Policy on translations of copyrighted material
 

LS,

I've been trying to translate essays by Dutch authors to Spanish. I would like to post some on these forums for corrections and suggestions, but the original texts are not yet in the public domain. Would it be considered copyright infringement to post the translations (correctly citing your sources)?

Peter

Legally they're derivative works, so unless you have authorisation from the copyright holders of the Dutch originals you would be infringing copyright if you distributed your translations. You could post small sections for correction - as a rule of thumb, up to 5%.

Look for "fair use" on the web. Basically you can take portions of a text as long as you're not charging for it, you avoid fundamental parts (like the paragraph revealing who is the murdered in a novel), and you take small chunks -smaller if it is a work of fiction, larger if it is not-. "Fair use" allows you to take other author's text if you are developing a new intellectual work -like quoting a bunch of medical papers to substantiate a claim, or a lot of opinions to make an essay-, but when you are "copying" it -or just translating it- it is more restrictive. You may probably translate some 120 or 150 words from a many-thousand words work of fiction, or more if you develop a mini essay.

Then you can write some part of the text that you need to translate for you. So we can read about your work and we'll can help you with your essay.

I'm willing to read something about your essay.

Sincerely yours.