Tag: language

  • The early days of BBC’s Romanian-language broadcasting

    The early days of BBC’s Romanian-language broadcasting

    In the world of radio broadcasting, the BBC needs no introduction. The BBC is one of the landmarks without which the history of radio broadcasting cannot be written. In its centenary existence, holding a special place is the BBC’s Romanian-language service.

    The early days of the BBC’s Romanian-language broadcasting are linked to the outbreak of World War Two in September 1939, so in September 2024 we celebrate the service’s 85 years of broadcasting. We should emphasize, at this point, Great Britain’s extremely important influence which justified the very existence of the BBC, given that after 1945, at the end of the war, the world’s geopolitical stage became even more complicated that it had been before.

    In 1997, Radio Romania’s Oral History Canter interviewed one of the first journalists who used to work for the BBC’s Romanian-language Service, Liviu Cristea. He was a BBC anchorman from 1939 to 1971.

    Liviu Cristea reminisced the beginnings of the service and the tests that were made to that effect

    ”At this radio station trials were made like some sort of test time, carried by people who had been recommended by the Romanian Legation. Some of the Brits’ radio stations where thereby checking if the broadcast was audible in Romania, at once checking whether the voices behind the mic were suitable or not. However, the first team that took over the editing work was made of four people: a Finance Ministry official, Niculae Gheorghiu, who was in London on a training stage, a history professor, Ion Podrea, who was sent by the Iorga Institute to do his research, a legal expert furthering his comparative law studies, that was me, and a young student of the London Polytechnic, Jose Campus.”

    In the beginning, the Romanian-language broadcast was a 15-minute news bulletin. It kept Romanian listeners informed with news from the international and British press. The war had broken out and the Poles, officials or ordinary people, were withdrawing to Romania, in a bid to reach the West. The slot was broadcast from the Broadcasting House in Portland Place lying in central London, it was from there that, for the first time ever in Romanian, the announcement was heard: “This is Radio London.”

    When the German bombs damaged the building, the service was relocated to a hotel and from there to a skating rink. Liviu Cristea also said that fairly rapidly he and his colleagues adapted to the demands of the job. Here he is once again, giving us details on how the editorial work was organized.

    ”Shortly afterwards, the anchormen’s voices had become a reliable and identifiable source of information that also provided a gleam of hope in the grim days. At the same microphone science specialists offered their opinions, but also columnists, professors, trade union members, writers, army people, underground frontline fighters, refugees and prisoners who had escaped from the labour camps, or prisoners of war. The materials received by the editors of the Romanian section had already been processed in a central editorial office. The stuff had to be translated and commented upon by the Romanian editors so that it could become as accessible as possible to the average listener. The pieces of news after the outbreak of the war were checked but not censored by diplomatic and military bodies. The press commentaries were selected for each zone the broadcasts targeted, the talks given by prominent journalists sought to place the event or the news of the day against the backdrop that appeared at that particular moment. “

    The state of war demanded that the BBC broadcasts in Romanian, just like in the other foreign languages, be closely monitored. Liviu Cristea:

    ”Available for us from the very beginning was a so-called monitoring service, that is a service listening to the broadcasts from the country and from other parts. Those who closely monitored the broadcasts proper in front of the mic were supposed to monitor closely that, behind the mic, we should not read something different than what was written in the news bulletins, we should not improvise anything even with one single word, we should not stray away from the text that had been approved of by the section head prior to going to the mic. And those gentlemen who kept an eye on us were George Campbell, doctor Morrison and a gentleman who back in the day used to be a high-ranking employee of an oil company in Romania and whose command of Romanian was excellent. “

    In the building of the BBC, Liviu Cristea also recalled his seminal encounter with a character that would make history in the troubled 20th century.

    “ As I was passing by the janitor’s desk, there was a French officer there who was somehow embarrassed because he and the janitor could not understand each other. The man was a French army officer, wearing a French uniform so offered him my help right away and I asked him to tell me what it was all about. He was extremely blunt and kind of vexed as he answered me: ‘ I am colonel de Gaulle, I come from the front line and I have a meeting. I am already 5 minutes late and I don’t understand why I am being kept here and why nobody welcomed me at the reception’. I was deeply touched when later on I discovered that the one-star colonel was general de Gaulle who, as we know, led the French resistance and then he was the one who created the first post-war political structure in France.”

    The BBC’s Romanian-language service is now 85 years old. All along, the BBC was one of the citadels defending human rights, until 1989. It still is, to this day.

  • August 31, 2024 UPDATE

    August 31, 2024 UPDATE

     

    LANGUAGE The Romanian Language Day was celebrated on Saturday both in Romania and in the R. of Moldova, where this holiday was first introduced, to mark a return to the Romanian language and Latin alphabet in the former Soviet Republic. Special events were held on both sides of the river Prut. In a message posted on this occasion, president Klaus Iohannis said the Romanian language is not just a set of words, but a means to pass on the cultural heritage and an invaluable heritage we are leaving for the future generations to cherish and enrich. As Mr. Iohannis emphasised, since last year the Romanian language has also been the official language of Moldova, after a law was promulgated by president Maia Sandu, replacing the phrase “Moldovan language” with the phrase “Romanian language.” This has been essential to restoring a historic fact, namely that Romanians living on both sides of the river Prut share a common language, culture and history, Iohannis said. According to him, Romanian is studied in 59 universities in 37 countries in the world. Public reading sessions, art exhibitions, film screenings, music recitals are organised by Romanian cultural institutes around the world to mark the Romanian Language Day.

