I am an aspiring translator and hoping to go to university within the next two years. Part of going to university tends to include work experience in the section you wish to work in. Due to my location, it is near impossible for me to find work experience within a translation company, and as such, I would like to put some sort of translation 'portfolio' together, to show that I have put effort into ensuring this is the right path for me.
My question is, am I allowed to produce translations of different texts that are not in the Public Domain as part of the portfolio, providing I give credit to the original writers and link back to their site?
I understand that this can depend on the copyright licence on the website itself, but according to the law in general, am I restricted from producing translations of such works? Would the answer be the same if the site does not appear to display any copyright notice?