of the 76 headlines containing the collocation fake
news has led to obtaining an illustrative, tentative linguistic profile which
highlights the various functions that the term can acquire in various contexts. The
behaviour of this collocation in the selected headlines above shows that its
sentential position reveals different syntactic functions which implicitly can
trigger different meanings:
a. A front position in the Romanian articles’ headlines will attribute
the term the canonical function of a subject NP, whose determination
reveals both the enclitic use of the definite article e.g. Fake-news-ul
care a bântuit în presă indicating a high level of individualization
and the proclitic use of the indefinite article, with a less referential
function, just as in English, e.g. Un fake news despre români bântuie
Franţa. The use of fake news in these contexts underlines the
negative meaning evaluation of the term which is increased by the
semantics of the verb a bântui/ to haunt indicating a persistence of
facts and phenomena with a negative impact on a group of people.
b. A middle position occupied by the term will reveal its syntactic
function of an unmarked direct object e.g. Finanțele acuză un fake-
news legat de împrumuturi, being directly connected to the verb. In
this context, a powerful message is sent within the specialized
finance field delineated by the superordinate noun Finanțele, the
subordinate noun împrumuturi and the verb a acuza / to accuse,
which, together with fake news, stirs the readers’ curiosity to look
into the matter.
c. A final position of fake news in the headline makes it acquire
different syntactic functions: direct object , e.g. Așa se nasc fake
news-urile; indirect object, e.g. Europarlamentarele nu scapă de
Fake News; predicative, e.g. E un fake news. These contexts denote
the authors of the articles’ conclusive opinions about the topic to be
discussed and might receive the readers’ agreement to that.
The syntactic behavior triggers semantic interpretations based on the use
of fake news in headlines as eye-catching, making the readers sense, feel or
imagine the truth behind the words, sometimes in agreement with the author of
the article, sometimes in opposition with the way in which he communicates the
news by using English fake news, instead of Romanian stiri false. In some
headlines, we find both of the terms e.g. Facebook ia măsuri anti-fake news:
Compania va eticheta clar știrile false, as a possible way of reinforcing the
message.
Conclusions
Being in vogue, fake news has a hard usage, sometimes having the form of an
adopted word, by applying the Romanian language means of pluralization, the
use of definite and indefinite articles, etc. In various articles fake news is present
at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the headline; then, within the
article, we can come across its Romanian translational equivalent, ştiri false, as
underlined in the excerpts from HotNews.ro. The semantics of fake news reveals
perceptual and cognitive dimensions, at both poles, the transmitter and the
receiver of the message, from observation, concentration, curiosity and decision
making (especially when placed at the end of the headline.)
Anglicisms have enriched Romanian vocabulary, as the role of most of the
neologisms has universally been: “Neologisms (e.g. Anglicisms, our note) also
replenish the lexical richness of a language, compensating for the unavoidable
loss of words and erosion of senses. Much of the joy of writing comes from
shopping from the hundreds of thousands of words that English makes available,
and it’s good to remember that each of them was a neologism in its day” (Pinker
2004:162). Moreover, the idea should be underlined that there are as many ways
of researching Anglicisms as the complexity of borrowing as a linguistic
phenomenon is, especially in the era of globalization, where words have no
boundaries.
References
Comănescu, I. 2019. Pîinea cea de toate zilelele a păreriștilor: post-adevărul. Dilema
veche, nr. 792, 25 aprilie – 1 mai.
Crystal D. and Davy D. 1997. Investigating English Style. Routledge: Taylor and Francis
Group.
Johnson, C. 2008. The Clock and the Arrow: A Brief Theory of Time. Icarus eBooks.
Pinker, S. 2004. The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to writing in the 21st
century. Penguin.
Web Sources
https://books.google.ro/books?id=W0xp9JMnhFwC&pg=PA211&lpg=PA211&dq=%E
2%80%9CAll+things+are+subject+to+interpretation
https://dilemaveche.ro/sectiune/tema-saptamanii/articol/piinea-cea-de-toate-
zileleleapareristilor-post-adevarul/
Corpus computațional de referință pentru limba română contemporană available at
CoRoLawebsite/Journalistic/104022_a_105314, http://corola.racai.ro/,
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jan/25/fake-news-named-word-of-
the-year-by-macquarie-dictionary
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/02/fake-news-is-very-real-word-of-the-
year-for-2017
https://www.dcnews.ro/salvatorul-hidroelectrica-se-revolta-ca-i-efi-de-multina-ionale-
sunt-la-beciul-domnesc_497291.html?print=1
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/fake-news
http://www.cna.ro/Decizia-nr-598-din-31-10-2013.html?var_recherche=crawl
Corpus Sources
Cotidianul.ro, 2019
HotNews.ro, 2019
TRANSLATING VOICES OF THEORY: EUGENE A.
NIDA’S ROMANIAN VOICE1
Rodica DIMITRIU
To Professor Elena Croitoru, distinguished linguist and translation scholar, whose firm
commitment and high professionalism have been instrumental in the development of
English studies at “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galati – and not only-, with
admiration, appreciation and fond memories of the professional projects we have carried
out together in all these years.
Introduction
The issue of ‘voice’ allows for a multitude of approaches but to me, it is
intrinsically related, among other things, to the actual experience of translating
both the physical and the textually inscribed voice(s) of Eugene A. Nida, and it
is on this personal experience that this article draws. Eugene A. Nida is, no doubt,
a distinct voice in translation studies. Irrespective of the various kinds of response
to his theory that have varied from unconditional approval to sharp critique,2 his
position in the development of the discipline, as well as the international impact
1
This contribution was first published with the title « ‘I am coming back to where I
started. I am sure you won’t believe it!’ On Translating E. A. Nida’s Voice » in Isabelle
Génin and Ida Klitgård, eds. La traduction des voix de la théorie/ Translating the Voices
of Theory, Montréal: Éditions québécoises de l’œuvre, collection Vita Traductiva, 2015,
63-88. It has been republished with kind permission from Éditions québécoises de
l’œuvre.
2
Some of the sharpest criticism comes from Gentzler (1993), Sturrock (2010) and Venuti
(2010).
of his work (still regarded as ‘a kind of landmark,’ a yardstick, a point of

reference) have rarely been disputed.
The translation of the ‘real’ voice was the result of direct communication
with Nida in Romania, in 1996, when he attended a conference organized by the
University of Iași. It was preceded by professional discussions in the U.S.A
(earlier in 1996) and followed by further dialogues in Brussels (1996-2004). The
translation of the theorist’s textual voice was also prepared by extensive readings
of his major works – before the selection of a particular book for translation.
The distinction between the ‘real,’ physical voice, defined, for instance, as
“the natural and distinctive tone of the speech sounds characteristic of a particular
person” (www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/world) and the textually
inscribed one is thus regarded as pertinent enough to allow for the analysis of the
occasionally different strategies and degrees of translator visibility that occur
throughout the translation process. Although the ‘real author’s’ voice was
severely banned from formalist/structuralist and post-structuralist literary
criticism for mainly aesthetic reasons, it may become really important when it
comes to the translation of theoretical texts, such as Nida’s. These texts are
explanations of facts and events, and the theorist’s extratextual voice, besides its
clear documentary value and informative function (when available in interviews,
recorded conferences, as is my case here), could help translators both in the
interpretation of the written voice of theory, and in ‘setting the right tone’ for the
translated voice.
At the same time, analyses will highlight, in a truly pragmatic vein, a series
of variable factors such as medium of translation (spoken/written), readers, text-
type/genre, target culture conventions, all of which have a bearing on the
translator’s options.
Consequently, although the article focuses on the examination of an
exemplary case study, the ultimate purpose is to try and find answers to more
general theoretical issues regarding: the existence of possible correlations
between medium and text-type, on the one hand, and voice in translation, on the
other; the challenges in translating theoretical voices from one cultural and
linguistic tradition to another; and, last but not least, the difference that the
translator’s voice makes for the translation of theoretical texts.
Finally, there is also the complex issue of my reliability as a translator in
the complex equation of this paper. As Venuti (2002: 237) notices, translators are
often unconscious of what they are doing while translating, a statement which
could, nevertheless, be supplemented by two empirical remarks in defense of my
presentation here: 1) that a translator who is acquainted with ‘theoretical’
principles (my case) would show a higher degree of awareness of what she is
doing than an unexposed one, and 2) that the time gap between the period in
which these translations were undertaken (1996 and 2004, respectively) and the
currency of this discussion is now wide enough to allow for a more detached
analysis of these translations. In fact, what have remained vivid enough in my
memory are the principles that led to the choice of particular kinds of solutions
rather than the individual solutions themselves.
The Theorist’s ‘Real’ Voice in the Interview

The voices of theory do not emerge only in monographs, articles or treatises. They
may take the more concrete form of the theorists’ voices (in speeches and oral
interviews), and sometimes these physical voices may be turned into written
texts, which may get translated or not. Among other things, an interview has been
defined as “an occasion when a famous person is asked questions about their life,
experiences, or opinions for a newspaper, magazine, television programme etc.”
(http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/ interview_1) “Interestingly enough, I
am coming back to where I started. I am sure you won’t believe it!” This is a
transcript of Nida’s ‘real,’ recorded voice, with its own tone, pitch, loudness,
pace, timber, diction, intonation, distinctive accent;3 these lines are also the
beginning of his first answer in a relatively long interview which I made with him
back in 1996. It was recorded on a tape, then immediately translated for the
readers of the Romanian cultural magazine Cronica (Nida 1996: 5).
The first line quoted above is a statement, followed by a comment to my first
question in which I invited Nida to undertake a retrospective journey throughout
his long career as a (socio)linguist, anthropologist and translation scholar. Both
3
Personal tape. I do not bring into discussion the ‘technical’ distorsions of Nida’s physical
voice which may have taken place during the recording process as such, as they are
beyond the purpose of this paper.
utterances set the tone for the whole conversation, which is a combination of formal
and informal statements. The formal ones occur whenever the American scholar
refers to ‘general truths about translation,’ to highly important linguistic and
translating principles, e.g. “The study of the process of taking a concept and
reproducing it in another language can be a scientific study, but the actual doing of
it is not in and of itself a science” (Nida 1996: 5). These are counterbalanced by
more informal, downright relaxed short replies and comments, when the expressive
or appellative functions of language take over (“I am sure you won’t believe it!,”
“Absolutely!,” “Of course!,” “Very much so!”) or when the theorist narrates his
famous anecdotes from faraway exotic lands and languages in order to strike a
balance between the abstract parts of his discourse and highly concrete and down-
to-earth examples. Moreover, just like in written texts, the Bakhtinian dialogical
principle is illustrated, in a more concrete manner, in the oral interview by this ‘real’
voice, which reproduces and/or reports on other voices be they authoritative (“Joos
was right in saying that the role of the context is maximized and the role of the focal
element is minimized”) or collective ones (“But the people rejected the translation
and said: ‘We’re not stupid…’; many people in the Orient say we should write in a
more polite way…”) (Nida 1996: 5).
Although the dialogue between the interviewer and the interviewee was a
spontaneous one, Nida once again demonstrated how fully acquainted he was, in
his oral, ‘unprepared’ discourse as well, with the rhetorical principles for the use
of which he insistently pleads in his theoretical writings on translation, and which
he also applies in writing his theoretical books. Allusions, anecdotes, aphoristic
style, diction, irony, metaphors, emphatic structures (achieved both through
intonation and syntactical means), rhetorical questions, exclamatory sentences,
clear and logical organization of arguments, were also present in his interview
about translation, making his ‘real’ voice one to be vividly remembered
afterwards. In fact, those who have listened to Nida speaking freely at the various
courses and conferences he used to give all over the world, have frequently
acknowledged the strong impression his free discourse made on them.4
4
Listen, for instance, to the persuasiveness of Nida’s ‘real’ voice in his conference on
The Sociolinguistics of Intercultural Communication given at ISTI Brussels in 1994. The
record was transcribed on the CD that accompanies the volume published in Nida’s
The Theorist’s ‘Romanian Voice’ in the Translated Interview
“The theorist’s Romanian voice” is an encompassing enough (sub)title to suit my
purpose here. On the one hand, this formulation refers to the fact that Nida’s voice
changed its medium (oral to written), while also being translated into a different
language. In this latter sense it could be metaphorically said that the American
scholar acquired “a Romanian voice.”
However, in the translated interview the translator, whether regarded as an
additional voice (Schiavi 1996, Hermans 1996, O’Sullivan 2003), a rapporteur
(Mossop 1983, Folkart 1991) and/or a substitute5 of the real voice can be clearly
heard not only in paratexts, as has sometimes been implied (Hermans 1996), but
also in the translation itself, as may become obvious through comparisons with the
source text. Such comparisons could also include the analysis of the translation
shifts occurring in translation, following Pekkanen’s model (Pekkanen 2010).
My own translation of Nida’s interview contains a rather comprehensive
paratext - an extensive paragraph introducing the American scholar to the
educated Romanians who formed the targeted readership of the publication. This
text precedes the dialogue as such and was intended to highlight Nida’s
importance as a theorist in the fields of Translation Studies, linguistics and
anthropology. My agency was also manifest in my attempts to contextualize our
conversation as much as possible in order to turn Nida’s voice and presence at
the Iași conference into a true academic event.
At the end of the introduction, I warned the readers about my interference in
the translated text, mentioning that I would abbreviate our initial conversation.6 The
parts that I left aside in translating the dialogue with Nida were digressions,
repetitions, occasionally excessive details, aspects that are commonplace, even
honour, Translators and Their Readers. In Homage to Eugene A. Nida, Dimitriu, R. and
M. Shlesinger (eds.) 2009. It is one of the few (happy) occasions when the theorist’s real
voice joined his (as well as other scholars’) textual ‘voice(s) of theory.’
5
These possible locations of the translator’s voice have been minutely analysed by
Suchet, (2013).
6
“This is an abbreviated form of the dialogue we had on the occasion of Nida’s
participation in the conference...” Translation and emphasis mine. My presentation of the
interview in Eugene A. Nida (1996).
expected in oral, spontaneous, conversations,7 but which ran counter to the editorial
conventions of the Romanian magazine in which the interview was published. For
instance, the text could be no longer than one broadsheet size page; consequently,
the translation became more focused on the main topic (which was the importance
of context in Nida’s theory, hence the title of the Romanian interview) than the
actual conversation, which was looser. The shortened interview led to a first kind
of ‘change’ in the American scholar’s Romanian voice, which is less voluble and
more restrained than its ‘real’ extratextual counterpart.
But there were also other factors, apart from the quantitative change, which
affected the theorist’s voice in translation. The change of medium (oral to
written), as well as other target culture (topic-related, type of publication-related
and text-type related) conventions, all required a number of shifts in register.
Nida’s initial remark, not deprived of a certain effusion, and meant to create an
effect of surprise on the addressees, “Interestingly enough, I am coming back to
where I started. I am sure you won’t believe it!” was converted into the more
formal [and here is my back translation] “It is interesting that what I am doing
now actually takes me back to the beginnings of my career” [exclamation
omitted]. On the one hand, according to target culture/Romanian conventions, a
higher degree of formality is expected when it comes to academic topics.
Moreover, the written medium as well as the type of publication (a ‘serious’
newspaper as opposed to a tabloid) point to the same kind of register.8 These
‘qualitative’ changes were simultaneous to the translating process itself in an
attempt to construct a voice in keeping with the target readers’ expectations.
There are also other instances in which qualitative shifts were operated, switching
the tone and register in the formal direction:
7
In this respect, my interview appears to share a lot in common with Pym’s (1996)
reported conversation with Nida. However, Pym merely referred to that dialogue; he
neither transcribed it as such nor did he translate it into another language.
8
Corpora-studies have shown that, in general, for the articles in Romanian ‘serious’
newspapers a more formal register is used than for the articles in British broadsheets.
See, for instance, in this respect Niţă (2006).
ST: “I found that there were a number of horrendous mistakes that
translators consistently made.” (Nida, transcribed from the tape, my
emphasis)
TT: “[…] am constatat o serie de erori foarte mari care erau perpetuate
de la o ediţie la alta” (Nida 1996). (My emphasis)
ST: “So I wrote a book on Bible translating just to help people solve
their problems.” (my emphasis).
TT: “Ca urmare, am scris o carte despre traducerea Bibliei, încercând să
împărtăşesc celor interesaţi cercetările mele.” (My emphasis)
On the other hand, though, markers of ‘orality,’ hence of ‘informality’ were

not completely eliminated from a text-type such as the interview, which, if non-
fictional, frequently starts from an oral situation of communication. Therefore,
for reasons of verisimilitude, oral markers were preserved in translation together
with a series of rhetorical devices through which attempts were made to preserve
the liveliness and appeal of the oral conversation.
To sum up, Nida’s Romanian voice in the written interview was the result
of an unavoidable compromise. Not only was it translated and inscribed in a text
but the translator interfered even more in the process, left traces, making her
lexical, syntactic and register choices in keeping with target culture conventions,
reader expectations as well as with her own Romanian idiolect and subjectivity.
But if the theorist’s voice suffered a number of alterations, if what we ‘hear’ when
reading is not entirely similar to the voice on the 1996 tape, the meaning of the
theoretical principles, the textual informativity9 was carefully preserved ‒
adjusted, as it was, to the new context of communication. Thus, the ‘real
theorist’s’ distinct voice gained in authority among the readers in the target
culture (and this could be regarded as yet another paradox of translation) precisely
through the hybrid, impure voice that ‘speaks’ in the target text. In other words,
in this particular case, the translator’s agency in the target reader direction was
9
One of the standards of textuality, in Beaugrande and Dressler’s Introduction to Text
Linguistics (1981) that Albrecht Neubert applies to translated texts. Translations must
also “act upon the cognitive state of the recipients.” (see Neubert 1996: 92).
regarded as the most effective strategy in order to ensure both the survival of the
theory and the theorist’s authority in the target culture.
The Voice(s) of Theory in Nida’s Written Texts

However, theories are ideally developed in full-length monographs, articles and
essays, and for such text-types (as with fictional texts) the category of voice itself
becomes a convention, a theoretical construct. It relates to “textual subject
positions [...] as defined by narrative structure, ideology [...], point of view and
textual features (e.g. heteroglossia and polyphony) in source and target texts.”
(see Taivalkoski-Shilov 2013)
Still, unlike in fictional texts, from which the ‘real author’ was
categorically banned, at least in the formalist, structuralist and post-structuralist
directions of literary criticism, I would claim that, on the contrary, the (written)
voice of theory relates (and should relate) to the theorist’s ‘real’ voice in the sense
that there needs to be coherence in the theoretical discourse and perspective on
reality between the oral/extratextual and the written/intratextual dimensions of
the ‘voice’ of theory. Actually, the links with reality are also a criterion in
distinguishing between fictional and non-fictional texts (the latter including the
theoretical texts discussed in this paper). Further distinctions made by pragmatists
and cognitive linguists start from the premise that representations about the world
are stored as factual or are embedded under an expression of attitude. (see Sperber
and Wilson 1995: 75)
At the same time, on a formal level, the written voice both shares common
traits and presents some differences as compared to the physical one. One of the
former’s distinct features is its association to style. In guides that teach readers
how to write, voice is ultimately regarded as “the writer's personal style coming
through in the writing. It's as complex and varied as human personality itself”
(Hart 2006: 28). Dictionaries of literary terms also refer to voice as “the specific
group of characteristics displayed by the narrator or poetic ‘speaker’ (or, in some
uses, the actual author behind them), assessed in terms of [...] style or personality”
(Baldick 2001: 273). Likewise, in the field of Translation Studies voice has been
defined as “the writing styles of authors and translators” (Mossop 2007).
One of the obvious expectations when it comes to ‘scientific’ theoretical
texts ‒ and Nida regarded his as such ‒ is clarity of expression, as well as a
specific terminology and a number of key words, and these are indeed some main
characteristics of the voice that speaks in his books and articles. Similarly, Nida’s
insistence on fluent language, or use of rhetorical devices in translation, in order
for texts to exert a strong impact on the readers, is correlated with the
incorporation of these principles and devices in the elaboration of his own texts,
as part of a style and voice which are, again, unmistakably his. In Translating
Meaning (1982), for instance, a book that presents in a more condensed manner
and a more ‘updated’ form Nida’s theory of translation, a number of such stylistic
– and vocal ‒ markers, in bold in the following quotation, are present from the
very first page of his book:
Chapter One
MEANINGFUL TRANSLATION IS POSSIBLE
In view of the vast differences in both culture and language, some

persons have concluded that ultimately translating is impossible
(Mounin, 1976). If one means by such a statement that the absolute
reproduction of all of the meaning of the original text can be
accomplished by translating, then of course translating is impossible. But
translating is only one aspect of communication, and even within a single
language absolute equivalence in communication is never possible. The
same is true between languages, so that absolute identity of meaning can
never be accomplished whether in intralingual or interlingual
communication; nevertheless, effective equivalence of meaning can be
communicated both within a language as well as between languages. But
what are the cultural and linguistic factors which provide a sound basis
for thinking so that such an effective equivalence of messages can be
attained? […]
[Final paragraph] All people must adjust to their physical and social
environments. Though the particular ways in which people work out these
adjustments are based largely upon their set of values and cultural
presuppositions, nevertheless all people have the capacity to imagine how
other peoples can and do adjust in different ways. They may conclude that
such adjustments are rather stupid, but they can understand the presumed
reasons for such differences. Therefore, the differences between cultures
and languages may not seem quite as anomalous and queer as some
persons may have presumed (Nida 1982: 9). (My emphasis)
The title of the first chapter – an aphoristic statement ‒ sets the tone for the
whole chapter and book. What follows in chapter one is a highly cohesive and
coherent text in which each paragraph is an argument in support of the title. The
combination of predominantly verdictive, directive and declarative speech acts is
vivid proof that the voice we are listening to is an authoritative one, which,
however, is quite cautious about speaking in absolute terms: “absolute identity of
meaning can never be accomplished,” “absolute equivalence in communication
is never possible,” “All people must adjust to their physical and social
environments.” Additional proof with regard to ‘authority’ is given by the
instances of dialogical interaction with the other ‘voices of theory,’ which form
the network of references in the text, and are not usually given ‘total freedom of
expression’ through direct quotations.10 They tend to be reported by the main
voice of theory through indirect discourse, and thus they become less distinct or,
rather, controlled by the main voice’s subjectivity. This is what happens, for
instance, at the very beginning of Chapter One above when, in a rather surprising
and challenging (therefore rhetorically effective) manner, another ‘voice of
theory’ is invoked first through an allusion (“some persons”), then, immediately,
through a concrete reference in brackets (Georges Mounin): “In view of the vast
differences in both culture and language, some persons have concluded that
ultimately translating is impossible (Mounin 1976),” (My emphasis).
The presence of the phrase ‘of course’ in the statement that follows, which
is not so much (or, rather, not only) a verbal cliché as an effective rhetorical device
to show strong agreement to a particular opinion is, this time, misleading. As could
10
It is, nevertheless, true that this also depends on the reporting frame. Direct discourse
can also be framed ironically or be manipulated in many ways.
be seen, the agreement (i.e. that translation is impossible) only works when by
‘translation’ is understood an “absolute reproduction of all of the meaning.”
Consequently, the first page of chapter one is a minute deconstruction of Mounin’s
(and other persons’) opinion that translation is impossible. The argumentative line
in the opposite direction is triggered by another frequently used word that makes
Nida’s voice so singular: the adversative ‘but,’ frequently placed at the beginning
of a complex sentence, the function of which is to cast doubt over a previous line
of thought and start the argumentation in the opposite direction: “But translating is
only one aspect of communication,” “They may conclude that such adjustments are
rather stupid, but they can understand…,” “But what are the cultural and linguistic
factors which provide a sound basis for thinking…”
The ‘serious,’ rather formal tone of voice that is adopted for the
enunciation of theoretical principles is, nevertheless, occasionally misleading.
For instance, the author’s subtle ironical touch at the end of the first page of
Chapter One (cited above), when what appeared to be an unquestionable fact in
the first statement of the text proves to be inadequate in the end, as well as Nida’s
polemical intentions are ultimately revealed via a formally symmetrical
paragraph: “In view of the vast differences in both culture and language, some
persons have concluded that ultimately translating is impossible (Mounin,
1976).” vs. “Therefore, the differences between cultures and languages may not
seem quite as anomalous and queer as some persons may have presumed.” (Nida
1982: 9) (My emphasis).
However, the sequence of abstract notions and theoretical principles is
illustrated by many concrete examples of linguistic phenomena. They can be
words (e.g. componential analyses of scream shriek, shout, growl, whisper,
mumble, babble) (Nida 1982: 55), and idioms, sentences/ utterances, whole texts
but also embedded narratives that take the form of enlightening anecdotes, in
which the tone of the ‘constructed’ voice increases its orality, becomes more
informal and, at the same time, gets closer to the ‘real’ voice:
For example, an African objected to a statement in the forty-ninth chapter

of Genesis which spoke of Judah as “washing his clothes in wine.” Did
this statement in the blessing by Jacob indicate that Judah would be a fool,
since anyone should know that wine would badly stain clothing?”
However, after an explanation about the real meaning of the statement,

namely that Judah would be so rich and have so much wine that he could
afford to waste it on washing clothes, the African replied, “Oh, we say,
‘He washes his clothes in peanut oil ’” (Nida 1996: 14).
These changes in the tone of voice go hand in hand with the succession of
declarative and interrogative sentences (rhetorical questions): “But what are the
cultural and linguistic factors which provide a sound basis for thinking so that
such an effective equivalence of messages can be attained?,” (Nida 1982: 9)
which give all kinds of inflections to Nida’s voice and style. His skillful use of
rhetoric makes his theory more appealing, preventing his books from being
‘monotonous,’ particularly for translation trainees. In fact, the American
sociolinguist was fully aware of the importance of rhetoric for an author’s voice
and style, and rhetoric holds an extremely important place in his theory as well:
The use of these rhetorical processes is not a random affair in any language
or in any particular genre of oral or written literature. Competent writers
and storytellers seem to have a built-in sense of what Roman rhetoricians
called varietas, the principle governing the number, frequency and
distribution of such features (Nida 1996: 15).
The American scholar’s intratextual voice of theory is also distinguishable

through a number of key concepts round which his approach to translation
gravitates (meaning, communication, language, culture, equivalence, adjustment,
translating, receptor language are keywords already present on the first page of
Translating Meaning) or his use of a number of idiosyncratic terms – ‘but,’ ‘of
course,’ ‘some people’ being among the most noticeable. Both kinds of lexical
categories assign strong lexical cohesion and coherence to his theoretical
writings.
The Voice(s) of Theory in Nida’s Translated Texts

