Hi everybody,
I want to join the readers here but, since my english pronunciation isn't gret, I thing the best I can do is read in my own language.
The issue is that I'm Albanian, so I speak one of the oldest but little spoken languages in the world.
Albanian authors are little known in the world, for so many reasons, and reading in albanian doesn't really help, but even in albanian there's so little done to support them.
So, I want to read in Albanian, for my people to have the opportunity to find their favorite authors for free, and maybe I'll read the same authors in english or italian (I speak both of those languages, even though I'm not very confident about my pronunciation).
My question is, are there any albanian authors? And if not, can I bring some?
My only concern is about copyright.
Thank you.
Albanian Authors wanted - New Reader
Welcome here! Albanian books would be fantastic!
There's two parts to the copyright bit. The book needs to have been published before 1923 to be okay under US law (where LibriVox is based), and the author (and translator, if it wasn't originally written in Albanian) must have died more than 70 years ago (so at the moment, before 1947) to be okay under Albanian law. If you live outside Albania, you'd need to follow the law there instead, but ... it's going to be hard on Albanian listeners if things aren't in copyright for them
So even if you're US-based, I'd recommend following both parts.
Project Gutenberg is our usual hunting ground for books. But they have exactly 0 in Albanian, so that's no help. And none in progress at Distributed Proofreaders (which is the biggest supplier of texts to PG.) I can see 6 books at HathiTrust but I don't know about the authors of those, or if they're at all interesting to read.
So ... do you have access to older books via libraries, grandparents or national public domain digitisation projects? It's fine to read from a printed book -- we just ask for a scan or photograph of the copyright page to show everything's okay legally.
And, while we're sorting out books (or maybe a poem or short story to start with! Just to get you going ... ) I'd recommend doing the one minute test which is a great way to check that your mic volume and file settings are all okay. Doesn't matter if you read in English, or a short piece of text in Albanian -- the words aren't the important bit.
There's two parts to the copyright bit. The book needs to have been published before 1923 to be okay under US law (where LibriVox is based), and the author (and translator, if it wasn't originally written in Albanian) must have died more than 70 years ago (so at the moment, before 1947) to be okay under Albanian law. If you live outside Albania, you'd need to follow the law there instead, but ... it's going to be hard on Albanian listeners if things aren't in copyright for them
So even if you're US-based, I'd recommend following both parts.Project Gutenberg is our usual hunting ground for books. But they have exactly 0 in Albanian, so that's no help. And none in progress at Distributed Proofreaders (which is the biggest supplier of texts to PG.) I can see 6 books at HathiTrust but I don't know about the authors of those, or if they're at all interesting to read.
So ... do you have access to older books via libraries, grandparents or national public domain digitisation projects?
It's fine to read from a printed book -- we just ask for a scan or photograph of the copyright page to show everything's okay legally.And, while we're sorting out books (or maybe a poem or short story to start with! Just to get you going ... ) I'd recommend doing the one minute test which is a great way to check that your mic volume and file settings are all okay. Doesn't matter if you read in English, or a short piece of text in Albanian -- the words aren't the important bit.
There's honestly no such thing as a stupid question -- but I'm afraid I can't rule out giving a stupid answer : : To Posterity and Beyond!
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Farmerkent
- Posts: 2
- Joined: March 25th, 2017, 2:19 pm
Hi Cori,
Thank you for your reply.
I checked out the books on HathiTrust and they are interenting, but written in an arcaic form of albanian language, so it takes someone more qualified to read them.
Anyway I do have some good books that I can read.
Later today I'll do the test, even though I tested my recording device earlier, and hopefully tonight I'll start reading something.
I'll also get informed on copyright rules here.
Thank you.
Thank you for your reply.
I checked out the books on HathiTrust and they are interenting, but written in an arcaic form of albanian language, so it takes someone more qualified to read them.
Anyway I do have some good books that I can read.
Later today I'll do the test, even though I tested my recording device earlier, and hopefully tonight I'll start reading something.
I'll also get informed on copyright rules here.
Thank you.
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MaryAnnSpiegel
- LibriVox Admin Team
- Posts: 18351
- Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 4:37 pm
- Location: Chicago, IL
Farmerkent,
It's great that you have some old books that you can read. Before you start, may I strongly suggest that you post a picture or scan of the title page showing the year it was published? The admins will want to verify that you are reading from a book published before 1923 before we accept any recordings . . . so it's best if we can get that out of the way early.
MaryAnn
It's great that you have some old books that you can read. Before you start, may I strongly suggest that you post a picture or scan of the title page showing the year it was published? The admins will want to verify that you are reading from a book published before 1923 before we accept any recordings . . . so it's best if we can get that out of the way early.
MaryAnn