<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>Speaking a foreign language implies more than knowing its vocabulary and grammar. As such, teachers of foreign languages should keep this in mind and consider also other aspects than the ones mentioned. Attention should be paid to pragmatics and cultural issues, among others. The present essay aims to highlight the importance of raising foreign language students’ awareness of national and international linguistic and cultural behaviours. It describes briefly the field of cross-cultural pragmatics, focusing on speech acts and their culture-sensitive features. Then, it turns to one of the most important types of speech acts, namely compliment exchanges. Taking into consideration the key role played in cross-cultural communication by the appropriateness of compliments and their expected answers, the article proposes several activities to do in class in order to (1) raise students’ awareness regarding the importance of compliments for successful communication, (2) present them the usual patterns, topics, and cultural particularities of compliments, (3) familiarise students with possible communication threats, and (4) provide them with possible strategies to answer compliments. The activities are not restricted to students of foreign languages in general but are recommended also to those studying specialised subjects in foreign languages, such as communication, translation and interpreting.</abstract>

Speech Acts across Cultures: Teaching Compliment Exchanges

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
This article presents an archetypal reading of Bharati Mukherjee’s <italic>Jasmine</italic> that foregrounds the narrator’s agency in her sequential transformations in the narrative. The critic starts from a broader conception of the term agency that encapsulates those instinctive types of actions in which the protagonist, and people in everyday life, find themselves implicated. In other words, the term agency should not be limited to fully conscious and deliberate acts, hence the concept “instinctive agency.” Other scholars have seen that the denomination factor in <italic>Jasmine</italic>, i.e. the fact that every characterological transformation the narrator experiences coincides with a name given to her by a male partner, is a clear sign of her diminishing subjectivity and lack of agency. This study refutes this claim by foregrounding the agentive role of her personal history, and by presenting a thorough psychological and archetypal analysis of the male partners with whom she relates. This article also refutes Mukherjee’s claim that complete abnegation of the old self is required for transformation to occur. By highlighting the ways in which the protagonist’s old Indian self comes to the surface time and again throughout her journey, the article evidences that the author’s views regarding self-transformation are psychologically unrealistic. The article concludes with the perspective that it is inaccurate to regard Jasmine as a sheer receptacle of male power and postcolonial influence, and that a deeper psychological reading substantiates her agency and subjectivity in the postmodern world in which her narrative of self-transformation unfolds.
</abstract>

An Archetypal Reading of Bharati Mukherjee’s <italic>Jasmine:</italic> Instinctive Agency and the Individuation Process

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The purpose of this essay is to present how Japanese eating habits have changed in the context of globalization. We start from the premise that eating is not merely about meeting a basic need, but about creating a relationship with nature. It can be regarded as a ritual practice because it reveals a culture and its people’s beliefs, values and mind-sets. As Geert Hofstede et al. note, life in Japan is highly ritualized and there are a lot of ceremonies (192). Starting from the idea that food consumption is based on rituals too, we intend to explain the relationship between eating habits and lifestyle change in contemporary Japan. Considering that the Japanese diet is based on whole or minimally processed foods, we ask ourselves how Western food habits ended up being adopted and adapted so quickly in the Japanese society. With this purpose in mind, we intend to describe some of the most important festivals and celebrations in Japan, focusing on the relationship between special occasions and food. In other words, we aim to explain the cultural significance of food and eating and to see if and how these habits have changed in time.
</abstract>

Japan’s Food Culture – From <italic>Dango</italic> (Dumplings) to <italic>Tsukimi</italic> (Moon-Viewing) Burgers

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
This article explores the aetiology and the psychogenesis of Macbeth’s tyrannical ambitions and the growth of his psychic degradation. Macbeth deigns to be an incorrigible regicide, but his ambition is ultimately overpowered by his conscience. This aporetic conflict is ultimately fatal to his morality and sense of Self. Character analysis informed by psychoanalytic criticism will investigate the protagonist’s tormented psyche in its struggle between the ego-syntonic (Persona) and the ego-dystonic (Shadow) leading to neurosis that culminates in psychosis as Macbeth’s identity fractures throughout the play. The ontological issue of the Witches is explored in an attempt to explain the role the metamorphic environment plays in Macbeth’s psychic atrophy. For this reason, the Witches present us with the conundrum of their being both phenomenal and noumenal. Macbeth’s difficulty to distinguish between the real and the phantasmagoric results in a psychotic breakdown. Accordingly, he becomes a mad tyrant seeking to protect his unlawful reign.
</abstract>