Translating Meaning (1982) as well as a subsequent article “Translation: Possible
and Impossible” (1996) are the only works by Nida that have been translated into
Romanian so far (Nida 2004). My (obvious) purpose in doing this was, once
again, to introduce Nida to some categories of Romanian readers whose profile
varies from philologists in general, to (socio)linguists, translation scholars,
anthropologists, Bible translators, translation trainers and students at all study
levels. Besides the translations proper, I included in the volume two other
paratexts meant not only to facilitate but also to give depth to Nida’s Romanian
reception: a comprehensive critical study as well as an updated version of his
1996 interview.
How did my inscribed voice interfere with the ‘voice(s) of theory’
inscribed in Translating Meaning and “Translation: Possible and Impossible?”
How did I cope with the peculiarities of this/these voice(s) discussed above? A
general remark once again concerns register. Whereas the intratextual ‘voice of
theory’ in Translating Meaning and “Translation: Possible and Impossible” is
formal enough and definitely more formal than Nida’s ‘real’ voice in the
interview, the overall level of formality for these particular text-types – a
monograph and an academic article ‒ is once again higher in the Romanian text
for the Romanian ‘real readers’ whose profile was previously mentioned. This
slightly higher degree of formality in the target text as compared to the source
one was particularly required in those passages in which the author’s tone of voice
is, sometimes, mildly ironical (with regard to other voices of theory) or amused
– at the amazing diversity of languages and cultures, as shown by the examples
of idioms and enlightening anecdotes he provides.
This does not mean that the ‘witty side’ of this voice of theory is lost in
translation but only that it is slightly less frequently foregrounded, for reasons of
register and clarity. For instance, the ironical allusion at the beginning of Chapter
One of Translating Meaning, mentioned above, and its symmetrical counterpart
at the end of the first page of the source text (“some persons have concluded that
ultimately translating is impossible (Mounin 1976)” vs. “the differences between
cultures and languages may not seem quite as anomalous and queer as some
persons may have presumed”) is replaced, in the first instance, by a more neutral
referent. This referent is expressed by an indefinite pronoun (Rom. unii-some,
instead of the English syntagma some persons in which ‘some’ is an indefinite
adjective). At the same time, the irony in the corresponding final segment of the
source text is dispelled in translation through an impersonal construction that
annihilates it, but clarifies the message:
ST: Therefore, the differences between cultures and languages may not
seem quite as anomalous and queer as some persons may have presumed
(Nida 1982: 9) (My emphasis).
TT: Deosebirile dintre culturi şi limbi nu sunt aşadar chiar atât de ciudate
şi de anormale cum ar părea la prima vedere (Nida 2004: 32). (My
emphasis)
The repetitive use of ‘but,’ a stylistic marker for Nida’s textual voice, is
less frequent in the translation for two reasons. One is linguistic: obviously, not
all syntactic structures can be literally translated between English and Romanian,
and in some instances the use of the Romanian ‘but’ would have been
inappropriate. The other reason is, again, stylistic convention. Excessive lexical
repetition is not readily admitted in texts belonging to the humanities, this is why
sometimes, in translation, instead of the repetition of ‘but,’ or ‘of course’ there is
the substitution of the more direct correspondent by a synonym. Another
difference that the Romanian ‘voice of theory’ makes in Translating Meaning
concerns the rendering of the key word ‘translating’ itself, which tends to prevail
in Nida’s theory over ‘translation,’ thus becoming part of his terminology. Again,
for linguistic reasons (Romanian does not distinguish, through affixation,
between process and product), the generic word ‘translation’ (Romanian
traducere) is used, with the (occasional) addition of the explanatory word proces
(back translation: the translation process) whenever the context makes it clear
that translation is regarded as an on-going activity.
However, the American ‘voice of theory’ is almost completely replaced by
the translator’s in the relatively frequent instances when reference is made to the
actual functioning of the English language. There are many such illustrations of
theory in Translating Meaning at all the levels of discourse. For instance, at the
lexical level, the componential analysis ‒ explanation through translation of the
distinctive features of, say, chair, bench, stool, sofa ‒ is unproblematic. The
strategy for this situation is to preserve the English terms, which actually come
first in order for explanations to make sense, and give the Romanian translation
for each term in brackets. This strategy that Pym calls “the double perspective”
(Pym 1992: 283) allows the source voice of theory to emerge unaltered, while
being backed up by its hybrid version, which incorporates the translator’s voice.
Nevertheless, things become more complex as the presentation of these
lexical items develops, through semantic analyses, and the various contexts give
rise to different meanings. For example, in English chair may occur in a number
of contexts which it does not share with its Romanian correspondent, e.g. He has
a permanent chair in the university or He plays first chair in the cello section
(Nida 1982: 19). This time, besides the double perspective, i.e. an interlinear
translation of each context-related utterance, the translator’s intratextual voice is
more consistent, being also present in the supplementary explanations that are
given in brackets, in order to clarify meaning:
ST: He has a permanent chair in the university.

TT: Are un scaun permanent, (adică un post permanent de profesor la acea
universitate, n.tr.) (Nida 2004: 46).
Finally, things get even more complicated when such analyses cover whole
texts as, for example, when the second step of Nida’s translating model, that of
restructuring, is discussed, and the English translation of a Chinese text is
provided as a case in point. This time, my voice as a translator is clearly audible
in a footnote, in which I make my strategy transparent to the readers:
TT: Fiind vorba de mecanismele de funcţionare ale limbii engleze, redau,

în paralel, o traducere foarte apropiată de textul englez, chiar şi prin
“forţarea”, pe alocuri, a limbii române […]. După cum demonstrează Nida,
traducerile evaluate conţin o serie de inadvertenţe în limba engleză pe care
transpunerile în limba română au căutat să le reproducă (Nida 2004: 117)
(translator’s (foot)note).
[Back translation]: As we are dealing with the functioning mechanisms of
the English language I will provide, in parallel, an interlineal translation of
the English text, even if this may lead to totally artificial syntactic
structures in the Romanian language […] As Nida demonstrates, the
translations which he evaluates contain a number of inaccuracies in
English which the Romanian text will strive to reproduce, TN.” (My back
translation)
There are several such footnotes present in my translated text. They have
either an informative function (e.g. offering absolutely necessary data on linguists
and their theories which need to complete the information in the source text) or
an explanatory one (e.g. metalinguistic explanations that clarify the otherwise
opaque linguistic considerations in the source text in view of the asymmetries
between the English and the Romanian languages).
Moreover, my strategy of close literalness mentioned above to deal with
passages illustrating the functioning of English through a plethora of examples,
takes a side-by-side format when translations are discussed at textual level. This
format is referred to by Sturrock (1990/2010) (Sturrock 2010: 51) as en face
translation, and makes possible not only textual but also voice confrontations.
This time the intratextual voice of theory in the source text is both preserved as
the ‘English translation of a Chinese text’ and reconstructed via substitution in
the Romanian translation.
To sum up, we could say that ‘the voice of theory’ in Eugene A. Nida’s
works underwent complex modifications. It was ‘accompanied’ by the
translator’s voice (whenever I inserted explanations and supplementary
information in my own intratextual voice and my own textual spaces – brackets
and footnotes). It was reported (insofar as I preserved the meaning with or without
formal changes, and made decisions on how to report it), but it was also replaced
(insofar as everything was expressed in a different language, in the translator’s
particular idiolect). Voices are differently verbalized in different languages. And
still, with all these interferences on my side so as to make this voice of theory
meaningful in the target culture, the predominant initial norm for the translation
of Nida’s theoretical texts was source orientation. Thus textual informativity (a
crucial aspect when dealing with theoretical texts) was carefully kept under
control, while the tone of voice still contained enough formal elements of the
initial rhetorical and stylistic features in the source text to preserve its distinct
quality in translation as well.
Concluding remarks
All these analyses have hopefully shown that voice theory could be regarded as
a valuable counterpart to norm theory in translation studies, in the sense that,
whereas through norms translation behaviour is generalized/objectivized, the
concept of ‘voice,’ on the contrary, particularizes/individualizes/subjectivizes
translation, a balance being thus struck between the individual and the collective
aspects of the translational acts.
As to the more specific concluding remarks, they are some kind of final
replies to the initial questions formulated at the beginning of this article. Although
they are treated in a separate manner here for reasons of clarity, in reality they
are, obviously, tightly interwoven:
Medium and Text-type vs. Voice in Translation

The analyses have covered several (non-fictional) text-types through which
Nida’s theory was conveyed (an oral interview, a written interview, a monograph,
an article), and the correlations medium/text-type/voice were obvious,
particularly when it came to registers, to changes in the tone of voice. First of all,
as could have easily been expected, the theorist’s ‘real’ (extratextual) voice was
more informal than the (intratextual) voice of theory in his written texts. Secondly
(and predictably so), the voice of theory of the written interview was more
informal than the voice in the scientific monograph, although there were also
shifts in register inside all these texts ‒ this being a characteristic of Nida’s both
‘real’ and intratextual voices. Thirdly, in terms of translation, the substitution of
the initial voice of theory by ‘a hybrid voice’ (the author’s and the translator’s)
led to translation solutions which had to take into account the sometimes different
degrees of formality associated with the same text-types in the target culture; in
other words, in order to respond to my readers’ expectations I had to make further
changes in register when translating Nida’s texts.
Translating Voice in theoretical/scientific/non-fictional texts vs. fictional ones

Even if there are distinctions between fictional and non-fictional texts, a series of
insights from literary theory and narratology ‒ as well as from their counterparts
in translation studies ‒ could and have been used in analyzing ‘voices of theory;’
for instance, Bakhtin’s notions of polyphony and heteroglossia, as well as models
of narrative communication relating to the translator’s voice and the translator’s
location in such texts. For my own case study, I embraced Herman’s view that
the translator’s voice is an addition to the “voice of theory” in paratexts
(introductions to the interviews and foot-notes), but I supplemented it by evidence
in support of the idea that this voice can also emerge in the main text, in brackets,
through what Pym calls ‘the double perspective.’ Moreover, I adopted the
‘replacement perspective’ when referring to the ‘hybrid voice’ resulting from the
translation process, which is a substitution of the inscribed author’s. On the other
hand, the particular case study I have dealt with made it necessary to distinguish
between the theorist’s extratextual, ‘real’ voice and his intratextual, constructed
one. A close examination has shown that in non-fictional/theoretical texts, unlike
in fictional ones, these two kinds of voices are equally important in assigning
coherence to the theoretical discourse and perspective on reality. In other words,
for theoretical/scientific texts the real voice may be worthwhile taking into
consideration when it comes to the interpretation of the intratextual voice of
theory.
Translating Theoretical Voices from one Cultural and Linguistic Tradition

to Another
The translation challenges conditioned all the moves I needed to make in the
target readers’ direction, according to the medium (conversion of the oral
discourse into a written one) and text-type (academic interview, article,
monograph) related conventions as well as stylistic ones. As previously shown,
these changes have mainly concerned register, which tends to be more formal in
the target culture for the texts under discussion. These shifts have obviously not
deprived Nida’s theory in the least of its informativity and have preserved a
number of distinct features of his intratextual voice (his own shifts of register,
distinct terminology, alternation of descriptive, normative and narrative passages –
when retelling his experience-based anecdotes).
Moreover, for the more particular case of language-oriented translation
theories such as Nida’s, the target orientation involved the interference of the
translator’s distinct voice (via paratexts ‒ brackets and footnotes) in order to
explain to Romanian target readers the functioning of the source/English
language and thus make them better understand the American scholar’s
theoretical claims.
The difference that the translator’s voice makes in the translation of
theoretical texts
My translation analyses support translation scholars’ claims that the translator’s
voice can make a difference in many ways. Not only does it explain (if necessary)
source language mechanisms and source culture peculiarities to target readers; it
can also enhance the polyphonic reverberations and complexity of the theorist’s
real and inscribed voices. In so doing, in language and translation-oriented
theories, such as the one I dealt with, the translator’s inscribed voice adds a new
contrastive dimension to the theorist’s discourse in the direction of the language
and culture into which the theory is translated. For instance, Translating Meaning
(in Romanian) translation implicitly and explicitly invites its readers to make
comparisons with Romanian language and culture, which were not specifically
taken into consideration by the American theorist. Finally, and from a broader
socio-cultural perspective, with the help of the translator’s voice the theorist’s
voice is reconstructed for all those who can’t speak his language, and his
(important) theory is thus disseminated in a different socio-cultural space.
An ethical addendum
The presentation of this case study has been a story of translator mediation and
agency, in which my main purpose was to make audible in the target culture an
outstanding voice of translation theory. From a traditional, fidelity-related
perspective, my ethics went towards both the theorist (as a ‘real person’ at the
time of the interview) and his theory. But, as Whitfield observes with respect to
how issues in voice can impact on readers (Whitfield 2013: 36), in so doing it
was important to render a voice in translation with which the target culture readers
could identify.
Secondly, there is yet another turn in the story of the avatars of Nida’s
‘real’ voice in the 1996 interview, which also has ethical implications. The
international interest in listening to the American scholar’s ‘real’ voice was so
high that a revised form of our 1996 dialogue was subsequently published in the
international translation journal Across Languages and Cultures (Nida 2002). On
that occasion, Nida was sent the abbreviated, transcribed English version of that
interview, as he had offered to take part himself in all the operations of updating
and adjustment for his new readers. In a personal letter to me, he showed his
delight in contributing to all this recontextualisation. Obviously, in this particular
case only intralingual translation was involved in the process, but, as a translator,
I still acted as a mediator in terms of the selection of passages, degree of orality
of the interview, etc, working in a kind of complicity with the real author himself.
Last but not least, ultimately, in working in the target readers’ direction, all
I did was to follow principles that were present in the very theory I was translating
from, a thing which, obviously, established a kind of (ideal) compatibility and
convergence of ideas between theorist and translator. For such case studies – and
contexts ‒, I would rather replace the image of violence that has so often been
associated with the strategy of domestication in translation studies by one of
consonance and polyphony between real and intratextual voices – the theorist’s
and the translator’s.
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ASPECTUAL COGNATE OBJECT CONSTRUCTIONS
IN ENGLISH AND ROMANIAN
Imola-Ágnes FARKAS
Introduction
The terms cognate object (CO) and cognate object construction (COC) are used
in the narrowest sense in the present research and, following Horrocks and
Stavrou (2010) and Lavidas (2013a, 2013b, 2014, 2018), aspectual COCs are
regarded as structures where an intransitive verb takes an object expressed by a
determiner phrase, the head noun of which is a nominalization of the verb stem.
In the following modern English (1) and Old Romanian (2) examples, the CO is
both semantically and morphologically related to the verb as it is derived from
(i.e. cognate to) it:
(1) to sleep a sound sleep

(2) dormire fără dormire să dormitedze (CII, 35)
sleeping without sleeping CONJ sleep
‘he should sleep a sleep without sleeping’
The reason why English and Romanian COCs should be examined at

different stages is due to the fact that these constructions are somewhat rare in
Old English, more increasingly frequent in Middle English and quite numerous
in Modern English, with the usage remaining confined to literary diction (cf.
Lavidas 2018; van Gelderen 2018). In sharp contrast to this, the corresponding
constructions in Romanian have undergone a diachronic change in the opposite
direction. Accordingly, COCs are claimed to be extremely frequent in Old
Romanian, less frequent in Middle Romanian and very rare in Modern Romanian
(cf. Frâncu 2009, Dragomirescu 2010, 2013, Dragomirescu and Nicolae 2013,
Nicula Paraschiv and Niculescu 2016).
Aspectual Cognate Object Constructions: General Properties

COCs have attracted the attention of many scholars and they have been
thoroughly investigated over the last few decades. They have occupied a
prominent place in linguistic theory, raising important questions for syntax (e.g.
the syntactic classification of the verb or the syntactic status of the CO as
argument or adjunct), semantics (e.g. the semantic classification of the verb or
the interpretation of the CO as event or result), lexical semantics (e.g. the process
of Lexical Subordination through which COs arise) and aspectual structure (e.g.
the telicity of the VP despite its questionable grammaticality with the in-time
adverbial, or the possible correlation with other telicity-marking structures such
as resultative constructions or goal-of-motion structures). Moreover, they have
been the focus of much research from the perspective of both Generative
Grammar and Cognitive Grammar.
Following Horrocks and Stavrou (2010) and Lavidas (2013a, 2013b, 2014,
2018), we call intransitive COCs such as to sleep a sound sleep aspectual COCs.
These constructions share the following properties: (1) the matrix verb is a
prototypical unergative verb; (2) the CO is non-referential (i.e. eventive) and does
not have the properties of a subcategorized argument; (3) the CO cannot be
replaced by a similar noun (e.g. a hyponym or a synonym) and (4) the (main)
function of the construction is the expression of a limited event with beginning
and end. These four properties are discussed and illustrated below.
Firstly, the aspectual type of COC is built on one type of intransitive verb
called unergative verb, which obligatorily takes a subject argument and,
exceptionally, also an object nominal, which is exclusively a cognate object.
Some relevant examples are:
(3) a. to sleep a sound sleep

b. to laugh a raucous laugh
c. to sigh a weary sigh
d. to grin a wicked grin
e. to smile a happy smile
The reason why only unergative verbs can take a cognate object is that such
a verb subcategorizes for one argument initialised as subject, to which it assigns
an agentive θ-role. In addition, following Burzio’s Generalization (Burzio 1986),
this verb has the ability to assign accusative case to a potential (cognate) object
merged in the vacant object position. The other type of intransitive verb (i.e.
unaccusative verb) subcategorizes for one argument initialised as object.
Although the verb assigns this nominal a non-agentive θ-role, by the same
generalization it cannot assign case to it, therefore this nominal has to move to
the subject position in order to escape a violation of Case Filter, which requires
overt nominals to have case. Given that unaccusative verbs are not (accusative)
case assigners and there is no empty position for the CO to occupy, cognate
objects are predicted to be ungrammatical with unaccusative verbs, as shown
below (see also Kuno and Takami 2004, de Swart 2007):
(4) a. *to break a crooked break

b. *to arrive a glamorous arrival
c. *to emerge a strange emergence
d. *to sink a strange sinking
e. *to faint a feigned faint
Mention must be made of the fact that there is a further distinction between
two subclasses of unergative verbs: so-called prototypical unergative verbs such
as sleep in sleep a sound sleep differ from so-called derived unergative verbs of
(re-) creation such as dance in dance a merry dance. In this latter COC, which is
called transitivizing in Horrocks and Stavrou (2010) and Lavidas (2013a, 2013b,
2014, 2018), the verb is not a prototypical unergative verb (i.e. it is an unergative
verb with optional transitivity); the CO is a fully referential argument (i.e. it is
assigned a θ-role by the verb and it passes all the syntactic tests presented in the
following paragraph and illustrated in (5) below) and it can be replaced by a
similar noun (e.g. a hyponym or a synonym, as in dance a tango/a waltz); cf.
Mittwoch (1998), de Swart (2007), Horrocks and Stavrou (2010) or Lavidas
(2013a, 2013b, 2014, 2018). In the present paper we do not discuss these latter
cognate structures.
Secondly, as the CO is non-referential and does not have the properties of
a subcategorized argument, (i) it is not assigned any θ-role by the verb (see (5a),
where the nominal a sound sleep is not interpreted as Theme or Patient); (ii) it
disallows pronominalization (see (5b), where the anaphoric it stands for a sound
sleep); (iii) it fails the test of passivization (see (5c), which shows that the CO
cannot appear in the derived subject position of a passive structure); (iv) it cannot
be modified by a restrictive relative clause (see (5d), where the CO is post-
modified by the relative clause which he usually sleeps every day) and (v) it
cannot undergo wh-movement (see (5e), which shows that the CO cannot
constitute the answer to a wh-question):
(5) a. John slept a sound sleep.

b. *John slept a sound sleep and later Mary slept it too.
c. *A sound sleep was slept by John.
d. *John slept that sound sleep which he usually sleeps every day.
e. *What did John sleep? A sound sleep.
Thirdly, in aspectual COCs the object cannot be replaced by a similar noun

such as a hyponym or a synonym (cf. also Horita 1996):
(6) John slept a sound sleep/?a sound slumber/*a short nap.
Fourthly, the following pair of examples illustrates that the CO has a

relevant aspectual contribution giving rise to a telic, limited event: whereas the
intransitive verb to sleep in (7a) is atelic as it is only compatible with the for-time
adverbial, the VP in (7b) is telic as it is compatible with the in-time adverbial:
(7) a. John slept for ten minutes/*in ten minutes.

b.? John slept a sound sleep in ten minutes.
As shown in the literature (Tenny 1994, Macfarland 1994, de Swart 2007,

Puigdollers Real 2008, Horrocks and Stavrou 2010), there is no uniform result
with respect to this test as aspectual COCs in English are not fully compatible
with the in-time adverbial, as also shown above, where the symbol ‘?’ stands for
‘questionable grammaticality and/or felicitousness‘, and expresses that there is
some variation among speakers as to the acceptability of the sentence.
Aspectual Cognate Object Constructions in English

The most important property of the verb in the English aspectual COC is that it
is a prototypical unergative verb expressing a willed or a volitional act (laugh,
sigh, grin, smile) or a certain involuntary bodily process (sleep). It can also
express manner of motion (walk) as in (8) below, in which case we notice that –
in sharp contrast to the examples in (3) – the CO is definite:
(8) to walk the walk and talk the talk of a boss

