<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>The paper describes the text linguistic research of political texts in the field of Translation Studies and presents an overview of critical discourse analysis-based studies. First, the relationship between text, power and ideology and its implications on the role of translation are explored. This is followed by a review of a number of studies on the translation of political texts and on the power relations involved. The paper classifies such studies into the following six categories representing distinct research fields: translators' professional roles and politics; translators acting as mediators in situations of political conflict; translators' professional responsibilities and the strategies they apply; the inference of translators' own historical, social and cultural backgrounds; manipulation in the translation of literary texts and other text types; and critical discourse awareness in Translation Studies. The most recent studies in the above research fields and their results are also presented. It is concluded that these approaches exhibit quite varied research methods and their results are almost impossible to compare. With a view to the future development of this research field, it seems expedient to introduce a unified research theory, method and tool.</abstract>

Translation and Political Discourse

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>Translating idioms has always been a challenging decision-making process for translators mainly because not all idioms have direct equivalents in the target language. Translators usually and ideally have a solid knowledge of the target language and its cultural aspects, but even so they cannot match the ability of a native speaker in deciding when – i.e. in what context and text type – an idiom would or would not be appropriate. This study aims to explore the main characteristics of idioms and the difficulties which might occur when translating them. A needs analysis will also be presented, where the various solutions which a group of translator trainees chose while translating certain idioms from the novel “A Game of Thrones” by George R. R. Martin into Hungarian are examined. Their strategies and the appropriateness of their choices are analysed and compared with the options of the experienced literary translator (Tamás Pétersz). We consider this an important endeavour because, based on our experience, we believe that the topic of the translation of idioms should be included into the curriculum and appropriate materials and tasks should be designed to develop the translator trainees’ knowledge and skills in this domain. Therefore, the aim of this analysis is to obtain a clearer view of the difficulties they are dealing with and bear them in mind when designing teaching materials for them.</abstract>

An Evergreen Challenge for Translators – The Translation of Idioms

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>This study deals with the problems related to the translation of political texts in the theoretical framework elaborated by the researchers working in the field of translation studies and reflects on the terminological peculiarities of the special language used for this text type. Consideration of the theoretical framework is followed by the analysis of a specific text spoken then written in English and translated into Hungarian and Romanian. The conclusions are intended to highlight the fact that there are no recipes for translating a political speech, because translation is not only a technical process that uses translation procedures and applies transfer operations, but also a matter of understanding cultural, historical and political situations and their significance.</abstract>

Problems Related to the Translation of Political Texts

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The organization and function of human society in the global economy is, in the current discourse, part of epistemology, developed on the broader link of social sciences with scientific creativity and artistic imagination. The “chaotic” synergy of globalization has developed on a conceptual network where the logic of conceptual metaphor and cognitive scenario are integrative and circular. It is this assertion we start from in the research on the interdisciplinary character of the metaphor of globalization, with special attention paid to <italic>the metaphors of the organic, of space, of movement</italic> (the spiral formula, the loop, centre-periphery, the metaphor of the nebula, man as a sum, etc.). The research method (contrastive, functional, analytical) has in view the interdisciplinary and dynamic character of metaphors that highlight the conceptual system beyond the research. The conclusion of the study is that the role of interdisciplinary metaphors is to fuse with the text and arguments of an entire conceptual system it generates.
</abstract>

Metaphors of Globalization

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> This paper presents an analysis of the structures the discourse marker vajon forms in translated Hungarian fiction. Although translation data has been deployed in the study of discourse markers (Aijmer &amp; Simon- Vandenbergen, 2004), such studies do not account for translation-specific phenomena which can influence the data of their analysis. In addition, translated discourse markers could offer insights into the idiosyncratic properties of translated texts as well as the culturally defined norms of translation that guide the creation of target texts. The analysis presented in this paper extends the cross-linguistic approach beyond contrastive analysis with a detailed investigation of two corpora of translated texts in order to identify patterns which could be a sign of translation or genre norms impacting the target texts. As a result, a distinct, diverging pattern emerges between the two corpora: patterns of explicit polarity show a marked difference. However, further research is needed to clarify whether these are due to language, genre, or translation norms.</abstract>