     

    VISIT The president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, Saturday was on an official visit to the Republic of Moldova, for talks with his counterpart Maia Sandu. On this occasion, the two officials signed a Joint Declaration on bilateral cooperation to consolidate the resilience of the Republic of Moldova, which has received consistent support from Romania so far to withstand the many challenges it has been facing. According to Iohannis, the hybrid war waged against the Republic of Moldova and its citizens is growing more intense and taking ever more severe forms. He emphasized that Romania’s strategic commitment to supporting the democratic development of Moldova would remain unwavering in the long run, and called on all international partners to provide consistent support in its EU accession efforts. In turn, Maia Sandu said Romania played a vital part in consolidating her country’s energy independence, and also highlighted Bucharest’s support in the EU accession process. The Romanian president’s visit to Chişinău took place as Romania and Moldova celebrated the Romanian Language Day on August 31.

     

    RATING Fitch Rating Friday reconfirmed Romania’s long- and short-term foreign-currency government debt rating at BBB-/F3 with a stable outlook, the finance ministry reports. According to the institution, the decision is supported by the capital inflow from the European Union, which sustains the country’s income convergence, foreign financing and macroeconomic stability, as well as a positive trend in the GDP per capita and in governance and human development indices, which are above ‘BBB’ category peers. The international institution’s decision reconfirms the confidence in the measures taken by the Romanian government to ensure public funding sustainability, the finance minister Marcel Boloş said. On the other hand, these strengths are balanced against large budget and current account deficits relative to peers, high budget rigidities, and a fairly high net external debtor position. The agency expects Romania’s economy to grow by 2.5% this year.

     

    PENSIONS A bill on raising the pension tax threshold in Romania from EUR 400 at present to EUR 600 is to be endorsed next week in the Chamber of Deputies, the decision-making body in this respect, the culture minister Raluca Turcan announced. She said the measure had been promoted since 2022 by the National Liberal Party, and that after its endorsement in Parliament it would take effect on October 1. The ruling coalition comprising the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party decided a few days ago that the new bill should be rushed through Parliament, instead of being endorsed by the government under an emergency order.

     

    LAW The legislation regarding extended restraining orders took effect in Romania on Saturday. The goal is to protect all victims, irrespective of their relations with the abuser. The justice minister, Alina Ghorghiu, says that previously, restraining orders were only issued for cases of domestic violence, but the new legislation also includes psychological abuse. She encouraged all victims to seek protection and to report abuse cases, regardless of the form of abuse and of who the abuser is. In this context, the Romanian justice ministry has initiated an awareness raising campaign called “Living in fear is not living.” In 2023, nearly 80,000 cases of domestic violence were reported to the police, and in over 30,000 cases the victims were women. (AMP)

  • August 31, 2024

    August 31, 2024

     

    LANGUAGE The Romanian Language Day is celebrated today both in Romania and in the R. of Moldova, where this holiday was first introduced, to mark a return to the Romanian language and Latin alphabet in the former Soviet Republic. Special events are held on both sides of the river Prut. In a message posted on this occasion, president Klaus Iohannis said the Romanian language is not just a set of words, but a means to pass on an invaluable cultural heritage that we are leaving for the future generations to cherish and enrich. As Mr. Iohannis emphasised, since last year the Romanian language has also been the official language of Moldova, after a law was promulgated by president Maia Sandu, replacing the phrase “Moldovan language” with the phrase “Romanian language.” This has been essential to restoring a historic fact, namely that Romanians living on both sides of the river Prut share a common language, culture and history, Iohannis said. According to him, Romanian is studied in 59 universities in 37 countries in the world. Public reading sessions, art exhibitions, film screenings, music recitals are organised by Romanian cultural institutes around the world to mark the Romanian Language Day.

     

    VISIT The president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, and the president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, signed in Chişinău on Saturday a joint declaration on bilateral cooperation to consolidate resilience in the Republic of Moldova. The document defines and strengthens bilateral cooperation in this critical area for consolidating and safeguarding democracy and stability in the neighbouring state. President Maia Sandu said Romania had invested massively in the development of Moldova and remained the staunchest supporter of its EU accession efforts at international level. In turn, Klaus Iohannis promised that Bucharest’s commitment to supporting Chisinau in any crisis, including in the energy sector, is firmer than ever. According to Iohannis, the hybrid war waged against the Republic of Moldova and its citizens is growing more intense and taking ever more severe forms. Romania will be the most reliable and active supporter of Moldova’s EU accession efforts, and I encourage all international partners to provide consistent and long-term support to this country and its citizens, Iohannis added. His visit to Chişinău took takes place as Romania and Moldova celebrate the Romanian Language Day on August 31.