In all the examples we have seen so far, the (indefinite) object is
accompanied by a modifier. As shown in the literature (Jones 1988, Moltmann
1989, Massam 1990, Macfarland 1994, 1995; Matsumoto 1996, Horita 1996),
modification of the object nominal in aspectual COCs is obligatory as, without
the modifier, the CO is semantically tautological, uninformative (and obviously
redundant), and serves no useful purpose; therefore, there is no justification for
its use (at least in active sentences):
(9) a. *to sleep a sleep

b. *to laugh a laugh
c. *to sigh a sigh
d. *to grin a grin
e. *to smile a smile
Its use, however, becomes justified in these cases precisely because of the
presence of the modifier, which contributes new information about the action
denoted by the verb. In other words, at least in English, the cognate object and
the modifier contribute information about the manner in which the action denoted
by the verb takes place. In this sense, the examples in (3) above are roughly
equivalent to the following intransitive sentences, which include the adverbial
counterpart of the premodifiers sound, raucous, weary, wicked and happy,
respectively (cf. also Puigdollers Real 2008):
(10) a. to sleep soundly

b. to laugh raucously
c. to sigh wearily
d. to grin wickedly
e. to smile happily
This piece of evidence serves as a useful starting point for the discussion
on the precise syntactic status of the CO: argument or adjunct. As the argument
analysis cannot explain the quasi-paraphrase relation that exists between the
transitive to sleep a sound sleep and the intransitive to sleep soundly (see Massam
1990, Macfarland 1995, Matsumoto 1996), the adjunct analysis can also explain
the fact that COs (at least in aspectual COCs) are not assigned any θ-role by the
verb (see Jones 1988, Moltmann 1989).
In addition, there has been another debate in the literature on the status of
COs, which, from a different perspective, can be considered as either events
(Massam 1990, Horita 1996, Marantz 2005, Horrocks and Stavrou 2006, 2010,
Puigdollers Real 2008) or results, resultant states/objects (Macfarland 1995,
Kuno and Takami 2004). We argue that English aspectual COCs are ambiguous
between an event and a result interpretation (cf. also Melloni and Masini 2017);
that is, they simultaneously denote an event and a result or, in other words, the
result is the event itself.
Moreover, the CO must represent a state or an event that belongs to the set
of possible states or events that result from the activity of the verb. In this respect,
the syntactic arguments referring to the ungrammaticality of the unaccusative
examples in (4) above can be completed with semantic arguments as well,
according to which the verbs break, arrive, emerge, sink and faint do not
represent processes that may eventually lead to results, but they themselves are
results. That is, they are all achievement verbs in Vendler’s terms (Vendler 1967)
and describe the endpoints of activities or events. Therefore, a CO representing
the result of a result gives rise to a contradictory and redundant example (cf. Kuno
and Takami 2004, de Swart 2007).
A further examination of the verbs that allow a CO reveals that they all
belong to the same semantic or aspectual class of activities (Vendler 1967). But
interestingly, we do not find COs with unergative (and denominal) verbs of
manner-of-motion that are vehicle names such as to helicopter (see Macfarland
1995 or de Swart 2007):
(11) *to helicopter a quick helicopter to the airport

In this case, although the verb expresses an activity, it does not have a noun
phrase which would represent a result state. In addition, helicopter does not
represent the result of the act of helicoptering but denotes the instrument. In sharp
contrast to this, in the following example, a quick skate should be interpreted as
the result of the skating event and not as the instrument by means of which the
event of skating is performed (cf. Macfarland 1995):
(12) Mary skated a quick skate around the rink.
Besides the general properties of aspectual COCs presented so far, these
English constructions have further interesting features which will not be enlarged
on in the present paper.
Aspectual Cognate Object Constructions in Romanian

In present-day Romanian we mostly find COCs such as the ones in (13), where
the CO is only semantically related to the verb (cf. Dragomirescu and Nicolae
2013). In sharp contrast to this, Old Romanian has a wide variety of aspectual
COCs, where the object is a morphological ‘copy’ of the verb; cf. Bejan (1972);
Frâncu (2009); Dragomirescu (2010, 2013); Dragomirescu and Nicolae (2013);
Pană Dindelegan (2014, 2016) and Nicula Paraschiv and Niculescu (2016).
Consider the examples in (14):
(13) a. a dormi un somn profund
to sleep a sleep sound
‘to sleep a sound sleep’
b. a trăi o viaţă fericită

to live a life happy
‘to live a happy life’
c. a plânge lacrimi amare

to cry tears bitter
‘to cry/shed bitter tears’
d. a merge o cale lungă

to go a way/path long
‘to walk a long distance’
(14)
a. dormire fără dormire să dormitedze (CII, 35)
sleeping without sleeping CONJ sleep
‘he should sleep a sleep without sleeping’
b. aş vie o viiaţă îngerească (A, 148)

would live a life angelic
‘I would live an angelic life’
c. au plîns plîngere mare foarte (BB, 229)

have wept weeping big very
‘they wept bitterly’
d. sufletească îmblare să îmblaţi (CazV, 52)

spiritual walk CONJ walk
‘you should take a spiritual walk’
e. călătoreşte călătoriia ei (AD, 53)

travels travelling his
‘he travels his travel’
f. toţi aleargă o alergătură (SVI, 93)

all run a running
‘they all perform a running event’
g. cursura am curs (CC, 177)

running have run
‘I have finished my course’
h. de va boli vreo boală a trupului copilul vostru (Mărg, 17)

if will ail any sickness of body child the your
‘if your child will have any sickness of the body’
Whereas the examples in (14a) – (14d) are the morphological counterparts

of the semantic COCs in (13), the ones in (14e) and (14g) also show that the CO in
old Romanian can be expressed by a definite noun.
As far as the modifier is concerned, modification of the object nominal is
achieved by a modifier expressed either by a prepositional phrase (see (14a)) or
by an adjective phrase (see (14b), (14c) or (14d)). Interestingly, as opposed to
present-day English, where modification of the object nominal in aspectual COCs
is obligatory as, without the modifier, the CO is semantically tautological, in Old
Romanian the absence of the modifier (in active sentences) does not lead to
uninformative sentences; cf. (14f) or (14g) above.
Together with Nicula Paraschiv and Niculescu (2016: 606), we notice that
COs are selected by unergative verbs of manner-of-motion (a îmbla ‘to walk’, a
alerga ‘to run’, cf. above), but also verbs of sound emission (15a) or light
emission (15b):
(15) a. în mijlocul altor guruinţe carile au guruit Dumnedzău (CazV, 281)

in middle. the other grunts that have grunted God
‘in the middle of other grunts that God grunted’
b. fulgereadză fulger (DP, 643)

lightens lightning
‘lightens lightning’
In addition to the large number of reflexive verbs with an Experiencer
subject (16a), in Old Romanian we also find intransitive verbs that take two
objects (16b): a direct object denoting an animate entity (pre el ‘him’) and a
cognate object – also called secondary object – denoting an inanimate entity/event
(tînguire ‘weeping’) (cf. also Pană Dindelegan 2014, 2016):
(16) a. şi să scârbi mare scârbă (A, 156)
and REFL disgust big disgust
‘and they were deeply disgusted’
b. şi-l tînguiră pre el tot Israilul tînguire mare (BB, 705)

and him wept him all Israel weeping big
‘and the whole Israel wept him bitterly’
The generalization that the verb can only be unergative and not
unaccusative cannot be disproved by those apparent counterexamples where the
unaccusative verb selects a CO expressed by a prepositional phrase, which has
the role of a (locative) adjunct as illustrated in the following example:
(17) a cădea în nescari căderi de păcate (SVI, 150)

to fall in some fallings of sins
‘to fall into some sins’
In addition, as shown in Pană-Dindelegan (2016: 149), Romanian COCs

have a wider stylistic distribution; therefore, they are primarily used if their use
is supported by stylistic choice. This is how we can explain the following COC
built on a telic unaccusative verb:
(18) Veniţ, să luăm vin şi să ne îmbătăm beţie (BB,

486)
come CONJ take wine and CONJ REFL get drunk drunkenness
‘Come and fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink’
The deadjectival verb a se îmbăta ‘to get drunk’, formed by means of

prefixation (the prefix îm- ‘in/into’, the adjective beat ‘drunk’ and the suffix -a),
describes a change of state and has the meaning ‘become in A’, where A stands
for the adjective the verb is derived from (i. e. a deveni beat ‘to become drunk’).
To put it differently, it is a resultative verb (Rappaport Hovav and Levin 2010)
or an inherently change-of-state verb (Farkas 2013), consequently the added CO
cannot have an eventive or resultative interpretation. That the primary function
of the CO in this case is to intensify the action of the verb is further supported by
the Romanian result construction a se îmbăta criţă/lulea/tun ‘to get very drunk’,
where the result predicates criţă/lulea/ tun ‘steel/pipe/cannon’ are not interpreted
as delimiters of the action of the verb but as intensifiers of the event described by
the verb (see Farkas 2013: 281).
Related to the eventive interpretation of COCs, in Old Romanian we notice
the high frequency of the infinitive nominals formed by means of the
nominalizing suffix -re attached to the base form of the verb; cf. dormire
‘sleeping’, plîngere ‘weeping’, îmblare ‘walking’ or tînguire ‘weeping’; cf. also
Bejan (1972). This nominal is traditionally described as expressing the name of

the action; therefore, it is an event nominal that also expresses the result in a Noun
+ Subject configuration (Cornilescu 2004). As shown by the following pair of
examples, in different Old Romanian texts one and the same verb is accompanied
either by the eventive -re nominal ((14d), repeated here as (19a)) or by its non-
eventive counterpart (19b):
(19) a. sufletească îmblare să îmblaţi (CazV, 52)

Spiritual walk CONJ walk
‘you should take a spiritual walk’
b. aceste umblete de demult le umbla (PIst, 171)

these walks of long time them walked
‘he had been taking these walks for a long time’
Conclusion
Old Romanian COCs share most of the properties of modern English COCs but
there are other key features which individuate them and set them apart: the
presence/absence of unaccusative verbs, the presence/absence of the modifier in
active sentences or the morphological shape of the CO.
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Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 21-
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A – Alexandria, 1620. in Zgraon F. (ed.) 2006. Cele mai vechi cărţi populare în literatura
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AD – Antim Ivireanul, Didahii, 1722–1725. in Faifer F. (ed.) 1983. Antim Ivireanul,
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Academiei.
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evangheliilor şi Molitevnic rumânesc, Bucureşti: Editura Academiei Române, pp.
31-187.
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(eds.), 1965. Bucureşti: Editura pentru Literatură, Volumul II.
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420.
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Române, pp. 81-325.
A COMPARATIVE - CONTRASTIVE APPROACH TO
AUXILIARY VERBS IN ENGLISH, ROMANIAN AND
ITALIAN1
Introduction
Auxiliary verbs represent a very useful tool in any language, their main function
being that of helping speakers provide relevant information about the time and
the nature of the action they make reference to in communication.
Depending on the languages taken into consideration, the typology and
number of auxiliary verbs used in communication in order to individualize the
action expressed by speakers differs significantly. If we consider the three
languages approached in the present paper, i.e. English, Romanian and Italian,
the list of auxiliary verbs proper includes five verbs in English, three in Romanian
and two in Italian:
English to do, to be, to have, will, would

Romanian a fi, a avea, a vrea
Italian essere, avere
For the sake of relevance, focus will be laid only on the formal and
semantic characteristics of the two auxiliaries shared by these languages.
1
This contribution was originally published in the Annals of „Dunărea de Jos”
University of Galați, Lexic comun / lexic specializat, Fascicle XXIV, year XI, no. 1-2 (19-
20) / 2018, Cluj-Napoca: Casa Cărţii de Ştiinţă, ISSN 1844-9476, pp.156-164. It has been
republished with kind permission from the editors.
Formal charactersitics of auxiliary verbs
The auxiliary verbs to be and to have are used in English as marks of an important
verb category, namely aspect, which is both formally and semantically traceable
in the verb form. The auxiliary verb to be is a mark of the continuous or
progressive aspect in English, which means that it is an obligatory element to be
used with all the finite and non-finite forms of the verb in this aspect (e.g. Present
Tense Continuous, Past Tense Continuous, Future Tense Continuous, Future in
the Past Continuous, Present Conditional Continuous and Present Infinitive
Continuous). A formal aspect worth mentioning at this point is that the auxiliary
verb to be always requires the present participle of the main verb. On the other
hand, the auxiliary verb to have is a mark of the perfect or perfective aspect in
English, which means that it is part and parcel of all the perfect tenses in this
language (e.g. Present Perfect Simple, Past Perfect Simple, Future Perfect
Simple, Future Perfect in the Past Simple, Perfect Conditional Continuous,
Perfect Infinitive and Perfect Gerund). Similarly to the auxiliary verb to be, to
have conditions the form of the immediately following verb which has to be in
the past participle. The continuous and the perfective aspects coexist a series of
verb forms in English which, as their names suggest, bring together the auxiliary
verbs to be and to have: Present Perfect Continuous, Past Perfect Continuous,
Future Perfect Continuous, Future Perfect in the Past Continuous, Perfect
Conditional Continuous, and Perfect Infinitive Continuous.
The formal value of auxiliary verbs is obvious in Romanian and Italian, as
well, this aspect being highlighted in the definitions provided by the specialists
in the field. Referring to auxiliary verbs, Dumitru Irimia (1997) states that such
verbs lack any semantic content and have a strict use with specific tenses. Their
forms, when used as auxiliaries, differ from their forms when used as main verbs:
“Auxiliarele morfologice în limba română sunt verbe golite de conținut

semantic și fixate în anumite forme flexionare. Flexiunea lor – redusă, de
obicei, la o singura paradigmă temporală - este de cele mai multe ori
diferită de flexiunea acelorasi verbe în conditia de verbe libere.” (Irimia
1997: 184)
Moreover, he underlines that auxiliaries are included in the category of free

morphemes used in Romanian to express specific grammatical meaning together
with other auxiliaries: “Verbele auxiliare fac parte din categoria morfemelor
libere de care se serveste limba română pentru exprimarea unor sensuri
gramaticale fine alături de alte auxiliare ale flexiunii.” (Irimia 1997: 184)
As regards the definition of auxiliary verbs in Italian, their formal value is
most often the aspect pointed out by different specialists in the field because these
verbs are linguistic tools which ‘help’ in forming compound tenses. Marinucci
(1996: 195) emphasizes this idea when he states that “i verbi ausiliari
intervengono in “aiuto” nella formazione dei tempi composti di tutti i verbi”.
Using the formal value of auxiliary verbs as a starting point in his approach,
Serriani (1989) considers that such verbs can provide relevant information, about
such verb categories as voice and tense (auxiliaries proper), about a specific
semantic value (verbi servili) or an aspectual element (verbi fraseologici) :
“Ausiliari sono tutti quelli verbi che, accanto a un loro uso e significato
autonomi, svolgono funzione vicaria nei confronti di qualsiasi altro verbo
individuando: a) una determinazione morfologica (diatesi o tempo:
ausiliari propriamente detti); b) un particolare valore semantico (servili);
un datto elemento aspettuale (fraseologici Moretti-Orvieto 1983: 12-13)”
(Serriani 1989: 391)
An interesting aspect mentioned by the Italian grammarians is the fact that

the two auxiliaries combine only with specific classes of main verbs, i.e. avere is
used with transitive verbs and essere combines with intransitive and pronominal
verbs, and with transitive verbs, if they are in the passive voice:
“I verbi ausiliari intervengono in “aiuto” nella formazione dei tempi

composti di tutti i verbi. L’ausiliare avere viene usato per formare i tempi
composti di tutti i verbi transitivi, con l’ausiliare essere si coniugano tutti i
verbi transitivi alla forma passiva e i verbi pronominali. Per i verbi
intransitivi non è possibile codificare una regola precisa riguardo alla scelta
dell’ ausiliare.”(Marinucci 1996: 195)
Similarly to the auxiliary verbs to be in English and a fi in Romanian,

essere is used in Italian as a mark of the passive voice.
“Essere e avere consentono la formazione dei tempi composti con valore
di passato rispettivamente a) per la maggioranza dei verbi intransitivi, per
quasi tutti i verbi impersonali, per tutti quelli riflessivi e intransitivei
pronominali b) per tutti i verbi transitivi e per un certo numero di
intransitivi. Il verbo essere forma inoltre il passivo.” (Serriani 1989: 391)
Semantic characteristics of auxiliary verbs

Moving from the formal to the semantic characteristics of the verbs to be/a
fi/essere and to have/a avea/ avere, reference should be made that their use as
auxiliaries, when they are devoid of any meaning, is in full opposition with the
instances when they function as main verbs. The verbs to be and to have are the
two most common ‘state verbs’ in English used to express ‘states of affairs’ or
situations valid at a given moment in time. When used with this semantic value,
both verbs take only the simple/indefinite aspect of the tense required by the
context:
e.g. Jane is not at home now. You can try to call her later.
Their parents have too many financial problems at present.
The same grammatical behaviour may be observed when the verb to be is
a semi-auxiliary (copulative/link verb, part of a nominal predicate) used to
express a permanent characteristic of the subject and when the verb to have (main
verb) expresses possession:
e.g. Your sister is intelligent and everybody likes her.
Jack has a lovely Ferrari Testarossa. It must have cost him a fortune.
Comparing English and Romanian, the verbs a fi and a avea are used as
main verbs to express existence and possession, respectively:
e.g. Ziarul este pe masă. (a se afla)
Nu este nici o altă solutie (a exista)
Ioana are o casă si două masini. (a poseda)
In much the same way, the verb essere is used as a main verb in Italian
with the meaning ‘to exist’ (‘essistere’, ‘trovarsi’) and avere with meanings such
as : ‘to possess’, ‘to feel’, ‘to obtain’, ‘to receive’: “Avere è usato con valore
predicativo con vari significati: possedere, sentire, provare (‘avere compassione
per qualcuno’), ottenere (avere dei risultati), ricevere (avere notizie)”

(Marinucci 1996: 196). The examples below are relevant in this respect:
e.g. Il telefono è nella tua stanza. (trovarsi)

Non c’è niente da fare in questa situazione (esistere)
Gianni ha tutto quello che vuole (possedere)
Ha tanta compassione per i bambini malati (provare)
Tu hai dei risultati migliori questo semestre. (ottenere)
Non ho notizie da Maurizio da quasi due settimane. (ricevere)
Although the verbs to be and to have are obviously devoid of any meaning
when used as auxiliaries, their being marks of the continuous and perfective
aspect, respectively, in English allow for a correlation between the presence of
these auxiliaries in the verb form and the type of action expressed. Thus, the
continuous aspect is formally marked by the auxiliary verb to be and the present
participle of the main verb and it is commonly used in English to express actions
in full progress, durative actions or temporary actions/situations. It is also
associated with changing situations or with modality (the speakers’ attitude
towards the message conveyed). As regards the perfect/ perfective aspect, it
formally implies the presence of the auxiliary verb to have and of the past
participle for the immediately following verb. This aspect it is used by speakers
when reference has to be made to a past (completed) action, situation or event.
Some of the various meanings conveyed by the continuous aspect in English are
exemplified by a series of relevant examples included in the table below:
THE CONTINUOUS ASPECT →

aux. to be + the present participle of the main verb
actions in The baby is sleeping so we should turn off the TV. (action in
full full progress at the moment of speaking)
progress Jane was attending a conference this time last week. (action
which was in full progress at a given moment in the past)
The new employees will be working when you get to work
tomorrow morning. (action which will be in progress at a given
moment in the future when another action happens)
Don’t call him now. He may be sleeping.
durative My father was working all day long yesterday.
actions They have been jogging for almost two hours.
We will be discussing the terms of the contract between 9 and
11 tomorrow morning.
temporary Our manager is working longer hours this week. (only this
actions week)
Jackie hasn’t been studying too hard lately. (she normally
studies hard)
The children were going to bed later those days. (only those
days)
Regarding Romanian and Italian, the auxiliary verbs analyzed have strictly
a formal value in these languages. They are used to form various compound
tenses, but they do not express any of the semantic values associated with to be
and to have as marks of the continuous and perfective aspects in English. This
idea is pointed out by Dumitru Irimia (1997) who states that the grammatical
category of tense includes relevant information about the categories of aspect
and mood, as well as about person and number:
“In limba română categoria gramaticală a timpului înglobează în

desfăsurarea opozitiilor sale interne si categoriile gramaticale aspect si
mod într-un process de solidarizare în parte asemănător cu cel propriu
complementaritătii categoriilor de persoană si număr.” (Irimia 1997: 211)
Enlarging on the category of aspect, Irimia explains that this category is

illustrated in Romanian by the opposition perfective/imperfective, the former
being associated with complete actions and the latter with incomplete ones:
Categoria gramaticală a aspectului se dezvoltă în limba română prin opozitia
dintre 2 termeni corelativi: pefectiv/ imperfectiv. Opozitia perfectiv - imperfectiv
se corelează cu opozitia împlinit –neîmplinit.” (id. ibid.)
Another interesting aspect pointed out is that the grammatical category of
aspect is expressed in various ways in Romanian depending on the tense, mood
and voice envisaged and in close interdependence with the semantic content of
the main verbs. The past tenses of the indicative mood are the best to illustrate
the perfective - imperfective opposition. The tenses perfectul compus, perfectul
simplu and mai mult ca perfectul are used for completed actions and imperfectul
is selected when reference has to be made to incomplete actions:
Categoria gramaticală a aspectului se realizează în mod diferit în functie

de timp, mod si diateză precum si in strânsă legătură cu continutul
semantic al verbelor. Opozitia cea mai bine reprezentată caracterizează
timpul trecut indicativ. (Irimia 1997: 212)
The perfective- imperfective dichotomy is integrated by Dumitru Irimia