The Aetiology and the Pyschogenesis of Tyrannical Behaviour in <italic>Macbeth</italic>

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
This article undertakes a comparative analysis of the English and Chinese voice-lines of specific characters in <italic>Genshin Impact – </italic>a well-known open world role-playing video game developed by Mihoyo Technology <italic>– </italic>and examines the cultural implications that might have led to varied translations. By closely scrutinizing linguistic adaptations and cultural nuances, the study aims to shed light on how these differences in translation significantly influence the perception of characters among their respective audiences globally. The research delves into the complex choices made by translators and their impact on character representation, addressing the discourse on the interplay between language and culture, and how these intersect with in-game narratives. In doing so, the article not only offers valuable insights into the intricacies of cross-cultural adaptation in regards to video game localization, but also contributes to a broad understanding of how linguistic choices actively shapes the audience’s perception when navigating the immersive world of <italic>Genshin Impact</italic>.
</abstract>

Translating Identities: How Cultural Choices Shape Character Perception in <italic>Genshin Impact</italic>

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Dark academia is a fandom-created genre that draws on campus novels and thriller murder mysteries and extrapolates its aesthetic affects from the Gothic. At the heart of dark academia is a story set in a nostalgic academic fantasy that involves murder, a close-knit group of students who are obsessed with each other and detrimentally absorbed in their intellectual pursuits. Using nostalgia theory, I argue that the genre’s theme of darkness in tandem with its affects of nostalgia operate as simulacra for the anxieties experienced in academia and on campuses, specifically for its student body. Dark academia as a genre is a reaction to the political threats to the humanities education, which stands for a reification of the value of a more classical education for the love of learning. But, at the same time, while some bathe academia in a nostalgic light, others have criticized how dark academia turns a blind eye to structural issues inherent in academia for generations. However, dark academia is a contemporary genre that quickly evolves in response to those criticisms. By tracing the history of dark academia and its canon development over the years, I examine how dark academia self-critiques campus nostalgia and unveils the academy’s history of violence against women and racism against people of colour.
</abstract>

Nostalgia in Dark Academia

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
“If you translate long into the machine, the machine translates back into you,” is one of the issues the present article strives to establish and explore qualitatively. I intend to examine the effectiveness and efficiency of machine-assisted translations of significant literary works from a hermeneutical perspective. Essentially, I analyse the output of automated translation platforms such as Google Translate and compare them to human translation. This investigation is valuable in determining whether translators should exercise caution when utilizing translation platforms for culturally rich literary works. Additionally, the article scrutinizes the localisation, cultural, and grammatical coherence of Homer’s <italic>The Iliad </italic>translated from English to Romanian using the Google Translate platform. The human translations used are rendered into English and Romanian from Greek. As Homer’s Greek remains incomprehensible to the translation platform, we employ a secondary translation technique for a tertiary machine-assisted output. Nonetheless, this approach highlights the serious pitfalls of using translation platforms haphazardly in translation work. This analysis will show how awareness of the machine’s imperfect translation capabilities may, in turn, enhance the human translator’s awareness of what works while translating with the help of a translation application.
</abstract>

On the Efficiency and Efficacy of Machine-Assisted Literary Translation: A Case Study for English/Romanian and Romanian/English Machine-Assisted Translation

Massimiliano Morini. <italic>Theatre Translation: Theory and Practice</italic>. Bloomsbury Academic, 2022. Pp. 166. ISBN: 978-1-3501-9562-2 (hardcover).

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The present article aims at presenting features specific to translating dramatic texts, the peculiarities of the genre and how these can be tackled in the process of translating. The case study comprises an analysis of the translation and adaptation for radio broadcasting of Samuel Beckett’s <italic>Krapp’s Last Tape</italic>. Theoreticians have constantly pointed out that drama translators should always focus on the performability, speakability, gestural and aural dimensions of the text, given that the final product has to be playable in front of an audience. The ultimate goal is to obtain a text that sounds natural and is easily understood, where the aural and gestural dimensions fit and work together. In order to make the translated text performable in another medium, certain changes are necessary. In the present case study – adapting a play for radio broadcasting –, everything visual becomes aural, and in this process stage directions are the most challenging to be handled. Adding, omitting or rephrasing are options that the translator has to constantly consider.
</abstract>

Specific Problems Posed by Drama Translation: Translating and Adapting Samuel Beckett’s <italic>Krapp’s Last Tape </italic>for the Radio. A Case Study

