Life In 19x19

Speaking as just another go player...

@Magicwand: I like the idea of translating Korean go magazines into English and distributing them. If it can be done legally, I'm all for it. I might pay about 10 USD for a legitimate copy.
Try contacting the publisher and arranging a deal. They might even pay you to translate if you could show them a market for English copies.

daal wrote:

Magicwand wrote: i am fortunate enough to purchase korean monthly magazine everymonth which contains many intresting topics: news, L&D, game review, study materials, etc...

...now, what if i purchase this monthly magazine and translate and put them on digit and email them out?

This stuff tends to be copyrighted, but if you can get past that hurdle, the question is: what exactly would we be paying for? Would you translate a whole magazine? That's a lot of work, and although you are 7d in entertaining, my guess is that your translating would be DDK.

We need Magicwand to translate from Korean to Magicwand, and then somebody else to translate from Magicwand to English. You, that might work.

Magicwand wrote:

Shaddy wrote:that depends.. how long is each issue?

it contains 3~4 professional reviw of the important game that was play last month.
it contains 1~2 lecture section about 5~7 pages long. August issue lecture topic was "good move, bad move, strange move"
it contains many intresting L & D.
it contains NEWS and interview.
it also contains about 10 game record of intresting game (no comment).
they used to have kyu level players asking question to professionals...i dont know if they still have them.

magazine name is "monthly Baduk"
they cost me about $15~18 to purchase.

i have another magazine "world Baduk"
which contains more materials for KYU level players. price is similar.

and some question abut copy right..
what happens if i paraphrase the comments into my own word? does it make it legal?
ofcourse i will not start anything if it is illegal.

From what I know of copyright infringement and plagiarism, there are some tactics you can use in making your own Go translation books while using the same information:

A. Translate it completely into your own words. Basically, reform every sentence with different words. Use words of similar meaning, and form them differently.

B. For diagrams, make your own diagrams. Use the diagrams in the book, but remake them. Maybe make a few alterations that won't matter in the specific diagram.

C. For names of pros, make up your own names for the players. It's not that hard.

If you follow these steps, I believe it will be perfectly legal. And I would pay 10-16 dollars for it.

hailthorn011 wrote:

Magicwand wrote:

Shaddy wrote:that depends.. how long is each issue?

it contains 3~4 professional reviw of the important game that was play last month.
it contains 1~2 lecture section about 5~7 pages long. August issue lecture topic was "good move, bad move, strange move"
it contains many intresting L & D.
it contains NEWS and interview.
it also contains about 10 game record of intresting game (no comment).
they used to have kyu level players asking question to professionals...i dont know if they still have them.

magazine name is "monthly Baduk"
they cost me about $15~18 to purchase.

i have another magazine "world Baduk"
which contains more materials for KYU level players. price is similar.

and some question abut copy right..
what happens if i paraphrase the comments into my own word? does it make it legal?
ofcourse i will not start anything if it is illegal.

From what I know of copyright infringement and plagiarism, there are some tactics you can use in making your own Go translation books while using the same information:

A. Translate it completely into your own words. Basically, reform every sentence with different words. Use words of similar meaning, and form them differently.

B. For diagrams, make your own diagrams. Use the diagrams in the book, but remake them. Maybe make a few alterations that won't matter in the specific diagram.

C. For names of pros, make up your own names for the players. It's not that hard.

If you follow these steps, I believe it will be perfectly legal. And I would pay 10-16 dollars for it.

Yeah...
It would also help if you make up your own problems.
Maybe even your own games, now that's the idea.

@Magicwand:
Seriously, if you manage to solve the copyright issues, I think this would be an EXCELLENT idea - something like that is badly needed, I think. Personally, I would not pay, but that's only because I am lazy and broke. Once than changes, I would be willing to pay $5-$20 per issue, depending on the quality.

hailthorn011 wrote:
From what I know of copyright infringement and plagiarism, there are some tactics you can use in making your own Go translation books while using the same information:

A. Translate it completely into your own words. Basically, reform every sentence with different words. Use words of similar meaning, and form them differently.

B. For diagrams, make your own diagrams. Use the diagrams in the book, but remake them. Maybe make a few alterations that won't matter in the specific diagram.

C. For names of pros, make up your own names for the players. It's not that hard.

If you follow these steps, I believe it will be perfectly legal. And I would pay 10-16 dollars for it.

What you are essentially saying is: 'write your own magazine based on the games and tsumego of the Korean magazine'. As if translating a magazine wasn't hard enough.

When someone translates, they translate the meaning not word for word since often times there is no word that means exactly the same thing in both languages (other than many of the nouns). So no matter how you spin it, it ends up 'in your own words'. There was a guy who translated Harry Potter (for free) into French, as the newspaper article put it: so the French fans wouldn't have to wait the lengthy time it took for the french translation to come out. He got into trouble for that. The overall content matters in copyright.

hailthorn011 wrote:...
If you follow these steps, I believe it will be perfectly legal.
...

