One of the most prominent achievements is the publication of an extensive monograph, which was edited by Igor Maver. The monograph was published in collaboration with the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts by The Ljubljana University Press of the Faculty of Arts. In the book are initially published the essays of the editor and members of the academy Janez Orešnik, Kajetan Gantar and France Bernik. The second part brings the unpublished legacy of the former academy member, and the third part features a lengthy study by Igor Maver (60 pp.) about the Slovenian missionary and explorer Marko Anton Kappus in colonial America. The author thematizes especially his unknown letters from colonial America of the late 17th century, which is an exceptional contribution to Slovenian as well as European intercultural studies. In the last part of the monograph there are more original scientific studies about English and American literature and linguistic studies. Along with the members of the academy the authors of the articles are members of various foreign academies of sciences and arts and prestigious universities, although the monograph is written entirely in the Slovenian language, in the original or in translation for the studies to become »accessible to the widest interested circle of readers in Slovenia and which at the same time importantly develop the use various specific scientific terminological expressions of the Slovenian language, what seems today especially necessary«, as Igor Maver wrote in the introduction. The book was launched at the press conference in the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts in January 2017.
C.02 Editorial board of a national monograph
COBISS.SI-ID: 286202112On the third channel of Radio Slovenia in the emission on the humanities (Ars humana, 50 minutes) on 18 January 2018 the researcher Tanja Žigon (joined by her doctoral student and co-author from Graz University, Karin Almasy) spoke with the moderator Tina Kozin about the findings of the research into the significance of the 19th century of translation school textbooks into Slovenian. The presented publicly the monograph with this title (2017; https://knjigarna.ff.uni-lj.si/si/izdelek/1711/vloga-in-pomen-prevajanja-ucbenikov-v-19-stoletju/, COBISS.SI-ID 288412928). They also spoke about the translations of professional texts in the period of the formation of Slovenian cultural and national identity, presented the collaboration of translators (the important intellectuals and teachers of the period) with state and local school authorities and with examples clearly showed how Slovenian professional terminology was emerging with the help of translations, which, however, has a German basis, although it was adapted to 19th century Slovenian. They furthermore spoke about the typical translation techniques and at the same time pointed to a swift development in introducing the local professional terminology, where certain terminological results are still in use today. The debate can be accessed online at http://ars.rtvslo.si/2018/01/ars-humana-141/ and is also published in the most frequently read Slovenian portal MMC http://www.rtvslo.si/kultura/drugo/prevode-samo-za-silo-ali-kako-so-slovenci-dobili-prve-ucbenike-v-svojem-jeziku/443404. Numerous responses of the listeners and readers that the authors received show the topicality of the work for which there is also an interest for translation into German.
F.18 Transfer of new know-how to direct users (seminars, fora, conferences)
COBISS.SI-ID: 66120546The chapter addresses an insufficiently researched aspect of education of the Roma population, using the example of their performance at foreign language learning in Slovenia. The theoretical foundations of language learning, the historical situation, and the current living conditions of the Roma support the thesis that foreign language learning success among the Roma is poorer than the performance of non-Roma. This affects their success levels in other subjects requiring language competence. After considering the importance of foreign language learning for each individual and the current didactic concept of foreign language learning, our empirical research for Roma pupils demonstrates that they tend to learn foreign languages pragmatically rather than in academic ways that are more abstract; that lifestyle circumstances force them to speak at least two languages; and that they are more successful with German, which they are more likely to use and learn than English. Such results require radical reflection, revision, and innovation of existing language learning didactics.
F.29 Contribution to the development of national cultural identity
COBISS.SI-ID: 20753160This book is the result of the three-year European project TransStar Europa. Its centre was the Slavistic Seminar at the University in Tübingen, and the participants were universities and cultural institutions from Germany, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, the Ukraine, and Slovenia. It offered participants their first contact with the world of literary translation in ten language pairs, various different combinations of German and other participating languages. The translations in the book are thus the result not only of the source texts, but also of meetings, conversations, travels, and tales of those experiences. One of the project’s goals, namely, was to bring different cultures and their dimensions together, and this is possible only when one is able to develop empathy and sensitivity to cultural differences – which are both important competences for a good literary translator and (inter)cultural mediator. The book was published as part of the LLP European international translation project TransStar Europe: Raising transcultural, digital and multitransnational competences; Tanja Žigon (head, coordinator for Slovenia).
D.01 Chairing over/coordinating (international and national) projects
COBISS.SI-ID: 281483520Movens: Crossing cultural and aesthetic boundaries is a network of Germanists made up of researchers from the Universities of Stockholm, Göteborg, Limerick, Ljubljana, Greifswald, London and Berlin. The network that started in November 2005 is mainly focused on studies regarding crossing national as well as language borders, on international and interdisciplinary acting and new ways of pursuing literary scholarship. In June 2014, the yearly conference has taken place in Izola, Slovenia, under the title “The Meeting of the Waters: Fluid Spaces in Literature and Culture”. The aim of the conference was to show, how the phenomenon of water appears from a cultural, historical, literary, intercultural, intermedial and interdisciplinary perspective. There were more than 30 research presentations by the senior colleagues as well as project presentations by the participating PhD students from 12 Universities. End of 2015, a scientific monograph was published by Iudicum Verlag (Munich/Germany) [COBISS.SI-ID 59224418].
B.01 Organiser of a scientific meeting
COBISS.SI-ID: 55159650