I'm reading this book and I'm really interested in translating few pages from a section of the book into my mother tongue language. Now i have already started but then i realized maybe it is not ethical nor legal to do so even for translating "few pages" from the book without asking for permission from the original author.
A few pages (6) is too much to reproduce without permission, or without at least checking how much text the publishing house deems to be permissible. I believe that the general maximum allowed is a couple of hundred words without putting in a specific request. You should contact the publishing house to ask: Search for the web site of the publishing house, then look for a link: "Permissions". Nowadays such a link will often allow you to put in a request and obtain the appropriate authorisation automatically and immediately, but as you are requesting the right to reproduce a substantial amount of translated text, I would suggest that you provide all details and await a response (do take a screenshot of the request). You will need to provide information relating to the eventual publication, and some of this, you might not know as yet. I like to cover all bases by contacting the author as well as one does not always receive a response from publishing houses and I still await permission to reproduce an image from a request put in five years ago (we didn't use that figure!). I'd suggest a web search to find the author's contact information. This is often a couple of boxes on a website, but don't be discouraged – authors tend to be quick to respond and considerably more interesting to communicate with than an automated permissions service! If you are stuck awaiting permissions that never seem to come from the automated service, the author can forward an email for you or provide you with the email for a direct contact, whereupon you will be able to enjoy watching your email pass from one person to another until it eventually lands on the desk of the right person (whose first piece of advice will be to use the automated service that has failed to produce results!). Corresponding with the author frequently results in an interesting exchange, and it can provide additional unpublished information of value when presenting the work or discussing it with colleagues. Good luck!
A few pages (6) is too much to reproduce without permission, or without at least checking how much text the publishing house deems to be permissible. I believe that the general maximum allowed is a couple of hundred words without putting in a specific request. You should contact the publishing house to ask: Search for the web site of the publishing house, then look for a link: "Permissions". Nowadays such a link will often allow you to put in a request and obtain the appropriate authorisation automatically and immediately, but as you are requesting the right to reproduce a substantial amount of translated text, I would suggest that you provide all details and await a response (do take a screenshot of the request). You will need to provide information relating to the eventual publication, and some of this, you might not know as yet. I like to cover all bases by contacting the author as well as one does not always receive a response from publishing houses and I still await permission to reproduce an image from a request put in five years ago (we didn't use that figure!). I'd suggest a web search to find the author's contact information. This is often a couple of boxes on a website, but don't be discouraged – authors tend to be quick to respond and considerably more interesting to communicate with than an automated permissions service! If you are stuck awaiting permissions that never seem to come from the automated service, the author can forward an email for you or provide you with the email for a direct contact, whereupon you will be able to enjoy watching your email pass from one person to another until it eventually lands on the desk of the right person (whose first piece of advice will be to use the automated service that has failed to produce results!). Corresponding with the author frequently results in an interesting exchange, and it can provide additional unpublished information of value when presenting the work or discussing it with colleagues. Good luck!
Suzy Lidstrom , Thank you so much for the detailed information, I really really appreciate that.
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