     

    RATING Fitch Rating Friday reconfirmed Romania’s long- and short-term foreign-currency government debt rating at BBB-/F3 with a stable outlook, the finance ministry reports. According to the institution, the decision is supported by the capital inflow from the European Union, which sustains the country’s income convergence, foreign financing and macroeconomic stability, as well as a positive trend in the GDP per capita and in governance and human development indices, which are above ‘BBB’ category peers. The international institution’s decision reconfirms the confidence in the measures taken by the Romanian government to ensure public funding sustainability, the finance minister Marcel Boloş said. On the other hand, these strengths are balanced against large budget and current account deficits relative to peers, high budget rigidities, and a fairly high net external debtor position. The agency expects Romania’s economy to grow by 2.5% this year.

     

    ENESCU As of today, the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest is hosting the 19th edition of the George Enescu International Competition, one of the best known and most prestigious competitions in international classical music. Until September 27, some of the world’s best performers, as well as up-and-coming artists and orchestras, will come together in Bucharest. Three competitions are held: cello, violin and piano. The novelty of the 2024 edition are the master classes. Held between September 23 and 27, they consist in conducting, violin, piano and cello workshops, coordinated by Maestro Cristian Măcelaru. The world-acclaimed Romanian artist is, among other things, the musical director of the National Orchestra of France, and of the Cincinnati Symphonic Orchestra. The opening concert, the 3 competition finals, 5 recitals given by jury members and by winners of previous editions, as well as the closing concert, will be aired live by Radio Romania Music. At the suggestion of Radio Romania Music, the 2024 George Enescu International Competition’s opening concert is included in the Euroradio Summer Season, one of the most important projects of the European Broadcasting Union, which airs concerts and recitals from the most important European festivals. The George Enescu International Competition was launched in September 1958. Alternating with the George Enescu International Festival, the Competition quickly grew into one of the most valuable events of this kind in Europe, and since 2002 it has been a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions. (AMP)

  • May 26, 2024

    May 26, 2024

    MESSAGE In a message conveyed today on the occasion of the Day of the Romanians all over the World, President Klaus Iohannis has urged the Romanians to keep their identity, language and the Romanian traditions. Iohannis added that he constantly promoted the setting up of professional communities between the Romanians abroad and those at home, thus creating a tighter connection between the business people, scientists, physicians and Romanian artists from the world over, who worked together to accomplish many successful projects. Bucharest is seeing the last day of the 7th edition of a festival known as ‘Here and There’, an event that comprises a series of activities staged by the Department for the Romanians all Over the World jointly with the Union of the Fine Artists in Romania. For three days, the event has brought together Romanian artists from the country and abroad, activating in various fields of creation such as fine arts, design, music, film, etcetera and also members of academia and business environment from the Romanian communities abroad. This year’s edition has been attended by hundreds of Romanians from the Diaspora and the historical communities in 34 countries.

     

    TENNIS Four players from Romania are on the main draw of the Roland Garros tournament, the year’s second Grand Slam tournament, which kicked off in Paris. Today, Jaqueline Cristian will be playing Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the competition’s ninth seed. Sorana Cirstea, Romania’s best tennis player at the moment, has been designated the tournament’s 28th seed. In the first round she will be playing Ana Blinkova of Russia. In turn, Ana Bogdan will be playing the wild car winner Elsa Jacquemot of France. Irina Begu, also of Romania, will be up against Julia Riera of Argentina. We recall that a former world number one, Romanian Simona Halep, won the trophy in 2018. In 1978, Virginia Ruzici became the first Romanian to win this famous French tournament.

     

    AI Romania is going to have an AI Research Institute through which it intends to develop its own technological solutions, cooperate with international partners and train top experts in this field, the country’s Finance Minister, Marcel Bolos, wrote on Facebook. According to Bolos, the Ministry he’s leading has already started to use AI in order to detect anomalies as well as in its anti-fraud operations. The construction of the first center of AI research in Romania kicked off at the Technical University in Cluj Napoca through an investment of 21 million Euros.

     

    FILMS “Anora”, a thriller directed by American Sean Baker, has won the Palme d’Or trophy at the 77th edition of the Film Festival in Cannes. Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light”, a film about sisterhood in Mumbai, has reaped the Grand Prix, the festival’s second-highest honour, while ‘Emilia Perez’ of the French director Jacques Audiard, has won the Jury Prize. Romanian production “Three Kilometers to the End of the World” has reaped the Queer Palm, an alternative award given every year to productions addressing LGBT issues. Another two Romanian productions, NASTY, directed by Cristian Pascariu, Tudor D. Popescu and Tudor Giurgiu, which portrays the life of Romania’s tennis legend Ilie Nastase, and “Human Violins” by Ioana Mischie have also been screened during this famous international film festival.

