We have been asking for collaborative help translating our main work, A Grammar of Modern Indo-European, Second Edition, since its first edition in 2006. We have always offered our works for free, for everyone to be able to read them, and we want to maintain that policy.
Until now, no full translation has been made, probably because of the instability of our previous releases (versions 1 and 2 were considered alpha, version 3 and pre-version 4 were labeled beta). But today we have a stable work we would like to get translated, so that most Europeans are able to read it in their own languages.
For that reason, we want to offer a little compensation, to cover some of the costs of dedicating time to the project. It is indeed not the deserved payment for such a tough work, but it is free collaboration of our members and friends what we are looking for, trying to compensate them for their contributions in these times of financial crisis, which affect us all.
To date, we can afford paying 100€ for a translation of the first 339 pages of the grammar into German (Hochdeutsch, Germany), French (français standard, France), Spanish (español tradicional, España), or Italian (Standard Italian). According to the Spanish minimal wage for temporary jobs in 2009 (29,56€/day), such a payment would correspond roughly to three and 1/3 days of work, some 12 pages/hour or 100 pages/day.
The compensations will be paid with the earnings from Google Ads in the last year (120$), and then with private donations from our benefactor, Academia Biblos.
Taking into account that many words and tables need not be translated, a translation into the own mother tongue shouldn’t take more than a week of part-time work for someone who has previous knowledge of its content, or at least of linguistics, and proficiency in English.
Apart from the attribution of the translation work inside the book, other benefits can be further discussed, depending on the professionals involved – these include permanent links to the translator’s website, shared benefits of the sales through dnghu.org, etc. Given that a lot of people work for free projects without getting paid, these compensations should be seen as incentives more than actual payments.
Only one professional or team of professionals – of those who apply with enough credentials – will be accepted for each translation job (regarding this compensation, as everyone is free to change and redistribute the book) on a first-come, first-choice basis. You can read more about the profile we are looking for.
Your Indo-European team.