| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | picking up a book to translate and selling it afterwards... Thread poster: Scheherezade Surià López (X)
|
|---|
| Beware of copyright law, and publishers drive translations | May 5, 2005 |
"Once in class they told us that if we weren't offered translations we could maybe pick a book we liked and translate it and then try to find somebody to sell it to."
The holder of the copyright in the original language is the only one who can authorize "derivative works", such as translations. Get the permission first, then do the translations. Often, the author has signed over the translation rights to the publisher, who picks the translator. You could translate for your person... See more "Once in class they told us that if we weren't offered translations we could maybe pick a book we liked and translate it and then try to find somebody to sell it to."
The holder of the copyright in the original language is the only one who can authorize "derivative works", such as translations. Get the permission first, then do the translations. Often, the author has signed over the translation rights to the publisher, who picks the translator. You could translate for your personal enjoyment, or to show your skill, but you can't just decide to translate "Harry Potter" into Urdu and sell it.
Translating old (for the US, pre-1928) books that are out of copyright does not require getting permissions, and you would hold the copyright to the translation, but you can't prevent someone else from doing their own translation of the same book.
The authors I know of are paid poorly for the sales of translations of their works. The way it usually works for American romance novels is that a foreign publisher (usually with a long-standing relationship with the American publisher) buys the rights to translate and publish the novel for sale in their country only. It's usually a flat-fee sale, with the publisher keeping 50% or so.
I do not know how the translators are picked, but the Spanish, Portuguese and Italian novels I have compared against the original English were uniformly butchered in translation. Senseless changes abound - to colors of cars, number of eggs in the refrigerator, etc. - a straightforward translation would have been just as easy to do, so why change things? Critical scenes were redacted or accidentally dropped in some, resulting in either a senseless chapter or a total change to the tone of the book.
The only near-decent translations were Italian - they appear to have fairly skillfully condensed the books, but the plot and character development suffered. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | About your comment, Tsu Dho Nimh | May 5, 2005 |
It's ironic, so much fuss about it and I've just done a translation test and I've already got a book to translate
I was surprised to read your comment, Tsu Dho Nimh. It's not like I take it as a personal offence but I'm quite disappointed. I suppose you're here as a translator, so how can you say that ALL translations into Spanish are poor and arbitrary? I mean, I don't know about the others but, for me, it's quite ann... See more It's ironic, so much fuss about it and I've just done a translation test and I've already got a book to translate
I was surprised to read your comment, Tsu Dho Nimh. It's not like I take it as a personal offence but I'm quite disappointed. I suppose you're here as a translator, so how can you say that ALL translations into Spanish are poor and arbitrary? I mean, I don't know about the others but, for me, it's quite annoying to "hear" that. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Angela Arnone 
Local time: 12:51
Member (2004)
Italian to English
+ ...
| Moderator note | May 5, 2005 |
I've let both postings through (Tsu Dho Nimh and Faeryofthewoods) but could I ask you both not to go off topic?
The forum topic regards Getting Established.
I was concerned about Tsu Dho Nimh's statement regarding quality - I read a great many Italian translated works and to be honest they are often excellent and certainly good quality - so such a blanket statement about colleagues' work was perturbing, but I would prefer it not to turn into a "quality" discussion here.
Thanks... See more I've let both postings through (Tsu Dho Nimh and Faeryofthewoods) but could I ask you both not to go off topic?
The forum topic regards Getting Established.
I was concerned about Tsu Dho Nimh's statement regarding quality - I read a great many Italian translated works and to be honest they are often excellent and certainly good quality - so such a blanket statement about colleagues' work was perturbing, but I would prefer it not to turn into a "quality" discussion here.
Thanks
Angela
faeryofthewoods wrote:
I was surprised to read your comment, Tsu Dho Nimh. It's not like I take it as a personal offence but I'm quite disappointed. I suppose you're here as a translator, so how can you say that ALL translations into Spanish are poor and arbitrary? I mean, I don't know about the others but, for me, it's quite annoying to "hear" that. ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
| when does the offer to publish come? | May 26, 2005 |
Do they make an offer on the sample that you submit? Or only after the full manuscript is submitted? I was told to "never translate an entire book without a contract" but I have been communicating with a publisher who indicates they don't commit until it's all done (which I can understand). Are there other publishers who commit based on the sample? Just curious.
Heinrich Pesch wrote:
First you should contact the author or the original publisher, and ask for permission. Do not translate the whole book, only a few pages, and search a publisher.
If the book is older than 70 years or so you do not have to ask for permission, but a publisher you need to find who will pay you during the translation.
Get in touch with your translator's organisation first, they will help you get established.
Regards
Heinrich
| | | | Annira Silver (X)
Local time: 13:51
Finnish to English
| Some publishers make offers and sign contracts based on samples... | May 28, 2005 |
...but they are usually provisional, i.e. they reserve the right to withdraw from the project if the whole manuscript is not of the required standard, or the standard of the sample. Naturally, by then, they have seen the synopsis and a table of contents, plus possibly other material, as well as sample chapters. Again, my experience is limited to non-fiction and academic books.
I'd be interested to hear other people's experiences with fiction or children's books, too!
An... See more ...but they are usually provisional, i.e. they reserve the right to withdraw from the project if the whole manuscript is not of the required standard, or the standard of the sample. Naturally, by then, they have seen the synopsis and a table of contents, plus possibly other material, as well as sample chapters. Again, my experience is limited to non-fiction and academic books.
I'd be interested to hear other people's experiences with fiction or children's books, too!
Annira ▲ Collapse
| | | |
to pick over 100 years old book to translate it and then sell it?
| | | | Elisheva Shlush (X)
Israel
Local time: 13:51
Hebrew to Czech
+ ...
| Maybe try first short kindle novels | Mar 14, 2021 |
Or contact Amazon publishers and writers.
| | |
|
|
|
jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 07:51
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| It is a 16 years old post | Mar 14, 2021 |
Elisheva Shlush wrote:
Or contact Amazon publishers and writers.
| | | | | Copyright terms | Mar 14, 2021 |
Robert Adamowicz wrote:
to pick over 100 years old book to translate it and then sell it?
The age of the book is irrelevant, what is relevant is the author's life span. In most countries, books go into public domain on the beginning of the year after the 70th anniversary of the death of the author. In some countries this differs a bit. So there might be 100 year old books that are still copyrighted.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_term
In any case, I would not expect books of this age to be best sellers ...
| | | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2] | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » picking up a book to translate and selling it afterwards... | Pastey |
|---|
Your smart companion app
Pastey is an innovative desktop application that bridges the gap between human expertise and artificial intelligence. With intuitive keyboard shortcuts, Pastey transforms your source text into AI-powered draft translations.
Find out more » |
| | Wordfast Pro |
|---|
Translation Memory Software for Any Platform
Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users!
Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value
Buy now! » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
