TRANSLATION WORK OF ROMANIANS FROM THE TERRITORY OF PRESENT DAY VOJVODINA IN THE 19TH AND THE FIRST DECADES OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Text topic: THE BOOK CULTURE OF THE MINORITIES IN VOJVODINA

Text author: Мирча Маран

The paper presents different aspects of the translation work o fRomanians from the territory of the present day Vojvodina (Banat)during the 19th and the first decades of the 20th century, up until theSecond World War. The translation work in administration, education, religious institutions, and primarily in journalism and literature, has played an important role in the multicultural society of Banat. Various languages, cultures, traditions and religions interacted and intertwined there, and the society functioned on principles which enabled mutual understanding and cooperative work of all those who lived in Banat, regardless of the differences. The first translations in the Romanian language, primarily from German and Serbian, appeared in the 18th century, for the needs of state administration, education or religious work. The translations became more diverse and of a higher quality thanks to the work of the first elite Romanian intellectuals from the period of the late Enlightenment, the representatives of whom were Paul Iorgovici, Constantin Diaconovici Loga, and Sofronie Ivacicovici. In the 19th century, the translations got new content in the form of publication of multilingual posters, invitations, association rules, monetary instructions, newspaper articles, religious books, but also literary works, among which the most prominent were the translations of Hungarian literary works to the Romanian language, done by the writer and publicist Alexandru Țințariu. In the period between the two World Wars, translation work also gained new content because translations from German and Hungarian to Romanian stopped as the focus was placed on translations from Serbian to Romanian and viceversa.