(1997) in the subjective aspect (aspectul subiectiv) which represents a means of
modalizing the temporal characteristics of the verbal action. Moreover, reference
is also made to the objective aspect which is selected by speakers in order to
provide relevant information about the development of the action or about its
specific stages traceable in verb form. From this perspective, mention may be
made of the singular, plural, imminent inchoative, continuing or ending
character of an action:
“Se disting două variante ale categoriei gramaticale aspect: 1. aspectul

subiectiv – expresia modului specific de înscriere de către vorbitor a
temporalitătii actiunii verbale în durata enuntării si 2. aspectul obiectiv –
expresia modului specific de desfăsurare obiectivă a actiunii verbale în
durata enuntului. Prin aspectul subiectiv subiectul vorbitor modalizează
temporalitatea actiunii verbale pe care o poate prezenta ca perfectivă (Am
traversat repede strada sau imperfectivă Când traversam strada m-a strigat
cineva). Prin aspectul obiectiv, subiectul vorbitor descrie modul de
desfăsurare sau momente, etape în desfăsurarea actiunii verbale în planul
enuntului: singularitate (a citi), pluralitate (a reciti), iminent (stă să
adoarmă), incoativ (a adormi), continuativ (a dormi) sau terminativ (a
termina de dormit)” (Irimia 1997: 212)
Combining the elements included in the classification of aspect suggested

by Dumitru Irimia, Gabriela Pană Dindelegan (2010) states that this category
expresses the change of state visible in the verb form from the point of view of
its development:
“Aspectul prezintă schimbarea de stare desemnată de verb din punctul de
vedere al desfăsurării sale care poate fi văzută:
• ca un eveniment unic , de obicei de scurtă durată (aspect punctual
sau momentan – ea deschide) sau ca aflat în desfăsurare, într-un
interval mai îndelungat (aspect durativ sau continuu – a se plimba)
• ca încheiată (aspectul perfectiv – a căzut) sau neîncheiată (aspect
imperfectiv - cădea)
• ca petrecându-se o singură dată (a închis) sau ca repetându-se
(închidea mereu) (aspect iterativ)
• ca fiind în pregătire (aspect prospectiv – stă să plouă), în curs de a
începe (aspect incoativ – începe să mănânce), în desfăsurare (aspect
continuativ – continua să cânte) sau în curs de terminare (aspect
terminativ - termină de cântat).” (Dindelegan 2010: 243-244)
As far as the Italian approach to the category of aspect is concerned, Serriani
(1989) underlines that this verb category provides information regarding the
duration, momentary character, repeatedness, beginning or completion of an
action: L’aspetto contrassegna l’atto verbale secondo la prospettiva della durata,
della momentaneità, della ripetitività, dell’inizio o della conclusione di un processo,
della compiutezza o dell’ incompiutezza dell’azione. (Serriani 1989: 390)
A similar view is expressed by Marinucci (1996) who states that ‘aspectual
auxiliaries’ are used in Italian to denote the beginning of an action, actions on
the point of starting, actions in progress and durative or completed actions:
“Gli ausiliari aspettuali esprimono i seguenti significati:
• azione che inizia (aspetto ingressivo puntuale) cominciare, mettersi,

iniziare
• azione che sta per iniziare (aspetto ingressivo imminente) stare per,
accingersi
• azione che si svolge e dura nel tempo (aspetto durativo) stare +
gerundio, continuare a, insistere nel
• azione che termina (aspetto conclusivo puntuale) smettere, cessare,
finire di “ (Marinucci 1996: 199)
Taking into discussion the same class of verbs, Serriani (1989) makes
explicit reference to the formal and semantic characteristics of ‘aspectual
auxiliaries’: “Gli ausiliari di tempo o aspettuali segnalano, in unione con un altro
verbo di modo indefinito (infinito o gerundio, un particolare aspetto dell’azione:
imminenza, inizio, continuità o conclusione di un’azione”. (Serriani 1989: 397)
This opinion is shared by Trifone and Palermo (2000) who state that the category
of aspect may be expressed in different ways in Italian, either formally, or
semantically:
L’italiano, a differenza di altre lingue, […] non dispone di desinenze

verbali che consentano di determinare il valore aspettuale del verbo.
Tuttavia, ciascun verbo può esplicitare il suo valore aspettuale in più modi:
• attraverso il significato intrinseco: esistono verbi come cadere,

morire, colpire, che esprimono un’azione momentanea; altri come
dormire, abitare, studiare che esprimono un’azione durativa; altri
ancora come maturare, impallidire, arrosire, che esprimono
un’azione che si compie progressivamente, ecc.
• attraverso il tempo: alcuni tempi verbali hanno uno specifico valore
aspettuale. Se l’azione viene presentata come conclusa nel passato,
si ha aspetto perfettivo; se l’azione viene presentata nel corso del
suo svolgimentosi ha aspetto imperfettivo. Inoltre, le frasi Scrivo
una lettera e Sto scrivendo una lettera esprimono, rispettivamente,
un’azione durativa o progressiva.
• attraverso perifrasi verbali: essere sul punto di, essere in procinto
di, stare per+ infinito del verbo esprimono l’aspetto ingressivo o
incoativo;
• attraverso strumenti derivativi: alcuni suffissi come –icchiare, -
acchiare, -ettare, -ottare, -erellare conferiscono al verbo di base un
particolare significato aspettuale: cantare → canticchiare, rubare→
rubacchaire, fischiare → fischiettare, parlare → parlottare, giocare
→ giocherellare. (Trifone and Palermo 2000: 117)
Conclusions
Auxiliary verbs have the same grammatical function in the three languages taken
into account in the present paper. They are used to form compound tenses and are
the elements in the predicate which provide relevant information about verb
categories such as voice, mood, tense, person and number. As far as the category
of aspect is concerned, it is obvious that this category is represented differently
in English, Romanian and Italian. If the continuous and perfective aspects are
formally and semantically marked in English, a matrix being easy to suggest in
this respect, they are expressed mostly by lexical means in Romanian and Italian,
the repetitive, durative, momentary, (in)complete nature of the action being
traceable mostly in the meaning of the main verb and in the specific grammatical
constructions used to express some of these aspectual values (Dindelegan 2010,
Dardano e Trifone 1995):
Aspectualitatea se îndică în mare măsură prin mijloace lexicale: prin

constructii cu verbe având sens aspectual care alcătuiesc împreună cu
verbul principal un predicat complex, prin circumstantiale si prin particule
adverbiale. Gramaticile românesti mai vechi nu includeau aspectul între
categoriile verbului deoarece în română acesta nu este marcat cu mijloace
grammatical specifice. Timpurile verbale marchează în limba română doar
anumite valori aspectuale aspectul perfectiv/imperfectiv, aspectul
momentan/durativ si aspectul iterativ. Mijloacele de marcare a aspectului
interferează cu trăsăturile aspectuale inerente ale sensului lexical al
verbului. Verbele pot fi preponderant durative (a rătăci, a creste, a astepta)
sau punctuale (a apărea, a adormi). Aparitia lor la timpuri durative sau
punctuale întăreste sau contrazice semnificatia primară, creând efecte de
sens contextuale. (Dindelegan 2010: 243-244)
In italiano l’aspetto non è grammaticalizzato, ciò nonostante, le principali

nozioni aspettuali sono riconoscibili nel Sistema della flessione verbale.
Aspetto perfettivo, aspetto imperfettivo, aspetto compiuto, aspetto
progressivo. (Dardano e Trifone 1995: 315 -316)
Nevertheless, the formal specificity of auxiliary verbs shared by the three

languages under discussion and the fact that the their semantic values in English
find an equivalent semantic representation in Romanian and Italian are elements

which may prove extremely useful in teaching and learning auxiliary verbs to
philology students, irrespective of the students’ native language.
References
Dardano M. and Trifone P. 1995. Grammatica italiana con nozioni di linguistica, Milano:
Zanichelli Editore.
Rădulescu S. and Zafiu R., 2010. Gramatica de bază a limbi române, Bucuresti: Editura
Univers Enciclopedic Gold.
Dragomirescu A., Nedelcu I., Nicolae A., Pană Dindelegan G. (coord.), Rădulescu S. and
Zafiu R. 2010. Gramatica de bază a limbi române, Bucuresti: Editura Univers
Enciclopedic Gold.
Irimia D. 1997. Gramatica limbii române. Morfologie. Sintaxă, Iasi: Editura Polirom.
Marinucci M., 1996. La lingua italiana. Grammatica Torino: Edizioni Scolastiche Bruno
Mondadori.
Moretti G. B. and Orvietto G. R. 1983. Grammatica italiana, vol III Il verbo: morfologia
e note generali di sintassi, Peruggia: Benucci.
Serianni L. 1989. Grammatica italiana. Italiano comune e lingua letteraria. Torino: Utet
Libreria.
Trifone P. and Palermo M. 2000. Grammatica italiana di base, Bologna: Zanichelli
Editore.
ON THE USE AND MODIFICATION OF ENGLISH
IDIOMS TO ACHIEVE EXPRESSIVITY AND
HUMOUR1
Iulian MARDAR
Introduction
Although specialists interested in the evolution of species have demonstrated that
a series of the so-called inferior animals are capable of showing emotions, the
fact remains that humans are the only superior animals capable of laughing and
crying with tears.
Along the centuries, poets have transferred, occasionally, human
characteristics to animals and animal characteristics to humans. But did they have
any scientific data to support their actions? Do crocodiles really cry to attract their
prey in a trap? Do dolphins laugh when they make those chirping noises? They
have funny faces, indeed, and the shape of their mouths may make you think that
they are constantly smiling, but is this really what they are doing? The only more
systematic study on this topic, a survey among people who work with animals
professionally, including veterinarians and zookeepers failed to yield even a
single observation of a weeping animal (Frey 1985). Murube (2009) states that
generally animals do not produce emotional tears, although he admitted that
several anecdotal reports deserve serious attention by investigators.
Consequently, the conclusion must be drawn that
1
This contribution was originally published in the Annals of „Dunărea de Jos”
University of Galați, Lexic comun / lexic specializat, Fascicle XXIV, year XII, no. 1 (21)/
2019, Cluj-Napoca: Casa Cărţii de Ştiinţă, ISSN 1844-9476, pp.159-168. It has been
republished with kind permission from the editors.
there is not sufficient evidence to document weeping in nonhuman animals.

If weeping does occur, it is extremely exceptional. The apparent
uniqueness of human weeping suggests that tears might represent a
functional response to adaptive challenges specific to the hominid lineage,
which is crucial for understanding both the evolved functions and the
proximate mechanisms of this complex behavior. (Gračanin et al 2018: 1)
Despite the fact that crying with tears has not been observed in certain
animals, primates, dolphins and mice are reported to be capable of producing
sounds which may be interpreted as laughter. There are researchers who came to
the conclusion that some animals are capable of laughing when being tickled.
Their behaviour is considered to be almost human, the sounds produced by their
normal outward-flowing airstream being a piece of evidence in this respect:
[…] [A]lthough tickling-induced human laughter, which is deeply

grounded in human biology is acoustically and perceptually distinct from
homologous great ape sounds, the evolutionary changes occurred along
existing dimensions of variation, rather than being de novo inventions.
This inference is potentially significant for language evolution as well,
because human speech is also marked by consistently regular vocal-fold
vibration and sustained, consistently egressive airflow. Although both
aspects have been argued to be uniquely human traits it appears unlikely
that such is the case. Regular voicing has now been documented in a large
number of nonhuman primate calls. […] [G]orillas and bonobos were able
to sustain egressive airflow 3–4 times longer than the total likely duration
of the normal breath cycle, which for comparison is approximately 3.1 s in
human children while showing expiration proportions longer than the value
of 0.61 reported for human children. (Ross et al 2009: 1107)
Considering the aspects above, the conclusion may be drawn that inferior
animals do not cry from sorrow and a limited number of this species
representatives produce sounds which may be interpreted as laughter. From this
point of view, laughter may be said to transcend species. However, even if some
animals are able to laugh, they do not do it as a response to being told a joke, but
strictly as a response to physical stimuli. It is also true that some animals can
understand simple words and carry out simple commands, but understanding
abstract notions rendered by speech is exclusively human.
Focusing on human beings, people often combine words creatively,
especially in oral communication, in order to tell stories and jokes. The people’s
need to laugh is, probably, a genetic trait and people use any occasion to laugh,
even when it comes to tragedies. One’s tragedy can be another’s reason to laugh.
For instance, when people fall and hurt themselves, the immediate impulse of
bystanders is to laugh. Humans have an appetite for laughing at other people’s
mistakes and imperfections. They use metaphorical structures and irony to
entertain themselves and the others, but they are not happy to be the subjects of
the others’ irony. People say about those who are ugly that they were hit with the
ugly stick, about the individuals who are not very smart that they are not the
quickest bunny in the forest. Moreover, people who avoid saying what they mean
beat around the bush. Why do people prefer using such metaphoric, semantically
opaque patterns rather than the semantically transparent equivalent structures? It
might be because people prefer using idioms in order to express reality by means
of funny and sometimes absurd images and because they want to entertain their
audience by making them smile or even laugh.
Considering possible idiom typologies, specialists in the field commonly
refer to the existence of semantically opaque, semi-transparent and transparent
idiomatic patterns and to fixed word combinations which are non-compositional,
partially-compositional or fully-compositional. Since such classifications are not
envisaged in the present paper, special attention will be devoted to the fact that
idiomatic patterns, in general, and idioms, in particular, represent a means of
communication selected when speakers want to express their thoughts and
feelings in a more expressive and entertaining manner. The following four types
of idioms may be relevant from this point of view:
1. Idioms describing animals found in unusual situations.

EN: like a bull in a china shop, like a cat on hot bricks, happy as a puppy
with two tails, the monkey on one’s back, shooting fish in a barrel etc.
RO: a se uita ca boul/vițelul la poarta nouă (lit. to look at something like

the ox/veil at the new gate), a se uita ca mâța-n calendar (lit. to look at
something as the cat at the calendar), a se uita ca melcul la sudură (to look
at something as the snail at the welding mark) all of them meaning meaning
‘to look at something without understanding it at all’, a umbla cu pisica-n
traistă (lit. to roam with a cat in the bag, meaning to try to fool people), a
trage nădejde ca ursul de coadă (lit. to pull hope like a bear by its tail,
meaning to hope in vain) etc.
2. Idioms in which humans are attributed features of inanimates:

EN: to go around with blinkers on, to have a short fuse, the elevator does
not go all the way to the top, the engine is running but there’s nobody
behind the wheel etc.
RO: a-i lipsi o doagă, (lit. to have a missing stave – about barrels), a fi într-
o bujie (lit. to work on one spark plug, about malfunctioning engines), both
of them meaning ‘not to be totally sane’, a-i bate tacheții de foame (lit. to
make a noise like a motor which has been running on poor quality fuel
because of hunger, meaning ‘to be very hungry’), a-i fila o lampă (lit. to
have a lamp which flickers), a fura curent (lit. to steal electricity) both of
them meaning ‘to be a little crazy’ etc.
Some of the idioms in this category are obviously influenced by

technology, their semantic content being more complex and metaphorical.
3. Idioms in which people perform unusual actions:

EN: to shoot the breeze/bull, to hit the hay, to jump the gun, to hit the ceiling,
to drive someone up the wall, to drive someone nuts, to go bananas etc.
RO: a bate câmpii (lit. to beat the fields or the plains), a vorbi aiurea-n
tramvai (lit. to say uninteresting things in a tram) both of them meaning ‘to
talk nonsense’, a scoate pe cineva din pepeni (lit. to take someone out of
the melon field meaning to drive someone crazy), a fi plecat cu sorcova
(lit. to be gone caroling meaning to act and talk in a strange way), a-și lua
picioarele la spinare (lit. to take one’s legs on the back meaning to walk
away fast) etc.
4. Idioms used to express orders, commands, requests in a funny, ironic

or mean way, e.g. telling someone to leave:
EN: take a hike, beat it, buzz off, get lost, take a long walk of a short pier,
go play in traffic, make like a tree and leave etc.
RO: tai-o (lit. cut it!), șterge-o (lit. erase it), tunde-o (give it a haircut),
întinde-o (lit. stretch it), plimbă ursul (că ruginește lanțul) (lit. take the
bear for a walk, or the chain will get rusty), caută-mă-n altă parte (lit. look
for me some place else), cântă la altă masa (sing at another table) etc.
Many of the idiomatic patterns above are semantically opaque, their literal
or non-metaphorical interpretation by culturally unaware speakers resulting in
‘amusing’ equivalents. In fact taking idioms literally is one of the main means
of achieving humour in communication. This is in line with, Beeman’s (2001)
opinion that humour involves ”a wide range of communication skills including,
but not exclusively involving, language, gesture, the presentation of visual
imagery, and situation management” (Beeman 2001: 98).
The same humorous effect may be achieved when speakers intentionally
modify the structure of idioms either by replacing one of their constitutive
elements, or by adding new elements to a root, easily recognizable structure.
Taking idioms literally

The fact that idioms may be taken literally has been pointed out by numerous
specialists in the field, but the internet is a valuable source in this respect, as well.
There are many funny videos on YouTube (www.youtube.com) with children
who take idioms literally and there are sites (e.g. www.quora.com) where people
may find useful information about the meaning of specific idioms and relevant
contexts in which such patterns may be used.
The question of taking idioms literally was answered by two people, one
of the answers being worth mentioning here. (https://www.quora.com/Is-it-
possible-for-someone-to-take-idioms-literally, last visited on December 16th,
2019, at 10:43 a.m.). This phenomenon is very close to what Partington names
“delexicalization pun” (Partington 2001: 242).
As far as the video representations of people taking idioms literally are

concerned, two distinct categories may be commonly identified on the internet:
1. videos in which little children genuinely take idioms literally (e.g. a child is
told to “keep his eye on the ball” and he literally goes to the ball and puts his eye
on it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtR WeaBQZGE, last visited on
December 16th, 2019, at 10:57 a.m.); 2. videos in which people intentionally take
idioms literally for the sake of a good laugh (e.g. crack somebody up, hit the hay,
cut the cheese etc. at https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=VG_4VT0bpko, last
visited on December 16th, 2019, at 11:04 a.m.).
Those who will write “English idioms taken literally” in the search bar of
YouTube will be provided with a seemingly endless list of relevant and
entertaining videos. A rather interesting aspect, which is worth mentioning here,
is that only two videos, as a matter of fact, two animations no longer than ten
seconds each, may be found when searching “Romanian idioms taken literally”.
Apparently, this subject is not attractive enough to encourage the Romanians to
produce more video representations of Romanian idioms.
Modification of idioms
Modified idioms appear in written communication, especially in newspapers, and
such fixed patterns have been classified by various specialists in the field. For
instance, Alenka Vrbnic and Marjeta Vrbnic (2011) mention six main methods
used for altering idioms: 1. word substitution, 2. expansion, 3. shortening, 4.
grammatical modification, 5. coordination and 6. combination of different types
of modification.
Leaving aside the examples which can be found in English newspapers,
there are hardly any other examples discussed outside the context. However, what
people need in order to demonstrate the 6 means of modifying idioms mentioned
above is a little imagination and an illustrative idiom to support their exercise.
Let us consider the idiom a skeleton in the closet meaning ‘a secret which may
cause embarrassment if it were known’. Word substitution would turn it into a
skeleton in the drawer, if that secret were found in the drawer; expansion would
add one or more words, e.g. the sweet skeleton in the new closet, if the secret
were, for instance, sweets hidden in different places and eaten in secrecy in the
context of an interdiction; shortening may appear in titles, where omitting words
from various expressions is common, Skeleton in Closet Makes Politician Resign
being a possible title; grammatical modification may refer to turning a part of
speech into another one, as in one’s skeleton-like secrets; coordination would
imply combining two idioms which have one identical part, e.g. combining the
skeleton in the closet with let the cat out of the bag into let the skeleton out of the
bag, let the skeleton out of the closet or even let the cat out of the closet; and
combination of different types of modification is self-explanatory.
Apart from the classification above and the examples made on-the-spot to
show how easily idioms may be modified, there are numerous examples,
especially in sports, political and satirical newspapers and magazines, which are
relevant for the ways in which the structure of an idiom may be intentionally
changed. There seems to be an appetite for puns and play upon words involving
well-known idioms, expressions and even proverbs in the kind of newspapers and
magazines mentioned above. The explanation for this phenomenon is simple: the
authors in the respective newspapers and magazines feel that they are closer to
people in the sense that they use the spoken language more than other printed
publications. The Internet can no longer be avoided in language studies. The
millions of people who post billions of comments in various languages are the
tendencies in those languages. Spoken language is the new “intruder”, and the
unlimited Internet access is responsible for that. The examples below are meant
to illustrate that article authors and their readers have a knack for using idioms
and other expressions to obtain humor.
However, the palace has hit back at reports that an alleged picture of the
Prince wiping sweat from his brow with a $20 note, stating that the hand
had clearly been photoshopped as the hands were not nearly red enough.
“As we all know, pictures of the prince generally depict him red handed,”
read the press release (Royal physician confirms Prince Andrew is
definitely having no trouble sweating now, by Asha Leu, in The Chaser, at
https://chaser.com.au/world/royal-physician-confirms-prince-andrew-is-
definitelyhaving -notroublesweatin g-now/)
Red handed is a part of the idiom to be caught red handed, meaning ‘to
apprehend someone in the course of wrongdoing’ (www.dictionary.com), and it
is skillfully used in the example above to give the article a sarcastic tone. It shows
creativity and a sense of humor, as well as a strong command of the language.
Liviu Groza (2005) calls such play upon words variații frazeologice intenționate
(intentional phraseological variations). He considers that
“using some well-known means of expressing oneself, such as expressions

and fixed phrases, the speakers have the opportunity to manifest their
creativity in the domain of language, their sense of irony and the inclination
towards making jokes” (our translation)2.
2
“Folosind unele mijloace de expresie consacrate în uz, cum sunt expresiile și locuțiunile
frazeologice, vorbitorii au ocazia să-și manifeste creativitatea în domeniul limbii, spiritul
ironic și înclinația spre glumă”. (Groza 2005)
Altering the inner structure of an expression without changing the initial
meaning gives birth to something new: i.e. carrying the genes of the parents, but
having their own personalities: “Turismul și protocolul nu fac... vilă
bună”/”Tourism and Protocol do not make good… villa” (Jurnalul Național,
Wednesday, 12th of March, 1997, in Groza 2005 – our translation). “To make
good villa” is an alteration of a Romanian idiom meaning ‘to go along with each
other’: a face casă bună cu cineva (lit. to make good house together)
Sometimes, the authors push the envelope and, as a consequence, make
mistakes. For example, in ”Dar Arghezi (…) versatil cum a fost tot timpul s-a dat
pe brazda conformismului”/ ”But Arghezi, versatile as he had always been, gave
himself on the furrow of the conformity” (România literară, XXV, 1992, 26, p.
56 – our translation) the author alters the expression a se da pe brazdă (to give
oneself on the furrow meaning ‘to comply with the rules’) into a se da pe brazda
conformismului (to give oneself on the furrow of conformity) thinking that the
newly born expression is at least interesting, if not funny. Well, it is neither. It
can be, at most, an example of how somebody, who does not know the meaning
of an expression, adds a pleonastic word because the original expression already
means a se conforma, a se înregimenta, a face ce face restul lumii (to do normal
things, to line up with the others, to do what the rest of the world does). Adapted
to the English language, saying that somebody s-a dat pe brazda conformismului
is like saying that someone ‘came to their normal senses’, the adapted title
sounding not too well in English, either: ”But Arghezi, versatile as he had always
been, came to his normal senses.”
Conclusions
People like laughing and they do it whenever they have the chance to, probably
in an attempt to forget that they are mortals. For thousands of years, people used
words to entertain themselves, having no other means to do that. There were no
Internet, television and radio. It is not known exactly when people started creating
idioms, but it must have happened early in the history of the humanity. What tells
us that? Surprisingly, not a manuscript written in a lost language thousands of
years ago and not the oldest “book” of proverbs in the world, which seems to be
1,000 years ‘younger’ than the “Book of Proverbs” in the Bible (https://trove.nla.
gov.au/newspaper/article/45774562, last visited on December 17th, 2019, at 6:33

a.m.), but the oldest cave paintings in the world, discovered in Indonesia, which
are dated approximately 35,400 years ago. They are older than the world-famous
wall paintings found in France, which are only ones between 32,000 and 28,000
years old. Why are ancient wall paintings important for philological research?
Representing aspects of life by using drawn images shows a higher level of
understanding of the world as well as the capacity of thinking by using symbols:
“Hidden away in a damp cave on the “other” side of the world, this curly-
tailed creature is our closest link yet to the moment when the human mind,
with its unique capacity for imagination and symbolism, switched on”
(Marchant 2016).
Before there were any tools used for drawing, the humanity had the
ultimate tool for creating images: words. The world’s first abstract images must
have been made of words. From those first mental images, mainly simple similes,
spoken out loud with the probable intention of entertaining, of creating
sophisticated idioms and of modifying them later, in order to find new ways of
amazing and amusing, the humanity has come a long way. We have become the
masters of words, using them to build metaphorical images.
References
Beeman, William O. 2001. ‘Humor’, in Duranti, Alessandro (ed.) Key Terms in Language
and Culture. Blackwell Publishers: UK. pp. 98-101
Frey, W. H. 1985. The mystery of tears. Minneapolis: Winston Press, in Gracanin, A.,
Bylsma, L. M., & Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M. (2018). ‘Why only humans shed
emotional tears: Evolutionary and cultural perspectives.’ Human Nature, 29(2),
104–133. https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs12110-018- 9312-8 at https://pure.
uvt.nl/ws/portalfiles/ portal/30099635/Vingerhoets_Why_Only_Humans_
Shed_Emotional_Tears.pdf, last visited on January 15 th, 2020 at 6:15 a.m.
Gračanin, Asmir, Bylsma, Lauren M. & Vingerhoets J. J. M. 2018. Why Only Humans
Shed Emotional Tears. Evolutionary and Cultural Perspectives. at https://static1.
squarespace.com/static/52fa442be4b0c9832bf2cd47/t/5ab8d1e11ae6cf3158751
5bf/1522061797871/Gracanin_et_al-2018Human_Nature .pdf, last visited on
December 12th, 2019 at 4:19 p.m.
Groza, Liviu 2005. Dinamica unităţilor frazeologice în limba română contemporană .
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Marchant, Jo. (2016). A Journey to the Oldest Cave Paintings in the World. The discovery
in a remote part of Indonesia has scholars rethinking the origins of art and of
humanity. at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ journey-oldest-cave-
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the Evolution of Laughter in Great Apes and Humans’. in Current Biology 19,
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https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0960-9822%2809%2901129-4, last
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at https://www.scribd.com/document/379956030/Jezikos lovlje-12-075-Vrbinc,
pp. 75 – 91, last visited on December 16th, 2019, at 11:39 a.m..
LINGUISTIC ADAPTATION AND CULTURAL
NEGOTIATION IN TRANSLATING ROMANIAN
GASTRONYMS
Nadia-Nicoleta MORĂRAȘU
1. Gastronomic discourse
Our analysis of the discourse of menus starts from the idea that gastronomic
discourse is “an epistemic discourse, which is part of a given culture and
expresses its position on that culture” (Neț 2012). The menu, read as a simple
text, is the "object" of food "rhetoric" (Dupuy 2009b: 20) and, therefore, it is
sometimes conceived as a text meant to please and persuade. Beyond this,
however, the discourse of menus generates a series of mnemonic traces that are
derived from consumption and sensory experiences.
Dupuy (2009a) considers the menu a “prefigurative” object, whose first
function is to enable the customer who touches and sees it to represent a
subsequent situation or process and thus create a series of expectations from the
moment of physical contact. The menu appears as a “visual clutch of taste” that
will manage to stage the gastronomic show to which space organisation, table
decoration/ arrangement and service quality fully contribute.
1.1. The interdependence between text and context in gastronomic discourse

