Terms and conditions

TED Translations welcome volunteers willing to abide by these terms and conditions:

  • Anyone who is fluently bilingual, and committed to accurately and artfully translating talks can join the project as a translator. We expect translators to collaborate with each other, follow TED’s style guidelines and, of course, uphold the meaning and intent of the speaker.

  • We encourage you to share subtitled talks by linking to TED.com, using our embeddable player, downloading from TED.com, or screening them at TEDx events. You can also download your translation for use in a different video format. In all uses, you must respect TED’s Creative Commons licensing: You must run talks in their entirety, and you cannot commercialize them in any way.

  • We don’t pay translators, but we place great emphasis on crediting. Your name — and a link to your TED profile — will appear on the TED.com talk page of every translation you work on. You will also have a special page for translation credits on your TED.com profile.

  • All transcripts and translations are covered by TED's Creative Commons 3.0 license. Translators are free to share their translations so long as they conform to the Creative Commons 3.0 terms: attribute the talk; noncommercial use only; and no derivative works. TED retains the copyright to all talks, transcripts and translations, in order to maintain the integrity of the presentation, and conform to our legal arrangement with speakers.

  • TED is seeking to foster a grown-up conversation about ideas that matter. When conversing with other translators or members, please engage in a reasoned exchange of ideas, avoiding name-calling, obscenities and insults. Humor, of course, is welcome.

  • Please respect the privacy and wishes of other translators and members. Do not pester them, game them or spam them in any way.

  • Please respect the law. Do not attempt to engage in illegal behavior of any sort. If you observe another translator behaving inappropriately, please contact us.

  • TED reserves the right to remove any translations, comments or content from the site, for any reason and without prior warning.

  • If you violate these terms, or otherwise act disrespectfully, disruptively or illegally on TED.com, we reserve the right to terminate your membership and translator status, at any time, and without prior warning.

  • Please help spread TED.