Translating rules

[Sleaxx]

Hi everyone,
here is my problem : I read a Fanfiction a long time ago and loved it, I read it again a month or so ago but the thing is that the fanfic is in French. I am French so the language is not a problem for me per se, but I really prefer reading fics in English.
I tried to pm the author to ask them if they would be okay with me translating their fic but it has been a month and I still haven't received an answer.
So my actual question is: can I just translate the fic and cite/attach the original one or do I need the consent of the original writer?
Thank you for your help!
Sleax

 

[PCHeintz72]

Hi everyone,
here is my problem : I read a Fanfiction a long time ago and loved it, I read it again a month or so ago but the thing is that the fanfic is in French. I am French so the language is not a problem for me per se, but I really prefer reading fics in English.
I tried to pm the author to ask them if they would be okay with me translating their fic but it has been a month and I still haven't received an answer.
So my actual question is: can I just translate the fic and cite/attach the original one or do I need the consent of the original writer?
Thank you for your help!
Sleax

I'd say

if doing it for yourself... knock yourself out as it hurts no one...

if doing it with intention to post it, without question should have consent...

Generally, I refuse to read something taken and redone w/o concent...


As an alternative for the author to consider... if you do decide to do it for yourself, you can send that copy to the author, and let them decide to post it or not. Say all he/she may do is list you as the translator.

 

[Sleaxx]

Hi everyone,
here is my problem : I read a Fanfiction a long time ago and loved it, I read it again a month or so ago but the thing is that the fanfic is in French. I am French so the language is not a problem for me per se, but I really prefer reading fics in English.
I tried to pm the author to ask them if they would be okay with me translating their fic but it has been a month and I still haven't received an answer.
So my actual question is: can I just translate the fic and cite/attach the original one or do I need the consent of the original writer?
Thank you for your help!
Sleax

I'd say

if doing it for yourself... knock yourself out as it hurts no one...

if doing it with intention to post it, without question should have consent...

Generally, I refuse to read something taken and redone w/o concent...


As an alternative for the author to consider... if you do decide to do it for yourself, you can send that copy to the author, and let them decide to post it or not. Say all he/she may do is list you as the translator.

Okay thank you for your answer!! The thing is that the person posted the original fanfic 13 years ago and I doubt I will be able to reach them...
I really love the fic and I think more people should be able to read it if you see what I mean...
Should I just drop it and do it only for myself still?

 

[shioran toushin]

you could share it if you want (like P2P), but i think 'posting a translation' in FFN/AFFN/AO3 could be considered rude at minimum.

 

[Sleaxx]

you could share it if you want (like P2P), but i think 'posting a translation' in FFN/AFFN/AO3 could be considered rude at minimum.

Okay! I think I'm going to try to contact the original author again and if it dosen't work I'll just give up.

 

[chronodekar]

I favour going in a different direction. Remember - we write fanfics. We don't ask the original author if it would be OK or not. We just write the stories and attribute that the original work/inspiration wasn't ours.

When I apply that logic to translating a fanfic, it should be al-right to publicly share your translation as long as you mention that it is a translation. And you attribute the original story and author.

As a matter of politeness/morality/ethics, if the original author later contacts and asks you to take down the story, do so. It's what most fanfic authors would do if say ... JK Rowling or Jim Butcher would ask the same.

-chronodekar

 

[Sleaxx]

I favour going in a different direction. Remember - we write fanfics. We don't ask the original author if it would be OK or not. We just write the stories and attribute that the original work/inspiration wasn't ours.

When I apply that logic to translating a fanfic, it should be al-right to publicly share your translation as long as you mention that it is a translation. And you attribute the original story and author.

As a matter of politeness/morality/ethics, if the original author later contacts and asks you to take down the story, do so. It's what most fanfic authors would do if say ... JK Rowling or Jim Butcher would ask the same.

-chronodekar

What you're saying does make sense, I will follow your advice as you seem to have a lot of experience in the matter )

 

[apandacat]

I know this is a 1-year-old thread, but I do think the issue at hand is quite valid in the community, and would like to share some thoughts.

Unfortunately, I disagree wholeheartedly with -chronodekar. Translation work (fan-base or otherwise) and fanfiction writing is not the same thing. When you borrow characters/concepts from someone else’s original creation in fanfiction, you’re still manipulating those elements to create something that is, essentially, yours, that you share for fun.

Translating and disseminating someone else’s fan-work out of love, word for word, may seem like a noble, harmless feat, but it can easily backfire in a community based on implicit trust bonds between author/reader. Even in fanfiction there’s the question of original content and fair use, after all. It would be a different thing if the fan-work had no known author, or if it had been put in for adoption. If that’s not the case, I’d not advise anyone to translate (and post) fanfiction without the author’s permission, unless it’s been 100 years from its original publishing date, or something like that (ahah, a bit too much? Maybe). It’s a tricky legal puddle, anyway.

My first post here, btw. Nice

 

[chronodekar]

If your advice is to avoid translating a fanfic on account of the legal uncertainty, I would suggest that you not write fanfiction to begin with!

-chronodekar

 

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

I do something similar. If I really really like a story, I edit. I trim out the crudge that all the fanfiction sites add in - like doubling chapter numbers and urges to comment. I proofread and copy-edit. Sometimes I even do a bit of rewrite. You learn things about writing.

Bear in mind that I have been doing this for decades for a professional writer of fiction, who has something like thirty novels in print. She calls it "invisible rewrite" and I have her permission to massage her manuscript before she sends it off to her publisher. The editors at the publisher will go over it, but she thinks I give them a cleaner manuscript to work with.

That is similar to translating with permission. It's not what I do with fanfiction. There, I produce the best text I can, lay it out in a publishing program, run it through a duplexing printer, and bind it in hardcover - as many as needed to give me a copy as well as each author and/or artist involved. Then I send them their copies, and stick mine in a bookcase. That's probably the equivalent of not publishing it. So far no complaints, though as I learn more I can see things that should have been done differently.

Translating is rough, and a different matter entirely. I've done it to scientific articles, but damn few of us are good enough to do it to fiction.