Vajon in Translated Hungarian

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> The problem of translation in foreign language classes cannot be dealt with unless we attempt to make an overview of what translation meant for language teaching in different periods of language pedagogy. From the translation-oriented grammar-translation method through the complete ban on translation and mother tongue during the times of the audio-lingual approaches, we have come today to reconsider the role and status of translation in ESL classes. This article attempts to advocate for translation as a useful ESL class activity, which can completely fulfil the requirements of communicativeness. We also attempt to identify some activities and games, which rely on translation in some books published in the 1990s and the 2000s.</abstract>

Translation in ESL Classes

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The study of authenticity in sociolinguistics has questioned the notion of the authentic speaker or previous interpretations of place, and it rather focuses on how the social functioning of authenticity is “mediated by and expressed through language” (Lacoste et al. 2014: 4) in different socio-cultural contexts. In linguistic ethnography, the researcher’s positionality also becomes subject to analysis, especially when this has a direct influence on the data obtained. Through the excerpts from interviews conducted at a festival, I aim to discuss the sociolinguistic features of authenticity in the context of the Hungarian–Hungarian encounters. Moreover, the cultural values attributed to the different ways of speaking the Hungarian language are also articulated in these interviews.
</abstract>

The Language of Authenticity in Hungarian–Hungarian Encounters

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The paper is focused on the sociolinguistic study of borrowings used in twenty-first century American literature to bring out their potential to translate status and high social position of characters. The study is aimed at proving that borrowings are socially charged and function in speech as indices of socially privileged layers of society. The study of modern British novels by Jeffrey Archer carried out earlier revealed four categories of borrowings, serving to represent upper-class characters: 1) terms, 2) a pair of synonymous words of Germanic and foreign origin, 3) U-class words, and 4) loan words used ironically. The study of American novels by Amor Towles <italic>A Gentleman in Moscow</italic> (2016) and <italic>Rules of Civility</italic> (2012) allows us to verify this classification and expand it by adding two more categories: 5) a pair of synonymous words of Germanic and foreign origin, like in group 2 but with switched social connotations, and 6) a pair of borrowings, one explaining the meaning of the other. The analysis has proved that borrowings in American, like in British literature, explicitly or implicitly translate the social status of a character. The question to answer is whether classes 5 and 6 have universal or culturally specific nature. Further research is therefore required to shed light on this very subtle use of borrowings in speech.
</abstract>

Social Implications of Borrowings

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The aim of my research study is to identify the barriers that cross-cultural and interracial couples are confronted with and the ways they try to overcome these potential obstacles in order for their marriage to work, with a focus on Romanian–Korean couples (Romanian wives and Korean husbands). At stake are many aspects pertaining to culture such as religious or ideological beliefs (Christianity vs. Confucianism), individualism vs. collectivism, egalitarian vs. non-egalitarian treatment of women, the language adopted by the spouses, family expectations, as well as the discrimination of bi-racial children.
The hypothesis underlying the study is that no matter how much the spouses love each other, any difference in values, practices, and behaviours can create problems. Derived from this hypothesis, the following research questions will be addressed in the study: (a) Which particular cultural issues may cause (more) frictions in international, interracial marriages? (b) What steps are taken and by which partner in order to solve the possible culturally triggered problems that appear in their relationship? (c) Are there any advantages to international, interracial marriages?
To provide answers to these questions, 7 Romanian–Korean couples have been subjected to a semi-structured interview. The information provided by the respondents has been analysed within the framework of “thematic analysis”, defined by Berelson (1952: 18) as “a research technique for the objective, systematic, and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication.
</abstract>

How Culture-Specific Practices and Values May Influence International (Romanian–South Korean) Marriages

