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Sample translations submitted: 5
English to Romanian: The Assassini, by Thomas Gifford General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Poetry & Literature
Source text - English He looked like a bird of prey, all black and swooping against the silver sheen of ice. He was an elderly gentleman. He was very good on the blades.
He was enjoying himself, hearing the hiss of his skates carving neat, precise patterns on the ice, feeling the crisp autumn breeze on his face. His senses were unusually acute, as they always were on such important days. The task at hand brought him to life in a unique way: on such days he was one with his destiny, one with his God. The point of his existence was clear to him on such days.
Translation - Romanian Arata ca o pasare de prada, invesmantat in negru, alunecand pe luciul argintiu al ghetii. Era un domn in varsta. Patina foarte bine.
Ii facea placere sa asculte suierul patinelor taind urme drepte, precise pe gheata si sa simta pe obraji briza invioratoare de toamna. Simturile ii erau neobisnuit de alerte, ca intotdeauna in astfel de zile importante. Sarcina pe care o avea de indeplinit il trezea la viata intr-un mod unic: in astfel de zile se simtea una cu destinul, una cu Dumnezeu. Scopul existentei ii era clar in astfel de zile.
English to Romanian: Acceptable Risk, by Robin Cook General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Poetry & Literature
Source text - English Spurred on by the penetrating cold, Mercy Griggs snapped her riding crop above the back of her mare. The horse picked up the pace, drawing the sleigh effortlessly over the hard-packed snow. Mercy snuggled deeper into the high coller of her sealskin coat and clasped her hands together within her muff in a vain attempt to shield herself from the artic air.
Translation - Romanian Indemnata de frigul patrunzator, Mercy Griggs pocni din bici peste crupa iepei. Calul grabi pasul, tragand fara efort sania pe zapada batatorita. Mercy se cuibari mai adanc sub gulerul inalt al cojocului din piele de foca si isi stranse mainile in manson, incercand zadarnic sa se apere de gerul arctic.
English to Romanian: Transylvania Lost and Found General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Architecture
Source text - English Apafi Manor was once a hunting lodge of the princely Apafi family, rulers of Transylvania in the 17th century. It sits apart from the village of Mălâncrav on a plateau beside the fortified mediaeval church and a large organic apple orchard. Latin documents in the national library in Budapest describe alterations made between 1679 and 1778, mentioning ‘elegantly painted’ frescoes of Old Testament scenes in the sitting rooms of Michael Apafi and his wife, Princess Kata.
After the Apafis died out in the 18th century, the property passed to their cousins, the Bethlens. Eventually the manor was sold out of the family. Revai’s encyclopaedia tells us that it was rebuilt in the 1830s by the then owner, Count Haller, and later inherited by his wife Suzanna.
In 1865, the British traveller Charles Boner came upon Mălâncrav and wrote of “the gutted remains of the mansion of the Hungarian lady of the manor In the cellar, which during the revolution was full of wine, the casks were staved, and the ground inundated with the costly wine.”
Rebuilt and sold again, it was finally given to the Saxon church in 1920. But in 1949 the Communists seized and plundered it. To this day intimate pieces from the Manor’s interior turn up from time to time in the village—an armchair and a blue 19th century flower-patterned cup and saucer the most recent discoveries.
Nevertheless, the Manor was not entirely abandoned. It was altered into a village hall, a concrete kitchen slapped brutally onto the columned terrace on the north side and a makeshift stage inserted into Princess Kata’s drawing room at the south end. But in the absence of anyone with a sense of personal responsibility for its upkeep, the building gradually disintegrated into a lifeless wreck.
Maybe if the house had been harder to acquire we would not have had the nerve to take it on. But luck was on our side. The Communists had omitted to expropriate the deeds. Wanting the approval of the village before committing ourselves, we met with the Saxon elders in the priest’s house. All agreed that after the years of neglect one more winter would leave this magnificent but unloved place beyond recovery. They could offer nothing to save it. In December 2000, at a cost of £120, it became ours. Our unwritten pact was that we would do all in our power to bring it back to its former beauty.
