I would like to seek your guidance, brother, regarding the translation of English hymns into another language.<\/p>\n
Here in the local congregation where I belong, we are working on a project to create a new hymnal (words only) where the text is in a local dialect. All of my work (written or translated) are from public-domain hymns. An evangelist (a former pulpit preacher) came to visit us.\u00a0 He also has a passion for the translation of hymns. He showed me his translations of some English hymns and some copyrighted church songs. I also showed him mine, which I didn’t plan to include in my work but were done for my personal use only. Examples of these songs are “Because He Lives,” “In Christ Alone,” “Bless the Lord,” “Give Thanks,” “Highly Exalted” and “When I Go Home.”<\/p>\n
I would like to know, brother, if we can also print in our own dialect these new songs that are still copyrighted since we are singing them without musical instruments and without notes in the pages of our songbook. Would this kind of arrangement be acceptable and not illegal for us to use, considering that we won’t be selling the work?<\/p>\n
Please guide us regarding these things, brother, as we want to sing praises to God without any worries that what we are singing is illegal in the eyes of men.<\/p>\n
Thank you so much. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.<\/p>\n\t
I am not an expert on international copyright laws, so I can only share with you what I understand, but my understanding may not align with what a court would decide.<\/p>\n
There are two parts to a hymn: the lyrics or words and the music.\u00a0 Each is given a copyright that covers all forms of reproduction and distribution. This includes printed copies, recordings, and even singing in a congregation. A translation of the lyrics of a song is considered a derivative work and, thus, the original author still controls the use.<\/p>\n
One way to obtain permission is to contact the author or the current copyright holder. Michael Eldridge and Charli Couchman are still alive. Matthew Bassford died in 2023, but I believe his widow manages his copyrights. You can ask them for permission to translate their songs and state how you plan to use them. Some may ask for a small fee, depending on how you plan to use the songs. You can then decide if it is worth the cost.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I would like to seek your guidance, brother, regarding the translation of English hymns into another language. Here in the local congregation where I belong, we are working on a project to create a new hymnal (words only) where the text is in a local dialect. All of my work (written or translated) are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1237,520,521],"class_list":["post-56695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-copyright","tag-music","tag-songs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34759,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/review-of-songs-for-worship-and-praise\/","url_meta":{"origin":56695,"position":0},"title":"Review of Songs for Worship and Praise","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker The newest general hymnbook published for use among churches of Christ is\u00a0Songs for Worship and Praise, edited by Robert J. Taylor Jr., and published in 2010 by Taylor Publications of Montgomery, TX.\u00a0 Brother Taylor has been active in church music for many years.\u00a0 I believe that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/SongsForWorshipAndPraise-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":86059,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/psalms-hymns-and-spiritual-songs\/","url_meta":{"origin":56695,"position":1},"title":"Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 15 No. 1, January 2015 We know from the New Testament and can infer from later writings of church leaders that Christians of the first century did sing in their worship, but we do not know precisely what songs they sang or exactly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84737,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/songs-of-the-saints-barton-w-stone-and-alexander-campbell\/","url_meta":{"origin":56695,"position":2},"title":"Songs of the Saints: Barton W. Stone and Alexander Campbell","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker Anyone who has studied and is familiar with the history of the call for religious reformation and restoration in the early 1800s of this nation will certainly recognize these two names. Barton Warren Stone was born on December 24, 1772, near Port Tobacco in Charles County,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59338,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-review-of-the-hymnbooks\/","url_meta":{"origin":56695,"position":3},"title":"A Review of the Hymnbooks","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker Originally published in Torch, October 1988 Please understand that my review is of necessity going to be biased by my own view of what constitutes a good hymn selection. With that in mind, I shall begin by saying that I grew up using the old \"brown\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34754,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-review-of-psalms-hymns-and-spiritual-songs\/","url_meta":{"origin":56695,"position":4},"title":"A Review of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne Walker A new hymnbook has been published this year.\u00a0 It is intended primarily for use in Churches of Christ but could be used by anyone, primarily those who still prefer shaped notes.\u00a0 The book is of particular importance to me because I am listed among the Editorial Review\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Psalms-Hymns-and-Spiritual-Songs-Hymnal-221x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":50030,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-get-a-hold-of-hymns-written-by-members-of-the-churches-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":56695,"position":5},"title":"How do I get a hold of hymns written by members of the churches of Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you know of any way to get a hold of a collection of hymns written by members of the churches of Christ? I very recently joined the church and have been wondering why we sing songs that were written by unsaved people? I actually love these old hymns\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}