To translate or not to translate? A few comments on the Polish edition of the book Historia z wiedźmami

Abstract

Originally published in Ukrainian Kateryna Dysa’s book about witchcraft trials in 17th- and 18th-century Ukraine is a complete failure in its Polish adaptation. The author translated Old Polish texts into Ukrainian, then an English adaptation was created, and now we have a Polish version. The text, which has undergone multiple translations, has been horribly corrupted. Due to linguistic deficiencies and a lack of familiarity with the matters presented in the book, the translators have added many errors of their own. This version of the book should, therefore, be considered useless for academic purposes.