Why do patreon accounts exist on this website? I'm not trying to be rude, but why do translators need to receive money to translate and profit from that??? Is it legal to take someone's work, and make money off of translating it with or without the author and their company's permission??? How does any of that work???
Because translators need money to buy raws for the book and being paid for minimum wage helps motivate them to keep going when they lose interest on the series that they are translating. Also supply and demand are always king on the internet.
Everything is illegal. Don’t read scanlations. Buy officially published novels. Don’t support companies that pay amateurs translators for web novels only to offset prices of real translations contracts. Wait for content. That’s how it’s supposed to work. But will you be satisfied with that?
Some translations are licensed and Patreons for them are legal, but others - possibly even 'most' - are not, no. It's true, too, that translators without a license or other form of authorization have no right to be profiting off an author's work. Actually, they have no right to be distributing translations of that work in the first place. You have no right to be reading those translations without receiving them from a legitimate channel. ... Yes, you have broken the law. We all have. That's how it goes when you elect to read unofficial translations. Some translators have indeed taken it a step further by asking for donations to fund their own labor - because, make no mistake, translation is labor. That makes it... more illegal? I guess. If you would explicitly like to read translations that have been licensed, you can check the 'Licensed' field for a given novel page on Novel Updates. It'll be somewhere between the Author's name and Publisher's name. If it says "Yes," the novel has a licensed publisher, and you can read (and possibly pay for) their translations. If it says "No", well... You probably shouldn't read that novel, then.
I don't see anything wrong with it. If they're doing a good job at it (ie: not machine translating everything), I think they deserve a buck or three.
I'm not sure what type translation groups your talking about but it's at least better then that time where most translators 'Sold out' to Webnovel lol. I really want to support these translators and see more of JP novels, we don't see them as much as before now in days
Supply and Demand. Some translators don't ask for more eye and others do. Most I have seen ask for a donation, extra chapters or pay for early access. (You don't have to pay eventually the chapters will be free to read). I prefer that the translators get money vs aggregator sites. The translators are putting in effort to release work. Is it legal? Most are not. However I don't think the novels I read (BL) are at the top of the list to be licensed. Also most are being heavily censored now. So to me translators are amazing. I know the transition is illegal, profiting off it is illegal but so is reading it. Just like Jay walking, I'm okay with it.
Why do patreon accounts exist on this website? To fund the buying of raws and act as as a motivator side income since translating takes up a great deal of time and effort. Is it legal to take someone's work, and make money off of translating it with or without the author and their company's permission??? How does any of that work??? Patreon collect funds from the readers for the translators who will then fund the author by purchasing raws from author's site. Technically, it's isn't legal but the patreon does actually benefits the author indirectly as the money will flow to author through an intermediary (translator) which is why readers supports patreon.
Are you suggesting translators do work for free without any regard to their financial status and health? Except for those greedy translators with shit translation, every translation by itself, is legal as long there is no profit gain. Then again, not all translators want to translate for translation sake, as there is always demand and supply in any profitable business. It's a business, and unfortunately, the "official" business groups for translating light novels suck or delay releases in years. Not worth the spending, so why not spend it on less for quicker, better quality translations. Of course, some translators partner up with the licensed novels' author and publishing company. Over all, it's just like the situation about buying products and pirating them in the Internet. Not everyone has the same economic status to where they can legally afford a product on sale and in demand. But this only about light novels, but for web novels, there should be no issues of sorts unless the web novel becomes a light novel. It's like politics, like it or hate it, it just works in a modern world filled with pluses and minuses.
While Ai-chan would agree on what you said, in many cases, under the provision of the same law, the consumer is not deemed legally guilty if they consume illegal content. The fault of the crime falls on those who share it, not who receive it, unless specifically mentioned so. Such as the case with anti-pedophilia law, where both the one who shares and the one who receives can be equally guilty. In the case of illegal translations, being in possession of an illegal translation or even downloading an illegal translation is not illegal. Similarly, making such translation isn't illegal either. It's when you share the translation or owns the site where the translation is shared that you break copyright law. Of course, some countries may have different provisions, and Ai-chan won't pretend to know all of them. But to answer @MsKumiko when you don't own the license, you don't have the right to share the translation with others, and you still ask for money for sharing it, there is no doubt that you are breaking copyright law. Depending on how far you go towards monetizing your translation, you can even be breaking commercial or taxation law. This is not applicable to the consumer of the infringement though, only on the provider. Though as @Westeller said, you may want to stop reading, if the illegality of such actions rub you the wrong way. To be fair, we used to work for free. Even when we ask for donations, it used to be only for buying the raws or for occasional cup of coffee. There are cases where a translator suffered some financial pitfall and needed a fundraising, but these were one-time things. We could justify working for free because we only did it when we had the time and there was no expectation of a schedule or regular delivery. While a translation of any document is legal, sharing them is not legal by default. Situation 1: You like a novel in Russian. You are not good with Russian, so you slowly translate the novel chapter by chapter onto a piece of paper using a Russian grammar guidebook and dictionary. You finally done translating that novel after half a year. You read this piece of paper instead of the novel. This action is legal. Situation 2: You share the sheets of paper where you translate the Russian novel with a friend who went to school with you. This is not legal but nobody is willing to prosecute you. Situation 3: You photocopied these sheets of paper, bound it as a book and sell it to anyone who wants it. Totally illegal, and depending on how much you're making for the book or how much the copyright owner feel threatened from your actions, they can sue you for damages or bring the case to court where if you were found guilty, you will be forced to pay a fine or be imprisoned. Situation 4: You did not photocopy the sheets of paper, but you charge money to everyone who comes to your home to read your translation whenever you've completed them. Totally illegal. Same case with Situation 3. Situation 5: You did not photocopy the sheets of paper, but you put a donation jar on the table for anyone to contribute to fixing your house whenever they come to read your translation. Still illegal, but due to the small scale nature of it and that you're not really charging money for it, the copyright owner will most likely not be interested in driving over to your home and spanking you for it.
Nothing wrong with having a patreon, the only issue is if you using it a payment service for your translations.
I think most translators do 1 alongside 2, while some are into 5, but there are (likely) few who commit 3 and 4.
I'm speaking for the U.S. when I say that reading an unauthorized translation is in fact the same, as far as the law is concerned, as downloading video games, movies or music you do not wish to pay for. If you download epubs, it's exactly the same. If you just read online, it's the equivalent of streaming. ... You may want to recheck your own country's piracy laws, but I do know that in some countries only the distributor is in the wrong, and consumers are not. That is not the case in the U.S., where both parties are at fault. Most people will understand what they are or are not guilty of in their own country when they make the connection to movie or music piracy, and realize reading these novels is also a type of that. It's easy to forget that when translation is obfuscating the situation.
Many of us here are or should be aware of the legal/moral issues of fan translations, even if Series A lacks an official translation but Series B does have official one. However, we continue to read them. Now, if you at least have a subscribing account to an official licensor, at least you are helping the industry a little bit. Now, say the series creator says something to the effect of "Just credit me and you can use my work in any way that is legal in your the region that you live in". From there, it is more of a moral thing! Now, if you have a site like a wiki that has very detailed summaries of what happens in the novel volumes, I don't see that as illegal or immoral, provided exact quotes from a literal translation are done sparingly.