[Romanian] Poems

[debyfrim]

Hi there,

I have ancient poetry books in Romanian passed down through my family.

These were printed before the 1920s. I would like to record and publish. They are truly amazing poems but are no longer found in print.

This would be a solo project. One book that I would like to start with is entitled "Povestea Omului" (The stoy of man) by Demostene Botez.


I'm wondering how exactly to go about it. I have read all the starting guides that tell me about the 1 minute test and all that. I believe I am all set... I just need that magic window.

Debbie

[Piotrek81]

Hi Great to see someone wanting to start a book in a language that has little representation in the Catalogue.
Are the pieces in the book long? I'm asking because it's usually advised that new volunteers start by contributing to group projects (for example Multilingual Collection in the Short Works section). This is to help new people to learn about our recording and editing procedures. On the other hand, if the poems are short (or if you already have some experience with recording and editing) this may be a good start for you, even though as a soloist you'll have to be very independent.

I undestand that you want to read from a paper copy? In that case you should scan the title page and the page with the edition date so the Meta Coordinator can confirm that it's in the Public Domain in the US (though you've said already that the book was published before 1920, so it is probably safe).
Also, as you're from a European Union country you should make sure you know the author's death date. That's because in EU a work becomes public domain 70 years after the author's death.



EDit: I checked and Demostene Botez died in 1973, which means that his works are still copyrighted in Romania (and hence in EU).

EDIT 2: Recording the "1-minute-test" is a really good idea, because it will help you to adjust your equipment and fix any early problems with the microphone, software, etc.

[Carolin]

hi debbie, welcome to librivox!

just as piotr said, it would be great to have more works in romanian in the catalog!

only, as librivox works with books in the public domain, there are two conditions. first, as our servers are located in the united states, we have to comply with american copyright law, which uses the publication date as benchmark. that means that in general, our books should be published in or before 1922. then, because i am assuming you live in romania or elsewhere in the eu, you wont want to break eu copyright. in the eu, copyright on a work expires 70 years after an author's death. so any author whose works you wish to read should have died in 1943 or earlier.

i know, this seems to limit your choices greatly, but actually, there is so much literature still to choose from, i am sure you can find something you like. also, the books you mention that your family has -- chances are most of them are in the public domain.

before getting started, it is a good idea to submit the one minute test, just to make sure your recordings are in the correct bit rate and volume etc. - it will probably take less than a minute to complete, and as soon as you got positive feedback, you know your recordings will be fine

let us know if you run into any sort of problem!

[debyfrim]

Caroline and Piotr,

Thank you for your reply. I did some research and found many of the poems published online (an example http://www.poezie.ro/index.php/author/0013492/Demostene_Botez)

Does this mean that the books are in the public domain? Or how could I check to make sure?


Also... here is the link to the 1-minute test. If everything is ok I will start on other poems which I am sure are in the public domain. There is not much published in romanian on librivox so I am not worried about repetition.

https://librivox.org/uploads/tests/test_debyfrim.mp3


Thank you guys!

[RuthieG]

Unfortunately, published online does not mean "in the public domain". We have to be extremely careful about copyright status. In any case, that page has a copyright notice at the foot:

Reproducerea oricăror materiale din site fără permisiunea noastră este strict interzisă.
Copyright 1999-2003. Agonia.Net

We can only accept recordings of works published in 1922 or earlier - everything later is still protected by copyright in the USA, where all our files are stored.

It appears that Botez published two volumes of poetry which are in the public domain in the USA:

Munţii, 1918
Floarea pământului, 1920

Any poems in these two books can be recorded for LibriVox, but you need to find a scan of the actual book to be sure which poems they include.

However, you should also observe the copyright laws where you live - in Romania this means over 70 years after the author died. This is for your own protection, as you may be breaking your own country's copyright law if you record any of these poems.

It isn't easy for me to find public domain works in Romanian, as I don't speak the language, but this book of Mihai Eminescu's poetry is in the Public Domain, both in Romania and in the USA: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35323

Ruth

[ekzemplaro]

Hello,

everything later is still protected by copyright in the USA, where all our files are stored.

Excuse me to intrude, but this is not correct.
Please refer to
http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm

Works Published Abroad Before 1978

1923 through 1977

Published without compliance with US formalities, and in the public domain in its source country as of 1 January 1996 (but see special cases) 20

In the public domain

If the books are public domain in Romania as of Jan/1/1996, they are public domain in US.