    (bill)

  • Communism and linguistics

    Communism and linguistics

    The communist regime tried to change not only people’s deepest convictions, but also the way they expressed their thoughts, ideas and feelings. The language of communism was commonly known as “wooden language” and Joseph Stalin contributed to its creation. In the summer of 1950, he penned three articles in Pravda, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, under the title “Marxism and Problems of Linguistics”. In these articles, he outlined new research directions in linguistics that cancelled everything that had been written before. In Romania, which had been under the occupation of the Soviet troops since 1944, Stalin’s views were immediately adopted by the academic and research community, which was under the strict and brutal control of the ideological activists.

    The translator and philologist Micaela Ghițescu, who also served time as a political prisoner under the communist regime, went to university in 1949, one year after the education reform of 1948. The new education system introduced political education courses and favoured children coming from working-class backgrounds. In an interview for Radio Romania’s Oral History Centre she gave in 2002, Micaela Ghițescu recalled how politics affected education in two ways:

    On the one hand, they would teach us Marxism-Leninism, which was a year-long course. But then, during the French class, we would talk about what they called ‘topical issues’. The French were at war in Indochina at the time, and we would discuss about this during our French class. I remember they used to tell us that the French soldiers were cannibals and that they ate Vietnamese prisoners. And we were supposed to accept this without asking any questions.”

    In 1948, Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr became the new star in linguistics, with his theory that all languages evolved from one original language gaining a lot of traction with linguists. Micaela Ghițescu recalls how she first got acquainted with some of Marr’s ideas that were turning upside down everything she and her generation had learnt in high school:

    Marr’s theory, which was taught in the general linguistics course, raised all kind of question marks. Marr used to say that language is a superstructure and that changes to the social structure and organisation will lead to a change in language. Another theory was that language adopts the character of the latest conquering people, of the people that are the last to occupy a given land. So, as the Slavs were the last to arrive in these parts, it meant that the Romanian language had a Slavic character and was no longer to be considered a Romance language.”

    Marr’s linguistic theory, however, would be denounced by Stalin, who put the national language back in its pride of place. The national language was now no longer believed to have evolved out of a single original language and no longer an expression of superstructure, but the language of the working people. Micaela Ghițescu explains:

    With the publication of Stalin’s views on linguistics, Marr’s theories fell out of favour. Stalin’s theory focuses on the quality of a people’s culture, and that’s what gives the language of a given land its specific nature. The Latin culture being prevalent in Romania, Romanian again became a Romance language, overnight. It was just before an exam, and I didn’t know what was going on. The exam was on the same day as the publication of what they described as ‘comrade Stalin’s outstanding contribution to linguistics’ and which overturned everything we had learnt at the course of Prof. Graur. We were to give the written exam in the morning and the oral text in the afternoon. So, for the morning exam, the professor was late, and when he arrived he told us to write whatever we wanted. And for the oral exam in the afternoon he told us to read the newspaper carrying Stalin’s views spread over several pages.”

    Stalin’s text also sparked reactions among historians. In an interview from 1993, the archaeologist Petre Diaconu recounted how a colleague ended up in prison:

    In 1953, when ‘Marxism and Linguistics’ was published, everyone, from party educators to university professors would now say that everything that had been written on the subject of language before was to be discarded. The work of reference was now Stalin’s publication. During a public meeting at the History Institute, the then deputy director and also a party activist called Chereșteș got up and started telling us what comrade Stalin had said. It was at this point that an archaeologist called Vladimir Dumitrescu also got up and said we’d had enough of Stalin’s theories. This was sometime in spring and he was arrested in July, but it was only later that I realised the connection.”

    Stalin’s ambitions as a thinker on language lasted until his death in 1953. Although the language of communism continued to exist after his death and ideology to act as a straitjacket for free thought, a certain sense of relief was felt everywhere.

  • March 12, 2024 UPDATE

    March 12, 2024 UPDATE

    CANDIDACY The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis Tuesday announced he would run for the NATO secretary general post. He says Eastern Europe has a valuable contribution to the Alliance, and believes NATO needs to renew its outlook on its mission, with strong representation in this region. Iohannis concludes his second presidential term in December. This February, Romania notified NATO of its intention to nominate Klaus Iohannis for the position for whichthe US, Britain and France announced they would back the Dutch PM Mark Rutte. As a rule, Romania’s nominations for top international posts are decided by the presidency, government and the foreign ministry. The term of NATO’s current secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has been extended by one year, until October. He has been leading the Alliance since 2014. NATO’s deputy secretary general, the Romanian Mircea Geoană, appointed in 2019, also completes his term in October. Romania joined NATO in 2004.

     

    OECD The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Tuesday released its 2024 Economic Survey of Romania in Bucharest, in the presence of PM Marcel Ciolacu and of the OECD secretary general, Mathias Cormann. PM Ciolacu said the OECD membership remains Romania’s most important strategic goal after the NATO and EU accession, and the government is fully committed to further the required reforms. The survey examines Romania’s recent economic performance and assesses policy options to strengthen recovery and sustain the green transition. The OECD Council decided to launch accession negotiations with Romania on 25 January 2022.

     

    LANGUAGE The Constitutional Court in Chișinău ruled that the phrase “Romanian language” is maintained in all the legislation of the Republic of Moldova, including in the Constitution. The Court thus rejected a move submitted last year by a group of socialist and communist MPs following Parliament’s implementation of a 2013 court ruling on the name of the country’s official language.