Looking back on the five years it took to rebuild the house, it was the decision not to use a large construction firm that made the difference between success and failure. We owe this decision to a sympathetic German architect, Jan Hülsemann, who we had discovered by chance working in nearby Sibiu. “Why don’t you follow the Trust’s philosophy for little houses?” he said, when we showed him the shocking estimates for the work ahead: “use what talent you can find in the village, use the latent skills in all the surrounding villages.” It was a moment of revelation, but it would have come to nothing had it not been for the Californian scholar and philanthropist, David Packard. His Packard Humanities Institute had supported our work restoring barns, churches, village facades. Now he encouraged us to raise our game and tackle the wholesale regeneration of great tracts of Transylvania, with the Apafi manor as the jewel in the crown.
From the moment we “went local” the work became enjoyable. We commissioned a Mălâncrav team working under master builder Ernst Linzing to dig targeted areas. Soon we discovered the remains of a thirteenth-century building, massively altered in 1678 and again in the 1890s and 1920s. Excavation also revealed that the house was once twelve yards longer, with several outbuildings, possibly stables, on the south side. There was a tower for the night-watchman and large entrance gates. We sought memories from the villagers. They searched their chests; a series of pre- and post-war photographs were uncovered, two of them taken in 1940, showing the details of balustrades and ironwork by the front door. An eighty-year old farmer, who had survived deportation after the war to Siberia, told us that in the centre of the courtyard there was once a fountain fed from waterfalls cascading from the hill beside the house. More digging and the stone surround of the fountain itself appeared, deeply embedded in the earth.
Under the supervision of Jan Hülsemann, who masterminded every detail of the work, the masonry, metalwork, bricks, tiles, roof insulation, carpentry, ceramic stoves and flooring were all hand-crafted using local materials. The beautiful windows and shutters were made in Mr Căpâtănâ’s carpentry workshop in Gura Râului, near Sibiu; the stone steps of the northern staircase and the coping of the old southern entrance were hand-dressed by stonemasons Bartalis Bela and Bartalis Attila, father and son, from Târgu Secuiesc; the wrought iron balustrade and traditional door hinges were made by blacksmith Ioan Jinariu; the white tiles for the stoves, emblazoned with the Apafi crest, were handmade by artisans at Teracota Mediaș.
As we were planning the interior, we brought the designer David Mlinaric to see the Manor. For two years he freely dedicated time and thought to every inch of the building, discovering traces of painted friezes and flowered murals on the walls and ceiling of the library, which we replicated meticulously. Meanwhile carpets, tables, baskets and linen-embroidered curtains were all made locally.
For the new library we took as our inspiration Count Teleki’s 17th century library in nearby Târgu
Mures and decided to specialise in Eastern European history. Several libraries and publishing houses, together with many generous friends, gave us handsome donations of books. One such friend, Ilinca Bossy, not only gave us most of her collection but also emptied her house of half its antiques to help furnish the Manor. She threw in the uniform of her father who had been Romanian Ambassador in Budapest during the war years. This we stood, with its plumed hat and elegant sword, in a corner of the drawing room.
The house is now complete, a showcase for Transylvanian craftsmanship and a centre for a variety of purposes, ranging from wedding parties, conferences and receptions to lodging for visiting scholars and environmentally-conscious travellers.
Translation - Romanian Conacul Apafi a fost cândva cabana de vânătoare a familiei princiare Apafi, conducătorii Transilvaniei în secolul al XVII-lea. Se găseşte deasupra satului Mălâncrav, pe un platou lângă biserica medievală fortificată şi livada ecologică de meri. Documente aflate în biblioteca naţională de la Budapesta descriu modificări făcute la interiorul şi exteriorul casei în perioada 1679 - 1778, în care se vorbeşte de fresce „elegant pictate” conţinând scene din Vechiul Testament, din sufrageria lui Mihai Apafi şi a soţiei sale, Prinţesa Kata.
După ce familia Apafi s-a stins în secolul al XVIII-lea, proprietatea a trecut în patrimoniul verilor acestora, familia Bethlen. În cele din urmă conacul a fost vândut. Enciclopedia Revai menţionează că a fost reconstruit în 1830 de proprietarul de atunci, contele Haller, şi a fost moştenit mai târziu de soţia acestuia, Suzanna.