From a functional perspective (Halliday & Hasan 1985/1989), the text of the
gastronomic discourse is related to the following types of context (representing
all the information we have to interpret the discourse):
1. “Situational context” or the context of situation (a term coined by
Malinowski in 1923), the immediate social and situational environment in
which the text is produced;
2. Cultural context (Malinowski 1935), the external context, which
surrounds a text and its situational context.
Context theories combine the two forms, indicating the situational context
as a mediated cultural context (Armengaud 1985: 60-61). This makes the
relationship between text and context a dynamic one: a) the text is the result of
the context and the language is adapted according to its intentionality; b) through
the text, the context is created.
Culture-bound information is definitely necessary for the contextualization
of culinary texts. As pointed out by Croitoru (2006), “the purpose of the text,
motivation, and the cultural, technical and linguistic level of readership are
among the contextual factors needed. One of the greatest translation traps is the
psycho-cultural distance between the ST words and the TT approximately
corresponding ones which makes them represent different realities. For example,
there is psycho-cultural distance between mămăligă and corn mush, scăfiţă (de
brânză) and bowl (of cheese), rachiu and brandy, etc.”
2. Adaptation of gastronyms: from linguistic markers to marketing tools

The term gastronym (GAN) was proposed by Munteanu Siserman (2015: 86) in
order to refer to names of dishes/culinary products and beverages, registered in
cookery books or on culinary websites, which can be studied from an onomastic
and sociocultural perspective.
The linguistic structure of such names includes:
1. a generic component that sends directly to the gastronomic product –
appetizers, salads, soups, steaks, deserts, etc.;
2. a specific component which makes the difference even within the same
gastronomic class. Thus, there are cases when the designating noun phrase
of the dish indicates the origin of the recipe by means of a relational
adjective (Moldavian, Transylvanian) or represents a loan from another
language which was more or less adapted to the Romanian language
(Munteanu Siserman, 2015: 86-87).
Depending on the specific component in the linguistic structure of

gastronyms, the corpus we analysed comprises the following categories:
a. Gastronyms with anthroponymic components, which include the
owners’ family names or celebrity names motivated by some gastronomic
context or indicating the changes in the mentality of an ethno-linguistic
community examined in its synchronic evolution. The Romanian social
and historical context favours the recurrence of some names of fictional or
real figures that are reputed for specific characteristics or deeds (including
conviviality, gluttony, greed, etc.). Another set of common gastronyms
with anthroponymic elements make reference to social and professional
status (occupations, ranks, etc.) – Praznic Împărătesc (Royal Feast),
Mâncarea boierului (Lord’s Dish), Mâncarea cavalerului (Knight’s
Dish) etc.
b. Gastronyms with toponymic elements (names of countries, regions,
rivers, etc.) under the form of appellatives combined with relational
adjectives (moldovenesc, dobrogean etc.) or prepositions and adverbial
particles: à la…, de…, din…, de la…, ca la… e.g. Ciorbă de Rădăuți,
Ciorbă de pui à la grec, Ciorbă ardelenească de porc cu tarhon,
Papară ardelenească cu cârnați/șuncă.
c. Metaphorical gastronyms which are based on analogies with the form
of the culinary product or some characteristic to be discovered by the
consumer. In such cases, they can be so opaque that their decoding only
relies on reading the ingredients and even the recipe. e.g. Turnul Babel,
Aurul lui Burebista, etc.
In analysing the gastronomic terminological inventory, Dumistrăcel (2012:

10) also remarked that Romanians have precise names to refer especially to the
first phase in processing basic foods so as to reflect the transition from nature to
culture by the dichotomy raw/cooked or boiled.
Another important observation about gastronyms is that their contextual
evaluation can be determined by both linguistic and non-linguistic factors
(Croitoru 2008). While the first set of factors concern lexical and grammatical
associations which determine and restrict the use of words, the latter involve
register (spoken, written), dialect (social, geographic), and style specific (formal,
colloquial) elements. The diversification of the gastronomic offer of
restaurants/guest houses/inns has had as a consequence a significant change in
the marketing strategies used to attract customers. The most visible tendency in
the advertising language promoting the gastronomic offer is to assign specific
names to culinary products, picturesque names that are endowed with stylistic
valences, but which represent deviations from the literary norm. This marketing
strategy serves the economic interests at the expense of adapting gastronomy to
the contemporary Romanian cultural space/context. Illustrative in this respect is
the menu of a pizzeria of "humor" from Gura Humorului named “La Bomba”.
From the online presentation, we learn that all names attributed to the
culinary specialties are intentionally humorous, exploiting the lexical level and
the linguistic norm of the area. The deviation from the literary norm also shows
the way in which social migration puts an imprint on the cultural and civilization
elements of the moment. As we are informed from the first page of the menu from
“La Bomba”, we are not dealing with a mere restaurant but with o cooperativă de
piță pe vatră (a cooperative of pizza on the fireplace/ hearth), in other words, that
is, an enterprise which serves a typical gastronomic product of Italian cuisine
adapted to the Romanian space. Although the lexeme pizza has not been
phonetically adapted, from a morphological point of view, it is assimilated to
feminine nouns ending in –a. What the authors of these gastronyms seem to
ignore is that the transliteration of pizza as piță is not supported by lexicographic
evidence. In fact, Romanian dictionaries indicate this term with other meanings,
of which only a regional one refers to food: bucată de carne friptă sau prăjită
(Banat, Transylvania, Maramureș) = roasted or fried meat (DRAM).
Not only the text but also the form of presentation of this menu is special.
The first eye contact with the menu raises a smile at the sight of a Popeye as an
autochthonous sailor whose famous pipe is replaced by a pizza, while the mariner
clothes are those of a poor Moldavian. In a cheerful and vivid chromatic tone, we
discover the local specificity. It is interesting to observe another restaurant owner
(Mircea Dinescu) expects people to remember Popeye the Sailor Man as some
sort role model for healthier eating on account of his getting strength from
consuming spinach and uses the name of the animated cartoon in Salata Popeye
(Popeye the Sailorman Salad).
In addition to the habit of illustrating the menus with abundant images of
the dishes (see the menu at Trattoria Monza as an example), another strategy
works on this market, namely, using linguistic means that reflect diatopic
variations (differences in geographical space (Coșeriu 2000: 263), which make
the menu more appealing. Thus, a restaurant/guesthouse such as Casa
Moldoveană (Moldavian House) in Piatra-Neamț uses the phonetic level of the
Romanian language to convince its potential customers of the pure Moldavian
character of the dishes („barabuli zdroghiti” = mashed potatoes, „barabuli copti”
= baked potatoes, „brânze italienești topchite” = melted Italian cheese, „bureți
nășîți cu ceapă” = mushrooms steamed with onion, „dichisălile bucătarului” =

chef's delicacies, „mămăligâ șerbinti”" = hot mamaliga/polenta).
Another restaurant bearing an Italian name Torna Frate appeals to an
ordering of dishes based on Romanian dialects (Meniul nostru tradițional este
o sinteză a gusturilor și obiceiurilor gastronomice specifice poporului
roman, cu influențe ale regiunilor dintre și de după granițe = Our traditional
menu is a synthesis of the tastes and culinary habits specific to the Romanian
people, with influences of the regions within and beyond the borders.) –
https://www.restaurant-tornafratre.ro/meniuhome. Thus, for appetizers, we
find dishes from all historical regions, labelled in terms of the ethnic groups
that traditionally consume them.
e.g. zacuscă de vinete (moldoveni) – eggplant zacusca
(Moldavians); salată de cartofi (ardeleni) – potato salad
(Transylvanians); salată de vinete (munteni) – eggplant salad
(Wallachians) etc.
These variations reflect the linguistic contacts of different regions with co-
operating ethnic communities.
3. Translation of gastronyms as “cultural negotiation”

The main problem that arises when one wants to identify local and national
specificity is avoiding the discrepancies between the apparent identity of the
gastronomic products and their essence. Prone to solving terminological
dilemmas, Kapferer (2008) separates the concepts of identity and image of the
brand into the simple terms of the communication relationship: if the identity
represents the way in which the company / organisation as emitter wishes to
present itself to the market, the brand image corresponds to interpretations of
consumers/users. It follows that, in branding terms, a restaurant should be
identifiable by clear identity markers (name, logo, menu) and project an
image that ensures them better visibility.
An example of management of brand communication is provided by
the restaurant Hanul Dacilor from Cluj Napoca. In a virtual context, the
restaurant is advertised as follows: se adresează celor care tânjesc după o masă
bună, cu preparate româneşti, servită într-un decor ce împrumută motive ale
culturii tradiţionale. Amenajarea, mobilierul şi decorurile din restaurant sunt
realizate în cea mai mare parte manual, de diverşi artişti şi mesteşugari
autohtoni. Servirea mesei se face de către chelneri îmbrăcaţi în costume

tradiţionale, iar bucatele cu specific românesc sunt aşezate pe platouri de lemn
şi vase romane. It is addressed to those who long for a good meal, with Romanian
dishes, served in a setting that draws motives from traditional culture. The setting,
furniture and decorations in the restaurant are mostly handmade by various local
artists and craftsmen. The meal is served by waiters dressed in traditional
costumes, and the Romanian dishes are placed on wooden trays and Roman
dishes. Therefore, the expectations are that the dishes served are authentically
Romanian in both names and recipes. However, there is a wider range of dishes
from the international cuisine. If we analyse the menu of this restaurant, we can
observe the way in which the globalization strategy of translation is applied as “a
process to enable a message to be adaptable to the condition that may be imposed
by receivers who do not share the same linguistic and cultural background as the
sender” (O’Hagan and Ashford (2002: 66-67). Each item is rendered into four
languages, which is not customary in Romanian menus. Thus, Platoul Burebista
has as equivalents En. Burebista’s Wood Tray, Fr. Le Plat du Burebista, It. Il
piattone di Burebista and Burebista Tal in Hungarian. Most names of dishes
containing in their structure the term Platou (Platoul Mioritic, Platoul Burebista,
Platoul Vânătoresc, Platoul Pescarului, Platoul Păsărarului etc.) have
suffered a metonymic transfer of the container to the content upon the French
model, where plat refers to both the tableware and the food served in it. And yet,
ignoring that platou in Romanian means only farfurie mare de porțelan, de
metal etc., pe care se aduc unele mâncăruri sau prăjituri pentru a fi servite la
masă DEX (a large china or metal plate/tray on which some dishes or cakes are
brought to be served during a meal) has led to a distorted perception and wrong
choice of the English equivalent wood tray instead of the more accurate platter,
which means a course of a meal, usually consisting of a variety of foods served
on the same plate (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/platter?s=t).
Translating gastronyms poses even more problems when the names
are maintained in the regional variant, which is opaque even to the native
Romanians. In this case, as long as names have a strong local flavour,
instead of trying to find an illustrative equivalent for English -speaking
clientele, the main strategy would be to render by translation the contents
and preparation technique, as well as the origin of the dish. This way,
customers are encouraged to taste it or warned about potential allergens for
those who are sensitive to specific ingredients.
e.g. Pitligeani Tsargasiti (aromâni) – fried eggplants with tomatoes
and garlic (Aromanian dish);
Coasti di Noatinu cu Pitligeani Laii (aromâni) – grilled lamb chops
with eggplants, tomatoes, cheese and garlic (Aromanian dish);
chiroști cu mânătărci (basarabeni) – pasta filled with wild
mushrooms (Moldovan dish);
Phiperchi (aromâni) – oven-baked dish of peppers, tomatoes, garlic,
cheese, eggs and yoghurt (Aromanian);
Taci și-nghite – oven-baked polenta dish with cheese, butter, sour
cream and eggs (Transylvanian dish);
Galină la tiganié (meglenoromani) – poached chicken with egg and
rice (Megleno-Romanian dish).
The stylistic value of some gastronyms is marked in English by inverted
commas, which both signals connotative meanings and draws more attention to
the name. Thus, in the menu of Lacrimi și sfinți [literally meaning “Tears and
saints”], a restaurant whose owner is a well-known Romanian poet, the
gastronym Brigada Moravuri (Momițe, Fudulii și Pizdulice stinse cu citrice și
parfumate cu capere. Insoțite de ciuperci) becomes The “Vice Squad” (veal
sweetbreads, short fries aka turkey testes and the “butcher’s secret cut” infused
with orange juice and white wine, perfumed with capers and mushrooms) due to
its taboo associations with internal and sexual organs of animals. Rejected out of
prudery, the dishes containing organ meats are seen as delicacies that only
connoisseurs are expected to order in a restaurant.
According to Croitoru (2008a), translation as cultural negotiation involves
rendering the intention of the text and of its message, which consists of content
and package (words, grammatical structures, and layout graphics). In order to
disambiguate the elements that are not specific to target culture (TC), the
translator has to re-shape the content and the package to fit into the target
language (TL). To this purpose, the translator needs to consider some rules that
are not only linguistic but also cultural.
It is the case of Forza Steaua, a chant used by supporters/fans of FCSB, a

Romanian professional football club, still known as “Steaua” Bucharest (despite
the fact that the club can no longer use this name). This club is under the
leadership of investor and former politician George Becali. Legally charged with
having made a fortune by illegitimate estate transactions, Becali had to defend
himself against defamatory labels caused by the fact that his family has owned
large flocks of sheep; hence, he rejected the appellative cioban “shepherd”
(which informally has negative connotations of rude and uncivilized in
Romanian) and self-proclaimed patron de oi (sheep manager), to enhance his
innate managerial skills. In this context, naming bruschettas with mutton cheese
Forza Steaua is meant to trigger an association with the above mentioned
controversial figure, which would be too subtle and ambiguous to be sensed by
foreign consumers. In the same sports context, steroizi (steroids) and baton
energetic (energy bar) have definite meanings, whereas in the restaurant menu,
they are intriguing and liable to draw the consumer’s attention. It is only when
associated with the ingredients (pastrami bruschetta for steroids and kabanos
sausage, pressed cheese, pickled peppers, white sauce, tomato sauce and poppy
seeds for energy bar) that we come to understand the possible motivation of such
names and accept that they could get exact English equivalents.
One radical solution to be adopted by the translator of Romanian
gastronyms such as Să fie de deochi, Să înnebunești mâncând, S-o mai pupe
dracul, Merge uns, Să pară că vii de la femei, Piță – mănânci aici și mori acasă,
Piță de cîți bani ai – de criză, Piță cu nimic, Piță mare brânză, Piță aoleu, Piță
la plic - da’ mai scumpă, Piță bucuria homosexualului, Piță colesterol, Pița
țăranului venit din Italia – would be not to engage in the translation of words in
the gastronym structure, but to communicate the ideas (actually the ingredients)
in terms that are meaningful to the members of the target audience. From this
perspective, the notion of mediation is a useful way of looking at the translators’
decisions regarding the transfer of intertextual reference (Katan 2004:14).
A less drastic measure than not translating the names of dishes at all is
“internalization”, which involves “removing from a text all those features which
will create comprehension problems for an international audience” (Mossop
2001: 167). That is because some words may not make full sense when rendered
into another language due to the lack of corresponding realities. In the menu of
the restaurant Lacrimi și sfinți, a popular dish – Sarmalele Nu-mă-uita contains
among other ingredients Sauvignon Blanc, which is replaced in translation by the

generic white wine, despite the fact that this is an internationally recognized grape
variety. The omission of proper names is also noticeable in rendering the main
ingredients of another dish – Porc de pe Frontieră (Pork on a Border – possibly
an allusion to the existence of large complexes of pork producers and processors
at the Hungarian border). Thus, mușchi file de porc Mangalita becomes simply
pork fillet pan. The intention of the text may be to focus on the type of meat –
pork fillet – leaving out the culture-specific element represented by Mangalita.
In a detailed description of the recipe, this would have been an important term,
as Mangalitsa is a Hungarian breed of domestic pig which is reputed for its
unique savoury taste in gourmet products.
When exposed to culture-bound meaning, or meaning in the context of
culture, the translator needs to consider the culture-specific aspects of language
use. As pointed out by Newmark (1988), some of these widely variable features
are dependent on ethnic culture, but also on variations in material culture (food,
clothes, housing) and organizational culture (organization, customs, ideas, i.e.
political, social, religious and artistic).
Conclusions
In approaching the topic of gastronyms from a sociolinguistic and cultural
perspective, we aimed at underlining the interdependency of text and context in
gastronomic discourse, presenting some strategies of linguistic and cultural
adaptation of Romanian gastronyms and identifying aspects of cultural
negotiation in their translation into English.
The diversification of the restaurant offer attracts new strategies for
promoting culinary products. The discourse of menus is subsumed to advertising
discourse, which Dumistrăcel (2006: 64) distinguishes from advertising
language. In fact, all the functions of advertising language can be found in the
discourse of menus, in which the predominant function is the phatic one with a
clear role in building a psychological connection between the transmitter and the
receiver, a connection meant to initiate and maintain communication in order to
persuade the client.
Complying with the linguistic norm in the form of gastronyms becomes a
mark of quality. The current linguistic fashion imposes the borrowing of terms
from other languages, of which some are adapted from all points of view to the
Romanian language, while others remain faithful to the language of origin.
In the negotiating process of translation as a bridge between
languages/cultures (Croitoru 2008a), the translator’s linguistic and cultural
competence are essential to avoiding misfortunate transfers from SL/SC to
TL/TC. The culture-specific elements found in gastronyms are definitely difficult
to render in the absence of some corresponding meaning and reality in the TC.
However, if the entire menu is provided in bilingual format, the names of dishes
in both source and target language are compulsory. In the end, if the readability
of the TT is at stake, then the text is “tailored” to satisfy the intended readers.
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Corpus
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ON THE PHYSICS JARGON IN DAN BROWN’S
ANGELS AND DEMONS
Ana-Maria PÂCLEANU
It is common knowledge that art is based on “the familiar” that is deconstructed

or displayed differently for new understanding or new perspectives. Literature
follows the same principle. It draws its inspiration from reality (places, situations
and people) and builds on it.
In most of Brown’s novels – Digital Fortress (1988), Angels and Demons
(2000), Deception Point (2001) and Da Vinci Code (2003) – the settings are
historic and historical sites that exist and that are important European landmarks.
These are very accurately described by the writer. For instance, “the Chigi Chapel
that houses the first Altar of Science” in Angels and Demons is one of the five
chapels in the Church of Santa Maria in Rome (Helfers 2006: 70). Thus, readers
are transported into a fictional world that displays familiar elements.
Moreover, many scientific details are actually genuine pieces of
information and facts. For example, the Z-particle is “an elementary particle that
is identical to the photon in all respects” (Helfers 2006: 88) and CERN is the
largest particle physics laboratory in the world.
However, many of Brown’s readers are not aware of what Searle (1999:
60) described as the non-seriousness of fiction, i.e. the author mentions these
places and facts but he is not committed to what is actually happening at the time
of writing. His utterances do not mirror reality and thus, they are not serious (a
concept used in Pragmatics to refer to the truth of utterances). This goes hand in
hand with the impossibility to “suspend the disbelief”. Consequently, a public
who are not aware of the fact that the attempt to protect the Vatican from
Illuminati is not a real fact (accepted in its pragmatic meaning) would not believe
that the elements that are part of the fictional discourse are true.
The tendency to “suspend the disbelief” when reading Brown’s novels is
the result of a manipulation strategy, where the secret lies in the writer’s skills of
describing familiar places and maneuvering field-related terminology. The latter
is one of Brown’s most prominent features of language use and style. The
language of physics in the scrutinized novel stands in proof of the thorough
research the author did in order to build the plot.
Nonetheless, as May (2017: 94) puts it, the elements that Brown presents
as academically accepted theories are, in fact, pseudo-historical theories (Angels
and Demons and The Da Vinci’s Code) and pseudoscience (in The Lost Symbol).
Thus, in this case, the term “pseudoscience” is not used to refer to doctrines
conflicting with science but rather to something that is presented as scientific.
The key element is the very attempt of the author to create the impression that the
described theories are scientific.
Consequently, in Dan Brown’s novels, focus is not laid on the accuracy of
the scientific facts but on the extent and the manner in which the terminology of
physics was used in this fictional discourse. Despite this, the interesting feature
of his novels is the coherence of the scientific “discourse” within the fictional
discourse and the challenge that this extensive use of scientific terminology could
launch to audiences that are not familiar with the field.
It is worth taking into consideration the most relevant strategy used to
highlight the so-called accuracy in his novel – the “Author’s Note”. The note
refers exclusively to the non-scientific elements in the novel – “references to all
works of art, tombs, tunnels, and architecture in Rome are entirely factual (as are
their exact locations). They can still be seen today. The brotherhood of the
Illuminati is also factual” (Brown 2000: 2).
Furthermore, the section preceding the Author’s Note – Facts – provides
important information on the “scientific research facility” (CERN) and the very
leitmotiv of the novel (antimatter). The Facts section has the features of a non-
fictional piece of writing (a newspaper article on scientific topics) or a textbook-
like explanation.
Nonetheless, there are some sentences that connect the somehow scientific
dimension to a more familiar / informal one – “There is, however, one catch …”
and to a fictional one “One question looms: Will this highly volatile substance
save the world, or will it be used to create the most deadly weapon ever made?”
(Brown 2000: 14-15). The latter – a rhetorical question meant to challenge the
reader think of how the plot could thicken – does not display scientific
terminology, but the collocation “volatile substance” (modified by “highly”)
prepares the reader for the science-related subject matter. Given the context, the
modifier “highly” seems to create suspense. At the same time, the whole structure
provides a link between the scientific and the real (proven) and a fictional or
potentially real effect of the previously presented facts.
The most relevant linguistic levels to take into consideration when
analysing the language of physics in the novel are the lexical, semantic and
syntactic levels. The lexical and the semantic levels shall not be considered
separately inasmuch as individual lexical items in the present text should be
analysed by attaching particular importance to the situated meaning of words (see
Richards 2015). Moreover, syntactic aspects are of utmost importance when it
comes to the coherence and the cohesion of the text. Thus, the syntagmatic
features are not to be overlooked.
Since Angels and Demons is a literary text, it can be noted that it displays
the writer’s tendency to use language which meets the following criteria – it is
stylistically relevant, stimulates the readers’ imagination and simulates scientific
accuracy.
As regards the lexical features of the novel, physics-related terms occur on
the very first pages (Facts). The noun antimatter is the first term that occurs and
it is often repeated in order to emphasize its importance to the plot. The noun
refers to the existence of antiparticles corresponding to every particle of matter
and matches the particle but has an opposite charge – the “antielectron”, or
“positron” as the antiparticle of the electron (CERN 2020).
Crystal and Davy (1997: 19) mention the importance of certain text
features like the choice of specific lexical items (closely related to the subject
matter) and their being used together with other words in a “consistent and
stylistically interesting way”. Similarly, field-related terminology can be used in
view of emphasis.
For instance, in the above-mentioned section of the novel, the word
“antimatter” occurs seven times: four times as a subject, two times as a
complement (prepositional phrase) in noun phrases like “particles of antimatter”,
“gram of antimatter” and once as a premodifier in “antimatter production
facility”. The latter could parallel a clause like “a facility that produces
antimatter”. Thus, the writer seems to switch to a nominal package of meaning
that is usually a characteristic of research articles. However, the aspect of
nominalization will be analysed later in the present paper.
It can also be noticed that, when used as a subject, the tendency is to repeat
it (three times in the same paragraph) instead of being replaced with the pronoun
“it” or with other structures like “this substance”.
“Antimatter is identical to physical matter except that it is composed of

particles whose electric charges are opposite to those found in normal
matter. Antimatter is the most powerful energy source known to man. It
releases energy with 100 percent efficiency (nuclear fission is 1.5 percent
efficient). Antimatter creates no pollution or radiation, and a droplet could
power New York City for a full day” (Brown 2000: 2).
This is known as a cohesive technique called lexical reiteration. It is

