Speed dating: korean, afrikaans, albanian

We invite you to speed dating with unusual languages: Korean, Afrikaans and Albanian. What to do when you get bored of English? Which language would you surprise your friends with? Or are you planning to work in some distant country? Come and see if this is what you are looking for.

Korean: the language of secrets

The Korean language hides many secrets from linguists: it is sometimes combined with the Altai family of languages, but its kinship with other languages remains unestablished. As part of the sinofer, Korea has been strongly influenced by Chinese civilization for centuries. Classical Chinese was used in the literature, and various systems based on Chinese characters were used to write Korean. It was only on the initiative of King Sejong in the 15th century that hangil was created, an alphabet designed to match the sound of the language. Did you know that the shapes of Korean consonants reflect the arrangement of the organs of speech during their pronunciation, and the shapes of the vowels - a symbolic relationship between heaven, earth and man? During the meeting we will get acquainted with the secrets of hangil, we will look at Korean vocabulary and selected grammatical issues, and on the example of translations of Han Kang's prose we will reflect on the difficulties that the Korean language may pose to Polish translators.

Afrikaans: The Language of Paradoxes

The Afrikaans language is full of historical and present-day paradoxes. Its name emphasizes that it originated in Africa (lat. africanus), but it is basically a West Germanic language. It is associated with white Afrikaners, but more than half of its native users are South Africans of color. It is sometimes associated with apartheid, but English, etc., etc., would also be “responsible” for the introduction and maintenance of segregation to a similar extent. At the meeting we will talk about the rapid emergence of this language in just one hundred and fifty years, about theories about its genesis, about its development and emancipation, as well as about the achievements of Afrikaans literature, which is also translated into Polish. With examples, we will show that it is a simple language, but with a complex history. The presentation will be embellished with pictures and graphs, we will also listen to carols in Afrikaans and read some poems. As befits the meeting place, there will also be a thread about the inspirations of Mr. Tadeusz in South Africa.

Albanian: jezik skała

Of the approximately 7.5 million people in the world who speak the Albanian language, only less than 2.8 million live within the borders of modern Albania as a state. The language, on the other hand, perfectly captures the character and psychology of its users: it is complex, multilayered, sonorous and rhythmic, at the same time very strict and blunt, but it is also subtly poetic and mercilessly precise in everyday life. Despite the influence of the cultures and languages of neighboring empires — Latin, Greek, Turkish or Slavic languages — it retained its archaic core and extraordinary vitality. During the workshop we will talk about the grammar of the Albanian language and look at the reasons why it remains a mystery to researchers to this day. Analyzing the relationship between language and mentality, we will try to understand why in Albanian culture a given word, embodied in the concept of Saint Besa, has a power greater than the value of human life. We will also advise you where in Poland you can listen to Albanian and which authors translated from this language can be read in Polish translation.

Lecturers:

korean

Justyna Najbar-Miller — graduate of Korean studies at the University of Warsaw, PhD in humanities in the field of literary studies, translator. She is a member of the Association for Korean Studies in Europe and the Association of Literary Translators. With the support of the Korea Foundation and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea, she improved her knowledge of the Korean language at Yonsei University and studied at Kyung Hee University in Seoul. Since 2011 he has been working as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Asian and African Cultures (formerly the Faculty of Oriental Studies) of the University of Warsaw. Her research interests include Korean religions, Korean literature, and literary translation. She translated works from Korean into Polish by such authors as Pak T'ae-wŏn, Kim Ae-ran, Ha Chang-soo and Han Kang. In 2025, she was honored by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea with the Grand Prize for the translation of Han Kang's novel I Don't Say Goodbye.

Afrikaans

Jerzy Koch — translator, poet, Dutchist and Germanist, professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and associate researcher of the Free State University in Bloemfontein (South Africa), from 1985 to 2011 associated with the University of Wrocław. He is the author of two volumes of History of South African Literature (2004, 2012), and has translated Afrikaans literature: poetry by Ingrid Jonker (1994), Antjie Krog (2017) and Breyten Breytenbach (2016; 2018) and prose by Wilma Stockenström (2021) and Etienne Leroux (2025). In 2005, he became the first foreign member of the South African Academy of Sciences and Arts (Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns — the South African Academy of Sciences and Arts) founded in 1909. In 2015 he received the “AfrikaS of the Year” from the Africa Otherwise Foundation in the science category. He is the author of two volumes of poems written in Afrikaans Pleks van plats (2020) and Polkadraai (2022).

Albanese

Rosela Ciko — Albanian woman living in Poland, economist, certified yoga teacher and passionate about Balkan culture. She lives and works between cultures — raised in Albania, rooted in Poland for years. Fascinated by the female perspective and the power of stories, she creates spaces for dialogue, among others, through her own yoga trips to Albania and artistic events. Organizer of the meeting “Albania and Kosovo — The Eye of Women”. She believes that it is tender, feminine stories that have the power to build bridges between worlds.

More about the cycle

The series “Translator in the Museum” has been operating in the Museum of Mr. Tadeusz (Branch of the Ossolinski National Institute) in Wrocław since 2022, but translation meetings have already been held here regularly. In 2024 and 2025, the program was implemented thanks to a grant from MKiDN (“Promotion of Reading”). In 2026, in the series “Laurels and Orders” we will present to the recipients the nominees and winners (not necessarily the most famous ones) of translation awards, which in recent years have become as important as the author's awards — we plan to talk about careers, the impact of the distinction on everyday work and the specifics of working in a specific language. The project is organized in partnership with the Association of Literary Translators.

Date: March—November 2026

See also

The series is organized in cooperation with the Association of Literary Translators.

Co-financed from the funds of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Fund for the Promotion of Culture — a state special purpose fund.

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