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I never knew such beautiful words could exist in German (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/canvas@toast.ooo
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Joking, of course! What an exceptionally noble and admirable way to begin drafting a constitution.

🇩🇪 ♥ 🇲🇽

Translation"Human dignity is inviolable. Article 1 of the Basic Law (GG)"

"Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar" is the first sentence of Article 1 of the German Basic Law (Grundgesetz, GG).

Disclosure: Alt text & translation were AI-generated.

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[–] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    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.

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