similar to reference and substitution, but it uses full words instead of other
substitutes (Fowler 1996: 86). It could be agreed that this is a creative strategy
meant to make the image persist in readers’ mind, stir their curiosity up and, if
not already familiar with the language of physics, encourage them to do research
on the meaning of certain lexical items. Therefore, the preface and the Facts seem
to have the purpose to make the reader realize the necessity of a certain degree of
field-specific knowledge.
Despite displaying such a density of physics terms, the writer keeps the
structure of the sentences accessible to the readers. There is a symmetry achieved
by keeping “antimatter” as a subject and continuing with presenting its features
and effects in more than three sentences in a row. This excerpt has an effect
similar to an ad / ad spot that lays emphasis on a certain item the audience should
focus on.
Other highly recurrent words belonging to the lexical field of physics are:
particle, nuclear, charge, mass, beam, electron(s), proton, etc. The noun
“particle” occurs more often than “antimatter” (over 39 times) and forms
collocations together with other words that are crucial to understanding the
concept that makes up the subject matter – “particles of antimatter”, “particle
beam”, “electrically charged particles”, “particle accelerator”, “particle physics”,
“accelerated particles” and “colliding particles”, “particle collision”, “the Z-
particle”, etc. Like the above-mentioned lexical reiteration, collocations are a
very recurrent cohesion technique. They turn up together because they keep the
text on the same topic (Fowler 1996: 87):
“It was done on a much smaller scale, of course,” Vittoria said, talking
faster now. “The process was remarkably simple. He accelerated two
ultrathin particle beams in opposite directions around the accelerator
tube. The two beams collided head-on at enormous speeds, driving into
one another and compressing all their energy into a single pinpoint. He
achieved extreme energy densities” (Brown 2000: 133).
As it can be noticed, the word “particle(s)” appears close to or in

collocations with words like “beam”, “accelerator (tube)” and “energy”. The
phenomenon that shocks the reader, especially when it comes to the conversations
between the two scientists Langdon and Victoria, is the defamiliarizing effect of
physics-related lexical collocations in a literary text. The effect of this high
density of words and collocations from the terminology of physics would be
rather banal to a physicist, but extremely defamiliarizing to readers with poor or
basic physics knowledge. Glossaries and encyclopedias would be a valuable aid
to the latter. These resources would enhance a full understanding of the plot
(beyond the details related to terrorist actions against the Vatican).
As far as the semantic level is concerned, the situated meaning of some
terms is an aspect that is worth analysing. According to Richards (2015), the
situated meaning is the one assigned to a word through the speaker’s experience
(that is usually related to the context the speakers have used or heard). The use of
the word in a certain field and the speaker’s knowledge of the field is also an
important criterion for situating meaning. Consequently, it is important how a
reader situates the meanings of a word that in everyday language is associated
with a certain signified and with a slightly or very different one in a specific field.
Thus, situating meaning here depends on the speaker’s general and field-specific
knowledge.
For instance, the phrasal verb “stripping away” and the adjective “raw” in
the excerpt below are used in this particle-physics context with meanings that
derive from the main one but acquire meanings that can be confusing in the
physics-related context if field-specific knowledge lacks. Also, combining them
with other items (on a syntagmatic axis) adds up to the difficulties of
understanding this description of a process.
The excerpt seems reader-friendly due to its syntactic structure. Therefore,
this kind of process description would normally be clear, but the noun “electrons”
seems a ball passed by from a sentence to another with the same function of direct
object, applying to the same signified, to the same concept but not to the same
‘object’. The necessity of using the same word results from the impossibility of
finding an equivalent term.
The verb refers to removing something from something or someone. It is a
transitive verb and the direct object is “electrons”. The choice to place the noun
after “away” might have been meant to isolate it at the end of the sentence for the
purpose of emphasis.
Nonetheless, the next sentence amplifies the complexity of the scientific
dimension of the text inasmuch as it contains the same direct object – the noun
“electrons” modified by the adjective “raw”. The later mentioned “rawness” of
the electrons seems to be the consequence of the process of “stripping away”.
Thus, at a first sight, this sentence could be misunderstood if the adverb
“simultaneously” were to be overlooked.
“Xenon,” Vittoria said flatly. “He accelerated the particle beam through a
jet of xenon, stripping away the electrons. He insisted on keeping the exact
procedure a secret, but it involved simultaneously injecting raw electrons
into the accelerator” (Brown 2000: 143).
The above-mentioned detail referring to the role of the adverb might be

irrelevant to an audience that is not aware of the degree of accuracy the adverb
adds to the process description.
The vocabulary is similar to the one used in the Encyclopedia of Physical

Science and Technology – Atomic and Molecular Physics that is, in fact replete
with words and collocations meant as lexical cohesion techniques. However, due
to the use of passive voice (specific to technical English), the verb “to strip” in
the following Encyclopedia excerpts is followed by the preposition “of”:
“The Van de Graaff can be expanded to the tandem Van de Graaff, in which
negative ions are accelerated to high voltage, then stripped of electrons
so that they become positive ions and are accelerated back to ground ...”
(Meyers ed. 2001: 11)
or
“the ion beam crosses a thin carbon foil where the ions are stripped of
part of their electrons and where some of the remaining electrons are
raised into excited states” (Meyers 2001: 28).
In the last encyclopedia sentence the adjective “excited” (similarly to

“raw” in the novel excerpt above) acquires a specific meaning in the sentence
about electrons. It means that the electrons occupy an energy level above the
ground state and it could be considered an instance of collocative meaning
inasmuch as it acquires this meaning in collocations referring to physics –
“excited states” (of the electrons), excited molecules, excited atoms etc. (Colins
2020).
Another particularly interesting detail (as regards both the lexical and
semantic dimensions) is the use of terminology from the field of biology such as
the one in the scientist’s explanations on how antimatter is stored:
“I borrowed the idea from nature. Portuguese man-o’-wars trap fish

between their tentacles using nematocystic charges. Same principle here.
Each canister has two electromagnets, one at each end. Their opposing
magnetic fields intersect in the center of the canister and hold the
antimatter there, suspended in midvacuum” (Brown 2000: 145).
This kind of descriptions could cause even greater difficulties to readers

who have to deal with jargon from both fields. For an audience that is not familiar
with the terminology, further research on the scientific accuracy of such a
resemblance would be necessary. However, the structural similarities (between
the phrases “nematocystic charges” and “magnetic fields”) provide some clues
on the conceptual equivalence the author meant to hint at.
The high density of physics vocabulary terms to be deciphered made the
novel quite challenging to certain types of audiences but amplified the
verisimilitude effect. Nonetheless, despite the complexity of its lexical and
semantic characteristics, its accessible syntax makes it resemble the script of a
documentary that presents real scientific facts.
With respect to the syntactic features of the novel, especially in paragraphs
containing details on the physics experiments (processes) and their results, it can
be noticed that, as opposed to the English used in research articles, there is no
clear preference for passive voice (see the paragraphs from the Encyclopedia of
Physics provided above).
Moreover, the clausal packaging of meaning is more recurrent than the
nominal one as it can be noticed in sentences like “[t]heir opposing magnetic
fields intersect in the center of the canister and hold the antimatter there” in the
excerpt containing biology terms.
The nominalization of “intersect” and the use of passive voice (“The matter
is held in the center of the canister by the intersection of the opposing magnetic
fields”) would have made the sentence more intricate and difficult to read.
Therefore, despite using field-specific terminology, the novel is made accessible
to readers through smooth syntax that leads to a clearer understanding of the
physics processes. This is the opposite of what Halliday called “less expected”,
“more written” ways of expressing meaning (cited in Hyland 1999: 164). It is a
more expected, more spoken way of expressing meaning that makes the literary
text more coherent and enables readers (already overwhelmed with the science
terminology) to understand it.
Conclusions
The novel Angels and Demons displays features which make it challenging from
the terminological point of view, hence the utility of knowledge of the language
of physics. Though the use of physics terminology (especially in field-specific
collocations) challenges the readers, the reading process is smoother, due to clear
sentences and clausal packaging of meaning. It is a novel that bares features
similar to those of research articles or encyclopedias but reads like a story that
runs smoothly and keeps the reader connected to an action that involves science
and suspense.
Despite the physics jargon that seems to make the novel inaccessible to
some categories of readers, the syntactic features and the way the plot is built are
clear evidence that the writer did not aim at providing readers with a scientific
study but with a well-documented work of fiction that bares lexical and semantic
features meant to increase the effect of verisimilitude.
References
Crystal, D. and Davy, D. 1997. Investigating English Style, New York: Longman.
Fowler, R. 1996. Linguistic Criticism, Oxford /New York: Oxford University Press.
Helfers, J. 2006. The Unauthorized Dan Brown Companion, New York: Citadel Press.
Hyland, K. 1999. ’Talking to students: Metadiscourse in introductory course books’.
English for Specific Purposes, 18(1), 3-26.
Jones, R.H. and Richards, J.C. 2015. Creativity in Language Teaching: Perspectives from
research and Practice, New York and London: Routledge.
May, A. 2017. Pseudoscience and Science Fiction, UK: Springer.
Meyers, R. A. (ed.) 2001. Encyclopedia of Physics and Technology, Amsterdam:
Academic Press (Elsevier).
Searle, J. R. 1999. Expression and Meaning. Studies in the Theory of Speech Acts,
Cambdridge: Cambridge University Press.
Web sources
https://home.cern/science/physics/antimatter
https://www.britannica.com/science/mass-physics
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/excited
Corpus
Brown, D. 2000. Angels and Demons, New York: Pocket Books.
SHAKESPEARE’S COMPLETE WORKS IN
ROMANIAN.
FILIATION OR DISSIDENCE?
Dana PERCEC
Loredana PUNGĂ
Introduction
In a recently published study (Pungă, Percec 2019), we began an investigation
that continues here, about the translation of Shakespeare into Romanian, focusing
on the prefaces that accompany the plays. While in the published article we
looked at these prefaces as paratexts, revealing the translators’ and critics’
personal choices and academic views, in this chapter we will attempt a
comparative approach to the three series of Complete Works in terms of both
continuity and discontinuity.
If the Romanian 19th century was mainly characterized by a scarcity of
translations from and critical materials about Shakespeare, the first half of the
20th century witnessed a surge in academic as well as theatrical interest in the
Bard’s plays. However, while some plays were translated several times, many
others still did not benefit from a Romanian version, which meant they were not
staged and the average public was not familiar with them. The evolution of the
project to translate Shakespeare into Romanian followed, in effigy, the trajectory
it had, starting from the 18th century, in many European countries. In Germany,
especially after the foundation of the Deutsche Shakespeare Gesellschaft in 1864,
Shakespeare’s plays, translated, staged, adapted, and commented upon, served
the purpose of consolidating a sense of German cultural cohesion. In France, the
numerous translated versions of Shakespeare illustrated the interplay between the
Anglo-Saxon, Northern spirit and the conventions of the French Neo-classicism.
At a more modest scale, Shakespeare being staged in Transylvania and the
Romanian Principalities, timidly at the end of the 18th century and with more
enthusiasm since the 1850s, played a part in the effort to put the young Romanian
culture on track towards modernization, as Monica Matei-Chesnoiu points out in
her ample 2007 study about Shakespeare in Romania.
Before the three Complete Works

A quick look at the Shakespeare in Europe database (ShinE, https://shine.
unibas.ch/translatorsromanian.htm) indicates Ion Barac’s as the first Romanian
translation of a Shakespearean play (Hamlet) sometime at the end of the 18th
century or the early days of the 19th. As customary at that moment, following the
tradition inaugurated by actor and director David Garrick in Drury Lane, the
original text was heavily abridged and adapted, having in mind the performance
necessities. This tradition was embraced by the numerous German and French
directors and writers who gave Shakespeare to the general public in shorter
versions, usually in prose, with secondary plots and minor characters excluded
and with endings frequently altered to satisfy the taste for melodrama. Barac,
using a German adapted version from the 1770s, gives us “Amlet. Prince of
Dania. […] From Șakeșpeer” (our transl.), a text which excluded all comic
remarks, considered unsuitable for a classical tragic hero. The explicit admission
of a loose adaptation rather than a faithful translation can be traced in another
early 19th century version’s title, provided by Toma Alecsandru Bagdat (1848),
promising a biography of Viliam G. (sic!) Sekspir inspired by Le Tourneur,
followed by Romeo and Juliet and Othello, in a “free” (slobod) rendering. Also
enthusiastic about the French theatrical tradition rather than the Elizabethan one,
a 1855 translation by D. I. Economu alters the play so as to follow the rules of
the Neo-classical unities of space, time, and action. Very fond of the ghost, in the
true Romantic spirit, the translator voices the revolutionary spirit of the age,
making Hamlet’s father urge his son (and the public) to embark on a sacred
mission to save the nation and restore its ancient splendour. Grigore Manolescu,
who translates Hamlet (from a popular French version) in 1884 for his own
theatrical production, inaugurates another tradition – that of a rich, even pompous
style of acting in order to enhance the sense of tragic greatness.
The fact that translating Shakespeare from English was rare (or, rather,
nonexistent) can be observed in Petru P. Carp’s 1864 and 1868 versions of
Macbeth and Othello respectively, the Romanian titles boasting explicitly the fact
that the texts to follow come from an English source (traduse din englezește).
When, in the early 20th century, translating Shakespeare from English is no longer
announced in the title, the translator still makes a point of it in the preface, over-
explaining his effort to keep the form and content of the text as close to the
original as possible (Stern 1922). But, in using the blank verse and iambic
pentameter at all costs, Adolphe Stern shows a high degree of inflexibility, as
Nicoleta Cinpoeș and George Volceanov argue in the 2010 preface to Hamlet.
They believe Stern’s translation betrays the translator’s lack of exercise and
amateurism in the high number of calques, the artificial use of English syntax and
the artificial rendering of puns (2010: 56). However, they do admit one merit of
Stern’s effort: his translations, doubled by his prefaces, highlighted
Shakespeare’s Englishness for the first time in the Romanian public
consciousness.
A translator who played an important role in the realization of the first
series of Complete Works even if he died before the initiation of this project and
his name was not mentioned in this edition, was Dragoș Protopopescu. A
professor of English, he translated a remarkable number of plays (12) in the 30s
and 40s and, had the political regime not changed, he would have probably carried
out the first complete edition of the Bard’s works. Since this was not possible, the
project was restarted in the 1950s, but, as George Volceanov (2008: 218) points
out, echoes of Protopopescu’s ground-breaking work can be noticed in the series
edited by Mihnea Gheorghiu. Due to his academic background, he approached
the Shakespearean text professionally, consulting up-to-date British editions and
criticism and being aware of the complex process of reception that Shakespeare
would become a part of in the 20th century, as he talks, in his prefaces, about the
necessary assimilation of the Bard’s texts and plots by the Romanian public
(Protopopescu 1942: X). Protopopescu also keeps in mind that Shakespeare was
not just a written author but a producer of performances, so his translations are
sensitive to a director’s needs for staging the plays, for theatrical verisimilitude
and genuine drama (Antonaru 2014: 366).
The Complete Works 1, ESPLA, 1955-1965

If, until the inter-war period, the purpose of a Shakespeare translation, especially
one followed by introductory studies, prefaces and notes, was to train the public’s
taste for foreign literature, by the 1950s, Shakespeare is already a well-established
cultural icon, a classic, a canonical author. The fact that he is a western, English-
speaking writer, in an age of complete political closure within the communist
bloc, is compensated, in the texts accompanying the plays of the first Complete
Works edition, by more or less subtle compromises. In the introduction to the
series, Mihnea Gheorghiu presents Shakespeare as an egalitarian author, who
wrote both for emperors and for beggars (1955: 53), while the introductions to
various plays refer to Elizabethan characters as revolutionary heroes. Thus,
Richmond, King Richard III’s rival, is to be regarded as a national hero who put
an end to the long war between the rich landowners, this being evidence that the
Bard himself spoke against the absolute monarchy and was a partisan of welfare
for all (1959: 7). The clergy featured in this chronicle were, predictably, only
instruments in a despot’s hands. Similarly, addressing Shakespeare’s greatest
tragedy, Hamlet, seems impossible without dutifully quoting from Marx and
Engels, who were of the opinion that Shakespeare or Corneille would be wrongly
associated with the medieval (feudal) and romantic tradition, when in fact they
borrowed massively from folk culture (1959: 512). That Marx had something to
do with Shakespeare is reiterated to the Romanian public in a 1964 reader,
entitled Shakespeare and His Work, with a preface by Tudor Vianu (who also
translated the Bard’s Antony and Cleopatra), where Marx appears with a
contribution stating that Shakespeare thought the power conveyed by money was
evil (1964: 325).
It can be frustrating to observe that, while the critical material accompanying
the plays in the first complete edition is minimal (usually about half a page or one
full page), it also focuses disproportionately on alleged social (if not socialist)
content and, even though the amount of international and Romanian (inter-war)
critical material is vast, the editors are compelled by censorship or self-censorship
to pay lip service to dialectic materialism. If the prefaces, introductory notes or
comments in previous published translations made a point about the translators’
strategies, efforts, hopes and frustrations when dealing with Shakespeare, the
ESPLA edition offers no such introspection. It is equally frustrating to observe, in
the Romanian texts of 1955-1965, the deliberate effort made by translators to serve
the ideology-imposed trends in Romanian linguistics, according to which the Slavic
foundation of our language was as solid as (if not more solid than) the Latin one.
Indeed, as George Volceanov indicates, the Romanian translation of Shakespeare
in the 1950s is less Latin than Shakespeare himself (2008: 100), when, for example,
a Shakespearean phrase including only words of Latin origin – “degenerate, ingrate
revolts” – becomes stârpituri, haini nemernici. Such exaggerations often make the
Romanian text impossible to understand by contemporary readers and also
impossible to recite on contemporary Romanian stages. The “savage spirit” in the
original becomes sirepul duh, “false reports” is translated as basne, “noble
gentleman” as voinic, this list being completed by words which Romanian readers
associate with archaic texts or with historical novels (like Sadoveanu’s) set in a
pretty distant past: cocon for “prince”, mumă for “mother”, etc. Equally cryptic
were, to mid-20th century readers, the translations of Ion Barac or P.P. Carp, but
they had the excuse of being already two hundred years old. Volceanov regards the
linguistic choices of the 1950 edition as not only outdated, but also “tongue-
twisting” for actors performing Shakespeare today. Ultimately, they are proof of a
“moral compromise” (2012: 219) the editors and translators made with the
communist regime.
This is not to say that the first Romanian edition of Shakespeares’s
Complete Works is less valuable, on the contrary. Many of the translators were
academics, with a background in English studies and/or literary critical studies,
while an even larger number of them were poets and prose-writers, thus following
Tudor Vianu’s principle that a translation should be, first and foremost, an act of
creation and creativity (1964). Ion Frunzetti, Ion Barbu or Vladimir Streinu were
writers in their own right, some were favourites of the new regime, very talented
and prolific authors like Petru Dumitriu (who, ironically, fled the country in 1960,
so his work was later prohibited), or, some others were inter-war writers and
intellectuals whose original creation was now indexed but who, as an act of
compensation, were allowed to contribute to the translation of foreign authors
(Vera Călin, Ion Vinea, who, being unable to use his own name, made a pact with
Petru Dumitriu and thus, some of his translations appeared with the other writer’s
name). They sometimes used earlier, more gross translations and refined them in
Romanian, giving them a more literary, aesthetic, original touch.
The Complete Works 2, Univers, 1982-1995

We established that early translations were the amateurs’ attempts to acquaint the
Romanian public with the English Bard’s work, something that could be deemed
an exotic choice, since the Romanians were familiar with the European culture
almost exclusively through French or German filters. In the 1950s, the editors
and translators made the effort to demonstrate Shakespeare’s “sound” social
origin and egalitarian intentions, perhaps more for the benefit of official
censorship than for the target readers or audiences in the theatres. By the 1980s,
the intellectual taste of the Romanian public is fully developed, as, during the
communism decades, the strategies to elude censorship and to voice criticism in
a subtle manner are widely spread, in a complicity between the writers and the
general public. But one can already talk about another type of complicity during
this period, an elitist one, what has been called since then “the resistance through
culture”. In order to avoid the moral compromise made by the previous
generation, the writers, translators and critics during the last decade of
communism grow more and more cryptic, more experimental, deeply
philological or at the edge, embracing semiotics, or even bridging the gap with
disciplines which political ideologies have little access to – exact sciences,
biology, genetics, etc. A high level of abstraction and hermeticism, sometimes of
vagueness, dominates the discourse in the area of humanities in general, literary
criticism and theory in particular (Percec 2008: 207).
This tendency can be easily noticed in the second edition of the Complete
Works, supervised by Leon Levițchi. In contrast with the previous collection,
where the critical material was minimal, here, the prefaces, introductory studies
and notes are extremely elaborate, this being also the result of the contributors’
academic background, most of them professors of English studies in Romanian
universities. The 1980s series is necessarily an improvement on older translations
of Shakespeare because, as George Volceanov suggests, every new exercise
enjoys “the benefit of hindsight” (2008: 99), having the advantage of
developments in literary and Shakespeare studies worldwide, but also learning
from the experience of past mistakes. Thus, Levițchi’s edition is a finite (and
refined) product, a vast literary text in whose introduction, taking his cue from
Dragoș Protopopescu’s metaphor of Caliban using the new language he is taught
in order to curse (or to translate badly), the esteemed Shakespeare scholar furthers
the comparison to include the monster’s foil, Ariel (1982: 27). If we were to
paraphrase this metaphor in very simplistic terms, we might argue that early,
amateurish translations were Calibans, while the Univers version is presented as
an Ariel, a fully accomplished one. Indeed, this version was – and, more often
than not, still is – used in Shakespearean performances on the Romanian stage, in
radio recorded productions, in the subtitling of English-spoken theatre or cinema
based on Shakespeare, etc. It was also used in the re-edited Shakespeare, a project
carried in the 1990s and 2000s by several publishers until the 2010-2019 edition
of the Complete Works. Titles and set phrases with a clearly distinguishable
Shakespearean flavour in Romanian are quotes from the Univers edition: Mult
zgomot pentru nimic, Visul unei nopți de vară (translated for the first time in
1893, by G.P. Sterian, Un vis în noaptea de sânziene, and in the Volceanov
edition, Vis de-o noapte-n miezul verii), minunata/mândra lume nouă (The
Tempest’s “brave new world”, in a translation Volceanov considers to contain
some of the best lines in Romanian verse, 2011: 218), etc.
The prefaces to the 1980 edition indicate a conscious effort made by the
translators to detach themselves from predecessors as much as possible, to
retrieve the English verse in an appropriate Romanian rendition and to follow the
principle of stringency – Levițchi’s rule was quantitative as well as qualitative:
for every 100 lines in English, no more than 107 lines should be their equivalent
in Romanian, a language with more syllables and a more flowery syntax. Luckily,
judging by the public’ s and the critics’ mostly positive response to this edition
of the Complete Work, this rapport proved a form suitable to carry over into
Romanian the content and the message of the original. As Bonnefoy (2002: 245)
observed, while it is true that a “text written in verse, that is to say, lived in that
form, must be translated – relived – in the same way”, it is nevertheless true that
there is no need to aim at very strict formal correspondence between the source
and the target text. Obeying such correspondence would not be in keeping, the
critic says, with the unique requirements of the full experience of the phenomenon
of form. Prosodic conventions are considered carriers of what is emblematic for

