Vol. 14 (2025)
Language and Law

Special Issues

Is Artificial Intelligence Capable of Validating Language Policy Choices in the Translation of EU Legislation?

Published 02.05.2025

  • Réka Somssich

Abstract

It is now commonplace that one of the professions seriously threatened to be taken over by the AI is that of the translators. Increasingly professionalised AI-based translation tools have, if not yet displaced translation, already transformed it. Translators are now more involved in post-editing work, i.e. checking the adequacy of the text translated by the AI for content and terminological consistency. This is no different in today's biggest translation hub, the European Union. But using AI-based translation tools also means that the primary linguistic decisions, including the choice of terms, would be made by the tool and not by the translator. However, this feature can pose significant challenges for EU law. On the one hand, because of the autonomy of EU law, new terms are still emerging and need to be properly reflected in the official languages, and on the other hand, in fast-developing fields, legislation is often adopted at EU level before it is drafted at national level, and the terms used in the European acts are therefore first settled there. Given that the language versions of EU law are official and authentic, the wording and terminology of the EU instruments automatically become part of that national language, so language choices of this kind are also language policy and language development choices taken at EU level but with serious national implications. The question is to what extent AI can help in making these choices.

Cite as: Somssich, JLL 14 (2025), 99–119, DOI: 10.14762/jll.2025.099

Keywords

European language policy, national language policy, loanwords, adaptation of words, drafting language, neural translation tool

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