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The culture and mentality of a nation is formed in a process of interaction between individual and environment, and, consequently, its behaviour can be influenced by the changes of the social and physical environment. Politics is one factor in this process, as it uses power to control people’s thinking and behaviour through various instruments and techniques, and in this way, it can be regarded as a governmental extension on human actions. Using an imagological approach, the article’s purpose is to highlight that oppression, along with political discourse, shaped the mindset of the Soviet people. Also, the regime attempted to shape Soviet society in order to achieve the image desired. The Soviet political apparatus was based on oppression, the technique of repetition, and the role models highlighted by the regime. All the measures taken influenced the mentality of the Soviet people and, implicitly, led it to a transformation and, later, an adaptation because people had to comply with all the rules, laws, and measures taken by the Communist Party. This will be analysed in the first book published in Romania by Vasile Ernu, <italic>Născut în URSS</italic> [Born in the USSR], and in two works by Svetlana Alexievich, namely <italic>The Unwomanly Face of War</italic> and <italic>Chernobyl Prayer</italic>. By analysing these works, the reader learns how a society, its culture and mentality can be influenced by the social and physical environment. The three works present the transition from fiction to the non-fiction category, portraying authentic experiences and depicting the tangible impacts on people.
</abstract>

Political Discourse and Oppression – Influences on the Mentality and Culture of the Soviet Man

The Lexicon of the Hungarian Culture in Transylvania Benő Attila &amp; Péntek János (eds). 2022. <italic>Erdélyi magyar kulturális szótár.</italic> Sfântu Gheorghe: Anyanyelvápolók Erdélyi Szövetsége

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
In this study, we wish to debate upon some aspects regarding the lexical and semantic implications of ethnonyms. We aim to analyse the origin and semantics of one of two lexemes used by Romanians to refer to Hungarians: <italic>bozgor.</italic> Besides a meta-analysis of the term (its emergence, meaning), we also refer to archaic usages and meanings (<italic>buzguroi, bozga, bozga, bâzga</italic>, etc.). We discard previous theories regarding the meaning and origin of the lexeme. <italic>Bozgor</italic> is a word that is considered an instance of verbal abuse, mockery, or insult, which displays a significant amount of collectively formed, pejorative connotation. Our hypothesis is that it comes from the Hungarian <italic>bodza</italic>, in its archaic form and meaning (‘border forest’). <italic>Bozgor</italic> in its earlier versions came to designate, through semantic extension, ‘inhabitant of the border forest’, ‘Hungarian’. The associative meanings which led to the emergence of its present pejorative status (as an ethnic slur) appeared later. The roots we analyse in the article all share a common denominator of meaning and all have led to a large number of words related to the semantic field of forest both in Romanian and in Hungarian.
</abstract>

Deprecatory Ethnonyms: The Case of <italic>Bozgor</italic>

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> The aim of the paper is to examine common Irish English stereotypes in cinematographic representations of Irish English with special reference to pragmatic features and sociopragmatic norms. After giving an overview of some of the ways in which the concepts of ‘stereotype’ and ‘stereotyping’ are defined and used in sociolinguistics and sociopragmatics, selected features of the Irish English pragmalect (the use of pragmatic markers, the performance of speech acts such as requests, compliment responses and thanks minimizers) will be discussed and contrasted with the (highly stereotypical) representation of Irish English in the films Intermission and The Guard. </abstract>

Irish English Stereotypes

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
School closures induced by the COVID-19 crisis have led to the rethinking and reshaping of teacher training considering the norms of online and blended learning, and the pressure to embrace the possibilities offered by information and communications technology. We propose to examine the new perspectives and necessary changes related to three domains in which our institution – the Teacher Training Institute of Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Faculty of Technical and Human Sciences – offers training: foreign languages, social sciences, and engineering. Different areas of education have been affected in different ways by the pandemic. In language teaching, familiarity with pre-existing platforms and programs helped the transition to online education. In the field of social sciences, the transfer of theoretical information did not cause any particular problems, but the development of interpersonal relationships, interactivity, and communication became more difficult. In the domain of engineering, practical education has become nearly impossible, as in order to develop certain practical skills students need access to laboratories equipped with special tools, devices, and instruments. In our study, we will focus on ways of updating and developing our methodology courses based on new paradigms and good practices presented in the specialized literature, also reflecting on feedback received from our teacher trainees related to their difficulties and needs revealed by the shift to online teaching.
</abstract>