În 1865 călătorul britanic Charles Boner, ajuns la Mălâncrav în timpul unei călătorii prin Transilvania, scria despre „…ruinele golașe ale conacului unei doamne maghiare… În pivniţa ce în timpul revoluţiei era plină de vin, butoaiele au fost sparte şi vinul preţios a fost vărsat… Am băut din excelentele vinuri vechi ce se găseau acolo”.
Reconstruit şi pus din nou în vânzare, a fost în cele din urmă donat bisericii saşilor în 1920. Dar în anul 1949 comuniştii l-au confiscat şi jefuit. Până în zilele noastre, obiecte din patrimoniul conacului apar din timp în timp în sat – un fotoliu şi o ceaşcă cu ornamente albastre din secolul al XIX-lea, împreună cu farfurioara aferentă, sunt cele mai recente descoperiri.
Cu toate acestea, conacul nu a fost complet abandonat. Transformat în cămin cultural, o bucătărie de beton a fost anexată pe terasa cu coloane dinspre nord şi o scenă improvizată a fost amplasată în fosta cameră de zi a prinţesei Kata. Dar în lipsa unor persoane care să simtă o răspundere personală pentru întreţinerea acesteia, clădirea s-a deteriorat treptat până a ajuns o ruină lipsită de viaţă.
Poate dacă am fi avut greutăti în achizitionarea clădirii, nu am fi avut curaj să demarăm acest proiect. Dar norocul ne-a surâs. Comuniştii au omis să exproprieze foştii proprietari. Dorind să avem aprobarea comunităţii locale, am participat la o întrunire a consiliului saşilor în casa parohială. Toţi au fost de acord că, după atâţia ani de nefolosire, încă o iarnă ar fi adus această clădire impresionantă dar neîngrijită într-o stare irecuperabilă. Ei nu puteau face nimic ca să o salveze. În luna decembrie a anului 2000, pentru suma de 120 de lire sterline, am devenit proprietarii acesteia. Înţelegerea noastră nescrisă a fost că vom face tot ce ne stă în putintă pentru a readuce conacul la frumuseţea de odinioară.
Privind în urmă la cei cinci ani de reconstrucţie a clădirii, credem că decizia de a nu folosi o firmă mare de construcţii a însemnat diferenţa dintre succes şi eşec. Datorăm această decizie unui inimos arhitect german, Jan Hülsemann, pe care l-am descoperit lucrând în apropiere de Sibiu. „De ce nu aplicati aceeasi filosofie a Trustului ca si pentru casele mici?” ne-a întrebat el atunci când i-am arătat estimările socante ale unor firme. „Folosiţi orice persoană pricepută din sat si mestesugurile existente în satele înconjurătoare”. A fost un moment de revelaţie, dar care nu s-ar fi materializat dacă nu ar fi existat cărturarul şi filantropistul californian David Packard. Institutul Packard Humanities ne-a sprijinit în restaurarea şurilor, bisericilor şi faţadelor din sate. Tot el ne-a încurajat să ne extindem activitatea şi să abordăm regenerarea marilor conace transilvănene, cel al familiei Apafi fiind încununarea lucrărilor noastre.
Din momentul în care am decis să folosim resurse locale, munca a devenit mult mai plăcută. Am încredinţat lucrările de excavare unei echipe din Mălâncrav, sub conducerea meşterului constructor Ernst Linzing. La scurt timp am descoperit rămăsitele unei clădiri din secolul al XIII-lea, cu modificări ulterioare din 1678, 1890 şi 1920. Săpăturile au scos la iveală faptul că această casă fusese cu 12 m mai lungă, având mai multe anexe, posibil grajduri, în partea sudică. A existat şi un turn pentru paznicul de noapte şi porţi mari de acces. Am început să căutăm obiecte rămase la săteni. Aceştia au scormonit prin lăzi si au descoperit fotografii dinainte şi de după război, două - făcute în 1940 - arătând detaliile balustradelor şi feroneriei uşii principale. Un ţăran în vârstă de 80 de ani, supravieţuitor al deportării în Siberia de după al doilea război mondial, ne-a povestit că în mijlocul grădinii a existat o fântână arteziană, alimentată cu apă din dealul de deasupra conacului. După mai multe excavatii au apărut şi pietrele acestei fântâni, adânc îngropate în pământ.
