Translation of Legal Texts: Three English Versions of the Swiss Federal Statute on Private International Law

Working with translated legal materials can be frustrating and treacherous. Lawyers who are regularly forced to do this soon realize their limitations and end up wishing they had taken the trouble to study the original language. They also appreciate the difficulties confronting the translator. Mastery of the languages involved is necessary, but not sufficient, particularly where the user of a translation expects a literal translation, the legal systems of the starting languages and target language differ fundamentally and the subject matter is highly abstract.