a particular culture, at a particular time and Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter is
no exception. They are part of the meaning of a text written in verse much more
than they are what, from a formal point of view, allows the classification of this
text as poetic. Thus, it is not form in itself, but rather form as part of the meaning
what one should attempt to translate. In other words, it should be ideally regarded
as only the material “the new form of the translator must work on with the
freedom it needs in order to remain fully alive” (245). After all, Bonnefoy (2004)
proposes, most often than not, it is impossible for the translator to remain faithful
to a structure that has already been precisely determined, though s/he has to
remain faithful to what was said resorting to that particular structure. The author
invented the meaning of his text at the same time s/he decided what form to mould
it into. Unlike him/her, the “unfortunate” translator is presented with an already
created meaning which, sometimes, “by means of a kind of acrobatics” (245),
s/he needs to find a form for at a later moment. Thus, what the translator’s text
must recreate is not so much the exact scaffolding of the original, but “the effect
that recourse to form can have on the use of words, on their very meaning” (246).
In Levițchi’s edition, the availability in Romanian of a form closer to that of the
English texts that could hold a similar content and bear comparable effects on the
receiving public, readers especially, only made the translators’ task easier.
Acknowledging its merits and admitting that his own version of The
Tempest is indebted to Levițchi with “threescore lines” because Harold Bloom’s
anxiety of influence works in translation as much as in the act of writing fiction,
Volceanov (2011: 218) concludes that the Univers edition, being a perfectly
philological edition, is ideal for reading but less ideal for staging – in his opinion,
the same as the 1950 edition, but for different reasons, as shown above. As he
sees Levițchi’s and his collaborators’ work mostly as the result of a scholar’s
interest in experimentation, he argues that many of their linguistic choices are
meaningless to the contemporary public. Why should a “sailor’s wife” be o soție
de năier rather than o soață de marinar? Similarly, why “letters”, employed as a
synecdoche, should be azbuche rather than carte, or “I’d divide” – mă dumicam,
a verb that doesn’t actually exist in Romanian?
The Complete Works 3, Paralela 45/Tracus Arte, 2010-2020
The above are not merely rhetorical questions, but illustrations of the reasons
behind George Volceanov’s decision to offer the contemporary Romanian public a
third version of Shakespeare’s complete works that can be totally freed from the
political/ideological pressures of ESPLA and that avoids the overdose of
philological sophistication of Univers, because every generation of readers and
spectators deserve their own “updated” Shakespeare (2011: 220). Volceanov starts
from two basic premises in this project: the first is that the Bard was not only the
heart of the Western canon as we tend to see him now, an intangible authority in
language, style, character development, but he was also criticized by
contemporaries and following generations for a text that was just “a heap of dung”
(2004: 7). Shakespeare’s reception, before and even during the phenomenon that
came to be known as Bardolatry, was also highly critical of an imperfect English
vocabulary and grammar, a text with little artistic merit, and a highly immoral
message. When it comes to this morality debate – which envisages the playwright’s
heavy use of slang words and obscenities – it was the 19th century prudishness
which adapted not only the Shakespearean plot but also the text so as not to vex the
more delicate members of the readership or theatre-going audience. This process
came to be known as the “bowdlerization” of Shakespeare, a process which, in
Volceanov’s opinion, should have a reversal, a “de-bowdlerization” (2012: 217).
Secondly, Volceanov argues that Shakespeare wrote his plays in a time of massive
innovation both in language and in theatrical technique and that his lexical choices
were considered neologisms by his contemporaries, who often jotted down the
words they heard in the playhouse, like some comic Shakespearean characters also
do, in Twelfth Night, for example (2011: 220).
Bearing this in mind, Shakespeare in Romanian should be as far from an
archaic literary text as possible, in order to respect both the fresh spirit of the
Elizabethan playhouse and the worldwide tendencies in the process of
appropriating Shakespeare, which extract the plot and characters from predictable
or “classical” contexts and place them at the very heart of contemporary
mentalities. If previous generations of Romanian translators puzzled over the use
of the blank verse or the alexandrine verse, over choosing words of Latin or Slavic
origin, the new edition focuses courageously on what has been so far regarded as
taboo – harsh language, obscene puns, slang overtones. Levițchi’s edition, we

argued in the other subchapter, benefited from a certain complicity with its public,
but Volceanov’s Complete Works can be said to enjoy a different type of
“connivance”. The translators/critics/directors and the readers/viewers of the
1980 Romanian Shakespeare had the exclusive privilege of beating the system
with the sophistication in form and content of the translation so as to escape the
vigilance of censorship. In the 21st century, the average public is familiar with
Shakespeare from alternative sources and media – film adaptations, comic or
manga strips, retold versions, spin-offs, social media experiments, video games,
etc. – so they might not resonate with the canonical renditions of the text admired
in the past.
As a result, Volceanov and his team of translators (Horia Gârbea, Lucia
Verona, Violeta Popa, Ioana Diaconescu, Anca Ignat, Alexandru Călin, with
cameo interventions by Adriana Volceanov and Șerban Foarță) opted for a de-
bowdlerized version of Shakespeare, which uses every-day language that may,
sometimes, sound too audacious and straight-forward. This provocative approach
has been well-received by many – the works have been awarded literary prizes
by the Romanian Writers’ Union or by prestigious cultural associations, highly
positive reviews have been published by România literară, Dilema veche, Vatra,
Observator cultural, the International Shakespeare Festival in Craiova has been
using these translations for some years, and so have several theatres in Romania,
though not in Bucharest! On the other hand, very negative criticism and even
accusations of heresy have also been heard.
Following the model of the Univers edition, Opere at Paralela 45/Tracus
Arte has a very substantial critical apparatus, offered by 15 Shakespeare scholars
from eleven Romanian universities and the diaspora. The editor has encouraged
his translators to work in teams, as he saw this exercise to be a faithful
reconstitution of Shakespeare’s own work, many of his plays being now
acknowledged as the result of collaboration with contemporary playwrights like
Christopher Marlowe, John Fletcher, Thomas Kyd, Thomas Dekker, or Thomas
Haywood. As he comments at the conclusion of the project (RL 2020), his greatest
ambition, that of reconciling philological translations with the translations for the
stage (so far regarded as two completely separate universes in Romanian
scholarship), has been satisfied by the edition’s acknowledgement by important
theatre directors, with a long practice of working with Shakespeare’s plays: Silviu
Purcărete, Victor Ioan Frunză, Andrei Șerban, Alexander Hausvater, Szabó K.
István, Matei Varodi, Peter Schneider, Mihal Docekal, Charles Chemin in no
fewer than 22 productions in eleven theatres (RL 2020).
Conclusions
As Farahzad (2009) reminds us, if, in structural linguistics, a text is considered a
self-contained object that accommodates all that is related to it within itself –
meaning, message, author’s intention, coherence, cohesion, etc., post-structuralist
views propose that it is part of a process that initiates an interaction between its
author and its readers who become active participants in the creation of its meaning.
Moreover, since the same text is read by a multitude of readers, it may be assigned
a different meaning on every occasion when it is read, “because texts mean different
things to different people at different times” (Farahzad 2009: 125).
In a translation context, translators are the first readers to extract meaning
from a text, interpret it according to their own thinking (influenced by various
external factors peculiar of the context in which the text is read) and then envelop
it in the translated text they produce. Thus, an original piece of writing that is
polysemous in post-structuralist terms serves, to borrow Farahzad’s terminology,
as a “prototext” that is the source of as many “metatexts” obtained by translation
as there are translators who have dealt with it either working in the same target
language or in different ones.
Retranslations of the same prototext in the same target language weave a
web of metatexts between which two types of intertextual relations may be
established: a retranslation may be closely connected to its predecessor or it may
be “competitive against it”, in other words, their relationship may be described
as either “filiation” or “dissidence” (Zhang and Ma 2018: 577), the two may be
connected by “friendly filiation” or they may be “hostile stand-offs” (Hermans
2007: 35), voices may be “recirculated” in retranslation (Taivalkoski-Shilov
2006: 165) or new voices may be heard in response to the “challenge” to
retranslate (Deane 2011, Deane-Cox 2014), there may be continuity or
discontinuity between retranslations, as we suggested earlier in this article.
Our brief encounter of the three Romanian editions of Shakespeare’s

Complete Works stands as initial proof for the complexity of intertextuality along
these dichotomous lines in retranslation and invites to more in-depth investigation
of the similarities and differences between them.
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TRANSLATION STUDIES AND PRAGMATICS
INROADS
Titela VÎLCEANU
Setting the scene

In spite of the fact that the interconnection of the relatively newly-fledged
academic disciplines of pragmatics and translation studies is almost inevitable,
mainstream literature directly and/or the systematic approach of this multiple
interface is scarce or shows limited engagement, to say the least (notably,
Newmark 1988, Hickey 1998, Emery 2004, Kitis 2009, Morini 2013, Dicerto
2018, Kranich 2016, Tipton and Desilla 2019).
Taking an etymological look, pragmatics derives from the Greek prãgma -
act, and translation is rooted in the Latin verb transducere – to carry over.
Furthermore, translation has acquired several (transdisciplinary) meanings, such
as: “an all-encompassing term for processes of transfer, change of form or even
of location” (Laver and Mason 2018: 142). Seen in this light, the two fields of
investigation - pragmatics and translation studies - underpin a practical and
flexible approach viewing language in fluxu as action in relation to the world
around (meaning generation and negotiation could not take place in a social
vacuum) and especially to the situation concerned.
In an attempt to charter the areas of interference between pragmatics and
translation studies, we shall adopt both an inward and outward-looking
perspectives, as both sciences are concerned with the generation, understanding
and handling of contextual meaning and communicative action. If translation
studies generally involve two or more languages - translation is “The Land of the
Bilingual” (Vîlceanu 2003) and, more closely mapping the contemporary market,
the multilingual setting par excellence, pragmatics is, more often than not,
regarded as focusing on the analysis of particular language mechanisms.
However, the more or less distinct branches of applied pragmatics and
intercultural pragmatics can be rightly said to deal with cross-linguistic and cross-
cultural issues.
Another important mention concerns the fact that traditionally, pragmatics
is exclusively concerned with utterances, i.e. with the spoken text production and
reception, whereas translation favours the written text (the dichotomy translation
vs. interpreting is activated, the spoken text rendering from the source language
to the target language takes place while interpreting rather than translating).
Such comparisons between pragmatics and translation studies might seem
indirect. In a more ostensible manner, the hybridization of the two fields of
investigation is indicated by the notions of pragmatics of translation and pragmatic
translation, which deserve further attention. According to the Dictionary of
Translation and Interpretation (Laver and Mason, 2018 - this dedicated
encyclopaedic work represents a small sub-part of The Encyclopaedic Dictionary
of Speech and Language whose completion covered a time span of 20 years), the
pragmatics of translation typically covers topics such as illocutionary force,
perlocutionary effect, implicature (therefore, speech acts, to use a blanket term),
inference, presupposition, face management - I add common ground and relevance
to the list, alongside the highly specific translation-oriented notion of equivalence
(merging semantic and pragmatic meaning), etc. (Laver and Mason, 2018: 102).
Pragmatic translation “puts a premium on an accurate translation of the
communicative intent of the source text” (Laver and Mason 2018: 6) - at the other
end of the cline, pragmatic translation may well be shaped by skopos (the Greek
word for purpose) ensuring the status and function of translation in the target
culture. In my opinion, the two notions - pragmatics of translation and pragmatic
translation - seem to overlap, especially if we broaden the scope of the latter.
The translator as a pragmatic mediator

Delisle (1980) proposes a classification of translations into broad categories,
pragmatic translation opposing literary translation on account of the source text
function. Pragmatic translation is currently referred to by another all-inclusive
term, namely specialized translation, therefore mainly associated with texts for
specific purposes (text acts).
Wilss (1982) goes beyond the purely linguistic level and endorses the
concept of textual and pragmatic equivalence, integrating extratextual/
extralinguistic factors such as the text function(s) and participants’ role (namely,
the translator's and the reader's) in the communication process. Baker (1992)
dwells upon pragmatic equivalence through the lens of coherence, presupposition
and implicature, and operationally extends Grice's (1975) Cooperative Principle
across languages and cultures.
In this line of pragmatic approach, the text is no longer seen in isolation, it
is regarded as a text-in-situation, playing a specific role in both the source and the
target context. This will lead to a shift in groundbreaking translation scholarship
- from prescriptive views to descriptive and functionalist ones, focusing on the
choice of texts, on the way they are translated in their context of use and on how
and why they are produced, disseminated and received.
Newmark (1988: 133), also doing pioneering work, equates translation to
“the reader’s or readership’s reception of the translation” while presumptive
meanings are activated and the translator should be aware of the target
readership’s expectations and sensitivities: “Readership is like context: it can
never be completely ignored, but it is more important on some occasions than on
others” (Newmark 1988: 135).
Hatim and Mason (1990: 91-92) describe the translator as a non-intended
receiver of the source text, i.e. he/she is not an addressee (in pragmatic terms). In
the first stage, the translator becomes an active reader-observer "constructing a
model of the intended meaning" of the source text and “forming judgements about
the probable impact” of the source text on the intended receivers. Next, the
translator takes up the role of a text producer, operating in a different socio-
cultural context, "seeking to reproduce his or her interpretation of speaker
meaning" (in fact the author's intended meaning) with a view to achieving the
intended effects on target text readership (the addressees, in this case).
The potential meaning intended by the author of the source text is conveyed
to the readers of the translation as a context-dependent response to the original
communicative act/speech event (Hickey 1998: 4); translation, as an act of
communication, works with “texts as sets of mutually relevant intentions”, in
which users (in our case, translators) “presuppose, implicate and infer meaning”
(Mason 1998: 170).
To Emery (2004), translation is a twofold meaning negotiation process,
consisting of two stages: interpretation of the source text meaning and its
rendering into the target text in compliance with the target-language expectancy
norms. Accordingly, the translator enters a pragmatic meaning negotiation
(decoding or interpretation) and renegotiation process (encoding or rendering). It
is also worth mentioning that in the first stage “the comprehension of a written
text cannot be taken for granted, since there is no partner to negotiate the
meaning” and “the relation is between the translator and the message, not between
texts in various cultures” (Croitoru 2006).
House (2008: 137) stresses the “bi-directionality” of translation over and
above the text dimension to secure pragmatic meaning - in other words, the
translator should demonstrate “simultaneous focus backwards to the source
language message and forwards to the (communicative conditions) of the target
language”. Hence, “doing things with texts” (recasting Austin's far-reaching
“How to do things with words” 1955/1962) engenders both retrospective views
and prospective ones as the case might be.
In the same climate of opinion, Morini (2013) goes beyond translation-
centred text taxonomies and language functions, advocating that
“a pragmatic theory of translation cannot do without a theory of text acts,

because translators and theorists have to look at the intended and real
effects of source texts and bi-texts in order to reproduce and analyse them.
If a translator aims at "doing what the source text does" in the target
language - with all the obstacles posed by linguistic and cultural barriers -
he/she must translate a "text act" rather than a mere text” (Morini 2013: 15-
16).
If we readily accept macro-structural concepts and the text act theory in

translation studies, it means that we take a step further than in pragmatics which,
as a rule, limits “the scope of analysis to adjacency pairs or conversational
exchanges rather than whole discourses” (Emery 2004: 145). Grice's (1975)
claims that language underpins inference mechanisms against contextual clues
and cooperation. Sperber and Wilson (1995) build the (Optimal) Relevance
Theory strongly supporting that inference enhances meaning comprehension. The
three scholars regard the meaning of utterances as embedded in context as a
whole; Sperber and Wilson (1995) consider that even in the cases in which
messages are faultily encoded - for various reasons, also signposted by Grice
(1975) under the label of infringing conversational maxims (quantity, quality,
relation and manner, taken in a segregate way or in various combinations) - the
hearer will still seek to recognize the speaker's intention by identifying "a
common purpose or set of purposes, or at least a mutually accepted direction”
(Grice 1989: 45).
Gutt (1991/2000) contends that the Relevance Theory is the key to
achieving a unified account of translation. He associates translation with an
inferential communicative process, i.e. with interlingual interpretive use.
Admittedly, a translation will be rightly called as such on condition that the target
text interpretively resembles the source text, even if the target language context
may differ from the source language context. From the translation standpoint,
inference should be cost-effective for the readers/addressees, based on a
MINIMAX strategy: “the information would be considered as not optimally
relevant if the processing effort needed to arrive at the information communicated
was disproportionate to the cognitive gains made” (Doherty 2002: 10).
Under the circumstances, Gutt's (1991/2000) interpretive resemblance may
be identified with equivalence in translation, especially when we envisage the
presumption of optimal resemblance (Gutt, 2000: 106). Pragmatic guidelines
place relevance on top: the translator's choice is contextual(ized) and individual
translation challenges may be better understood within the Relevance Theory
framework.
“Its most central axiom appears to be that translation is best studied by

systematic comparisons of the observable input and output of the
translation process: “input” being the original text, “output” being the
translated or target text” (Gutt 2000: 204).
Successful translation is premised by the idea that it interpretively
resembles the original content, rendered by the translator who is able to recover
the intended meaning and judge which are the relevant aspects of the original.
Gutt (1991/2000) distinguishes two broad categories: “indirect” and
“direct” translations; a “direct” translation is designed to function on its own and
may undergo changes so as to secure maximal relevance for the users; a “direct”
translation aims at interpretive resemblance - in other words, the interpretation of
a target text is as similar as possible to that of the source text “in the context
envisaged for the original” (Gutt 1991/2000: 177). Gutt (1991/2000: 140) adds
that “direct” translations presuppose “shared communicative clues” - like the
speaker/ communicator who provides the hearer “clues” supporting inference
work, and the translator who provides “communicative clues” to the intended
readership.
Pym (2010) welcomes the shift of focus represented by the Relevance
Theory approach to translation, interpretive resemblance becoming operative
within equivalence, due to the fact that it heavily depends on directionality.
Williams and Chesterman (2014: 19) make the source text analysis a priority with
a view to identifying the potential problems/ challenges as a preparatory stage in
translation, and to systematising and realigning (or even customizing) the toolkit
of pragmatic analysis. The analysis of the input (source text) and the output is
genuinely pragmatic in nature, seeking to establish their function(s) in the
corresponding culture, as well as the hierarchy of translation problems, etc.
(Vîlceanu 2016: 198).
As a matter of fact, translation “cannot be a franchised copy of the donor
text because of the translator's more or less visible hybrid positioning and face
saving strategies” (Vîlceanu 2009: 140). The translator should act stepwise and
proactively when spotting potential (and recurrent) translation problems;
ascribing them to one or more specific analytical dimensions; estimating the
impact of translation problems on the ascribed dimension(s); showing a sense of
purpose; deciding on the adequate translation strategies (also activating problem
solving skills) so as to achieve effectiveness and efficiency.
The context embeddedness of translation and pragmatics is further proven
by common ground in translation: the translator dynamically contributes via feed
forwarding, whereas the readership (ideally) provides feedback. Like text

interpretive resemblance, achieving common ground becomes a question of
anticipating frequent translation problems and of risk management/ avoidance,
i.e. relevant information is provided to meet the readership's needs/client’s
specifications as real life users of translation.
Conclusions
Without a shadow of a doubt, both pragmatics and translation studies are
bourgeoning independent fields of language investigation, getting to the root of
what is going on in texts as records of communicative acts, and accounting for the
relation of utterances/texts to the interpretation of their users’ intentions and
actions. Pragmatics has never ceased to inform translation theories and practices,
conceptually and methodologically alike. In line with Snell-Hornby (2018: 147),
I believe that “Translation Studies, and with it the transfer of translation
knowledge has blossomed in recent decades". It becomes ever more “tempting”
“to envisage a Translation Turn”, understood as a change of direction. It is the
turn of translation to lend more within interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary
landscapes.
References
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Language Learning, Teaching and Testing. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Austin, J. L. 1955/1962. How to Do Things with Words: The William James Lectures
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Baker, M. 1992. In Other Words. A Coursebook on Translation. London and New York:
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Analysis. London: Palgrave MacMillan.
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BOOK OF ABSTRACTS
The Translation Process: Traditional Approaches and Contemporary

Challenges
Like any other activity, translation as a process implies a series of cognitive steps
performed by the translator to achieve a pre-established purpose and deliver a
target text. In both theory and practice, translation has evolved rapidly in the past
decades, and translation studies, though young, has become a discipline in its own
rights. The translation process itself has witnessed many changes, most of them
as an answer form scholars and professionals to the demands of an ever-growing
language industry where translation projects meet challenging technological
requirements and translators need to have a fresh input on speed, volume, and
quality. The present research contributes to the existing studies in the specialised
literature and aims to offer an image of the translation process, which can be
helpful to students, professionals, scholars or everyone dealing with translation
tasks. In the first part of the paper, various traditional and contemporary
translation methods and translation processes were presented. The second part of
the paper highlights future research and pedagogical challenges surging from the
ways translations are done today. The expected answers from the scientific
community to some of the questions presented in this part will probably reshape
the future of the translation profession, and, at the same time, will show us new
ways of teaching and doing research in Translation Studies.
Key words: translation studies, translation process, translation methods, source

text understanding, target text assessment
A Reading of Fake News in Romanian Online Press Headlines

Gabriela DIMA
The present research is an illustration of the way in which Anglicisms occur in

Romanian online press, underlining their role in presenting news in various
moulds. The reading of the term fake news selected for discussion will revive
knowledge about its meanings and usage in the globalization era and its frequency
headlines selected from Cotidianul.ro and HotNews.ro.
Key words: communication, online press, headline, Anglicism, fake news
Translating Voices of Theory: Eugene A. Nida’s Romanian Voice

Rodica DIMITRIU
This contribution discusses the theorist’s and the translator’s voices as abstract
categories inscribed in texts, but also as extratextual distinctive tones of speech
which can be really ‘heard’ in dialogues between the interviewer-translator and
the theorist. Drawing on the author’s experience of translating Eugene A. Nida
into Romanian, the detailed analyses of the voice(s) of theory in the American
scholar’s texts lead to the conclusion that 1. in such cases the two dimensions of
voice significantly supplement each other and 2. when translations describe
source language specific aspects, they acquire a contrastive dimension which
adds further depth and amplitude to the “voice of theory” in the original text.
Key words: extratextual voice, intratextual voice, textual convention, register,

style, translator’s ethics.
Aspectual Cognate Object Constructions in English and Romanian

Imola-Ágnes FARKAS
The present contribution approaches aspectual cognate object constructions in

modern English (e.g. to sleep a sound sleep) and in Old Romanian (e.g. a dormita
o dormire ‘(lit.) to sleep a sleep’) focussing on a comparative analysis of the
syntactic and semantic features specific to such constructions in the two
languages envisaged.
Key words: cognate object, aspectual cognate object construction
A Comparative - Contrastive Approach to Auxiliary Verbs in English,

Romanian and Italian
Starting from the fact that auxiliary verbs have the same grammatical function,
irrespective of the language taken into consideration, the present contribution
aims at identifying relevant formal and semantic similarities and dissimilarities
between the most common auxiliary verbs in English, Romanian and Italian and
at proving that certain semantic features shared by the auxiliary verbs analyzed
(to be and to have) may represent a useful tool for teaching English auxiliary
verbs to Romanian and/or Italian students.
Key words: auxiliaries, duration, perfectivity, progress.
On the Use and Modification of English Idioms to Achieve

Expressivity and Humour
Iulian MARDAR and Antoanela Marta MARDAR
In the last decades, much attention has been paid to fixed, semantically opaque
expressions generally known as idioms. As any endeavor may have it, specialists
have not found a definition which best illustrates the multifaceted nature of such
patterns and have not reached a consensus regarding the types of fixed word
combinations which fully qualify as idioms.
Although the form or structure of idioms is important, the fact has often
been pointed out that their semantic opacity distinguishes idioms from other types
of fixed lexical patterns. From a stylistic point of view, the hidden, metaphorical
meaning of idioms turns such patterns into more expressive and entertaining
means of rendering one’s thoughts, feelings and emotions, especially in oral
communication. That is why idioms tend to be avoided in formal and neutral
contexts and are commonly selected in informal, stylistically-marked contexts in
which speakers need to communicate their ideas in an expressive and/or
entertaining manner.
A diachronic approach to idioms makes it obvious that such fixed lexical
patterns are closely influenced by relevant changes in language, culture and
society, two or more idioms being simultaneously available in certain languages
to render the same meaning. The frequent use of idioms in communication and
their being constantly updated to linguistic, cultural and social realities explains
why such semantically challenging lexical patterns represent a valuable resource
worth being exploited and researched.
Key words: expressivity, humour, opaque meaning, stylistically-marked contexts.
Linguistic Adaptation and Cultural Negotiation in Translating Romanian

Gastronyms
Nadia-Nicoleta MORĂRAȘU
Considered an important part of the national identity, gastronomy mirrors not

only its culture and civilisation but also the intrinsic relation established between
linguistic and societal changes. Based on the theoretical studies of Croitoru
(2006, 2008), Dumistrăcel (2006) and Munteanu Siserman (2013), the current
contribution proposes an examination of the manner in which the phenomenon of
social migration influences the linguistic fashion (Gruiță: 2007) in the discourse
of some Romanian restaurant menus. Moreover, by approaching the translation
of culture-specific elements of gastronyms, we intend to highlight the role of the
translator of menu texts as a cultural mediator and the importance of “tailoring”
as a means of “adjusting the wording of a text to make it suitable for its particular
readership” (Mossop 2001).
Key words: cultural mediation, gastronyms, menu texts

On the Physics Jargon in Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons”
Ana-Maria PÂCLEANU
Dan Brown’s novels have been in the spotlight for many years now due to
controversial content that regards the conflict between religion and science.
However, one of the most intriguing characteristics of Brown’s fiction consists
in fringe theories presented as academically accurate facts. Undoubtedly, to well-
versed audiences, the elements that make up his subject matters are nothing but
pseudoscience. Contrarily, the writer’s ability to use scientific jargon could make
less versed readers think that the presented theories are genuine.
Thus, by analysing the recurrence and use of the scientific terminology, the
present contribution aims at proving the contribution of the scientific jargon to
the verisimilitude of the novel.
Keywords: physics jargon, verisimilitude, pseudoscience, lexical reiteration,

packaging of meaning.
Shakespeare’s Complete Works in Romanian. Filiation or Dissidence?