Sub supravegherea lui Jan Hülsemann, toate detaliile au fost realizate cu materiale locale: construcţia, feroneria, cărămizile, ţiglele, izolaţia acoperişului, lemnăria, sobele de teracotă şi duşumelele. Frumoasele ferestre şi obloane tradiţionale provin din atelierul de tâmplărie al domnului Căpăţână din Gura Râului, lângă Sibiu; treptele de piatră ale scării de nord şi mâna curentă a scării de sud au fost cioplite manual de către meşterii pietrari Bartalis Bela şi Bartalis Attila, tată şi fiu, de lângă Târgu Secuiesc; balustrada din fier forjat şi balamalele tradiţionale au fost făcute de meşterul fierar Ioan Jinariu; cahlele albe ale sobelor, împodobite cu blazonul familiei Apafi, au fost lucrate manual de către artizanii firmei Teracota din Mediaş.
Când făceam planurile pentru interior, cunoscutul designer David Milnaric a vizitat conacul. Acesta ne-a oferit timpul si sfaturile sale gratis timp de doi ani – de la culorile zugrăvelilor interioare până la vopseaua obloanelor noi. Descoperirea care ne-a adus cea mai mare satisfacţie a fost friza pictată cu flori de pe peretii si tavanul bibliotecii, pe care am refăcut-o cu meticulozitate. Covoarele, mesele, coşurile şi draperiile brodate au fost comandate la meşteşugarii din sat.
Pentru bibliotecă, ne-am inspirat din biblioteca de secol XVII a contelui Teleki de la Târgu Mureş. Ne-am decis să o dedicăm istoriei est-europene. Mai multe biblioteci şi edituri, alături de prieteni generoşi, ne-au făcut donaţii importante de cărti. Ilinca Bossy ne-a oferit nu doar colectia sa personală, ci si numeroase obiecte de epocă cu care am mobilat si decorat conacul. D-na Bossy ne-a donat uniforma tatălui său, Raoul Bossy, fost ambasador al României la Budapesta în timpul celui de-al doilea război mondial. Pe aceasta am expus-o, împreună cu coiful cu pene şi spada ceremonială, într-un colţ al camerei de primire.
Clădirea este acum completă, o oglindă a îndemânării meşteşugarilor transilvăneni şi un centru multifuntional, găzduind evenimente, conferinţe, nunti şi recepţii de toate felurile, pentru cărturari si eco-turisti.
English to Romanian: Nature reserve website www.breite.ro General field: Science Detailed field: Environment & Ecology
Source text - English Breite – A Unique European Treasure
On the Breite Plateau, near Sighişoara, lies the largest, most representative and beautifully preserved wood pasture habitat with multi-secular oak trees (Querqus robur and Querqus petraea) in Central and Eastern Europe. Through its origin, the Breite Plateau is a “culturally modified forest”, created not only by eight centuries of local Saxon culture, but also by a rich and diverse natural environment. It is this dual origin that gives the Breite Reserve its multiple and exceptional values – historical, cultural, ecological, aesthetic and sentimental. A rich natural heritage and living evidence of the history of Sighişoara, Breite represents a unique treasure of European value.
New Management for the Breite Reserve
In order to protect this treasure and to safeguard its future, the management of the multi-secular oak reserve was entrusted on the 29th of March 2006 to a partnership between The Mihai Eminescu Trust and Sighişoara City Council, for a period of five years. MET, the City Council and their partners pledged to preserve the ancient oak trees on Breite, to ensure the regeneration of the reserve by planting new trees, to promote the value of the reserve in Romania and abroad and to create a management plan within a year, based on scientific studies and public consultations.
