Don't misunderstand me- I didn't take offense at your previous post, and I'm not offended by this one. I sometimes come across a bit sharper than I mean to- it's actually a natural consequence of the fact that I'm hard to offend, short of personal remarks, so I tend to assume others have as thick a skin. My fault, certainly.ShadowZeroHeart wrote: Law cannot affect past events. For example, if a name is not copyrighted yet, you can use it. Once it is copyrighted, that doesnt mean that they can sue you for having used that name before. Plagiarism is impossible if our text is significantly different and if we locked it once the official release is out. Yes, perhaps it doesnt truly prevent B-T from all charges, but at least it is some sort of safety precaution?
I didnt make that many points about licensing i think? ^^"
I would say that it is best for volume 2 to be translated, but i cannot and will not force anything onto others. The reason I am unsure whether to support your decision is because, as Oni mentioned, it is by chapter basis. So I am worried about when the volume may be released. Since if you stopped half-way or take too long, it must end there and then, unless some other translator take note and continue the work =X
No offense to you at that?
When it comes to the other thread- well I just think you might go back and read it again, as I don't want to quote you out of context. You certainly seemed, to me, to be arguing that volume 2 ought to be translated as quickly as possible, in that thread. It's certainly possible that I read you wrong.
Anyway, I don't mean to charge into this thread like a bull into a china shop, and I wasn't suggesting that I would take over volume 2 and do it singlehandedly. I just noticed that no one has been doing it (understandable, since most people are interested in what happens _after_ the anime), so I thought it would be a good place to start. I'd really rather not try to translate a sequel without having first read the books before it. But I also wouldn't want to do anything to slow down the efforts of people better able to translate volume 2 quickly- that's why I wanted to get a good look at it before signing up for a chapter. I suspect that S+W is right at the edge of my ability, if not a bit past it. But it seems like there's not a really skilled J->E translator working on it right now anyway (no offense intended if there is one and I missed that fact), so I might be able to both serve my interests and help with the translation.
And thank you for the welcome, GiftedMonkey (aren't we all .) Like I said, S+W might be a bit beyond me, what with all the made-up terms, etc. All I can do is take a look and see what I can do with it. I won't sign up for a chapter until I have successfully translated a couple of pages (for myself), at least, just so I can be sure I can handle the S+W novels before making a commitment I can't keep.
EDIT: About the law and past events... licensing and availability have nothing to do with whether or not you are infringing. A novel published in Japan is protected in any nation signatory to the Berne convention, and that protection extends to derivative works. Translations certainly qualify as derivative works. That's why I said it didn't make sense to me legally- it makes sense to me in other respects. A publishing house might be willing to put up with an amateur translation under the theory that it gets enough people interested that they will buy the professional translation when it becomes available. This seems to work, to some degree, even with anime, and anime is a _lot_ more expensive than a paperback, while fansubs are a lot closer to professional quality than fan translations of novels- most of the value of anime is in the raw after all. If the wiki gets retrospectively edited to the point that it basically provides the professional translation Baka will probably get some cease and desist letters. I assume that's why Baka locks on availability rather than license. Not an issue of law, but an issue of what will actually make a publisher annoyed enough to send the letters.