‘Eminescu - Linguistic Journeys, Multilingual Edition’ was organised on the Romanian National Culture Day with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Romania
As part of the cultural and mass events held annually in various cities of Romania on the occasion of the National Cultural Day, on 15 January, with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Romania and the Department of Education of the Cluj Region, with the joint organisation of the Romanian Language and Culture Centre within the Azerbaijan University of Languages and the ‘Romulus Ladea’ School of Visual Arts in Cluj-Napoca, an event entitled ‘Eminescu - Linguistic Journeys, Multilingual Edition’ was held for the audience of different age levels (XI-C, IX-C) of the school hosted by the mentioned school.
The principal objective of the events was to promote a newly published trilingual (Romanian, English, Azerbaijani) book of poems on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding representative of Romanian literature, folk poet Mihai Eminescu, as well as to highlight the long-term potential of the existing intercultural dialogue between Azerbaijan and Romania, to contribute to the international recognition of Romanian literature and to inspire future cooperation between the two countries in the field of education.
Besides the students and teaching staff of the school, former graduates of the Romanian department of the Azerbaijan Languages University, Azerbaijan University of Languages' students who took part in the translation of M. Eminescu's poem into our language and First Secretary Ilgar Farajov from the Embassy staff participated in both events online.
The moderator of the events, Professor Iosefina Blazsani-Batto from Babesh-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, emphasised in her speech that literature plays an important role in the establishment of educational and cultural ties, and said that the translation of M. Eminescu's poems into different languages is an important step towards exploring the universal themes in his works and presented the video presentation of the multilingual edition of M. Eminescu's poetry book to the attention of the participants. Later, former graduates of the Romanian department of the Azerbaijan Languages University read the poet's poems in Romanian.
Participating in the event in an online format, students from the Azerbaijan University of Languages who took part in the translation project expressed their approach to the process of translating the universal themes of Eminescu's works into another language.
The students of the class XI-C and IX-C of the school, who actively participated in the activities presenting literature by integrating it with visual arts and digital communication, contributed to their experience of modern interdisciplinary education by witnessing first-hand how literary translation broadens the horizons of cultural dialogues and guides them to make connections between poetry and visual expression by integrating literature into the art curriculum.
In his speech, First Secretary I. Farajov mentioned the potential partnership between Azerbaijan and Romania, especially in the fields of education and culture, and emphasised the importance of promoting an educational model based on cooperation and innovation.
This innovative initiative combining technology, literature and international co-operation was highly appreciated for the new perspectives it gave the participants on the works of M. Eminescu and their global relevance.