Translation - Romanian Breite – valoare unică în Europa
Pe platoul Breite de lângă Sighişoara se află cel mai mare, reprezentativ şi bine conservat habitat de pajişte împădurită (wood pasture) cu goruni (Querqus petraea) şi stejari (Querqus robur) multiseculari din centrul şi estul Europei. Prin originea sa, platoul Breite este o pădure „modificată cultural”, purtând atât amprenta culturii locale săseşti de peste opt secole cât şi a unei naturi bogate şi variate. Această origine dublă conferă rezervaţiei Breite valori excepţionale multiple - de la cele istorice, culturale şi ecologice, până la cele estetice şi emoţionale. Atît din punctul de vedere al patrimoniului natural, cît şi ca mărturie vie a istoriei oraşului Sighişoara, Breite reprezintă o valoare unică în Europa.
Noi custozi pentru rezervaţia Breite
Pentru a proteja această valoare şi a-i asigura supravieţuirea în viitor, la data de 29 martie 2006 s-a semnat convenţia prin care custodia rezervaţiei de stejari multiseculari de la Breite a fost încredinţată pe o perioadă de cinci ani unui parteneriat format din Fundaţia Mihai Eminescu Trust şi Consiliul Local Sighişoara. MET, Consiliul Local şi partenerii lor s-au angajat să protejeze bătrînii stejari de pe Breite, să asigure regenerarea rezervaţiei prin plantări de puieţi, să promoveze valoarea rezervaţiei în România şi în străinătate şi să elaboreze planul de management, pe baza studiilor ştiinţifice şi cu consultarea publicului, în maximum un an de la data preluării custodie.
Romanian to English: Reconstructia dreptei, by Valeriu Stoica and Paul Dragos Aligica General field: Social Sciences Detailed field: Government / Politics
Source text - Romanian Pe confuza harta doctrinara a dreptei romanesti exista un punct focal, un reper neschimbat în ciuda ambiguitaTilor si neclaritaTilor sale: este vorba despre liberalism. Ramasa cantonata într-o autodefinire idiosin-cratica, miscarea de dreapta din România se complace astfel sa populeze un domeniu în care pâna si cel mai clar precizat element al sau este tributar vagului. Inconfortului unui angajament intelectual ferm îi este preferata comoditatea unei forme goale de conTinut. Din motive în parte acciden-tale, în parte istorice, în parte legate de ignoranTa si în parte de oportunism, liberalismul a devenit în România o marca a dreptei. N-ar fi o problema atât timp cât acest liberalism ar fi fost precizat si atât timp cât ar fi fost luate în considerare toate argumentele si contraargumentele îndemnând la anumite rezerve în a imbratisa termenul fara o clarificare prealabila. Acest lucru nu s-a întâmplat. Si astfel s-a creat o situaTie paradoxala. Rezultatul ei direct este ca nu vom putea înainta - se pare - în clarificarea doctrinara a dreptei contemporane romanesti pâna când nu vom reusi sa depasim aceasta fixaTie asupra liberalismului. Sau, mai precis, asupra unui mit al liberalismului românesc, o fantasma doctrinara fara substanTa sau coerenTa, dar care bântuie cu tenacitate coridoarele dreptei romanesti.
O discuTie despre dreapta româneasca trebuie deci sa înceapa necesar-mente de aici. Iata de ce ne propuneam ca, înainte de orice, sa prefaTam contribuTia noastra la dezbaterea cu privire la natura si viitorul dreptei la noi printr-o precizare de poziTie faTa de problema liberala. Capitolele ce dau substanTa acestei prime parTi a lucrarii vor încerca sa clarifice prin-cipiile liberale de dreapta, sa separe ceea ce este de stânga (liberalismul modern) de ceea ce este de dreapta (liberalismul clasic) si sa arate în ce mod trebuie, în viziunea noastra, sa fie înTeleasa aceasta tradiTie intelec-tuala si politica a lumii occidentale moderne. În acest sens, capitolul isi propune sa patrunda în miezul identitaTii liberalismului clasic cu ajutorul unui exerciTiu propedeutic. Argumentul urca în patru trepte: începe pole¬mic cu miturile si confuziile vehiculate în discursul public românesc si creste analitic pâna la ceea ce consideram a fi esenTa liberalismului: o anumita atitudine faTa de viaTa si un anumit tip de caracter uman.