     

    COUNCIL The Romanian Finance Minister Marcel Bolos Tuesday took part in the Economic and Financial Affairs Council in Brussels. The agenda included the recovery and resilience mechanism, and the economic and financial impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The Presidency and the Commission informed the participants of the main results of the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors held on 26-29 February 2024. The ministers of economic and financial affairs also discussed investments and social reforms for resilient economies with the ministers of employment and of social affairs.

     

    PROTESTS Hundreds of local police are picketing the headquarters of the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration for the second day in a row on Wednesday, the National Trade Union Bloc announced. The main demands are full compliance with the law regulating weekly rest days and public holidays and the provision of mandatory food allowances. The unionists also want Parliament to review the draft POCA (Administrative Capacity Operational Program) drawn up by the Ministry of Development, as well as the status of the local police. According to the National Trade Union Bloc, in December 2023, the National Federation of United Local Police Unions started a public campaign to raise awareness on the importance of local police officers in society.

     

    TRIAL The Bucharest Court of Appeals Tuesday postponed the extradition of Andrew and Tristan Tate to the UK, until the case in Romania has been tried. The British-American citizens were detained on Monday night, under European arrest warrants issued by the British authorities for sexual exploitation offences in UK. Last June, the two brothers and two Romanian nationals were charged with forming an organised crime group and continuous human trafficking and rape offences, in a case that made the headlines in Romania. In early 2021, the defendants formed an organised crime group trafficking people in Romania, the US and UK. (AMP)

  • August 31, 2023 UPDATE

    August 31, 2023 UPDATE

    TALKS Romania’s Prime
    Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, will fly to Brussels on Friday for a new round of
    talks with the European Commission on the country’s budget deficit next year.
    The Executive in Bucharest would like a deficit over 5% and in order to
    convince Brussels, the Romanian Prime Minister is expected to propose a series
    of fiscal measures, including that of cutting the VAT quotas down to two and the
    elimination of some facilities. Ciolacu is expected to explain that a budget
    deficit over 5% is necessary as Romania had to support the neighboring Ukraine,
    affected by the war. Early this week, the European Commission held talks with
    government ministers from Romania. The conclusions of the aforementioned
    meetings have not been made public, but, according to some European sources,
    the Commission does not consider the measures proposed by the Romanian authorities
    who pledged to raise taxes and curb public expenses as being enough.






    VISIT A team of the European Commission is to visit Romania on
    Friday and Saturday for talks on ways to streamline the local capabilities handling
    the Ukrainian grain exports, after Russia has left the initiative regarding these
    exports through the Black Sea and is presently threatening maritime civil
    transportation. The expert team will be visiting the ports of Galati, on the
    Danube and meet representatives of the Lower Danube Administration, port
    authorities and pilots. The team will also travel to the Romanian Black Sea
    port of Constanta for talks with the representatives of the operators,
    transporters and grain traders here, the European Commission has announced.




    DAY A series of cultural events was staged simultaneously in
    Romania, the Republic of Moldova and the historic communities in the Diaspora
    to mark the Day of the Romanian Language on Thursday, August 31. Set by
    Parliament in Bucharest in 2013, the Day of the Romanian Language coincides
    with the national day in the Romanian-speaking, ex-soviet, Republic of Moldova,
    which thus pays homage to the local movement of national awakening. On August
    31 1989, during the soviet regime, the Parliament in Chisinau, picketed by
    about 750 thousand people, which accounted for a sixth of the country’s
    population at that time, decided the Romanian as the state language also
    shifting from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet.




    ITO As of Thursday the
    city of Timișoara in Western Romania is hosting the 7th edition of the
    International Meeting of Orthodox Youth (ITO). Attending are clergymen from at
    home and abroad, MPs, ministers and academia. The conference will tackle a
    number of issues tied to universal history and culture, but also human
    trafficking and drug abuse. Religious services will be held, whereas a march
    will commemorate the young people killed in the 1989 anti-communist revolution.
    The International Meeting of the Orthodox Youth is part of the agenda of the
    Timișoara – European Capital of Culture in 2023 programme. The next meeting
    will be held in Bucharest in 2025, marking 100 years since the establishment of
    the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate.




    (bill)

  • Special education for the people with special needs

    Special education for the people with special needs


    30,000 hearing-impaired people live in Romania, or
    thereabouts. They have a fully-fledged right to integrate themselves in the educational
    life with dignity, as well as in the professional or the social life. However,
    they are low-profile, more often than not, for the simple reason that they do
    not make noise. Nor can they voice their needs or complaints, either.


    A lecturer with the University of Bucharest’s Faculty
    of Journalism and Communication Sciences, Dr Florica Iuhas is one of those
    people who have adamantly provided a staunch support for the hearing-impaired people.
    Here is Dr Florica Iuhas herself, explaining why, for instance, a mere 1% of the
    hearing-impaired people pass the baccalaureate exam for the Romanian Language and
    literature exam subject.


