Law and Language in Action : Transformative Experiences Associated with Translating the Louisiana Civil Code into German

In the spring of 2017, I published my translation of the entire Louisiana Civil Code into German. The translation marks a milestone in comparative law and legal translation; for the first time in its history, the Louisiana Civil Code is available in German. This article discusses discoveries I made and insights I gained in the course of my translation project.A translation effort is generally bounded by two parameters—the source text and the target text. A translator is constantly en route between both. As the source text of my translation, the Louisiana Civil Code posed unique challenges. These resulted from the mixed law it houses and its own, at times conflicted, bilingual origins.Different, but equally challenging conditions surrounded the destination language of my translation because legal German exists in different varieties. In addition to the legal German of Germany, these include the legal Germany of Austria and the legal German of Switzerland.Both sets of challenges combined to require careful decision-making throughout the translation process. The most important project decision I had to take involved developing and deploying translation approaches that offered the best fits within the spectrum of source text and target text orientation. From my own nuanced posture of adaptive equivalency, I strived to find the plain legal German solution I deemed most faithful to the Louisiana Civil Code in substance, style and form.Ultimately, conducting the translation in solo work taught me how crucial it is to break down the obsolete silos between legal translation and comparative law. My article therefore advances an integrative and holistic posture vis-à-vis both disciplines: comparative law and legal translation go together. In the timeless words of Amsterdam jurist Isaac Kisch: “a good translator is a comparativist turned inside-out and a good comparativist is a translator turned outside-in.”