Acestea fiind obiectivele, prima parte a carTii este structurata dupa cum urmeaza. Dupa o desparTire polemica de mitul liberalismului româ¬nesc, adica de formula goala de conTinut ce blocheaza de atâta vreme procesul de gasire de sine al dreptei romanesti contemporane, argumentul se focalizeaza asupra treptei imediat superioare în definirea identitaTii liberale: logica specifica liberalismului economic. Convingerea noastra este ca abia dupa ce înTelegem si stapânim aceasta logica elementara a economicului putem sa-i înTelegem limitele si, mai important, orizontul liberal de dincolo de ea. Caci teza noastra susTine ca fenomenul liberal modern nu poate fi redus la câteva formule, fie ele si de natura puternicei logici economice care da coerenTa discursului asociat lui. Odata acest lucru stabilit, capitolul urmator va argumenta ca putem înTelege forTa, destinul istoric si limitele liberalismului clasic atunci când încercam sa-l vedem ca pe un demers aflat în continua nevoie de ajustare, negociere si compromis cu alte forTe si curente intelectuale istorice, instituTionale si politice. Tensiunea dintre libertate si povara ei, dintre grupurile de inte-res si regulile liberale, dintre domnia legii si domnia majoritaTii si dintre lege si legislaTie sunt faTete si exemple folosite pentru a ilustra aceasta idee. Nu putem spune ca înTelegem liberalismul pâna când nu înTelegem semnificaTia acestor dihotomii ce-l marcheaza. Proiectul clasic-liberal traieste într-un univers al tensiunilor, contradicTiilor si forTelor instituTio¬nale ce aduc prosperitate, dar si resentiment, libertate, dar si abuzuri, libera asociere, dar si frauda instituTionalizata, drepturi cetatenesti, dar si demersuri legislative ce submineaza ordinea legala a libertaTii. Cauza sa presupune deci un efort continuu intelectual si politic pentru a naviga între aceste forTe. Ea înseamna adaptare si reinvenTie în faTa unor provocari si tensiuni ce fac parte din insasi structura mediului si funcTionarii sale cotidiene. Iata de ce, pentru a putea face faTa acestor provocari, omul liberal trebuie sa aiba o constituTie morala si un caracter anume. Ultima treapta a înTelegerii liberalismului pleaca de la aceste tensiuni si para-doxuri, care fac necesara trecerea într-un registru si mai înalt: acela al unei anumite atitudini faTa de viaTa si al unui anumit tip de caracter uman.
Translation - English On the confused map of Romanian right-wing doctrine there is a landmark that has long remained unchanged despite its obscurity and ambiguity: liberalism. The Romanian right-wing movement indulges in inhabiting a realm whose most precise element is hopelessly vague; it is trapped by its own idiosyncratic self-definition. The leisure of an empty form is preferred to the discomfort of a firm intellectual commitment. For reasons that are partly accidental, partly historical, partly due to ignorance and partly to opportunism, liberalism has become a mark of the right wing in Romania. It would not have been a problem if this liberalism had been clearly defined: if all arguments and counter-arguments had been considered, there might have been greater reluctance to adopt the term without a preliminary clarification. This has not happened. Thus a paradox emerges, whose result is that we shall not be able to proceed with illuminating Romanian right-wing ideology, until we overcome this fixation on liberalism. Or rather, on the myth of a Romanian liberalism, a phantom without substance or coherence, which obstinately haunts the corridors of the Romanian right.
Any discussion of the Romanian right must begin here. We set out to preface our contribution to the debate on the nature and future of our right wing by outlining our position on the liberal issue. The chapters that form the body of this first part of our work will attempt to clarify the principles of right-wing liberalism, to separate left (modern liberalism) from right (classical liberalism) and to point out how – in our opinion – this intellectual and political tradition of the modern western world must be understood. This chapter aims to penetrate the core of classical liberalism through an introductory exercise. Our thesis develops in four steps: it starts with a polemic discussion of the myths and confusions that circulate in Romanian public discourse, and grows analytically into what we consider to be the essence of liberalism: a certain outlook on life and a certain type of human character.
