Translating articles ... Is this ILLEGAL?

[iteck]

Hello I want to start my own wordpress website and start making money with adsense.
So I got all covered up... I can find a good niche, I can make my website look great, but I can't write articles, I don't like it.(maybe lack of exercise?! )

So my question is:

It's okey if I take high quality articles that are written in other languages and translate them to english?
I mean translated by myself not google translate or other online translate tool; so the translated articles will be HQ too and usefull to the readers.

Is this legal? Do I have to specify that it's an article translated from "blabla's website" ?

Thank you for your time!

 

[Orbit143]

I'm not sure if this is strictly legal but I wouldn't worry about that, there is virtually no chance of anybody tracking translated articles and accusing you of stealing them.

 

[kaylanewett]

I don't see how this could be illegal. The only thing that could have been copyrighted was the article in that language. It will never translate perfectly into another language. You will always need to change a couple words for it to make sense. Good luck!

 

[faibol]

when you translate an article you probably get a much different one from the one you are translating
since there's always a difference between sentences in different languages and you always fuse your own
writing style and understanding of the actual subject and article.I don't think that it's illegal but a great solution
would be to just use 2 -3 articles instead of one... find 2 - 3 articles that talk about the same subject and just translate it so you get one unique article... it would probably take a bit longer but you wouldn't have to worry about the article being illegal.

 

[Renegado]

Its illegal if you dont provide reference to the original creator of the article in question.

By your logic all the translated books are free to be marketed under your name?

 

[FutureKingOfScrapers]

I don't see anyway you would ever get caught doing this.

 

[Peter Ngo]

Hi iteck,

Translating is ok, but it is a good idea to give reference to other sites in term of article quality, it makes your article look professional, i am not sure if it is good for SEO though lol.

However, if you are thinking of giving other site a credit, you should translate and paraphrase to make it become your own, it is not illegal except the copyright thingys, but it is always good to have unique content.

Hope that help
Peter

 

[steelballs]

Here is a Content Glossary that may help clear this issue...

http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/associated-content-writing-articles/560001-content-glossary.html

It does not cover translated documents but explains all English content data...

 

[RedMango]

Just do it anyway. This is BHW not lameassworld.

 

[iteck]

Thank you guys for your answers!
I read the content glossary post very helpful and also found some posts on google and it's illegal to take an article and translate it without reference to the original creator.
Maybe you could do it but not from websites that have a clause in their copyright statement that reads something as follows:

All works found on this website belong to [ insert name ], re-distribution of the work, images, and translations are prohibited.

However I think I'll take like 2-3 articles, like faibol suggested, and translate them into english, changing words adding my own thoughts about the subject etc. ... It would be impossible for someone to find that my articles are translated.

 

[GreenGoblin]

This is def a great question! like everyone else there's little to know chance of anyone catching u...but great question indeed!

 

[JDMaStA]

I don't see how this could be illegal. The only thing that could have been copyrighted was the article in that language. It will never translate perfectly into another language. You will always need to change a couple words for it to make sense. Good luck!

actually not, translations are a so called "derivative work" (the same goes for e.g. a movie script of a book, a picture of a sculpture and even more extreme examples)
which can only be distributed with the consent of the original creator e.g. author.

The best course of action really depends on what type of content you are going to translate, there's even a slight chance, that you can get the written permission without having to pay anything or only a small sum (that also largely depends on how you approach the copyright holder and whether he knows anything about the "online value" of his work)...

 

[ailia]

definitely its illegal