Changes and Perspectives in Teacher Training Methodology

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Ali Smith’s <italic>Autumn</italic> (2016), coined “the first Brexit novel”, relied on a very “time-sensitive” publication schedule: weeks after the manuscript had been submitted, the book was already published, documenting almost in real-time the aftermath of the Brexit referendum. The remaining three volumes of the <italic>Seasonal Quartet</italic> (<italic>Winter,</italic> 2017; <italic>Spring</italic>, 2019; <italic>Summer</italic>, 2020) also followed a similarly tight schedule; hence the last piece of the collection, published in the summer of 2020, could already reflect on yet another crisis: that of the COVID-19 pandemic and the first lockdown in Britain. The <italic>Quartet</italic> offers art as a vital coping mechanism for such critical times, but the present paper argues that the function of art in the <italic>Quartet</italic> is even more pervasive than that. The sequence’s entire poetics of transformation is founded on art as a mediatized means of experiencing the world, which is then turned into a rhetoric of transformation. The paper traces the three main motifs of the <italic>Quartet</italic>: that of the tree, the stone, and the cloud/sky to look at how their art-based transformations create a sense of connectedness in the four novels.
</abstract>

Covidian Metamorphoses: Art and the Poetics of Transformation in Ali Smith’s <italic>Seasonal Quartet</italic>

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) is an indispensable skill when interacting with people from other cultures, given the clash of perspectives that intercultural encounters may bring about. Being a skill that can be taught and learned, there is a wide concern for developing ICC through formal education. This involves designing specific training tasks that can enhance the acquisition of ICC with the help of virtual exchange (VE) activities.
The aim of the present paper is to highlight a specific way in which the educational goals associated with ICC development can be achieved. To this end, an analysis of 55 eTwinning intercultural projects has been conducted in order to determine the relationship between ICC and VE.
The statistical data described here indicate that VE fosters the development of ICC. Moreover, they are indicative of the fact that the VE task types that are most effective in the development of ICC can be identified through computation.
</abstract>

Acquiring Intercultural Communicative Competence through Virtual Exchange

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The COVID-19 epidemic caused not only an unprecedented crisis in our lives but also changes in our language use and word formation habits: this new disease and its cures have naturally led to the emergence of new concepts and names. In 2020, more and more words or phrases related to the COVID-19 epidemic appeared in the public sphere as a result of COVID-related publications issued by the World Health Organization, regulations issued by the authorities of the countries, news in the press, and endless debates in the social media. This study examines the lexicalization processes and semantic shifts generated by the COVID epidemic, as we aim to examine professional and colloquial developments in pandemic-inspired terminology. We analyse the changes that have taken place in the Hungarian and Romanian language environment, while also taking into account the English language elements as a background reference. Among the most notable lexico-semantic phenomena, we have identified word coinages, changes of meaning, and varied word formation techniques which have fostered the processes of lexicalization and neologism creation, revealing an impressive linguistic dynamic at the level of public discourse.
</abstract>

Change(s) in Vocabulary(/ies) – Hungarian and Romanian Lexical Phenomena During COVID

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
In critical sociolinguistics, language is viewed as a fundamentally social phenomenon that is defined discursively, rather than in terms of individual beliefs and attitudes, and because linguistic practices are themselves intersubjective. Moreover, the broader cultural, historical, and political aspects have also become relevant in the study of language, requiring new ways of addressing sociolinguistic issues. Linguistic ethnography may be a central tool in this inquiry, as it looks at everyday practices in order to understand wider social structures. In this paper, I argue that a festival as a place of encounters provides an adequate context for such research. After discussing the different concepts of the field in doing ethnographic work, I examine the online presence of the festival in question. Tusványos is an event organized in Transylvania every year, with the intention of bringing together Hungarian participants from Hungary and Romania, as well as Romanians.
</abstract>

The Complexities of the Field in a Linguistic Ethnographic Research

Open Access License

Instructions for Authors Language and Linguistics

Instructions for Authors Literature

Instructions for Authors Culture

Peer Review Process

Publication Ethics

Copyright Agreement

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica

The Journal of Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania

 Acta Universitatis Sapientiae,Philologica publishes original, previously unpublished articles in the wide field of philological studies. It is published in one volume and three numbers...

Cite Score

SNIP

MNiSW

Google Scholar h5-index

Google Scholar h5-median

 Acta Universitatis Sapientiae,Philologica publishes original, previously unpublished articles in the wide field of philological studies. It is...

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica

The Journal of Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania

Wszystkie tomy i zeszyty w tym czasopiśmie