Abstract
Terminological uncertainty is one of the main sources of misunderstandings and differing interpretations in institutional communication, especially in countries or regions with more than one official language. In South Tyrol, Italy, three languages, Italian, German and Ladin, are used in everyday life. This multilingual situation is enshrined in the Statute of Autonomy of 1972 and requests the public administration to communicate effectively and comprehensibly in those languages. Therefore, linguistic awareness needs to be raised, particularly among actors involved in the drafting and translation process. In this respect, the ConsTerm project – focused on the collaboration between the Institute for Applied Linguistics of Eurac Research and the Office for Language Issues of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – plays an important role. Against the background of the legal and linguistic situation in South Tyrol, this article describes the path which led to the realisation of this project.