Peter Kosta, Madlena Norberg

• Peter Kosta/Madlena Norberg "Czech, German, and English Translations/Adaptations of Mato Kosyk's Poetry - Some Translatological Considerations" The article is devoted to the question of translation/adaptation of Mato Kosyk's poetry into Czech, German, and English. Our point of departure is the hypothesis that translators must decide between a straightforward translation of the Lower Sorbian original and a literary adaptation. If the translator opts for sticking to the original then he must strive to keep the rhythm, the metre, and also the rhyme, line or verse on the formal side of the linguistic sign (signifiant) but also to repeat figurative expressions, symbols, metaphors, and lexical idiosyncrasies that are part of the content side (signifié) of the original. The analysis concentrates on two poems by the foremost poet of Lower Sorbian literature, Mato Kosyk, written in his American period, viz. "Sledna roza" ((1893) in the translations by the two Czech poets, K. Sedlácek ("Poslední ruze" (1926)) and J. Pelísek (1935), andPeter Kosta/Madlena Norberg "Czech, German, and English Translations/Adaptations of Mato Kosyk's Poetry - Some Translatological Considerations" The article is devoted to the question of translation/adaptation of Mato Kosyk's poetry into Czech, German, and English. Our point of departure is the hypothesis that translators must decide between a straightforward translation of the Lower Sorbian original and a literary adaptation. If the translator opts for sticking to the original then he must strive to keep the rhythm, the metre, and also the rhyme, line or verse on the formal side of the linguistic sign (signifiant) but also to repeat figurative expressions, symbols, metaphors, and lexical idiosyncrasies that are part of the content side (signifié) of the original. The analysis concentrates on two poems by the foremost poet of Lower Sorbian literature, Mato Kosyk, written in his American period, viz. "Sledna roza" ((1893) in the translations by the two Czech poets, K. Sedlácek ("Poslední ruze" (1926)) and J. Pelísek (1935), and "Popajzony spiwarik" (1893) in the German translation by Pets Janas (2003) and in the adaptation by Kito Lorenc (1981), as well as the English translation by Roland Marti (2003).…