Language Diversity and the Future of European Private Law, or: Why “the Language of Europe is Translation”

The process of European legal integration and the construction of harmonised law calls for a careful reflection on language and – in particular – on legal language. On the one hand, this reflection cannot avoid investigating the value aspects related to linguistic diversity, which is guaranteed by the founding texts of the European Union. On the other hand, it necessarily implies becoming aware of several technical issues relating to legal translation in a multilingual context.