whereas
conjunction · Präambel
Präambel is where the recitals go, German contracts open with Vorbemerkung or Präambel and do not head their recitals with a conjunction. Wohingegen is what the machine writes, a mid-sentence contrast word, and a contract that begins WOHINGEGEN has translated the typography and lost the genre.
Which translation, when
Why
Whereas at the top of a recital is not a word, it is typography, a genre marker English drafting inherited and German drafting never had. German contracts open the same content under a heading, Präambel or Vorbemerkung, the considerations numbered and unmarked, and EU instruments run the parallel tradition as Erwägungsgründe. The hinge into the operative part has a fixed German formula too, now, therefore, the parties agree becomes dies vorausgeschickt, vereinbaren die Parteien, was folgt. As a mid-sentence conjunction whereas translates honestly, wohingegen, während, but promoted to a paragraph head the conjunction turns the opening of the contract into a debate transcript. The legal weight travels quietly alongside, recitals steer interpretation, §§ 133, 157 BGB, and create duties only where they are drafted as duties, so operative promises parked in the Präambel arrive weakened, whatever the marker in front of them said.
Typical mistakes
- WOHINGEGEN as a paragraph head is translated typography, German contracts head the block Präambel and drop the marker.
- Now therefore has a German formula, dies vorausgeschickt, vereinbaren die Parteien, was folgt, and the literal nun daher reads like a sermon.
- Recitals bind softly, they steer interpretation, §§ 133, 157 BGB, and create duties only if drafted as duties, so operative promises do not belong in the Präambel in either language.
What matters
Contract openings show the genre gap: five WHEREAS paragraphs become a numbered Präambel, and the hinge into the operative part is dies vorausgeschickt, vereinbaren die Parteien, was folgt. The machine’s WOHINGEGEN openers read like a debate club, and the German reader knows before clause 1 that no lawyer formatted the text.
What the machine misses
Whereas at the head of a recital defeats the engines by genre, the output writes WOHINGEGEN, a contrast conjunction promoted to a heading, and German contract architecture has no such animal, the recitals live under Präambel and the hinge reads dies vorausgeschickt. Five capitalised WOHINGEGEN blocks announce a machine more reliably than any watermark.
Examples
| whereas the parties wish to cooperate | die Parteien beabsichtigen zusammenzuarbeiten |
| the recitals | die Präambel |
| now, therefore, the parties agree | dies vorausgeschickt, vereinbaren die Parteien |
| whereas the seller argues | wohingegen der Verkäufer meint |