an interview by Professor Quan Yi Zhang
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| Professor Quanyi Zhang |
Quanyi Zhang: Oana Dugan, what does it mean to be a “transnational, transcultural and multilingual scholar”? What is it like to be a Romanian teacher of English working in China, doing research on three continents and getting published worldwide?
Oana Dugan: It means a great deal to anybody and a huge responsibility to me. I never ever dreamt of such a status. It only occurred to me when I decided to go my own way in life. Nevertheless, I still do not consider myself a true scholar, but a researcher and tutor with some international experience. Obviously, I am multilingual since I fluently speak three languages and can make out the meaning of life in at least another three languages, and definitely I am transnational and transcultural since I left a country from Eastern Europe to work in the Far East, thus encompassing a huge geographical span with its cultural characteristics which became partly a second nature to me. Yet, when you are in the turmoil of events, you are never fully aware of what is happening to you and what you convert into. I always considered myself the Romanian teacher of English and French doing her job in China or other parts of the Far East but never more. The label of “transnational, transcultural and multilingual scholar” was stuck to me, if I may say so, by Dr. Li Guicang, Dean of Zhejiang Normal University, partly due to my so far published books, partly due to our working together in Shantou University where he was head of the Foreign Languages Center. At that time, he helped me a lot and supported all my foreign languages (therefore multilingual) activities which were later to be reflected in the French international press (see, for instance, the Defense de la Langue Française publications of 2004, 2006 and 2008, published under the high patronage of the French Academy!). I may also speculate that my research activities and the international conferences I took part in also add credits to such a label. However, this is but the tip of the iceberg of what could really be the appanage of a scholar… Working in China proved essential for me to develop as a university staff. Chinese universities unwrapped for me a whole new perspective on modern teaching and didactical innovations. As for the research done on three continents, it just happened. I never meant it to be so. Yet, it would be a pity to come from the old continent of “culture and civilization” with a rich innate background, face another continent of “wisdom, wonder and practicality” and have the chance to get published on a “third party” continent, be it the Australian one. I may say that this is what destiny put before me. Some are given children, welfare, riches, properties, love, lovers or dream-like marriages. Some others are given chances to develop emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, or grow professionally. What I think life offered me was a little bit of controversial fame and appreciation but also the setting for it. And yes, I am very much envied for this destiny, although, believe me, it is not an easy-going one!
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