CC0 translation guide

Here are some general issues and things to watch for as you are preparing translations of CC0.

General Issues

As with all license translations: check that all substantive clauses are included, cross-references correct, headings correct and aligned with the source version, spelling and grammar correct.

Heading: "CC0 1.0 Universal"

Check the connecting words in the document: "and" and "or" in English should line up with words with corresponding meaning in the translation.

All translations must include the disclaimer as listed on the translation policy page. The disclaimer stating that the document is an official translation should be clear that it is an official language translation, not simply for a single jurisdiction. This may require additional words to clarify. (For example, if English were a translated version, it would be the "Official English-language translation", rather than the "Official English translation", which might imply that it was specific to England.)

In paragraphs 2 and 3, subsections i-iv should use the same wording in each place where the English text is also identical, unless there is a particular reason for them to be different.

The English version states that CC0 is "associated with" or "applied to" the work. Translations should choose words that convey that this is being done by an Affirmer who has authority to apply CC0 to the work.

Key Words

These words are most important to determining the meaning of the document. Please let us know if you have any questions around how to translate these words (particularly if there is not an exact translation, if the English meaning is not clear to you, or if the difference between the key word and other similar terms is not clear to you).

• "Copyright and Related Rights"
• "Work"
• "Affirmer"
• "License"
• "Waiver"

"Statement of Purpose": this should be referred to as a proper name everywhere in the document, with the same wording that is used in the first section heading. It must be clear that references elsewhere in the text mean the "Statement of Purpose" section of the document, not simply any statement of purpose.

Creating the files

To create the HTML files, we recommend using the English legal code pages as templates for your own. You can download the HTML for each license by going to File -> Save Page as… and then select “Webpage, HTML only”, or whatever equivalent there is for your browser. In a text editor or HTML editor, open each file you have saved. Copy and paste your appropriate license text over the previous text, being careful not to copy over the existing HTML tags. Check and re-check the code to ensure that there are no mistakes. Then save each file separately according to the following convention:

[license-code]_[language code].html

Example (Dutch):

   cc0_nl.html

Please ensure that all the XHTML files are saved using UTF-8 encoding, which generally will be the default. Once you have completed the above steps and relevant processes in the legal code translation policy, please send the XHTML file to legal@creativecommons.org along with your report of drafting issues you encountered.