Hello, sorry to bother you. I’m an avid fanfic reader and i am bilingual. I’m wondering how fanfic writers feel about translations of their work (with permission obviously). Is it flattering? Is it something that you would want so more people can read your work? Or is it more neutral? Obviously you can’t speak for all writers, but i’m curious about your opinion and what you know of other’s opinions
I think, generally speaking, most writers including myself are okay with translations of their work as long as you ask permission first and give credit to the original author. They may also not want their work posted to another site, so as long as the translation is posted on the same site as the original work, you're good then too. To offer to translate something is normally seen as the highest compliment, as the idea someone loved their work so much they wanted to share it with more people - presumably in their native language - is a HUGE compliment. Of course, every writer has their own preferences, so may not like the idea for their own reasons - hence why you always need to ask permission and if they say no, respect that decision. But as long as you stick to those three unspoken rules (ask permission, give credit, don't post to another site), it's normally all good.
There's a lot of AI scraping and copying of original works to other sites happening right now, so writers can be nervous. I, myself, and several others I know, have locked down our fics on AO3 so only AO3 users can view them due to the AI shit. Just be polite and respectful to them and their fics, and you're golden. I'm sure there's plenty out there that would love to see fics translated, including myself! 👍
