MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF UKRAINE

SUMY STATE UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Foreign Philology and Social Communications

Department of Germanic Philology

Dear students, young people!

We invite you to take part in the poetry and literary translation contest “Alter Ego”. It is organized by the Department of Germanic Philology at Sumy State University.

Competition date: 14 March 2025.

Participants: students of higher educational institutions of I-IV accreditation levels, members of schools and gymnasiums.

Works are accepted in four nominations:

• poems in Ukrainian
• poems in English/German
• literary translations from English (William Ernest Henley Invictus)
• literary translations from German (Norbert Scheurig Im Wandel der Zeit)

Requirements for competition works:

• literacy and compliance with the current spelling
• absence of semantic errors
• naturalness of syntactic constructions
• euphony

The following requirements are added separately for literary translation:

• reproduction of the author’s style
• matching the translation text to the source text

Deadline: works are accepted until 25 February 2025.

Formatting requirements: works should be submitted in MS Word format; A4 size; 12 pt font; line spacing 1.5; Times New Roman. The work volume should not exceed one A4 page.

Translations are sent to the e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. In the letter, please indicate your full name, title of the educational institution where you are a student, contact phone number, e-mail address. Optionally, you can provide a nickname and a link to your personal page in a social network.

Responsible person: Olena Valerianivna YEMELIANOVA (associate professor of the Department of Germanic Philology).

For more information, please call +38-097-545-50-48.

Each participant will receive a certificate confirming participation in the Alter Ego contest.

The authors of the best entries will be honored during the official announcement ceremony of the contest results. It will take place on 14 March 2025 at Sumy State University.

Source texts for the Alter Ego translation

TEXT 1: Invictus by William Ernest Henley (from English) 

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

 

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

 

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

 

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

 

TEXT 2: Im Wandel der Zeit by Norbert Scheurig (from German)

Freiwilliges Band zwischen Menschen entsteht, 

aus Vertrauen und Nähe wird es gewebt. 

Anfangs ein Faden schmal und fragil, 

macht Erfahrung und Pflege es langsam stabil. 

 

Die erste Krise ist gleichsam ein Test, 

ist es denn Freundschaft, steht sie auch fest? 

Besteht sie die Prüfung, dann schätze Dich glücklich, 

denn Freunde zu haben ist unsagbar wichtig. 

 

Freunde sind wertvoll, ein Halt in der Welt. 

Sind da für Dich und dies ohne Geld. 

Sie sagen Dir ehrlich, was sie grad denken, 

sind Zufluchtsort, musst Dich niemals verrenken. 

 

Vertrauter sein und Vertrauen auch geben, 

Freundschaft ist wichtig ein Teil unseres Lebens. 

Hast Du Freunde gefunden, kann Dir wenig passieren, 

Darum zeige es auch, um sie nie verlieren.