    Dr Florica Iuhas:

    One of the big problems is that the
    education system has not been tailored to suit their needs, since they think
    and dream in the sign language, yet they have no choice other than take their
    baccalaureate exam in the Romanian language. A hearing-impaired
    person
    does not have prepositions in their vocabulary, nor conjunctions, they
    will never be able to understand the difference between the present tense and
    the past perfect, for example, because they have a visual culture, their own
    culture. But at ministerial level, officials cannot
    understand that, for the time being, at least. A hearing-impaired
    person will never be able to have a full command of the
    grammatical standards, because, for a hearing-impaired person, the syntax and the word
    order in a complex sentence are very different from the word order in Romanian. So,
    in effect, the sign language in Romanian will have to come first, for the
    baccalaureate exam. Rote learning works perfectly well for the hearing-impaired people,
    they can manage for Geography, for History, they can pass the baccalaureate exam
    for the theoretical disciplines quite all right, they’re doing fine in
    Mathematics, some of them are even successful IT specialists, but when it comes
    to Romanian language and literature, they have serious problems, as their mind
    and language are not structured according to the grammar of the Romanian
    language we, the people with no hearing problems, can speak .


    In other words, the present education law does not make
    a clear-cut distinction between the people who can hear and the
    hearing-impaired people. Both categories need to meet the same examination
    standards. According to Dr Florica Iuhas, for the hearing-impaired people, the Romanian
    language and literature exam should be replaced by an exam in the mother tongue,
    which, in their case, is the language of the signs. As for the Romanian
    language and literature exam, it should have a much lower level of difficulty.
    By the same token, a self-sufficient department is needed, capable of training
    teachers in the sign language, for the special-needs schools. Not just anybody
    can have a command of that particular language, let alone teach it! That also
    works for any other language!


    There is another situation we need to take into
    account: if the hearing-impaired people go to a front desk, they are unable to
    communicate with the hospital employees, or, when in court, they cannot utter what
    their complaint is or what exactly the wrongdoing is, that may have affected
    them. To that effect, in the spring of 2020, in Romania, the so-called Saftoiu law
    was promulgated, it bears the name of the former deputy Adriana Saftoiu, she
    was the one who wrote it and promoted it among her colleagues in Parliament. Here
    is Dr Florica Iuhas once again, this time summarizing what that particular law
    stipulated.

    Dr Florica Iuhas:


    The Saftoiu law stipulates that all state
    institutions in Romania must provide, for a hearing-impaired person, an
    interpreter specializing in the gesture and mimicry language or in the Romanian
    sign language, as in effect, that law certified the existence of that
    particular language as the hearing-impaired persons’ mother tongue. If a Hungarian goes to
    an institution and can communicate with a Hungarian-speaking person, for
    example, in the counties of Covasna and Harghita, it is, however, impossible
    for someone with a hearing impairment to communicate with the state authorities,
    as there is no dedicated interpreter employed by the state institutions.


    And, for such institutions, there was a two-year
    period of grace, after the law had come into effect, for them to take all the required
    measures so that as of April 2022, any deaf person entering a state institution
    can have a dedicated interpreter. Notwithstanding, as we speak, there are still
    very few interpreters of the sign language. Dr Florica Iuhas explains why that happens.


    ʺBecause they are disheartened
    by the institutions’ inability to pay them or to conclude collaboration contracts
    with them, or hire them. So no step forward has been taken, actually, you can even
    see that for yourselves on TV: the president who signed that law, whenever he
    makes a speech in public, is not accompanied by an interpreter, which is not
    okay. In any civilized country, joining the president, whenever they make a speech
    to the nation, there is an interpreter, and that, because the president of a
    country is everybody’s president. So what should a hearing-impaired person do? Do
    the lip-reading as they watch the president speak? According to the law, not only
    the television, but the institution must have an interpreter as well.


    The TV stations are also faced with the same problem,
    the limited number of dedicated interpreters. Dr Florica Iuhas is a sign
    language interpreter herself. At the Journalism Faculty, she opted for teaching
    a sign language course to those interested. However, it is the only such course
    across the country.


    Dr Florica Iuhas:

    ʺ I have been asked, for instance,
    by people working for the Mobile Emergency Service for Resuscitation and
    Extrication, they asked me ‘could you also teach us, since we’re faced with
    the situation of having to help families with those particular special needs
    and we cannot communicate with them!’ And then the idea crossed my mind, to do
    such a course with is open to everybody and not only to the University of
    Bucharest students, because of the impending necessity for the people who can
    hear to make themselves understood by the hearing-impaired persons, as you do
    not know who you may interact with.


    In Romania, that is a revolting iniquity, and that iniquity
    has been lasting for a good number of years, given that for decades, 48
    countries have officially recognized the sign language as the mother tongue of
    their hearing-impaired citizens, the former deputy Adriana Saftoiu stated. A
    language in continuous progress, the Romanian sign language has only 8 thousand
    signs, as compared to the 38 thousand signs of the French sign language or to
    the 50 thousand signs of the German sign language. Unfortunately, in Romania, there hasn’t even been such
    a concern to develop this special language, to enrich it. There is no institute
    or department where the Romanian sign language is studied.


