hearing

noun · mündliche Verhandlung

Mündliche Verhandlung for the court hearing, der Termin for the date itself, Anhörung only where someone is being heard rather than the case being tried, § 28 VwVfG, Art. 103 GG. The machine’s Anhörung moves the lawsuit into an administrative corridor.

Which translation, when

mündliche Verhandlungthe civil hearing, § 128 Abs. 1 ZPO with orality as the governing principle, the date itself der Termin, anberaumt, verlegt, aufgehoben. The courtroom default, in arbitration too, § 1047 ZPO.

Anhörungbeing heard rather than trying the case, the administrative hearing of § 28 VwVfG, the constitutional Gehör of Art. 103 Abs. 1 GG, the family court’s Kindesanhörung. Real homes, none of them the civil trial date.

Why

German procedure splits what English calls a hearing into the event and the principle. The event in civil litigation is die mündliche Verhandlung, § 128 Abs. 1 ZPO, orality as the rule, and the diary word is der Termin, which is anberaumt, verlegt or aufgehoben, never angehört. Arbitration borrows the same vocabulary, § 1047 ZPO. The principle is rechtliches Gehör, Art. 103 Abs. 1 GG, and its everyday siblings live where a person rather than a case is heard, the Anhörung before an adverse administrative act, § 28 VwVfG, the Kindesanhörung of family courts. One German fixture has no English shadow at all, the Güteverhandlung, § 278 Abs. 2 ZPO puts a conciliation attempt before the contested hearing in the normal case, hopeless cases excepted, so the first date in a German diary is usually not yet the fight. The verbs sort themselves by object, the case is verhandelt, the person angehört, and a translation that files the lawsuit under Anhörung has moved it into the administrative corridor, where the German reader will look for an authority instead of an opponent.

Typical mistakes

Anhörung for the civil trial date sends the dispute down the administrative corridor, the courtroom words are mündliche Verhandlung and Termin.
Die Güteverhandlung comes first and surprises, § 278 Abs. 2 ZPO places a conciliation attempt before the contested hearing in the normal case, hopeless cases excepted, so the first listed date is usually not the trial the English reader expects.
Hearing verbs translate by object, the case is verhandelt, the child or party angehört, and das Gericht hörte den Fall reads translated, German says das Gericht verhandelte die Sache.

What matters

Litigation timetables translate by institution: the first hearing is listed reads der erste Termin ist anberaumt, and German procedure opens it with the Güteverhandlung, § 278 Abs. 2 ZPO, before any contested verhandeln begins. The diary entry Anhörung would tell the German lawyer to expect an authority, not an opponent.

Authority

§ 128 Abs. 1 ZPO
§ 278 Abs. 2 ZPO
§ 1047 Abs. 1 ZPO
§ 28 VwVfG
Art. 103 Abs. 1 GG

What the machine misses

Hearing drifts to Anhörung in machine output, administrative vocabulary in a litigation diary, and the civil courtroom runs on other words, die mündliche Verhandlung, der Termin. The German reader of the Anhörung version starts looking for the authority conducting proceedings, and the mandatory Güteverhandlung that actually opens a German case never makes it into the translated timetable at all.

Examples

the hearing is scheduled for	der Termin ist anberaumt auf
oral hearing	die mündliche Verhandlung
right to be heard	der Anspruch auf rechtliches Gehör
preliminary hearing	die Güteverhandlung