I was thinking about a translation of a book that is in the public domain. The author is Adam Smith. There is already a French translation of some of his works. Does this mean that I cannot publish my own French translation? Does the existence of a French translation preclude the creation of another? Do I have to use a language that it isn't translated into?
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I read part of the French version of The Wealth of Nations by this French publisher. I thought their translation was like paraphrasing more akin to translating his ideas rather his original words. Perhaps they did that because it is difficult to understand his original work, even for many English speakers. I just thought that someone should have translated the original more faithfully.– Icer BoxMay 14, 2017 at 15:54
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3 Answers
Can you think of other cases where there are multiple translation of the same book into the same language? If you search Amazon for classics in one language, do you find multiple translations into other languages? (Try the Divine Comedy or Beowulf or the Iliad -- or the Bible.) What do you find?
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I haven't searched Amazon. I searched the World Catalog and Apple iBooks. There were multiple translations. "Recherche sur la nature et les causes de la richesse des nations, La Richesse des nations, les oeuvres de Adam Smith, which are the same books with different publishers and translators– Icer BoxMay 14, 2017 at 15:46
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2So there is your answer.– user16226May 14, 2017 at 15:48
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Not necessarily. They were not direct translations. So far I haven't found a faithful translation. The books seem to be paraphrasing. I thought that there might be a reason for that.– Icer BoxMay 14, 2017 at 15:57
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2That is not what your question asks, though. If that is your question, you should edit it to make that clear.– user16226May 14, 2017 at 15:59
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Public domain books are no longer under copyright protection and can be used by the public as they wish without fear of copyright infringement. There are classical books that have multiple translations to the same language. However, before starting such a project, I would suggest that you ensure that your translation would be an improvement in some way from the original translation.
Yes, you can.
As stated by others, public domain works - by definition - don't pose limits to uses and reuses. As long as you don't use other translations' solutions or passages (i.e. you don't copy other translations, which would infringe the copyright of the translation, but not of the original work) you're fine.