    Florica Iuhas:

    ʺYet the hearing-impaired people are among
    us and they also need to communicate, they need to develop that language. I hope
    Romania will understand that it is important for such persons to be integrated
    in the vast majority of Romanians, and that it should make an effort to develop
    that language as well and to integrate the hearing-impaired persons.

    It was
    the conclusion drawn by Dr Florica Iuhas, a lecturer with the University of
    Bucharest’s Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences, herself a voice
    of Romania’s hearing-impaired people.

    (EN)

  • 500 years since the letter of Neacșu of Câmpulung

    500 years since the letter of Neacșu of Câmpulung

    In
    1894, Friedrich Stenner, an archivist with the Brașov City Archives, found a
    document written in Cyrillic alphabet by a Neacșu from the town of Câmpulung. It
    was a letter to the mayor of Braşov, Hans Benkner, in which Neacșu was warning
    of Ottoman military manoeuvres on the Danube and advised measures should be
    taken. The letter dates back to 1521 and is regarded as the first document in
    Romanian preserved to this day.


    Neacșu’s brief note
    has been researched extensively by historians and linguists. The former have
    focused on the players involved and the political context of the 16th
    Century, and the latter analysed the Romanian language of the time.


    Regional politics was
    dominated by the Ottoman Empire’s expansion into Central Europe. Since the
    mid-14th Century and until 1521, the Ottomans had conquered the
    Balkans and were heading for Hungary, which was to fall in 1526. Historian Radu
    Nedici, a professor of Medieval history with the University of Bucharest, was
    the first to provide an explanation for the document:


    Radu Nedici: Historians
    tried to come up with an explanation for the letter. The most reasonable of
    them seems to be the haste to convey information on an Ottoman military
    campaign. The standard at the time was to use Slavonic or Latin in the
    correspondence between Wallachia, Transylvania and the Kingdom of Hungary. Very
    likely the rush to send urgent intelligence regarding an Ottoman attack and a
    possible threat to Braşov prompted Neacșu to write this letter in Romanian.

    The
    strongest ties between the German towns in the Transylvanian Carpathians and
    the other Romanian provinces were economic. Câmpulung and Brașov, only 85 km
    from each other, had over two centuries old connections, and those who
    preserved that contact were mostly merchants. Neacșu was apparently part of Câmpulung’s
    trading elite, says Radu Nedici:




    Radu Nedici: Unfortunately we know little today about Neacșu of Câmpulung. He is
    never mentioned in documents prior to this letter. He seems to be a merchant
    from Câmpulung, involved in trading Oriental products that would transit
    Wallachia on their way to Central Europe, via Brașov. On the other side we have
    the magistrate from Braşov, the mayor of the town, mentioned in a lot more
    documents. Since Brașov was one of the main towns in Transylvania, his position
    was quite important.


    In 1521, Wallachia was
    ruled by prince Neagoe Basarab. In fact, the prince died around 3 months after
    the letter was written. The country was likely to fall under Ottoman influence,
    but Wallachian nobility were still hoping for support from Hungary. Therefore,
    Wallachian princes and characters like Neacșu would readily keep the Christians
    across the mountains up to date with the Ottomans’ moves.


    The letter was
    complete, written in brown ink, in good condition, with a seal on the back. We asked
    Radu Nedici about the Romanian language spoken in the 16th Century:


    Radu Nedici: To a 21st
    Century reader, the language is rather hard to understand, because a lot of
    Slavonic phrases are used. The beginning and ending, as well as the connectors
    for each paragraph, are taken as such from Slavonic, hence the difficulty of
    understanding the text. On the other hand, the language is quite comprehensible
    if we look exclusively at the part of the text in Romanian. So we have a
    language developing in a direction that we can recognise today.


    In a book published in
    1970, linguist Aurel Nicolescu counted 190 unique words in Neacşu’s letter. 178
    of them come from Latin, 11 are Slavonic and Hungarian, and only 1 comes from
    Turkish.


    Radu Nedici: The letter was written at a time
    when Romanian was just being introduced in the princely chancellery. This happened
    as the Romanian language was beginning to be used extensively, including in
    official contexts. This is a document written at a precisely known date, in
    1521, so in mid-16th Century we are beginning to see
    Romanian-language documents written in Romanian chancelleries. It was the time
    when the Romanian language was developing and becoming predominant.


    The
    letter of Neacșu of Câmpulung is the written testimony that Romanian was used
    in correspondence 500 years ago. In the five centuries that followed, various
    influences have enriched it and turned it into the language we speak today. (tr, A.M. Popescu)

  • Romanian without tears

    Romanian without tears

    We continue our presentation of discourse
    markers as a means of introducing complex communicative patterns.


    As usual, here is a series of
    relevant words and phrases:


    Chiar daca=even if


    Cu toate ca=although


    In pofida faptului ca=despite the
    fact that


    Verisor, verisoara=cousin


    Subiecte= topics


    In totalitate=thoroughly


    In repetate rinduri=repeatedly


    A anunta=let somebody know


    Now let us use some of the
    phrases above in meaningful, communicative patterns.