Dana PERCEC and Loredana PUNGĂ
Shakespeare has been in the attention of Romanian translators for more than one
hundred years now. Starting in the late 19th century, the Bard’s plays and sonnets
have reached their Romanian audience either as isolated translations, or as Complete
Works. The latter have known three editions so far: one published under Mihnea
Gheorghiu’s supervision by Editura de Stat pentru Literatură și Artă, in the 50s and
60s, one supervised by Leon Levițchi, printed by Univers in the 80s and the latest,
completed in 2019, coordinated by George Volceanov and launched by Paralela 45
and Tracus Arte. As expected, each of these editions bears the footprint of both those
who set the translation framework and of the socio-cultural and political context in
which the translation was made. The present research focuses on these two
dimensions of the three Romanian Complete Works, highlighting what they share
and, especially, what individualizes them.
Key words: intertextuality, retranslation, translation, Shakespeare’s reception.

Translation Studies and Pragmatics Inroads

Titela VÎLCEANU
The contribution is premised by the idea that translation studies and pragmatics
represent two relatively newly-fledged academic disciplines, in spite of the long-
established tradition of pragmatic ideas and translation empirical views. The
insights that pragmatics has provided for translation studies are widely
acknowledged; however, the gains of pragmatics in this fruitful relationship that
they have built and developed by virtue of common vested interests are not in the
limelight. On the outset, the two fields of investigation seem to be related by using
comparative and contrastive approaches in the management of language and
culture. It would be misleading to retain only such prototypical resemblances, and
it will prove rewarding to go in-depth, to unearth the hidden agenda. Under the
circumstances, the paper aims to highlight some of their areas of interference,
both conceptually and methodologically, as well as the transplantation and
evolution of key concepts that translation studies and pragmatics have come to
share. Translation studies and pragmatics can be rightly considered neighbouring
sciences, rising to the status of transdisciplines, and if we accept the idea that the
state-of-the-art research paradigm belongs to transfer sciences, they stand a good
chance to become leading candidates, at least in the Humanities field.
Key words: pragmatics, translation studies, transdiscipline, relevance, interpretive

resemblance
NOTES ON THE CONTRIBUTORS
Elena BONTA is a Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and

Literatures, at “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacău, Romania. She teaches
courses in English lexicology, pragmatics of conversational discourse, discursive
practices and verbal interactions and self-referential communication practices and
her research areas of interest include interactional pragmatics, lexicology, applied
linguistics, verbal interactions, language teaching and conversation analysis.
Elena Bonta is the editor of Perspectives on Interaction (Newcastle upon Tyne,
2013) and the author of relevant studies in her fields of interest among which A
terminological guide to interactional pragmatics (Cluj- Napoca, 2015),
Understanding language autobiographies (Lambert Academic Publishing,
2015), Teaching English: a pragmatic approach (Bacău, 2011), Elements of
English lexicology (Bacău, 2008) and “Joking as a semiotic practice and means
of spiritual survival. A pragma-linguistic and stylistic approach”, in Respectus
Philologicus, 20 (25), 2011 (co-author).
Email: bonta.elena@ub.ro
Iulia Veronica COCU is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Letters, ”Dunărea

de Jos” University of Galați, Romania, teaching English for Specific Purposes to
the students specializing in computer science, electrical engineering, electronics
and automatics, and to the students specializing in economics. Her doctoral
dissertation, Black Humour: A Stylistic Approach, was defended at “Alexandru
Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi, Romania, in 2012 and it was published by Lambert
Academic Publishing in 2013. She has published English for IT (E 4 IT), a course
book for the computer science students of the Faculty of Automatics, Computers,
Electrical Engineering and Electronics, as well as such research papers on
computer science terminology as: The Language of Social Networks – the Lingua
Franca of Tomorrow (Cluj-Napoca, 2016), Types of Exercises and Activities

Used in Teaching English for IT Vocabulary (Cluj-Napoca, 2017) and
(Un)questionable Use of Anglicisms in Romanian Computerese (Târgoviște,
2019).
Email: niulia24@gmail.com
Gabriela Iuliana COLIPCĂ – CIOBANU is an Associate Professor at the

Department of English, Faculty of Letters, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi,
Romania. She holds an MA in Translation and Interpreting from “Dunărea de
Jos” University of Galaţi (2000) and a PhD in Comparative Literature and
Literary Theory from the University of Leiden, the Netherlands (The Ways of the
Novel, or the Quest for Verisimilitude in the Eighteenth-Century French and
English Novel, Leiden: UFB/ GrafiMedia Universiteit Leiden, 2005). She
currently teaches courses on British Culture and Civilisation and English
Renaissance Literature, at undergraduate level, Narrative Patterns in Fiction and
Film, Shakespeare on Screen, and Cultural Frontiers and Representations of
Otherness, at postgraduate level. Her research interests include English culture,
English literature (especially Renaissance literature), narratology, imagology,
adaptation studies, film studies, translation studies. She (co-)edited several
conference proceedings volumes (including Translation Studies: Retrospective
and Prospective Views, TRAS.RE.P 2, 1-2 November 2007, Galaţi, 2007) and
published numerous chapters, articles and conference papers relevant for her
research interests, among which: “Shakespeare in Contemporary Romanian
Advertising” (Cluj-Napoca, 2016), “Metaphor and Self/Other Representations: A
Study on British and Romanian Headlines on Migration” (London, co-authored
in 2014), „Henric al VI-lea, Partea Întâi: Cea mai controversată piesă a canonului
shakespearian” (București, 2013), “Shandying Translation, Translating
Shandeism” (Newcastle upon Tyne, 2009).
Email: gabriela.colipca@ugal.ro
Daniel DEJICA is a Professor in translation studies at “Politehnica” University

of Timișoara, Romania. His research interests include translation theory and
methodology, LSP translation, and discourse analysis for translation purposes.
Daniel Dejica is a member of the Advanced Translation Research Center (ATRC)
team at the University of Saarbrucken, Germany and a member of the Doctoral
Studies Committee of the European Society for Translation Studies. He has been
co-editing the Proceedings of the Professional Communication and Translation
Studies conference, organized at “Politehnica” University of Timișoara since
2001; he has also been a member in the editorial boards of other international
peer reviewed journals including ConneXions: International professional
communication journal (New Mexico Tech), MuTra Journal (University of
Saarbrucken), or The European English Messenger (ESSE - European Society
for the Study of English); he is also the coordinator of the Translation Studies
book series at “Politehnica” Publishing House.
Email: daniel.dejica@upt.ro
Anca DEJICA-CARȚIȘ is a Senior Lecturer at “Politehnica” University of

Timișoara, Romania, where she teaches German as a Foreign Language,
Contemporary German and Economic Translation. Her research interests include
German Linguistics and Translation Studies. As a teacher and researcher, she has
participated during the years at various training programs, scientific conferences
and congresses, summer schools, workshops and at round tables. She has
authored one book and more than twenty scientific articles, and co-authored two
dictionaries.
Email: anca.cartis@upt.ro
Gabriela DIMA is a Professor with a PhD in philology at the Faculty of Letters,

”Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați, Romania. Her doctoral dissertation
entitled Verbele sentiendi în limbile engleză și română / Verba sentiendi in
English and Romanian was published in 2002 and focused on a syntactic and
semantic analysis of this linguistically complex category of verbs. Her expertise
covers English language and linguistics, terminology and translation studies. She
has disseminated her research in teaching courses in syntax, semantics,
lexicography, translation and terminology to both BA and MA students and in

publishing books / chapters in books and scientific articles in the specified areas.
E-mail: gabriela.dima@ugal.ro
Rodica DIMITRIU is a Professor at the Department of English, “Alexandru Ioan

Cuza” University of Iaşi, Romania, and coordinator of the BA and MA translation
programmes at this university. She is the author of five books, among which
Aldous Huxley in Romania(n), Theories and Practice of Translation and The
Cultural Turn in Translation Studies, and of many articles, published abroad, as
well as in Romania, in the fields of Translation Studies, British literature, Cultural
Studies and ELT. She has translated Eugene A. Nida into Romanian (2004) and
co-edited, with Miriam Shlesinger, Translators and Their Readers, an
international volume in homage to him. She is editor-in-chief of
LINGUACULTURE, the international journal of the Department of English, Iaşi,
and a member in the editorial board (Vita Traductiva) and advisory boards of
several prestigious international journals indexed ISI Web of Knowledge
Perspectives. Studies in Translatology, Across Languages and Cultures, ESP
across Cultures, etc); she also coordinates the Translation Studies series at
Institutul European Publishing House, Iasi, Romania.
Email: rodica.dimi@gmail.com
Imola-Ágnes FARKAS is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of English

Language and Literature, Faculty of Letters, “Babeş-Bolyai” University of Cluj-
Napoca, Romania. She is member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS),
the European Society for the Study of English (ESSE), Societas Linguistica
Europaea (SLE) and the Association of Researchers in Theoretical and Applied
Linguistics (ARTA). Her academic interests lie in theoretical linguistics,
generative syntax and formal semantics. She has published papers in English,
Romanian and Hungarian on resultative constructions, the syntax of adjectives,
cartography, the syntax and semantics of inner aspect, the semantics of the verb,
as well as in the syntax and semantics of cognate objects.
Email: farkas.imola.agnes@gmail.com
Anna GIAMBAGLI is an Associate Professor at Scuola Superiore di Lingue
Moderne per Interpreti e Traduttori, University of Trieste, Italy and a freelance
conference interpreter in Italy and abroad. She teaches consecutive and
simultaneous interpreting (from French into Italian) and her research interests
cover discourse analysis for interpreting purposes, registers of language,
nonverbal and paralinguistic features in consecutive and simultaneous
interpreting, non-conference setting in dialogue interpretation. She has presented
numerous papers in international conferences in Barcelona, Cassino, Geneva,
Galati, Graz, Madrid, Milan, Prague, Rome, Sassari, Skopje, Trieste and London
Westminster and has authored about 40 research articles published in national
and international reviews.
Email: agiambagli@units.it
PETRU IAMANDI is an Associate Professor with the English Department of

the Faculty of Letters, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați, Romania, and a
member of the Romanian Writers’ Union. He has written American Culture for
Democracy (2001), English and American Literature – Science Fiction (2003),
American History and Civilization (2004), SF - Literature about the Future
(2004), An Outline of American English (2008), An Introduction to Consecutive
and Simultaneous Interpreting (2010), English for 14 Careers (2011); edited The
Clock That Went Backward. An Anthology of Early American Science Fiction
(2010), The Murder at the Duck Club. An Anthology of British and American
Detective Stories (2012), The Voice in the Night. An Anthology of British and
American Horror Stories (2013), Around the World in 80 Fairy Tales (2015); and
compiled an English-Romanian Dictionary (2000). He is the co-author and co-
editor of several literary dictionaries and English textbooks. Petru Iamandi has
translated more than one hundred books (prose, poetry, drama, non-fiction) from
English into Romanian and Romanian into English, some of which have been
published in the United States. Among the most prominent authors he has
translated are Nobel Prize winners John Steinbeck, Nadine Gordimer and Harold
Pinter, the Man Booker Prize winner Richard Flanagan, and the Women’s Prize
for Fiction winner A. M. Homes. For the high quality of his translations, Iamandi
has received a number of awards from the Romanian Writers’ Union and various
literary magazines.
Email: petruiamandi51@gmail.com
Antoanela Marta MARDAR is a Senior Lecturer of English language at the

Faculty of Letters, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, Romania. Her research
activity covers English, Romanian and Italian linguistics, translation and cultural
studies, special attention being devoted to comparative-contrastive studies in the
domains of phraseology, morphology, syntax and semantics (“Idiomacity vs.
“Repeated Discourse”: Comparative Approaches in English and Romanian” -
2011; “On the Usefulness of Shared Syntax. A Case Study: Temporal and
Conditional Clauses in English, Romanian and Italian” - 2013; “Teaching English
Collocations as Marks of Linguistic and Cultural Identity” 2018). Much of her
recent research has been focused on teaching tense and aspect to Romanian
learners of English by using shared formal and semantic matrixes (“On the
Practicality of Using Formal and Semantic Matrixes in Teaching English Tenses”
- 2018, “On the Usefulness of Using Formal and Semantic Similarities in
Teaching English and Italian Hypothetical Constructions” 2019).
Email: antoanela.mardar@ugal.ro
Iulian MARDAR is a PhD Student at the Faculty of Letters, “Dunărea de Jos”

University of Galaţi, Romania. His recent research activity has been centered on
English idioms, but special attention has also been paid to a series of morphology-
and syntax- related topics relevant for his teaching activity. Iulian Mardar is the
co-founder of The House of English, Galati (www.thoe.ro) and a teacher of
English with over 20 years of teaching experience to students of various ages and
levels of linguistic competence.
Email: iulian19722002@yahoo.com
Isabela MERILĂ is an Associate Professor at the Department of English,
Faculty of Letters, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, Romania. She publicly
defended her doctoral dissertation in British and American Literature at
“Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași in 2008 and published it in 2014. She
currently teaches courses on Medieval English Literature, at undergraduate level,
World Literature in English and Simultaneous Interpreting, at postgraduate level.
Her most recent research focuses on teaching methodology in higher education
and on textual representations of identity and otherness. Among her
representative publications, mention may be made of the following: “A Question
of Method: Reading War Poetry at Undergraduate Level” (2020), Medieval
English Literature. Seminar Activities (Europlus 2016), “To Mean a Multitude of
Somethings” (2010), “Textually Constructing Identity and Otherness: Mediating
the Romanian Hip-Hop Message” (co-author 2009), “Shifting Perspectives:
Colonial Otherings in Rushdie's Midnight's Children” (2006).
Email: isabela.merila@ugal.ro
Nadia-Nicoleta MORĂRAŞU is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Letters

of “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacău, Romania. She holds an MA in
Sciences of Languages and Communication and a PhD in Philology. In addition
to teaching courses related to different branches of linguistics and stylistics, she
is involved in transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary research activities on name
and identity studies. She is also the manager of Bacău Europe Direct Information
Centre, a project financed by the European Commission in partnership with
“Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacău.
Email: morarasu.nadia@ub.ro
Mariana NEAGU is a Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the

Faculty of Letters, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați, Romania. She teaches
graduate courses on Phonology and Semantics, as well as an MA course on
Aspects of Style in Translation and is a member of the Research Centre Interface
research of the original and translated text. Cognitive and communicative
aspects of the message of the Department of English. Mariana Neagu is the co-
editor of Translation Studies: Retrospective and Prospective Views Journal and a

reviewer of national and international peer reviewed journals (Language,
Individual and Society) and she has participated, as an Erasmus lecturer, in MA
and BA programmes at the Universities of Aachen (Rheinisch Westfalische
Technische Hoschschule) and La Rioja, Spain. Her present research interests
include figurative language in the literary discourse, style in cognitive stylistics,
metaphor and metonymy understanding and translation.
E-mail: mariana.neagu@ugal.ro
Carmen OPRIT-MAFTEI is an Associate Professor at the English Department

of the Faculty of Letters,”Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, Romania. She
was awarded her PhD title in general linguistics by “Al. I. Cuza” University of
Iaşi in 2007 and published her PhD dissertation (Diateza îm română și engleză.
Studiu de gramatică contrastivă - Voice in English and Romanian. A Contrastive
Study) in 2016. Her research activity includes over sixty articles, studies, book
reviews and chapters in books. She co-authored English for Marketing (2002)
together with Floriana Popescu and Corina Andone and published English for the
Business World in 2016. Her academic areas of interest are Business English,
translation studies, ESP, academic writing.
E-mail: c_maftei@yahoo.com
Ana-Maria PÂCLEANU is a Junior Lecturer at the Faculty of Letters, ”Dunărea

de Jos” University of Galați, Romania. In 2016 she defended her doctoral
dissertation Not Only Taboo- Translating the Controversial Before, During and
After Communism approaching the effects of communist censorship on
translations and the challenges faced by translators during communism in
Romania which was published in 2018. Ana Maria Pâcleanu is currently
continuing her research on translation strategies and on the importance of
thorough translation-oriented analyses of source texts at all linguistic levels.
Email: anamaria.pacleanu@gmail.com
Hortensia PÂRLOG is Professor Emerita of English language at the West
University of Timişoara, Romania. Her publications include numerous books and
studies on phonetics and phonology, the English noun and verb phrase,
translation studies, collocations, lexical borrowings into Romanian, as well as
dictionaries of collocations. She is the founder and editor of the B.A.S./ British
and American Studies journal (https://litere.uvt.ro/publicatii/ BAS/index.htm).
She served as chair-person of RSEAS (Romanian Society of English and
American Studies) and member of the ESSE Board (1996 – 2002), as Secretary
of ESSE (European Society for the Study of English) (2002 – 2008), and as editor
of The European English Messenger (2013 – 2015).
Email: abaparlog@gmail.com
Dana PERCEC is a Professor of English in the Department of Foreign

Languages and Literatures at the West University of Timișoara, Romania, with a
BA, MA and PhD in English studies from the same university. Her areas of
interest include English literature, especially Shakespeare studies, British studies
and gender studies. She has published several books and textbooks in these fields
of expertise and has edited a series of volumes in genre theory and genre analysis.
Her two latest (co-authored) books envisage the cultural history of European
witchcraft, poisoning and dream interpretation, to be followed by another volume
about the cultural history of torture and lying. She is a member of the Romanian
Writers’ Union and of several international and national professional
associations, as well as a member in the editorial board or advisory board of a
few scientific journals in Romania and abroad. She has been a PhD supervisor in
Philology since 2015.
Email: dana.percec@e-uvt.ro
Floriana POPESCU is a Professor of English and Applied Linguistics at the

Faculty of Letters, ”Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați, Romania who
elaborated and defended her doctoral dissertation at the University of Bucharest
in 1999. This research, with the title Tempo-aspectualitate contrastivă, was
published in 2000. She currently teaches undergraduate courses on English

lexicology and applied linguistics (the English verb phrase) and an MA course on
the theory and practice of ESP to the students specializing in Translation and
Interpreting. Her research interests cover historiography, (comparative)
lexicology, lexicography and phraseology, terminology, translation studies,
English for specific purposes, and the history of the English language.
Email: florianapopescu@yahoo.com
Loredana PUNGĂ is an Associate Professor in the Department of Foreign

Languages and Literatures at the West University of Timișoara, Romania. Her
domains of expertise are English lexicology, applied and cognitive linguistics and
translation studies. She holds an MA in British and American Studies and a PhD
in Philology from the university where she currently teaches. Her publications
include books such as On Language and Ecology (2006) and Words about Words:
An Introduction to English Lexicology (2011) and book chapters in thematic
volumes, most of them published abroad. Loredana Pungă is (co)-editor of three
volumes published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing (the most recent of which
is Language in Use. Metaphors in Non-Literary Contexts) and member of the
editorial board of two academic journals – Translationes and British and
American Studies, both indexed in a number of important international databases.
She has published over thirty-five articles in her areas of research and has
attended over thirty conferences both in Romania and abroad. Loredana Pungă
has been a PhD supervisor in philology since 2016.
Email: loredana.punga@e-uvt.ro
Titela VÎLCEANU is a Professor and PhD Supervisor at the Department of

British-American and German Studies, Faculty of Letters, University of Craiova.
She was director of the Department of Publications and Media between 2012 and
2016, and has been Director of The Translatio Centre for Translation, University
of Craiova, Romania, since 2012. Her research focus is on Translation Studies,
Pragmatics, Intercultural communication and Legal English. She is also a
methodologist accredited by the British Council Romania and by the University
of Edinburgh, Institute for Applied Language Studies; a Romanian language
linguistic administrator (AD5) in the field of translation, certified by the
European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) - European Commission.
Membership of professional bodies: Chair of RSEAS (The Romanian Society for
English and American Studies), Member of ESSE Board (The European Society
for the Study of English), etc.
Email: elavilceanu@yahoo.com

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Casa Cărții de Știință

* The contributions in Section 3 were double-peer reviewed

© Antoanela Marta Mardar, 2020.

Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Naţionale a României

Casa Cărţii de Ştiinţă

THE EDITOR’S NOTE .......................................................................................... 9

The present volume is intended as a symbolic recognition of Professor

Antoanela Marta MARDAR

PROFESSOR ELENA CROITORU

examination to the English – Romanian language and literature BA programme

AM: You completed your undergraduate studies in English and Romanian

for students majoring and minoring in English. I am very grateful to Professor

AM: You participated in countless conferences organized in Romania and abroad

AM: Switching our attention to your professional encounters with Romanian

I cannot but mention my professional encounters with Professor Dumitru

AM: Scientific advisor of doctoral dissertations in the programme of doctoral

obvious in the way I was completely absorbed by my profession and mission, in

Letter sent to Professor Elena Croitoru by Eugene Nida in 1997

Interview with Professor Geoffrey Leech at RSEAS Conference in 2004

Report on the RSEAS Conference by Anna Giambagli, SSLMIT, University of Trieste

The CNCSIS Certificate testifying

Certificate of Fidelity awarded to Professor Elena Croitoru

Whenever I go out to do some shopping or just for a walk, I am bound to meet

In the field of linguistics, Translation Studies has become a fully-fledged

Elena Croitoru was also a constant point of reference, as editor-in-chief of

Gratitude is the memory of the heart (Italian proverb)

For five years, Professor Croitoru delivered the course Theories of

Her interactive way of teaching, the relaxed environment she secured

I recall the class hours spent together; beyond the exceptional

2. It is important to display modesty about your own knowledge but to

Professor Elena Croitoru`s name and plethora of activities that materialized in a

Contemporary Discursive Forms (INTERSTUD), in the Faculty of Letters,

3. Approachability and friendliness, along with promotion of respectful

University students need these teacher`s traits, as much as younger students in

I remember I felt relaxed, and comfortable in her presence. (Ioana-

4. Creating a sense of community needs to be a main objective for teachers

It is well-known that a sense of identity within a group is considered to bring

My name is Iulian Mardar and I am a teacher of English. Nothing out of the

notes in English while listening to a lecture on Romanian literature, givrn in

Name CROITORU ELENA

EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2017 - present Scientific advisor of doctoral dissertation within the

2012 - 2017 Director of the Doctoral School of Social Sciences and

2008 Consultant for proposals and suggestions as an Erasmus

European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO), Brussels,

✓ The ESSE International Conference, University of Torino, Italy, co-

• keynote speaker (plenaries) invited at International Conferences organized in

• chair / co-chiar at International Conferences organized in Romania and

• member of the scientific committee of international conferences:

• member of the scientific committees of reviews and volumes:

• director of the project Translation Studies: Retrospective and Prospective

ORGANIZER OF SCIENTIFIC EVENTS

• member of the organizing committee of the International Conference

MEMBERSHIP OF SCIENTIFIC AND PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

AWARDS AND PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION

INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMES AND RESEARCH

BOOKS AND DICTIONARIES

2004 Confusables as Translation Traps, Iaşi: Institutul European

2004 English through Translations. Interpretation and Translation-

2005 English Language and Literature. Representations and

2002 Vinul – aliment, tonic si medicament by Mircea Leonte (collaboration

BOOK AND DICTIONARY REVIEWS/PRESENTATIONS

2011 Hulban Horia: Dicţionar englez – român de expresii şi locuţiuni, in