Vladimir Ivir

Vladimir Ivir MVO[1][2] (November 1, 1934, Zagreb – February 21, 2011, Zagreb[3]) was a Croatian linguist, lexicographer and translation scholar.[2] He was the first Croatian theoretician of translation, highly appreciated among the European linguists.[4]

Ivir's early interest was in English syntax. During his postgraduate research at University College London in 1962/63, under the supervision of Randolph Quirk, he completed a thesis on predicative adjectives. During his time in London, Ivir became interested in the "linguistic revolution" stemming from the ideas of Noam Chomsky, and, upon returning home, became the first Croatian linguist to write an outline of transformational linguistics.[3]

He was the author of many Croatian textbooks for high schools, for learning English, and for secondary school programs for translators.[5] In 2001 his home Faculty has established postgraduate study of Translatorship, based on Ivir's ideas and programs.[4]

He was named Emeritus Professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, upon his retirement in 2004.[2]

In Croatia, he became widely known as a person that interpreted many important events live, but is especially remembered for his simultaneous translation of the landing on the Moon in 1969.[2][6] Ivir was also the official translator at the reception in Banski dvori during US President Richard Nixon's visit to Zagreb in 1970.[7]