Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Assimil Translation Project - Legality ?

 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
37 messages over 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5  Next >>
DaraghM
Diglot
Senior Member
Ireland
Joined 6153 days ago

1947 posts - 2923 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian

 
 Message 1 of 37
29 September 2011 at 12:18pm | IP Logged 
Assimil produces most of their language courses with a French base. If I attempted to publish an English translation, I would be breaking copyright law, as it is a derived work. However, is it illegal to produce a word list based on each lesson ? In other words, an alphabetical list of all newly introduced words in each lesson, with French and the target language translated. This would probably increase their sales of the French base courses.

Edited by DaraghM on 29 September 2011 at 12:21pm

2 persons have voted this message useful



Hampie
Diglot
Senior Member
Sweden
Joined 6661 days ago

625 posts - 1009 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, English
Studies: Latin, German, Mandarin

 
 Message 2 of 37
29 September 2011 at 12:33pm | IP Logged 
If you only translate the french and only give it to people who’ve bought the original french course, they probably
won’t make a fuss.
1 person has voted this message useful



Cainntear
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Scotland
linguafrankly.blogsp
Joined 6013 days ago

4399 posts - 7687 votes 
Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic
Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh

 
 Message 3 of 37
29 September 2011 at 1:12pm | IP Logged 
Legally, it's not a clear issue.

I've seen supplementary materials for a few courses online that nobody's objected to -- eg a supplementary index for Teach Yourself Gaelic that makes it easier to find specific words or grammar points. It's now very widely distributed via the internet, and AFAIK, nobody's complained.

However, Assimil might complain -- it's impossible to say. And I doubt they'd respond if you sent them an email, either....
1 person has voted this message useful



jean-luc
Senior Member
France
Joined 4962 days ago

100 posts - 150 votes 
Speaks: French*
Studies: German

 
 Message 4 of 37
29 September 2011 at 1:13pm | IP Logged 
I think it's legal (at list in France), they have the copyright on the text not on list of words. But it's probably one of the tricky case of copyright laws.
1 person has voted this message useful



Cainntear
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Scotland
linguafrankly.blogsp
Joined 6013 days ago

4399 posts - 7687 votes 
Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic
Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh

 
 Message 5 of 37
29 September 2011 at 4:37pm | IP Logged 
Jean-Luc,

Traditional copyrights don't cover it explicitly, but there's a newer issue of "database rights" to take into account. A list of words may not be a "creative work", but it probably would still classify as collected data.
1 person has voted this message useful



TMoneytron
Groupie
United States
Joined 4863 days ago

70 posts - 83 votes 
Studies: German

 
 Message 6 of 37
29 September 2011 at 9:34pm | IP Logged 
I think you could probably make a closed Wiki where to get in you need proof of purchase.

That probably would not break any copyright law, since you own the content and can do whatever you want with it.

Moreover, some of the advanced courses will never be published in English (Perfecctionnement Allemand) for example.

If someone wanted to do this with Perfectionnement Allemand I would love to help. I don't know French, but I would offer my services any way I could.

I have actually done this for myself for the first lesson. And was considering continuing, but it takes a lot of time alone, and I wouldn't be too sure about the accuracy of the translation.

Edited by TMoneytron on 29 September 2011 at 9:38pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Kugel
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6540 days ago

497 posts - 555 votes 
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 7 of 37
30 September 2011 at 3:03am | IP Logged 
What would really be nice is supplementary worksheets that cover every 7 lessons. What would be awesome is a somebody doing a cross reference of the top 4 popular programs(Assimil, Pimsleur, MT, Linguaphone), creating an index for every grammar point/confusing idioms.    
1 person has voted this message useful



Chris
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Japan
Joined 7123 days ago

287 posts - 452 votes 
Speaks: English*, Russian, Indonesian, French, Malay, Japanese, Spanish
Studies: Dutch, Korean, Mongolian

 
 Message 8 of 37
30 September 2011 at 4:39am | IP Logged 
DaraghM wrote:
Assimil produces most of their language courses with a French base. If I attempted to publish an English translation, I would be breaking copyright law, as it is a derived work. However, is it illegal to produce a word list based on each lesson ? In other words, an alphabetical list of all newly introduced words in each lesson, with French and the target language translated. This would probably increase their sales of the French base courses.


Yes, you would be breaking the law and if you attempt to publish your translation, Assimil's legal department would have you by the proverbials! Only the company that holds the rights to your work can authorise a translation, as Hodder has done with a few courses.

I'm not sure where you stand with word lists. I was surprised to see that someone had created flash-cards for lessons from one of my courses and added them to a site for free use, but I don't mind because I don't think any breach of intellectual property rights has been commited. An unauthorised translation of the entire work into another language I would take exception to!

As I explained to Neil, the chap with a bee in his bonnet about creating Michel Thomas courses in other languages, you need to contact the companies of these courses and ask them where you stand before you do anything. Such a translation may increase sales, but the publishing rights are theirs and so, therefore, is the choice to publish.


1 person has voted this message useful



This discussion contains 37 messages over 5 pages: 2 3 4 5  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.3906 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.