Is it alright to selfishly translate from syosetsu or any other same website without asking permission from the author? There are lots of interesting things in there but I'm afraid I'd get mad at for not asking for their approval. (Pls excuse my title if you find it misleading.)
I think it is ethically correct to ask for the permission of the original creator before tampering with his/her work. Opinion.
Simple. Do what you think is right. Afterall, whatever your choices are. There will be consequences, good or bad.
Very few translators ever contact the author, you'll be fine. For every translator who has permission from the author, there are at least 100 who don't have permission. If the author indicates somehow that they don't want their work being translated though, I wouldn't do it.
You should definitely contact the author and ask for permission first, especially if you are planning to accept donation in the future. There was an incident a while back where someone started translating and when they wanted to add a donation button, they emailed the author to ask for permission and the author got super mad.
Ask for permission from the author if you intend to make money from translating it, if not then you should be fine, as you are not making money from the author's work without permission.
Is it alright to selfishly read translated works from syosetsu or any other same website without asking permission from the author? There are lots of interesting things in there but I'm afraid I'd get mad at for not asking for their approval. (Pls excuse my title if you find it misleading.)
I'll also add that releasing a translation without the author's permission (or publisher's permission, or whoever holds the rights to the work) is illegal. It's not a grey area, it doesn't matter if you make money or not, it's clearly and unambiguously 100% illegal (unless you live in one of the few countries who haven't joined any international copyright treaties, like Somalia). When I say you'll be fine, I mean that almost every translator on NU is breaking the law without any problems, so it's unlikely to be an issue.
They post it into the internet in the first place is to let people read it, the more the better. I don't understand how they would disapprove of the translation (I'm talking about the WN here not LN since it would be perfectly understandable why they would disapprove of it). I mean they don't really just write novels just for the Japanese to read right?(right?hope not). What wrong with letting other people from different countries try it? However, the above are merely my opinion. And I think the reason the translators don't ask for permission is out of fear the author will refuse it which has happened a few times.
<- Had tried to contact an author before... never got a reply back <- Tried looking for contact details before... never found one <- Therefore just gave up on asking in general...
Who cares what they think... as for the donations and the author... Who cares if the Author gives permission or not? It is DONATION to me and it's not about his work. If I was selling translated chapters than that would be bad... but donation is my stuff. I just give more chapters as a bonus.... This is one way to see it.
Just stop if you recieve a DMCA. The polite thing to do would be to ask first, and if you can't contact them or didn't get a reply.. well you tried.
If you write a novel and I translate that novel to portuguese, how annoyed would you really be (if portuguese is not your native/mother language or your novel is not a world impacting/reaching one)? As long as the credits are given for me as the author, the translator didn't receive money in form of donations/payment (ads would be alright, I think), and the previous conditions are not reached (native language/not world impacting one), I don't think I would be annoyed/pissed. Moreover, perhaps it can help to popularize (make it more popular/know) the novel to more people to read. Would we even know that much of their novels without the translators? Perhaps they are the ones that give the opportunity for this novels to latter be licensed, lol.
WTF are you talking about, he clearly asked if it's okay to translate without authors permission not read the work itself. Reading a translation is so off-topic from what he is asking.
A moral grey zone to wade through. It would be NICE of you to contact the author and get permission, but, as i see it, they should have been ready for such a thing to happen the moment they published, or not publish, and put their work online. There isn't anything illegal being done unless a person professionally translates and sells said work without permission; not that there are not loop holes to exploit there as well. I say this from the standpoint of an editor and author.