Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022): Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies

the natural monument Râpa Roșie, Sebeș, Alba County, Romania

Editorial

Language is the essential means for delivering to an audience any message, thought, argument or belief. Words are carefully gathered within abounding sources of meaning and connections meant to challenge thinking. Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies seeks to be the pursuer of this aura of ever-growing meaning enriched by all its contributors who choose to entrust their writings to the covers of the journal every year. Identifying itself as a prolific cultural research, the second issue of the fifth volume encompasses thirteen articles written in English. Besides its thematic diversity, the present issue pictures pluriperspectivism and views with intercultural and international nuances coming from Ukraine, Spain, India and Romania. Aiming towards highly academic standards and variety, there are several sections included in the present volume: literary studies, cultural studies, translation studies and linguistics.

The first section, Literature, introduces a debate revolving around the concept of ‘ethnotype’ as analyzed by Catalina Iliescu-Gheorghiu, Associate Professor at the University of Alicante and author of several books and translations available worldwide. She tackles not only the representation of the immigrant as reflected in Portuguese literature, but also the elements affecting and changing the internal and external perception of a group, the Roma ethnicity in this case.

The collective work of Antoniy Moysey, Antonina Anistratenko, Tetyana Nykyforuk, scholars coming from the Department of Social Sciences and Ukrainian Studies in Bukovinian State Medical University, Ukraine, reveal Slavic elements in the calendar rites of Bukovyna. Word analysis acquires a mystical dimension leading towards the subliminal connections between countries, languages and roots. Moving on within a religious sphere of thought, Ayusman Chakraborty from Taki Government College, West Bengal, India and Dana Radler from Bucharest University of Economic Studies trace the reasons behind the understanding of ‘fakirs’ in Romania and identify the way their image is presented in Romanian newspapers and journals. The Indian ascetics are the source of fascination and interest, a peak decreasing as fast as it has increased. Alexandra Chiriac and Ana Catană-Spenchiu from “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi continue the search beyond historical facts and outline the way 18^th and 19^th century Romanian culture built the image of the Russian monarchy and therefore, the implications resulted out of those facts. The next article completing this part intends to highlight right from the beginning the national significance of the Black Sea as framed in Romanian Romantic literature, mainly in poetry. It places spiritual evolution at its centre, focusing on the visual elements and natural landscape that inevitably alters the human being from within. The author challenging the inner pace of the readers is Roxana Elena Doncu, lecturer in English at the Modern Languages Department at the “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest. Simona Lazăr, archaeologist, 3^rd degree Scientific Researcher PhD at “C.S. Nicolăescu Plopşor” Institute for Researches Social Studies and Humanities in Craiova, senses archaeological trenches and presents the way funeral practices confirm the present identity of citizens living in the south-western area of Romania. Mihaela Bărbieru, from the same Institute, closes the section by reaffirming the importance of communication and the way technology becomes the fastest and the most useful tool not only to connect people, but also to place the understanding of networking beyond screens. The focus is on political content delivered in online formats.

The field of translations has strongly emerged towards mediation, the role of the translator being doubled by this mediating approach. Thus, the text becomes a link between cultures and the name of our next section, Translation Studies, is developing this sphere. The first analysis explores the paratext in Oscar Wilde’s fairytales in several Romanian editions. The way these paratextual details are arranged and rearranged in each Romanian version is seen as assembling different house imageries by Daniela Hăisan, Associate Professor of Linguistics and English Language at “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava, Romania. Attila Imre, Professor in the Department of Applied Linguistics of the Faculty of Technical and Human Sciences, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Romania, directs the attention towards English recurrent acronyms in the Romanian TV series known as Designated Survivor. Andra-Iulia Ursa, PhD student in Philology and teaching assistant in translation studies at the Department of Philology, “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia, approaches the subject of vernacular language shaped through the lens of an international language, English, and questions the ‘(un)translatability’. She chooses as source text Memories of my Boyhood written by Ion Creangă, a great Moldavian storyteller of the 19^th century.

Linguistics, the last domain included in this issue, examines the language and its communicative systems. Arina Greavu, assistant professor at “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, analyses code switching and the way it is traced in the speech of a ten-year-old bilingual child. The languages compared here are Romanian and English. Marcela Alina Fărcașiu, Daniel Dejica, Simona Șimon, Annamaria Kilyeni from Politehnica University of Timișoara introduce the concept of ‘Easy-to-read’ for the disabled as implemented and applied across Europe and identify at the same time challenges faced by Romania regarding this aspect. Moving on with the relation between language and learning, Gabriel-Dan Bărbuleț, Associate Professor at “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia, concludes and completes the section with a study referring to teaching the Romanian language to foreign students. The Communicative language teaching is discussed in terms of the following categories: Content based learning, Task based learning, and Problem based learning.

All the articles filed in this issue portray a fruitful, noble, and deeply rooted communion between authors, editors and overseas reviewers. Honoured by the absolutely fundamental work of our thirty international reviewers coming from the USA, Israel, Germany, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan and Romania, we are sincerely expressing all our esteem and gratitude towards them. Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies is published in collaboration with Lund University, Complutense University of Madrid, “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia, Romania, and the Romanian Language Institute, Bucharest, and welcomes contributions from scholars worldwide.

Bianca Maria Bucur Tincu

Advisory board for this issue

Mona Arhire, Transilvania University of Brașov

Ștefan Baghiu, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu

Ariana Bancu, Northeastern Illinois University, USA

Gabriel Bărbuleț, 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia

Iosefina Blazsani-Batto, Azerbaijan University of Languages / Romanian Language Institute, Bucharest

Diana Câmpan, 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia

Sorin Ciutacu, West University of Timișoara

Romanița Constantinescu, Heidelberg University, Germany

Mihaela Cozma, West University of Timișoara

Carmen Dimitriu, Tel Aviv University, Israel / Romanian Language Institute, Bucharest