    Chiar daca am invatat bine pentru
    examentul de lingvistica, tot mai ramin niste subiecte pe care nu le-am inteles
    in totalitate.


    Even if we properly prepared for
    the Linguistics exam, there are still a couple of topics left, which we have
    not thoroughly understood.


    Cu toate ca am invitat-o pe verisoara
    mea Cristina la mine in repetate rinduri, ea nu m-a anuntat niciodata daca
    doreste sa vina sau nu.


    Although I have repeatedly
    invited my cousin Cristina to my place, she never let me know if she wanted to
    come over or not.


    In pofida faptului ca mamei nu
    i-a placut niciodata de George, Adela s-a casatorit cu el acum trei saptamini.


    Despite the fact that mother
    never liked George, Adela married him three weeks ago.


    Thank you all for the interest
    you take in Romanian culture, and for being so keen on learning Romanian with
    us.

  • Romanian without tears

    Romanian without tears

    We continue our presentation of discourse
    markers as a means of introducing complex communicative patterns.


    As usual, here is a series of
    relevant words and phrases:


    Chiar daca=even if


    Cu toate ca=although


    In pofida faptului ca=despite the
    fact that


    Verisor, verisoara=cousin


    Subiecte= topics


    In totalitate=thoroughly


    In repetate rinduri=repeatedly


    A anunta=let somebody know


    Now let us use some of the
    phrases above in meaningful, communicative patterns.


    Chiar daca am invatat bine pentru
    examentul de lingvistica, tot mai ramin niste subiecte pe care nu le-am inteles
    in totalitate.


    Even if we properly prepared for
    the Linguistics exam, there are still a couple of topics left, which we have
    not thoroughly understood.


    Cu toate ca am invitat-o pe verisoara
    mea Cristina la mine in repetate rinduri, ea nu m-a anuntat niciodata daca
    doreste sa vina sau nu.


    Although I have repeatedly
    invited my cousin Cristina to my place, she never let me know if she wanted to
    come over or not.


    In pofida faptului ca mamei nu
    i-a placut niciodata de George, Adela s-a casatorit cu el acum trei saptamini.


    Despite the fact that mother
    never liked George, Adela married him three weeks ago.


    Thank you all for the interest
    you take in Romanian culture, and for being so keen on learning Romanian with
    us.

  • Basic discourse markers

    Basic discourse markers

    Basic discourse markers in Romanian will have to be correctly used if you want to express more complex language functions in this language, such as agreeing and disagreeing.



    Here are several useful words and phrases:


    In ceea ce ma priveste=as far as I’m concerned


    A merita=deserve


    In afara de asta=besides


    Scump=expensive


    Uniunea Scriitorilor= Writers’ Union


    Premiu=award


    Sint perfect/intru totul de accord cu tine=I perfectly agree with you/I couldn’t agree with you more



    Now let us use some of the words and phrases in meaningful, communicative patterns:


    In ceea ce ma priveste, nu cred ca volumul merita premiul Uniunii Scriitorilor pe anul 2015.


    As far as I’m concerned, I don’t think the book deserved the Writers’ Union Award in 2015.



    Nu cred ca o calatorie cu autocarul pina la Istanbul este foarte usoara. In afara de asta, biletele de autocar s-au scumpit in ultimele luni.


    I don’t think that a trip by coach to Istanbul is very easy. Besides, coach tickets have become expensive in the last couple of months.



    Mi-ai spus saptamina trecuta ca viata in Romania este foarte scumpa. Sint perfect de acord cu tine.


    Last week you told me life in Romania is very expensive. I perfectly agree with you/ I couldn’t agree with you more.



    Pe de alta parte, a te muta intr-o tara straina nu este atit de simplu.


    On the other hand, relocating to a foreign country is not so simple.



    Thank you ALL for the interest you take in Romanian culture, and for being so keen on learning Romanian with us. Good Bye! La revedere!

  • 7 March, 2015

    7 March, 2015

    Today’s edition is about tools and fixing things around the home.


    Lets begin with some new words and notions:


    – tools = unelte


    – workshop = atelier


    – work bench = banc de lucru


    to fix = a repara


    hammer = ciocan


    screw = surub


    nail = cui


    – wood = lemn


    – pliers = patent


    – wire = sirma



    Now, let’s use these words in sentences.



    I got new tools.


    Mi-am luat unelte noi.


    I have a workshop in the attic.


    Am atelier in pod.


    I have a new job on my work bench.


    Am o lucrare noua pe bancul de lucru.


    I fix things around the house myself.


    Repar lucuri in casa de unul singur.


    Hand me that hammer, please.


    Da-mi ciocanul acela, te rog.


    I cannot find the right screw.


    Nu gasesc surubul potrivit.


    Take out that nail.


    Scoate cuiul acela.


    I prefer to work with wood, not plastic.


    Prefer sa lucrez cu lemn, nu cu plastic.


    For this job I need the pliers.


    Pentru lucrarea asta imi trebuie patentul.


    You need the copper wire.


    Iti trebuie sirma de cupru.