Plenary speakers

The Intercultural Confluences Research Centre of the Department of Humanities, Faculty of Economics, Socio-Human Sciences and Engineering, Miercurea Ciuc, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Romania, organizes the International Conference  Közvetítés / Transmitere / Transmission in Miercurea Ciuc, Piața Libertății 1, on 21-22 March, 2025. The working languages of the conference are Hungarian, Romanian, and English.

 Call for papers 2025

PROGRAMME 

Development of Teacher Identity: From Present to Future Professional Selves   

This plenary talk explores the concept of teacher identity: how teachers see themselves in their professional roles and how this identity influences their daily work. We will start with the idea that identity is not static, but changes over time through teaching experiences and personal growth. This presentation discusses definitions, theories of identity formation, and the factors that shape professional selves. Challenges including external pressures and burnout are also examined. Focus is placed on pre-service teachers’ identity development, the factors that play a role in growing from being a student to becoming a teacher, the importance of teacher education programs and current research paths. Examples from my earlier research on how pre-service English teachers develop their identities are shared. This presentation emphasizes the role of teacher education programs and in-service training in helping (future) teachers shape their professional identities and overcome the challenges they face.

Identity, Alterity, and Cultural Transmission in Translation

This paper will first explore the interpretations of the key concepts mentioned in the title – identity, otherness, and intercultural transfer – while outlining the appropriate theoretical framework for analyzing identity and otherness in the translation process. Subsequently, it will examine how (foreignizing) translation reflects the identity of the source text and negotiates its transfer into the target language, as well as the relationship between cultural fluctuations specific to the spaces and languages involved in translation. The impact of cultural elements, which require complex mediation (beyond mere adaptation, localization, or domestication), on the transmission of culturally marked content will be illustrated through a case study. This study will analyze the multi-perspective confrontation and the influence of globalization on identity and otherness in translation. Assessing how the intercultural transfer of cultural elements (culturemes, memes, realia) contributes to enhancing communication between languages and cultures provides not only a more comprehensive understanding of the intercultural negotiation process but also demonstrates, by fostering dialogue and collaboration among specialists in linguistics, culture, and technology, the complexity of intercultural translation. However, this process should not be perceived as overly complicated but rather as a challenge that the translator/post-editor – as a linguistic expert and cultural mediator – manages by balancing formal rigour with interpretative creativity to preserve the essence of cultural messages. The conclusion opens new perspectives for rethinking the role and impact of translation in a globalized world.

FORMS OF TRANSMISSION

Transpositions of the Novel The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai

Valuska, Péter Eötvös’s first Hungarian-language opera, premiered on December 2, 2023 in Budapest at the Atelier Eiffel Theatre as a production of the Hungarian State Opera, directed by Bence Varga. The libretto was written by Kinga Keszthelyi and Mária Mezei, based on László Krasznahorkai’s novel The Melancholy of Resistance (1989). This is not the first transposition of Krasznahorkai’s novel as Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky had already directed a film version of it under the title Werckmeister Harmonies (2000), but it is the first transposition into an opera, which actually gave birth to two operas, as the German version was completed at the same time as the Hungarian one, which premiered in Regensburg on February 3, 2024, under the title Valushka. Moreover, there is also a new transcription of the opera, entitled Melancholie des Widerstands, which premiered on June 30, 2024 at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, with Marc-André Dalbavie as composer, Guillaume Métayer as librettist and David Martin as director. Eötvös’s opera is a tragic comedy or grotesque opera, while Dalbavie’s Eine filmische Oper is an opera film. In my presentation, I will examine the forms of transmission in the film and opera transpositions of Krasznahorkai’s novel.