Translation in the EU: Language and Law in the EU's Judicial Labyrinth
| Published date | 01 June 2013 |
| Date | 01 June 2013 |
| Author | Martina Künnecke |
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X1302000206 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
20 MJ 2 (2013) 243
TRANSLATION IN THE EU: LANGUAGE AND
LAW IN THE EU’S JUDICIAL LABYRINTH*
M K**
ABSTRACT
e decline, even the ‘end’, of comparative law in the 21st century has recently been
predicted.1 However, this statement overlooks the vital and continuing role of comparative
law in the complex task of legal transl ation in an expanding EU.
To ensure the protection of language rights and transparency, the Court of Justice of
the European Union requires translations of national and EU law on a daily basis. e
complex task of the translation of law in the Court is carried out by highly quali ed
Lawyer-Linguists, ex perts in law and language, who enter the service through r igorous
selection processes.2
e methodology employed by these specialists, however, remains to a large extent
a ‘black box’ and traditional tenets of legal translation theory appear to be of limited
application.3 is ar ticle aims to shed light on this black box with a focus on the rarely
discussed use of comparative law in the translation process in the Court, in particular in
preliminary ruling procedures.4
* e methodolog y applied for the res earch of this a rticle involved t wo interviews w ith transl ators
and sta in the EU Parliament concer ned with the quality of legal d ra ing (2), ve interviews with
translators i n the DG Translation of the EU Commi ssion (3) and six interviews with l awyer-linguists
in the Engli sh Language Translation Unit and ot her sta concerned with term inological research in
the Court of Just ice of the European Un ion (4). e y were c onduc ted be twee n Novem ber 2 009 a nd Jun e
2012. e interviewee s wish to remain anony mous and all errors a re the author’s.
** Dr Marti na Künnecke is a Lect urer in Comparative L aw at the University of Hull.
1 M.M. Siems, ‘ e End of Compa rative Law’, 2 e Journal of Comparat ive Law 2 (2007), p.133.
2 E. Wagner, S. Bech and J.M. M artinez , Translating for the European Uni on Institutions (S t. Jer ome
Publishing , Manchester 2002), p.29–42.
3 A.L. Kjaer, ‘Überleg ungen zum Verhältn is von Sprache und Recht bei d er Übersetz ung von Rechtstex ten
der Europäische n Union’, in P. Sandrini, Übersetzen von Rechtstexten, Fachkommunikation im
Spannungsfeld von R echt und Sprache (Narr, Tübingen 199 9), p.63–79.
4 As mentioned in footnote *, par ts of this paper are based on semi-st ructured interviews ca rried out
between 200 9–2012 with former lawyer-ling uists in the Cour t of Justice of the EU, sta translators in
the DG Translation of t he European Commis sion, as well as sta in the Le gislative Qualit y Unit atthe
European Parliament .
Martina Künnecke
244 20 MJ 2 (2013)
Keywords: lawyer-linguists; comparative law; Court of Justice of the Europea n Union;
legal translation; tr anslation theory
§1. IN T RODUCT ION
Much has been written about the cha llenges of legal translation and its pitfa lls in general,
in particu lar the problems of equivalence a nd congruency.5 It has been argued that
translators at supranational institutions function without any theoretical analysis at
present, and it has been observed that ‘each inst itution has its own usual ly unwritten
guidelines for translators’.6 e search for a theoretical account of what is happening
at the interface between di erent legal systems a nd languages in t he translation of EU
law judgments leads into the eld of applied comparative law.7 It soon becomes evident
that the analysis of the legal translation experience in the EU is spread across di erent
disciplines: comparat ive law, European Union law and Translation Studies.
Legal tran slation has been described as the pract ical application of both ling uistic and
legal knowledge .8 Interdisciplinar y research into both tra nslation theory and comparat ive
methodology in t he eld of legal translat ion is therefore a logical consequence for the
analysis of the problems encountered. However, only a handful of chapters in more
recently published Engli sh works on comparative law are devoted to the question of legal
translation.9 In the French10 and German11 languages, larger research into these themes
has been carried out. e eld of Legal Ling uistics is an emerging subject and it has b een
argued that cooperation across those disciplines that take an interest in the workings of
language in law doe s not occur. eoretica l and methodological approaches are o en so
specialized that scholars tend not even to know each other.12 Bridging inst itutional and
5 S. Šarčević, New Approach to Legal Translati on (2nd edition, K luwer Law Internationa l, e Hague
2000).
6 Ibid., p.21–22.
7 S. Wright, ‘From Academ ic Comparative Law to L egal Translat ion in Practic e’, www.uni-kas sel.
de/~dippel/justit ia/proc/08%20Wright,%20 Translation.pdf ( last visite d 13May 2 013); K. McAuli e,
‘Language s and the Institutional D ynamics of the Court of Just ice of the European Communit ies: A
Changing Role for L awyer-Linguists?’, in M. Gueld ry, Languages Mean Business ( e Edwin Mellen
Press, Lewiston 2009).
8 S. Pommers, Rechtsübersetzung und Rechtsvergleichung (Peter Lang, Frank furt 2006), p.153.
9 C. Grossman, ‘C omparative Law a nd Language’, in R . Reimann a nd M. Zimmerm ann, e Oxford
Handbook of Comparative L aw (Oxford University Pres s, Oxford 200 8), Chapter 20; A.L. Kja er,
‘A Common Legal Language in Europe’, in M. van Hoecke (ed.), Epistemology and Meth odology of
Comparative Law (Har t Publishing, Cheltenha m 2004), p.377; G.-R. de Groot, ‘Legal Tran slation’, in
J.M Smits, Elgar Enc yclopaedia of Law (Edwa rd Elgar Publishin g, Cheltenham 200 6), p.423.
10 M. Cornu and M. Moreau , Traduction du Droit et Droit du la Traduction (Dal lo z, P ari s 20 11); S . Gla ne rt,
De la traductib ilité de Droit (Dalloz, Pa ris 2011).
11 S. Pommers, Rechtsübersetzung und Rechtsvergleichung; P. Sandrini, Übersetzen von Rechtstexten –
Fachkommunik ation im Spannungsfeld zw ischen Rechtsordnung und Sprache.
12 Legal Lingui stics Network Reline, ht tp://jura.ku.dk /reline/about/ (last visit ed 13May 2013).
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