Any Latin learners interested in making a substantial contribution to the lesson library for Latin could probably make use of the following extensive collection of archived news segments (with transcripts) from Finland’s Nuntii Latini Latin radio program.
I would do so myself, but the files on my drive appear to be in the wrong format for the LingQ library…
What is wrong with the format of the files? I’ve downloaded some of them. They are 64 kbps or 128 kbps what is fine for the LingQ library as far as I know.
It would be great to have at least some of these files imported into the LingQ library together with the respective texts.
“Please correct the following errors:
Field “audio”: The audio sample rate must be either 11025, 22050 or 44100 Hz. The sample rate of the audio you uploaded was 48000.”
The archive with transcripts is no longer hosted on the Finnish website (Etusivu | Yle Areena – podcastit), but the episodes are typically provided as a podcast for free download, so it seems safe to assume that the risk of any takedown notices being issued or lawsuits being filed is nil.
@Alexandergiddings: If something is provided as a podcast for free download does not mean that you could share it on LingQ too. You have to study if there is a CC licence or another licence mentioned that give you permission, or you have to get permission from the provider. In Europe everything is protected by itself unless you share it under a CC licence.
What are the chances of any real legal pursuit actually taking place? A Finnish company’s pursuit of, let’s say, a New Zealander who posts some of their work on Lingq would be terribly complicated and expensive. Firstly, I’d suspect that they would contact HQ in Vancouver. If my understanding is correct, Lingq has no ownership or control over the content. Lingq would direct them to the user, and it might simply be difficult to get ahold of them. E-mail is possible, but not necessarily legally binding depending on country. I suspect that a lawyer would be way too expensive for any company that makes podcasts with free distribution. If it’s a state sponsered outfit, they probably have a very tight budget already.
Given how pointlessly convoluted and impossible to follow international copyright law has become, with criss-crossing networks of treaties and so forth complicating matters beyond the comprehension of mere mortals, I would not be surprised if half the material in the LingQ library turned out to be theoretically infringing in any case, the general intentions of both creators and distributors notwithstanding.