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Translation and translators are emerging as powerful catalysts for promoting vibrant cross-cultural interaction among individuals from different backgrounds. Commonly perceived as the process of converting content from one language to another, translation is a nuanced and multifaceted endeavor that transcends mere linguistic conversion. Translators act as adept mediators, deftly navigating the intricate web of diverse texts and cultures while shaping their uniquely insightful perspectives. This article explores the rich historical dimensions of translation, highlighting its deep connections to philosophical beliefs and socio-political dynamics. It also aims to enhance our understanding of the complex nature of this practice by dissecting various dichotomies in translation studies, including contrasting philosophical views of translation and divergent approaches to the art of translation. In today’s interconnected world, the role of the translator has become increasingly indispensable, underscoring that translation goes beyond mere words; it serves as a mirror that reflects the ever-evolving globalized landscape. To chart a path forward, we must recognize the importance of revisiting the past, drawing wisdom from history, and gaining valuable insights for the future.
</abstract>

Translation in Flux: Revisiting the Past, Envisioning the Future

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
This article explores the teaching methods used in university classes of Translation and Interpreting with visually impaired students. It is the first essay on this topic applied to the context of Romania. Therefore, it offers basic suggestions of implementing international teaching methods for visually impaired students in Translation and Interpreting in Romanian universities, while also raising awareness about the challenges they face. The literature review is divided into two categories: digital skills and professional skills. In presenting the most essential digital skills a visually impaired translator and interpreter must acquire, the article makes reference to Kornacki’s model which groups technologies according to the necessary skills. The professional skills are discussed in three articles from two different universities, namely the University of Trieste in Italy and the University of Mainz/Germersheim in Germany. The German study described in two articles – one in German and its shorter version in English – gives a detailed perspective on the topic, being the core of the theoretical ideas mentioned in this article. The knowledge acquired by reading this article will most certainly lead Romanian professors to using the optimal approach when teaching emerging visually impaired translators and interpreters. The teaching methods can be put into practice if the right equipment is available and accessibility is implemented in all aspects regarding translation and interpreting.
</abstract>

Teaching Visually Impaired Translators and Interpreters in Romania: Available Tools and Inclusive Teaching Methods

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Broadcast from the early 1960s until the early 1970s, <italic>Bewitched </italic>was brought into being with the intention of providing the conventional American family with a constructive emotional outlet for when they would all gather around the TV and spend quality time together. The key demographic at that time consisted of young to middle-aged couples or newlyweds with or without children, basically the real-life versions of the characters portrayed in the show. Nowadays, the target audience has considerably diminished in number as the beloved TV series is no longer on TV. It remains available online for cinephiles and movie amateurs alike. The aim of this article is to methodically translate and analyse the potential setbacks of various comic and outdated instances encountered in the TV show <italic>Bewitched</italic>. It also consists of a thorough investigation of possible problematic linguistic aspects, as well as different sources of humour. Moreover, the target audience will be provided with alternatives in translation and additional explanations and reasonings behind the choices made.
</abstract>

Translation of Problematic Humour in Gender-Focused <italic>Bewitched</italic>

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>To balance the research that has been carried out on negative emotions, the researchers in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) have recently focused on the role of positive academic emotions and their role in the process of acquiring a foreign language (FL). The aim of the present article is to examine the relationships between foreign language enjoyment (FLE), foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and students’ academic achievement in English in order to prove that these two emotions do not constitute opposite dimensions but may converge and diverge from time to time during the learning process. This article calls for a more dynamic approach to studying emotions and investigating whether and to what extent these two emotions may mutually shape one another and thus affect learners’ achievement in the foreign language classroom.</abstract>

Anxiety and Enjoyment in the Foreign Language Classroom

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>The present article reports on a case study that focuses, comparatively, on the extent to which Romania’s Prime Minister Adrian Năstase and UK’s Prime Minister Tony Blair reveal their intentions and thoughts in their investment speeches, by the use of the personal pronouns <italic>I</italic> and <italic>we</italic>. The number of occurrences of each of the two first person pronouns and the way in which they are used will be considered in an analysis that is both quantitative and qualitative. The overall aim of the comparative approach is to highlight how democracy is seen in the cases scrutinized, based on the activation by the speakers of the principle of cooperation in oral communication.</abstract>

<italic>I</italic> vs. <italic>We</italic>. First Person Personal Pronouns in Political Speeches

