Where to source free model texts for sampling? Thread poster: Siskia Lagomarsino
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I've mostly rounded out my ProZ profile with everything required and recommended, save for sample texts. I have produced a few samples in my target languages in PDF format to provide to potential customers, but they're not texts I own: rather they're samples of texts found in relevant internet forums and blogs, with proper credit added below. The ProZ Portfolio feature requires that I confirm I own the source text, however, which most often isn't the case.
I don't feel comfortable ... See more I've mostly rounded out my ProZ profile with everything required and recommended, save for sample texts. I have produced a few samples in my target languages in PDF format to provide to potential customers, but they're not texts I own: rather they're samples of texts found in relevant internet forums and blogs, with proper credit added below. The ProZ Portfolio feature requires that I confirm I own the source text, however, which most often isn't the case.
I don't feel comfortable sharing samples of work I've done for paying customers in the past (and even more because at the time, some of them were under NDA, which even if time has passed I feel compelled to continue respecting). Where could I find short sample texts in a variety of fields for practice and sampling? I'm mostly a generalist so all subjects and forms of practice are welcome, although the bulk of my work is cultural (film, music, literature, other forms of written and audiovisual media) and I have some tangential experience in IT and medical translation.
Thanks in advance. ▲ Collapse
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It’s difficult because of copyright. AFAIK newspapers and magazines articles published before 1977 are not copyrighted. Can you find one (maybe at a local library)? I wonder if the source texts that have been used in Proz Translation Contests are copyrighted…
| | | | | | Zea_Mays 
Italy
Local time: 17:34
Member (2009)
English to German
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| Creative Commons Content | Aug 28, 2023 |
You'd have to check, but it may be that, for example, Wikipedia articles
are licensed under the Creative Commons BY-SA licence, and that you can use them by
citing the source and adding a link to the original page.
(you could also check if there is already a version in the target language,
but generally AFAIK Wikipedia articles are not translated 1:1).
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 17:34
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida wrote:
AFAIK newspapers and magazines articles published before 1977 are not copyrighted.
This only applies to US newspapers and magazines. What you're saying is not quite accurate, either. Before 1977, if a newspaper in the US had not specifically added a copyright notice somewhere in the newspaper (it didn't have to be close to the article in question), the publication is deemed to be free of copyright (what in the US is called "public domain"). Non-US newspapers have always had copyright, regardless of whether they added a copyright notice. All US newspapers from after 1977 have copyright automatically, even if they do not add a copyright notice.
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Siskia Lagomarsino wrote:
The ProZ Portfolio feature requires that I confirm I own the source text, however, which most often isn't the case.
What texts could any translator "own"? It's a daft requirement.
| | | | Reed James
Chile
Local time: 11:34
Member (2005)
Spanish to English
| Just a thought | Sep 21, 2023 |
What if you used AI to spin a copyrighted text so that it would become an original? Would that work?
| | | | | Ask the authors of the texts | Sep 22, 2023 |
The ProZ Portfolio feature requires that I confirm I own the source text, however, which most often isn't the case.
It more technically says that you must either own the source text or confirm that you have explicit permission to use it, so this provides you with numerous options as it is often just a matter of asking the author of the text for the permission you are seeking.
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