this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2025
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Official translation is "Human dignity shall be inviolable", but yeah, same thing.
https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_gg/englisch_gg.html#p0020
weird that the official translation uses shall be and not is. Because 'shall be' is a far weaker phrasing. If it 'is' inviolable than that is a spoken fact. Shall be is more of a guideline or ideal.
It's more accurate though. Because human dignity is violated.
Also, if it was unviolable there would be no point in making laws to protect it.
It's more accurate to real life, yes.
"Shall be inviolable" would translate to: Sollte unantastbar sein
Which is distinctly different from "Ist unantastbar"
So it's not the most accurate translation.
Yes, to real life, this is what I intended to mean, sorry.
I'm guessing, the translators just looked at typical English Legalese and emulated that style (even though the German text also uses the stronger "is"). For example, the US constitution is also written with "shall be": https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/
Ultimately, no matter how you formulate it, constitutions do still need to be upheld by people. Both, their continued existence, but also enforcement.
@Ephera @lenuup
Pretty sure shall is a requirement in legal terms. Juts like
"In this document, the following verbal forms are used:Β
β βshallβ indicates a requirement;Β "
https://www.iso.org/ISO-house-style.html