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The article introduces and discusses a computer-assisted study that seeks to shed light on the frequency and use of the central modal verbs (<italic>can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would</italic>) in research article (further: RA) abstracts in applied linguistics published in the Inner and Outer Circles of English, respectively. The study is informed by the construal of the Circles of English that are comprised of the Inner Circle, where English is spoken as the mother tongue (for example, the United Kingdom), the Outer Circle, where it is used as a second language in the former British colonies (for instance, Hong Kong, Malaysia, etc.), and the Expanding Circle (e.g., Japan), where English is spoken and taught as a foreign language (Kachru 48). In the construal of the Circles of English, the Outer Circle is regarded as a heterogeneous sociolinguistic space with fluid boundaries (Higgins 615) that affects the frequency and use of the central modal verbs in a variety of textual genres (Lee and Collins 501). Against this background, the study aims at identifying and analysing the frequency of the central modal verbs in a corpus of RA abstracts in applied linguistics published by international peer reviewed journals associated with the Outer Circle (one journal published in Hong Kong and one in Malaysia, respectively) and the Inner Circle of English (one journal published in the United Kingdom). The results of the quantitative analysis of the corpus indicate that the most frequent modal verbs in the entire corpus are <italic>can</italic> and <italic>may</italic>, which function as hedging devices in the journals that are associated with the Outer and Inner Circles of English, respectively. These findings are discussed in the article through the prism of the construal of the Circles of English.
</abstract>

Modal Verbs in Research Article Abstracts in Applied Linguistics: Juxtaposing Discursive Practices of the Inner and Outer Circles of English

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>This essay studies scenes that focus on food and eating in the films <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_ewcp-2019-0014_ref_004_w2aab3b8c13b1b7b1ab1ab4Aa"><italic>Chocolat</italic> (2000)</xref> and <italic>I Served the King of England</italic> (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_ewcp-2019-0014_ref_010_w2aab3b8c13b1b7b1ab1ac10Aa"><italic>Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále</italic>, 2006</xref>). To assess whether or not they constitute food porn we compare and contrast such scenes with the description of an unwholesome recipe for cannibalistic eating in <italic>Titus Andronicus</italic>, which anticipates our contemporary food obsession. At its most basic (and controversial), food porn names the alluring visualisation of certain foodstuffs, which renders food the object of erotically tinged desire. Serving different purposes in the two films, such eroticisation of food can be more than self-referential insofar as it indicates human interactions framed as power relations. Showing chocolate making and eating, in <italic>Chocolat</italic>, actually visualises a woman’s exertion of power over the women and their husbands in a bigoted French village in 1959, intended to awaken the people’s benumbed desire. Not food proper is the object of desire in the Czech film, but the young woman served up as ocular side dish to the moguls dining in a stylish Prague restaurant before the outburst of WWII. By contrast, food eroticisation is completely absent in Shakespeare; at stake is a verbal (and implicitly visual) concern with the transformation of flesh and body parts into ingredients for seemingly festive consumption. Visualising food, in <italic>Titus</italic>, implicitly visualises the reclaim and exertion of power in the fictional Roman polity. In all these cases, the concern with food vectorises power relations and may fluidise gendered hierarchies, an issue which food porn scholarship rarely addresses.</abstract>

Food Porn in <italic>Titus Andronicus</italic>, <italic>Chocolat</italic> and <italic>I Served the King of England</italic> (<italic>Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále</italic>)

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>Nobel-prize winning poet Seamus Heaney is celebrated for his rich verses recalling his home in the Northern Irish countryside of County Derry. Yet while the imaginative links to nature in his poetry have already been critically explored, little attention has been paid so far to his rendering of local food and foodways. From ploughing, digging potatoes and butter-churning to picking blackberries, Heaney sketches not only the everyday activities of mid-20th century rural Ireland, but also the social dynamics of community and identity and the socio-natural symbiosis embedded in those practices. Larger questions of love, life and death also infiltrate the scenes, as they might in life, through hints of sectarian divisions and memories of famine.This essay proposes a gastrocritical reading of Heaney’s poetry to study these topics in particularly meaningful ways. Gastrocriticism is a nascent critical approach to literature that applies the insights gained in Food Studies to literary writings, investigating the relationship of humans to each other and to nature as played out through the prism of food, or as Heaney wrote: “Things looming large and at the same time [...] pinned down in the smallest detail.”</abstract>

“My Palate Hung With Starlight” – A Gastrocritical Reading of Seamus Heaney’s Poetry

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 Publishing House and Owner: Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania  East-West Cultural Passage appears biannually and publishes work by...

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