These being our goals, the first part of the book is structured as follows: after this polemic break with the Romanian liberal myth, this empty shell that has long obstructed the progress towards self-awareness of the Romanian contemporary right, we focus on the next stage in defining the liberal identity: the specific logic of economic liberalism. Our conviction is that we need to understand and master this elementary economic logic, before we can perceive its limitations and, more importantly, the liberal horizon beyond it. Our thesis maintains that the liberal phenomenon cannot be reduced to a few simple formulas, even if they stem from the powerful economic logic that gives coherence to its discourse. Once this principle is established, the next chapter will argue that we can only perceive the power, historic destiny and limitations of classical liberalism, when we see it as constantly adapting, negotiating and compromising with other intellectual, institutional and political forces and trends. To illustrate this idea, we invoke the tensions that exist between freedom and its burden, between interest groups and liberal principles, between the rule of law and the rule of the majority, and between the Law and legislation. We cannot claim to understand liberalism until we have grasped the significance of these dichotomies at its heart. The classic liberal project lives in a world of tension and contradiction, where institutional forces beget prosperity as well as resentment, liberty as well as abuse, free association as well as institutionalised fraud, civic rights as well as laws that undermine the legal order of liberty. The cause of liberalism demands a permanent intellectual and political effort to navigate between these opposing forces. It requires adaptation and reinvention in the face of challenges and tensions that form the very structure of its environment and daily workings. That is why, to overcome these challenges, the liberal man needs a special character and moral constitution. The last step in our understanding of liberalism starts from these conflicts and paradoxes and moves to a more philosophical level: that of a certain outlook on life and a certain type of human character.
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Bachelor's degree - University of Bucharest
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Years of experience: 12. Registered at ProZ.com: Aug 2010.
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Bio
Having studied English as a foreign language in school from the age of seven, I went on to read English and Romanian at the University of Bucharest, where I took courses in linguistics and literature. I graduated with distinction.
I supported myself through my four undergraduate years by translating novels from English into Romanian for a Bucharest-based publishing house. I also took small interpreting jobs occasionally, for the University and private businesses.
Upon graduation in 1998 I was recruited by a team of English journalists led by Editor-in-Chief Joe Cook as part of the editorial team of a new financial newspaper, Ziarul Financiar. While the newspaper was published in Romanian, all our editorial meetings and many of our interviews were held in English.
In 1999 I applied successfully for a job as a reporter with an English-language weekly business newspaper, Bucharest Business Week, where all articles had to be written directly in English. The newspaper also organised frequent business conferences and events, where I acted as host or interpreter, both from English into Romanian and vice versa. Over the next four years I advanced gradually through the ranks, until I reached the highest editorial position – Editorial Director – which entailed not only writing longer and more complex articles, such as features, reviews, profiles etc., but also editing and proof reading other journalists’ stories.
In 2003 I married a British citizen and moved to London, where I completed an MA in International Journalism with City University. Throughout my studies I worked as a freelance journalist in the UK, writing articles for The Independent on Sunday, The Daily Telegraph, The New Statesman, the BBC Wildlife Magazine, Cornerstone magazine and others.
Since 2004 I have been Director of a British-Romanian charity, The Mihai Eminescu Trust (registered charity no 1107300), with projects in heritage and landscape conservation. The Trust’s Royal Patron is HRH The Prince of Wales. As part of my work, I translated many of the Trust’s online and printed publications; composed and delivered illustrated talks and presentations; wrote funding applications and acted as interpreter at the Trust’s numerous training seminars and conferences on topics such as building conservation, heritage, landscape and ecology.
I have also translated a 350-page book from Romanian into English: “Rebuilding the Right. Between the Western capitalist experiment and the Romanian national project” by Valeriu Stoica and Dragos Paul Aligica. The book deals with political, historic and economic issues related to the emergence, growth and decline of capitalism and liberalism.
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