Christina Kramer

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Christina Elizabeth Kramer
Education University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (PhD, MA)
Beloit College (BA)
Occupation(s)Professor, Slavic Linguistics
EmployerUniversity of Toronto

Christina Elizabeth Kramer is Professor of Slavic and Balkan languages and linguistics at the University of Toronto and Chair of the university's Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures which is part of the Faculty of Arts and Science. [1]

Contents

Education and career

Kramer worked as a translator for Berlitz Translation Service for some time, translating documents from Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, and Turkish. [2]

Since 1986 Kramer has been a member of the University of Toronto faculty. She was promoted to full professor in May 2001. [4]

Scholarly work

Kramer is a specialist on Balkan languages and semantics, specifically on South Slavic languages. Her research focus on synchronic linguistics, sociolinguistics, verbal categories, language and politics.

Kramer authored Macedonian: A Course for Beginning and Intermediate Students. The book – first published in 1999, revised and expanded in 2003 and 2011 – is the most recent English-Macedonian textbook. She is a noted translator of literature from Bulgarian and Macedonian, [5] receiving a Literature Translation Fellowship from the NEA in 2018. [6]

Kramer co-invented the language "Lavinian" for Nicolas Billon's play Butcher. [7]

Key publications

Translations

Christina E. Kramer's translations of several Bulgarian and Macedonian novels (by Luan Starova, Goce Smilevski, Lidija Dimkovska, and Aleko Konstantinov) have been published by the University of Wisconsin Press and Penguin Books. [8]

Awards

Kramer received the 2006 Book Award from the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and Eastern European Languages for best contribution to language pedagogy for her book Macedonian: A Course for Beginning and Intermediate Students. [9]

In 2014, Kramer was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant to fund her work on translating a novel from Luan Starova's Balkan Saga cycle, The Path of the Eels (or the Pyramid of Water). [10] This was the first time ever a NEA grant was awarded to support a translation from Macedonian to English. [11] Her translation of Lidija Dimkovska's "A Spare Life" made the long list for the Best Translated Book of 2017 Award. [5]

In 2022, Kramer's translation of The Summer You Weren’t There by Petar Andonovski, from Macedonian to English, won a PEN Translates Award from English PEN. [12]

Related Research Articles

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The Cyrillic script, Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, North Asia, and East Asia.

Slavic or Slavonicstudies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was primarily a linguist or philologist researching Slavistics. Increasingly, historians, social scientists, and other humanists who study Slavic area cultures and societies have been included in this rubric.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macedonians (ethnic group)</span> South Slavic ethnic group

Macedonians are a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group native to the region of Macedonia in Southeast Europe. They speak Macedonian, a South Slavic language. The large majority of Macedonians identify as Eastern Orthodox Christians, who speak a South Slavic language, and share a cultural and historical "Orthodox Byzantine–Slavic heritage" with their neighbours. About two-thirds of all ethnic Macedonians live in North Macedonia and there are also communities in a number of other countries.

The Balkan sprachbund or Balkan language area is an ensemble of areal features—similarities in grammar, syntax, vocabulary and phonology—among the languages of the Balkans. Several features are found across these languages though not all apply to every single language. The Balkan sprachbund is a prominent example of the sprachbund concept.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje</span> University in Skopje, North Macedonia

The Saints Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje is the oldest and largest public university in North Macedonia. It is named after the Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries Cyril and Methodius. As of 2018–19 school year, a total of 25,220 students are enrolled at the university. Furthermore, the teaching and research staff number 2,390 people; this is further supported by over 300 members in the university's institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Slavs</span> Subgroup of Slavic peoples who speak the South Slavic languages

South Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, Hungary, Romania, and the Black Sea, the South Slavs today include Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs, and Slovenes, respectively the main populations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ser-Drama-Lagadin-Nevrokop dialect</span> East South Slavic dialect

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayles Browne</span>

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References

  1. "Slavic Languages and Literatures at U of T". sites.utoronto.ca. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Kramer Discussion April 12". Archived from the original on August 7, 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2007. Retrieved on May 28, 2007
  3. "CERES::Faculty". Archived from the original on May 25, 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2007. Retrieved on May 28, 2007
  4. "Reports" (PDF). The CAS Newsletter. No. 97. p. 19. Retrieved May 28, 2007.
  5. 1 2 "Translating Skopje: An Interview with Christina Kramer - World Literature in Translation | Center for the Art of Translation". www.catranslation.org. April 3, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  6. Elias, Christine (September 17, 2018). "Christina E. Kramer Receives Literature Translation Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts". Faculty of Arts & Science. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
  7. Smith, Elaine (October 29, 2014). "Learning Lavinian: professors create a new Slavic language". University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts & Science. Archived from the original on September 14, 2015.
  8. "Translations by Christina E. Kramer, with links to publishers' pages for individual books". Archived from the original on July 20, 2015.
  9. "awards and honours archives (from the U of T Bulletin) February 2007". www.news.utoronto.ca. Archived from the original on May 30, 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2007.
  10. "Christina E. Kramer: 2014 Translation Projects". National Endowment for the Arts. Archived from the original on July 21, 2015.
  11. Lewis, Jessica (December 18, 2013). "Christina E. Kramer honoured for translating Macedonian writers". Arts & Science News. Archived from the original on December 27, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  12. "PEN Translates winners announced". English Pen. Retrieved August 8, 2022.