We can only accept recordings of works published in 1922 or earlier

This is Librivox's policy. We need to respect this policy now.

Cheers,
Masa

[RuthieG]

I was trying to make things simple for a new reader, Masa San.

You are of course correct that if something was in the public domain in its home country at 1 Jan 1996, it would now be in the public domain in the USA. However, we do not have the legal expertise in the copyright laws of other countries to make a definitive decision on such cases. Hence, we made the decision only to accept for recording at LibriVox items published outside the USA before 1923.

This is irrelevant in this case, as the author died in the 1970s and his works are still in copyright in his home country even now.

Ruth

[debyfrim]

Thank you all.

Since there are so many laws and regulations that I wouldn't want to cross, how about a safer alternative.

I was thinking about recording the Psalms in Romanian. Surely the Bible is not under copyright... or am wrong?

Debbie

[RuthieG]

I have had a look around, and some of the translations of the Bible I have found are in copyright, strange as it may seem.

Cornilescu's original translation of 1921 should be OK e.g http://cadrebible.com/cor, but not the revised version published in the 1980s.

The Christian Classics Ethereal Library is usually reliable, and claims that this one is in the Public Domain: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/ro. I don't know which translation it is though.

I hope this helps a bit, but I am no expert on copyright or on the Bible, for that matter.

Ruth

[debyfrim]

I have had a look around, and some of the translations of the Bible I have found are in copyright, strange as it may seem.

Cornilescu's original translation of 1921 should be OK e.g http://cadrebible.com/cor, but not the revised version published in the 1980s.

The Christian Classics Ethereal Library is usually reliable, and claims that this one is in the Public Domain: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/ro. I don't know which translation it is though.

I hope this helps a bit, but I am no expert on copyright or on the Bible, for that matter.

Ruth

Both of those version are the Cornilescu 1921 versions. It is also the version that is used by the majority of people back in Romania so I'll go with that. I have already submitted the 1 minute test.

Could you point me to the next step in the process?

Thank you!

Debbie

[RuthieG]

It will depend on whether you just want to read a few, or all of them .

A good first step would be to record one and submit it to the Multilingual Short Works Collection 013. Or I should be delighted to have Psalm 9 in the LibriVox 9th Anniversary Collection (where all the items include the word 'nine' in the title in any language ).

In either case, read the top post carefully to see the instructions. A Romanian disclaimer is available here, if required: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/LibriVox_disclaimer#Romanian

If you decide to go ahead and record them all as a separate project, then you will need to read and follow this post: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=13513 In this case, you would be managing the project yourself, including maintaining the Magic Window, recruiting a proof-listener etc., so it might be a good idea to start slowly with contributions to collections .

Ruth

[Carolin]

here are some poems that are surely in the public domain\

Eminescu, Mihai, 1850-1889

Poezii (Romanian) (as Author)

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35323

[debyfrim]

It will depend on whether you just want to read a few, or all of them .

A good first step would be to record one and submit it to the Multilingual Short Works Collection 013. Or I should be delighted to have Psalm 9 in the LibriVox 9th Anniversary Collection (where all the items include the word 'nine' in the title in any language ).

In either case, read the top post carefully to see the instructions. A Romanian disclaimer is available here, if required: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/LibriVox_disclaimer#Romanian

If you decide to go ahead and record them all as a separate project, then you will need to read and follow this post: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=13513 In this case, you would be managing the project yourself, including maintaining the Magic Window, recruiting a proof-listener etc., so it might be a good idea to start slowly with contributions to collections .

Ruth

Thank you so much! Great idea with the 9th Psalm! I will do that in the beginning of next week to make sure that everything is ok recording wise and then I will embark on the solo project reading all the Psalms!

Getting exciting!

[MaryAnnSpiegel]

Also... here is the link to the 1-minute test. If everything is ok I will start on other poems which I am sure are in the public domain. There is not much published in romanian on librivox so I am not worried about repetition.

https://librivox.org/uploads/tests/test_debyfrim.mp3

I think your 1 minute test may have gotten lost in this thread. May I ask that you post it in the Listeners Wanted forum? It will be seen there and commented on much more quickly than here.

MaryAnn

[RuthieG]

Oh, I didn't see that. Silly me. I have posted it in Listeners & Editors Wanted for Debbie and made my comments here: viewtopic.php?p=1015592#p1015592

Ruth