Children’s theatre in L1 and L2 as an intercultural communication tool for educators

ABSTRACT

Intercultural studies have underexplored the issue of children's theatre as a tool for symbolic representations of (new, hybrid) identities. In this paper, I analyze two theatrical productions addressing both Spanish society and Romanian diaspora (first/second generation) to answer these questions: how are diasporic identities re-constructed in literary works written in the country of origin and translated by diaspora translators for mixed audiences? How useful are these products for bilingual/bicultural children and adolescents in their search for new spaces of belonging? How can educators incorporate them? Methodology envisages translators' decisions (titles, names, prosody); imagology (text/performance) and reception (in-depth interviews and survey).

Los estudios interculturales han infraexplorado el teatro infantil como herramienta de representación simbólica identitaria (nuevas o híbridas). En este estudio se analizan dos producciones dirigidas a público español y diáspora rumana (primera y segunda generación) a fin de descubrir ¿cómo se reconstruyen las identidades diaspóricas en obras literarias escritas en el país de origen y traducidas por traductores de la diáspora para públicos mixtos? ¿Qué utilidad tienen estos productos para el público infantil/adolescente en su búsqueda de espacios de pertenencia? ¿Cómo incorporarlos en la educación? Metodológicamente indagamos las decisiones traductoras (títulos, nombres, prosodia), imagología (texto/representación escénica) y recepción (entrevistas, encuestas).

KEYWORDS:

• Children theatre
• migration
• hybridity
• identity re-construction
• stage translation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 According to the National Statistics Institute, figures corresponding to 1st of January 2022. https://www.ine.es/jaxiT3/Datos.htm?t=36825 accessed 10 March 2023.

2 Our aim should be research and training that produces readers of translations and translators who are critically aware, not predisposed toward norms that exclude the heterogeneity of language (Venuti, 1996:110).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Catalina Iliescu-Gheorghiu

Catalina Iliescu Gheorghiu holds a BA in Spanish and English (1989, University of Bucharest) and a PhD (Relevance and Translation, 2002, UA), where she is a full profesor in translation and interpreting. She has completed postgraduate courses (CETRA-Leuven, Manchester, Heriot-Watt). Sworn translator (MAEC, 1995) and chair of ARIPI, a non-profit cultural association of the Romanian diaspora (2005). She has supervised 5 PhD theses. Among her 170 publications, Metodología de análisis traductológico[…](Peter Lang, 2022) prologued by Jose Lambert, approaches critical discourse análisis, and Relevancia y Traducción[…] (Comares 2022), prologued by Francisco Yus verifies the applicability of Relevance Theory to theatrical interaction.

A landmark was her special issue LAIC 7:2 (2007) analysing migrating minorities' integration from multiple perspectives, as a result of the European Projects she led between 2002 and 2004 (11 universities, 8 countries). Her book on Consecutive Interpreting was seminal (8 editions; e-book; translated,1200 libraries worldwide). The same research line is the basis of her entry in Muñoz/Franco Encyclopaedia (ENTI, 2021) and the transference contract (2019, Alicante City Hall) to create audiovisual material on interpreting in end-of-life situations and grieving. The insight into interpreting and migration had as a result 3 book chapters and 8 articles in Q1/Q2 journals (Perspectives; Across Languages and Cultures; IJMHSC) or the co-edition of collective volumes (Comares 2020, Peter Lang forthcoming), as well as her leadership of TRAUTOROM a project financed by the Romanian Government (the first MT engine RO/ES worldwide, 2006). She has been a guest speaker at the European Parliament (May 2017) and a Keynote speaker at 6 International conferences. As a diplomatic interpreter, she worked for PM Sánchez (Summit of Spanish and Romanian Governments, 2022), Rodríguez Zapatero, Rajoy; the King and Queen of Spain, Foreign Ministers Moratinos and Margallo; Presidents Iohannis and Basescu on their state visits (2006, 2010).

She is the creator of the Mihai Eminescu Portal on BVMC https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/portales/mihai_eminescu/presentacion/ and the coordinator of the Official Exams Test Certificate of Romanian Language, ACLro.

During lockdown, she created the audio library https://cuentacuarentenas.es/ and coordinated the pro bono work of 40 volunteers as intercultural communicators (available at https://seer.ufrgs.br/index.php/cadernosdetraducao/article/view/106932/61728). She has been the Vice-Rector for Culture, Sport and Extracurricular activities at the University of Alicante since 2020.