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Assimil Translation Project - Legality ? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6349 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes  1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 33 of 37 27 January 2012 at 8:54am | IP Logged | ||
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If you create a discussion group on German and within it discuss Assimil lessons, make commentaries and work on various other materials it falls likely within the "fair use" argument but if the purpose is the publication of a translated Assimil text then you are creating a derived work that infringes on their copyright.
What is important is the transformative aspect of the discussion which will create new insights and it uses the material in a different manner than originally intended (passive/active study alone) and not just providing a translation. Publishing translations would effect future use, if the material put on line can impact Assimil negatively it is generally not "Fair Use". If you are concerned about further assuring fair use you can discuss a few lessons and then delete the material so that you are maintaining an ongoing commentary and this is probably fair use - it is limited in time to the group study, like an on-line course. The key word is "discussion". Again, this would be for guides or supplemental material not for translations. Pure translations in any format, on any media are infringing derivative works. If everyone in your group certifies having bought Assimil - this is better. If you do not create documents for download or distribution but just use the space as a disucssion - this is also better. Word list, if distributed, that use the Assimil name and are structured by chapters are probably an infringement. Especially if the totality of the work is placed into cards, it is likely you need to consider if the portion of cards or words used in relation to the copyrighted book as a whole. I would not worry too much about those cards. (But that isn't legal advice :) ) Edited by zenmonkey on 27 January 2012 at 9:13am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Hampie Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6456 days ago 625 posts - 1009 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Latin, German, Mandarin | Message 34 of 37 27 January 2012 at 9:14am | IP Logged | ||
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So… I assume that shared flashcards for commercial books listed by chapter thus are illegal? Quizlet is up for some
serious trouble then. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6349 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 35 of 37 27 January 2012 at 11:18am | IP Logged | ||
Don't assume anything :) It isn't just the organisation of the material that creates an infringement but, believe it or not, intent and part/whole has a role in these grey areas when they go to court. On Quizlet, If the book is a work not intended for language training and the word lists are of limited part of the work and the translations/definitions do not come from the book it is not an issue. If you do have a work for teaching and find that the cards being used are an infringement Quizlet has a dmca process to address that. In today's world they are protecting themselves in that they do not create the derivative work and they "just" serve as a platform for distribution of cards. This type of addressing potential infringement means that a company like Quizlet takes little risk - a mechanism exists to remove the material in the hope that it won't go further. In reality, is this actual infringement? Depends. :) A simple list of word without definitions is not copyrightable. ref If you are creating cards that copy words and definitions from the totality of a published work then you might have an issue. Many full sentences from a chapter? Ooops. In my opinion, I'd guess most of the content on Quizlet is fine. But I've only used a set or two. Edited by zenmonkey on 27 January 2012 at 11:38am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Hendrek Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4679 days ago 152 posts - 210 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Persian | Message 36 of 37 27 January 2012 at 4:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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All this aside, WHY doesn't Assimil just have one of their staff who speaks English take their "sans peine" courses and translate them into English (or German, etc.)? It's not like it's that difficult or expensive (we've all seen the number of translation mistakes they have anyway... so it's not as if they are shooting for perfection around there). Heck, offer it for sale as a media document and avoid the typeset and printing costs if that's the concern. As many English speakers who currently use Assimil would likely be interested in purchasing it... I would gladly purchase a downloadable document giving the English translation of the Advanced Italian course.
Seems silly to me to ignore an easily accessibile market from a business perspective. Edited by Hendrek on 27 January 2012 at 4:39pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6349 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 37 of 37 27 January 2012 at 7:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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Assimil seems to be a small family-run company.
Drop them a note on their website or give them a call (they actually publish a phone number!) As to multi-language based e-media - they have partnered with toutapprendre.com - it seems they have a nice graphic interface that you can see in the video here: click on tester le cours Edited by zenmonkey on 27 January 2012 at 7:49pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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