i think that’s pretty good…i meanif the translation wasn’t half bad and even Jo decided he shouldn’t be sued that must mean he was doing something good for the world…or i guess people that speak french??? He helped HP fans read what they were waiting 4 for so long…i mean if i were a person who could only speak French…(and i was a huge HP fan of course!)...i would have a hard time not wanting to translate Deathly Hallow for me!!! I mean it was a good thing he did!!!!

oops mistake…Maria again…i mean (i would have a hard time not wanting some person to translate Deathly Hallows for me)...sorry!!

some of you have interesting definitions of “wrong.”

John B, do you honestly think that if this kid was translating, say, a Dan Brown book illegally he would’ve been thrown into jail? I doubt it. The French authorities were in an anti-spoiler hysteria, and if JK Rowling doesn’t have a problem with letting the kid go free, why should we?

“Follow Up: Teen Not to Face Criminal Charges in Illegal French “Deathly Hallows” Translation Case”

As it well should be. If JKR doesn’t have a problem with it, neither should we. Like I said before, he only 16. He has his whole life ahead of him, no need to ruin it.

Jeez, John B, I reckon you’d be at home in the Fudge controlled Ministry of Magic. Your talk of the powers that be kind of creeped me out/ The law is the law, true, but sometimes it can be broken for the better. Harry himself has broken loads of laws over the years, and no ones screaming for him to be put in Azkaban. It’s not like he committed murder. This kid was driven by his love of the books, not for profit, which to me is a huge difference. I highly doubt the publisher will lose any business. He was arrested for what he did, I’m sure that’s enough for him to realise it was wrong and that he shouldn’t do it again, even if he wasn’t charged. And I, for one, am pleased that it didn’t go to court, because it’s obvious it all would have been a colossal waste of time, and it would have diverted resources away from those criminals that REALLY do need to be punished. Clogging up the system is what I call it…

Many of you are just so naive… If you didn’t speak English you’d get a ‘bootleg translation’ as millions of non-english speakers do. I don’t say it’s right, it’s definitely wrong; but, it’s obviously the publishers’ fault for not agreeing on a universal release of the HP book in at least the main spoken languages like Spanish, French, etc. apart from English. If they did a better job with timing and with the actual translations then this wouldn’t happen. I have heard about how fan-made translations are so much better than publisher-made ones for such a long time! El Cronista de Salem, a frequent poster around here, I’m sure would agree… ;) Hola Cronista! Saludos de un fan de HarryLatino! So anyways, take it from me, a fan of HP books who reads them in English, the legal way, but who knows of the language barrier first hand, let me tell you that it sucks to have to wait months and months for a translation knowing that the rest of the world knows what happened and only you are missing out ;)

sorry about the above text that has a line going through it :-S I was just trying to make some smilies and then that happened :O :) Like this :)

I’m glad for him. He only wanted to help his friends who couldn’t read it in english, and I perfectly understand that. I’m french, but I read the books in english since the fifth because I really can wait three months. And I can tell you that seeing my friends who are huge fans too, and who can’t read it in english, is awful. I totaly understand him, and even if he did something illegal, I can’t blame him. I just can blame him to being caught ! Because since the book was released in english, you can’t imagine how many illegal translations are circulating on the web, and of poor quality. But they are not sued by Gallimard, because their translations are of poor quality ! This kid is talented, and that’s why he was arrested I think. The official french translator is great, but just try to wait three months (for the final book !) and you can understand this boy ! I think that if it’s taking so long to translate it, it’s because of money. Think : how many french fans like me have been buying the english version because they couldn’t wait ? And how many of us or going to buy the french version too ? And this is the final book ! You can imagine how much money it represents. I admire him for his talent, and I’m glad they didn’t sue him. And I don’t think that the fans who read his translation are not going to buy the book in french because they already know the story. So Gallimard is safe!

its illegal…

lets congratulate him and be happy?

well, one point for gallimard and JK one that one.

if that had happens after book 6 is published, or if he had tried to make money, ok, he should have been sued. But there, no harm done, so…

Sometimes, sticking to the law is not the right way.

Good Lord!

Don’t sue him!

Hire him!

What an accomplishment. It should be rewarded, not punished. I wish this fellow well.

OMT

Why couldn’t all the international publishing houses all wait til everyone had completed the translating process before giving a release date? That way we wouldn’t have this problem, the book would be released at the same time everywhere (so no illegal copies like this) and no-one would be at risk of having it spoiled because they are being denied a copy in their language. I wish JK had forseen this and tried to rectify the situation before it arose and not just let everyone release it when they saw fit (obviously the English speaking countries having the upper hand), if she cared about fans waiting and potentially having it spoiled in the process she would have done. It’s her work in her name and she could have got some kind of legal process running where the other publishing houses waited til the others had all caught up. That would have been the fair thing to do. I think I’d even have accepted that and would have waited patiently (and I was so excited about the book). People were whinging enough about how long she was taking and yet now people are still having to wait and those who seemingly already have copies are saying this kid should be charged for trying to help them?! If it was the other way round there’d be a different story. I feel for the people who have yet to read this and hope their stupid publishing houses hurry up and provide them with this wonderful end to the series!!!

I think that JK is very cool!! The boy is very bright and I’m glad she did not want to sue! Way to go Jo!!

I don’t think they should have tried to go after money, but one is basically saying, “Well, because you were just trying to help your friends, it doesn’t matter that you violated the law.” There should be some sort of repercussions. Just because its a “nice thing to do” doesn’t mean its right. So now its the “cool” thing to do? Just because the publishers are pitifully slow with the translations, doesn’t make it right what this kid did—pretty simple.