I don't. This is like rewriting the Harry Potter stories, but using a character named Perry Hatter, and changing all the sentences, but keeping the plot. Doesn't sound legal to me. Well, maybe legal, but be ready for a lawsuit!

But what do I know. And maybe hailthorn is just pulling our collective legs.

You would have to be contracted by their company, or as a freelancer, to translate their magazine for english markets. In order to do that, they would have to be interested in publishing their magazine in English markets. Selling online wouldn't be good enough. And THEY would need to be making a profit. YOU would be getting paid by them for translating, but not for selling the magazine.

Speaking as a translator, we usually get paid by the word. There are no standard rates in America, but there might be set international rates. It's up to you to charges how much you want. Keep in mind, however, that you're not going to make much more than 12 cents per word translated. If you want to make a lot of money, then you have to translate fast, and a lot.

You don't have the rights to the content, so you'll need to persuade them that their's a market for their magazine in the United states. You probably won't do that in jeans and a T-shirt. You'll need to hire a Research firm or otherwise do the market research yourself, and then you'll probably need to build a list of contacts to get you in touch with their company. Then you need to prove to them that you can get them in touch with a publisher in the states, and a distributor.

You need to make projections as to how much profit will be expected. Here the economy is working against you. We're in a recession right now. Go isn't big in the U.S. A small market means translation isn't big. You might need to convince them to do a small test run somewhere. Good communication skills are a must. You need to be able to talk, to be able to do business. You can't just say, "hey! I'm a go fan! I love go! And I want to share my love of go with the world!"

You're a translator, so you'd probably need someone who's able to smooth talk on your team. Then you'd need someone with enough business contacts. Luckily, there's plenty of people out of work. Just go to a business fair and hire somebody dirt cheap.

If you think you can do it, go for it. I mean, come on, it's not like you were doing anything else with your life, right?

hailthorn011 wrote:...
If you follow these steps, I believe it will be perfectly legal.
...

No.

GoCat wrote:

hailthorn011 wrote:...
If you follow these steps, I believe it will be perfectly legal.
...

I don't. This is like rewriting the Harry Potter stories, but using a character named Perry Hatter, and changing all the sentences, but keeping the plot. Doesn't sound legal to me. Well, maybe legal, but be ready for a lawsuit!

But what do I know. And maybe hailthorn is just pulling our collective legs.

A story is quite different from a book depicting games and details, diagrams, ect. However, there is a reason why I said there should be subtle changes to everything the was put into the book. If you take one paragraph and completely re-say it, but get the same general meaning, it is fine. How else would there be multiple text books on the same matter? Acutally, that gives me a great idea. If he were to use exact wording, diagrams, ect. He could simply cite where he got the information from.

I mean, I guess you can't take my word for anything. I'm basing this off of what I learned in high school, after all.

hailthorn011 wrote:
I mean, I guess you can't take my word for anything. I'm basing this off of what I learned in high school, after all.

Making copyright infringement harder to prove does not make it legal. And to answer one of your analogies--paraphrasing a textbook and releasing it as your own would be infringement. This is based on what I learned in law school .

I am interested in English translations for issues between 05-2010 and 05-2011. With the possibility of interest further into the future.

I can also prove I own (or will own) each issue mentioned above - if that helps with copyright issues.

Furthermore, if you can't sell your translation because of copyright issues, I'd be willing to pay for "monthly korean language lessons" as an alternative. There are many different ways someone could approach this situation with tact.

By the way, If you have confidence in your pronunciation - I'd be willing to pay a little extra for a few pages read aloud in korean (mp3 file).

GoCat wrote:

hailthorn011 wrote:...
If you follow these steps, I believe it will be perfectly legal.
...

I don't. This is like rewriting the Harry Potter stories, but using a character named Perry Hatter, and changing all the sentences, but keeping the plot. Doesn't sound legal to me. Well, maybe legal, but be ready for a lawsuit!

But what do I know. And maybe hailthorn is just pulling our collective legs.

I believe that someone on this thread has already mentioned the "easiest" way to make this a legal endeavor (without contacting the original publisher for translation rights of course...). If you shipped the translations with an original copy of the magazine to each person (essentially making it to where all your customers had subscribed to the magazine and were paying an additional premium to have it translated). There wouldn't be an issue with copyright infringement because everyone involved would own their own copy of the original work, so no damage to the original producer. Of course this would mean a large increase in cost for everyone, etc....

i thank everyone for their input.
i will let you know the detail after i setup everythin.

As a freelance writer and translator, and someone who's done a lot of reading up on copyright regarding translations, I can assure you that none of the "workarounds" proposed in this thread are even remotely legal. You can't just paraphrase and get away with ripping off content. The only way to be legal is to make a deal with the copyright holder.