Prof. Antonia Boutchoukovska, PhD

Antonia Ivanova Boutchoukovska graduated from St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia with a degree in German Studies and a minor degree in the Russian language. She earned her PhD degree at Friedrich Schiller University of Jena with a dissertation on verb valency in German and in Bulgarian.

Her activity and academic path at St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia began in the German Studies Section, where she was appointed as an Assistant Professor in Practical German. Professor Boutchoukovska went on to teach theoretical linguistic subjects in the Department; her linguistic research was focused primarily on the realm of contrastive grammar and compared related phenomena in German and Bulgarian. As an Assistant Professor in Contemporary German and Syntax, Professor Boutchoukovska held lectures in the doctoral student academy of Friedrich Schiller University of Jena and at Potsdam University and participated in various international linguistic projects.

The Norwegian language and translations from Norwegian became the object of Professor Boutchoukovska’s later scholarly interests and research. She studied Norwegian at the University of Oslo and subsequently took up the teaching of Scandinavian Language History at St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. She published articles in the sphere of the reception of translated Scandinavian literature in Bulgaria.

Professor Boutchoukovska was one of the first teachers in Sofia University’s Scandinavian Studies Section, which was founded in 1992, and she later organised and headed its master’s degree programme on Language, Culture and Translation, which is intended for holders of bachelor’s degrees in Scandinavian Studies. The courses in Scandinavian Language History that she developed and her investigations of the linguistic situation in Norway as well as of the Bulgarian translation and reception of works by Norwegian authors gave an impetus to the development of Scandinavian studies in Bulgaria.

An especially outstanding work of hers is A Grammar of Norwegian (2005), which is the first of its kind in Bulgaria and constitutes an integral part of the teaching of Norwegian in the Scandinavian Studies Section.

Professor Boutchoukovska has a prominent place among the translators of scholarly literature and fiction from the German and Norwegian languages. A valuable resource for scholars of Scandinavian studies are her translations of Norwegian fiction, which she makes directly from the original, rather than from a mediating language. A priceless contribution that she has made to the introduction of late-20th century Bulgarian readers to unfamiliar aspects of Norwegian culture is the translation, compilation and preface to the edition Norvezhki narodni prikazki (Norwegian fairy tales) by Asbjørnsen and Moe. She is also the author of the first ever translation of any work by Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun directly from Norwegian into Bulgarian, namely the novel Victoria. Professor Boutchoukovska has also translated the novels Hard Times by Knut Faldbakken and Jenny by Sigrid Undset, as well as the Norwegian collection of stories A Lappland Star, and she has edited the Bulgarian translation of Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder by comparing it with the Norwegian original. In 2018 Ibsen’s play The Wild Duck was staged at the National Theatre Ivan Vazov on the basis of her translation.

Professor Boutchoukovska’s translatological studies have been an especially original contribution to the reception of Norwegian culture in Bulgaria. The fifth volume of the collection of articles Reception of the translation of European literatures in Bulgaria, which is dedicated to the literatures of Scandinavia and the Baltic countries (2003), contains several articles by her, presenting the works of the Norwegian writers Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Sigrid Undset, Henrik Ibsen, Knut Hamsun, and Rolf Jacobsen. They analyse thoroughly the specific features of their reception and translations into Bulgarian. The extensive bibliographies that accompany each of these articles are also extremely valuable.

Professor Boutchoukovska’s research on the linguistic situation in Norway and on left dislocation in Norwegian represents another major contribution to the development of Norwegian studies in Bulgaria and to the teaching in the Scandinavian Studies Section. She has presented her work on these subjects in international and global forums in countries such as Germany, Austria and France, and her articles have been published in Bulgarian and international journals and volumes of scholarly papers.

Professor Boutchoukovska continues to apply her rich teaching experience in the Scandinavian Studies Section. Her lectures attract great interest, they deepen and expand the knowledge of the students of Scandinavian Studies. In addition to her teaching, Professor Boutchoukovska actively participates in habilitation juries, reviews master’s theses and PhD dissertations in the field of linguistics, and participates in international symposia. Her supervision of graduation theses and dissertations, which she performs readily and willingly, is also invaluable. She works dedicatedly with postgraduate and doctoral students, listens to them attentively and patiently, and gives them directions.