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Schoolboys face legal action over Harry Potter translation
JULY 7, 2003 at 11:01 AM
From Ananova:
Four Czech schoolboys could face legal action after they posted an unofficial translation of the new Harry Potter book on the Internet.
Marek Mojzik said he and his friends decided to post the translation so Czech fans did not have to wait to read the story in Czech. The official translation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is not due to appear in shops in the Czech Republic until next January.
Most of the translation was done by Marek's friend, who only gave his name as Lukas, while two other schoolfriends helped out too. The friends, all aged 14, have already posted the first 19 chapters on their website and plan to post the rest soon.
While the Czech publisher is trying to stop the teens from continuing to publish translations on the Web, he wasn't surprised. "We warned them that we should release the official Czech translation at the same time as the English language books because this could happen but they took no notice," he said. "I don't see why readers here should have to wait such a long time."
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Prefect
Points: 340
Prongs1 says:
Man I don't see why they didn't release it everywhere at the same time, I mean if 1 country didn't sell very well(yea right) Then there would be plenty of die hard potter fans wanting to own books in other languages. Fawkes
Posted Jul 7, 2003 at 11:17 AM EST
Witch
Points: 609
Aravis says:
I agree. I mean, I know that usually they wait until the book is officially released before giving the book to a translater to translate because the fewer people in posession of the book before release, the less they have to worry about security. And with all that security, no wonder they weren't passing the books out! However, I do think it stinks that everyone non-english speaking has to wait for the books. At least the Czech publisher was smart enough to realize this would happen but he couldn't do anything about it. Maybe for the next book they'll put out at least a few other languages at the same time as UK/US.
Posted Jul 7, 2003 at 11:26 AM EST
Professor
Points: 1065
Lerah99 says:
I can certainly understand not wanting to wait for the Czech version to come out. If I could have gotten the English version months earlier, I would have been sorely tempted. Funny how well this relates to the story about the Pirated version being sold in Pakistan. I guess I have more sympathy for these boys than the bootlegers because the boys are doing it for a love of the book while to bootlegers are doing it for a love of money.
Posted Jul 7, 2003 at 11:34 AM EST
Points: 339
Marauder says:
I completely understand that people want to read the books right away, but I find it very hard to believe that 14 year old boys would be translating the book without any kind of incentive. I feel bad for people that have to wait for traslated versions, but I still can't believe that 14 year old boys would be translating it.
Posted Jul 7, 2003 at 11:54 AM EST
Witch
Points: 661
Flitterbloom says:
I also understand why they would do it. Teenagers are "care-free" and as one I know how much we all think that we know everything.. (it even says that in the 5th book), so yeah, I understand why they're doing it. I don't necessarily think it's right, but I wouldn't want to wait to read it either.
Posted Jul 7, 2003 at 12:24 PM EST
Wizard
Points: 502
Padfoot05 says:
I don't know why they did that, I know that is not fare to release a bookwhile everybody in the world is waiting to read it bt they shuold wait. The same happen with the books in spanish I had to wait for Harry potter 4 to come out in spanish so I could read it. It was really hard I tried it to red it in English but I didn't a word. It is really hard
Posted Jul 7, 2003 at 4:00 PM EST
Auror
Points: 2374
TrueBluePotterFan says:
Stupidity on the publishers part. It's their own fault if they miss out on an even larger payday. Just like in France where there were many readers buying the English version but they could not read English. Now those are dedicated Potter fans.
Posted Jul 7, 2003 at 4:11 PM EST
Points: 3950
CowsOJMilkSoil says:
It seems like a really good idea for the boys to translate it, I wish all versions of the book was released at the same time though, but if that did happen, maybe release date would have been pushed back for all of us.
Posted Jul 7, 2003 at 5:39 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 60
Storm Mage says:
I can completly understand why the boys translated it. It must be terrible to want to read the book so desperately but not be able to because the publishers haven't printed the version yet.
I wish that all the versions were released at the same time because that would make it fair for everyone.
Posted Jul 7, 2003 at 6:03 PM EST
Prefect
Points: 361
LaDonna says:
They should release the books all at the same time. It shows a lot of initative that these boys translated that much.
Posted Jul 7, 2003 at 6:53 PM EST
Prefect
Points: 342
Precious says:
They should have all the versions come out at the same time...how can you blame them for wanting to translate it. I would do the same thing.
Posted Jul 7, 2003 at 10:52 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 81
orangey_good says:
i agree with what the boys did, i wouldn't want to wait almost a year longer than the rest of the world to read the new hp. man, i couldn't hardly wait in the line til 12:05 am when i actually bought my book. i'm impressed they could translate it so quickly, they deserve a round of applause. :)
Posted Jul 8, 2003 at 5:12 PM EST
Student
Points: 219
Hermione Cosplayer says:
I'm an anime fan, and I watch anime downloaded from usenet (newsgroups) or IRC long before it's picked up in the US. Sometimes days after it airs in Japan, some bilingual person has translated it and used a computer to produce English subtitles.
Ethical Anime fans then go on to purchase legit copies of the work once it's available in the US. I wouldn't have bought most of the US versions of Anime I own now if I hadn't downloaded it a year before it was out and became a fan.
I find it hard to believe that Czech publisher will lose one penny because of these teens. The moment it's out in their own language, even people that downloaded it will snap up a physical copy of the book.
They teens were silly to put it on a web page though. That's the kind if thing the alt.binaries are for. Once it;s in such a visiable place (like the web) the publishers have no choice but to attack.
Posted Jul 8, 2003 at 5:21 PM EST
Points: 616
Minister of Magic says:
I couldn't wait to get it. I had to download it, i downloaded the british version on July 23rd. But anyways I am going to buy the real (at this time english) book in my country. I think I won't wait for the Spanish translation.
Rodrigo.
Posted Jul 9, 2003 at 8:03 PM EST
Student
Points: 293
jjkhp says:
I wish they could have just released all the books the same day so we would not have as many translation problems with non speaking english countries.
Posted Aug 2, 2003 at 6:34 PM EST
Honeydukes Eye Candy
Points: 3501
Pansyful says:
Most of the translation was done by Marek's friend, who only gave his name as Lukas, while two other schoolfriends helped out too. The friends, all aged 14, have already posted the first 19 chapters on their website and plan to post the rest soon
Posted Aug 14, 2008 at 4:10 AM EST