Spanish Specs

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Author Message Brett Wilbur (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - 11:32 am:    Has anyone ever come across a guide spec program for Spanish language? John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1423 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Thursday, July 26, 2012 - 03:49 pm:    I have not seen one, but haven't really looked. You probably need to be country-specific since construction practices in each Spanish-speaking country are probably different, both from a technical standpoint, and from project delivery standpoint. Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 830 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Saturday, July 28, 2012 - 02:47 pm:    Brett, not sure what you mean by Guide Spec Program, we have had our specs translated into Spanish, as we have a client with an office in Cental America, can you explain further what you need? ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 314 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2012 - 10:36 am:    The USG Handbook is available in Spanish. There's a guide spec from Spex.CA written in Canadian. I've asked for the Canadian Rosetta Stone in an effort to understand it, but it still seems like gibberish to me. Wayne Yancey Senior Member Username: wayne_yancey Post Number: 531 Registered: 01-2008 Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2012 - 10:40 am:    Ken, Hoser eh! The EH TEAM Karen L. Zaterman, CCS, LEED-AP, SCIP Senior Member Username: kittiz Post Number: 93 Registered: 10-2005 Posted on Friday, August 03, 2012 - 09:17 pm:    Uh-oh... the return of the Canadiense jokes ;) No guide specs in Spanish that I have seen. We usually write the specs in English then translate. Karen L. Zaterman, CSI, CCS, SCIP-Affil, LEED AP BD+C Moffatt & Nichol - Long Beach, CA Scott Mize Senior Member Username: scott_mize_ccs_csi Post Number: 59 Registered: 02-2009 Posted on Friday, August 24, 2012 - 12:39 pm:    Has anyone inquired of the Puerto Rico chapter of CSI? phil@specguy.com (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Friday, August 24, 2012 - 08:42 pm:    Hopefully our Puerto Rican colleagues will jump in. The Puerto Rican architects practice in English. However, the non-professional tier of the industry functions in Spanish. Not much different from the U.S. They point out that Spanish differs greatly from San Juan to Mexico City to Panama to La Paz to Buenos Aires, as does the industry. So no single "Spanish" specification will serve the industry. A challenge. G. Wade Bevier, CCS, LEED-AP BD+C, CSI, SCIPa, USGBC Senior Member Username: wbevier Post Number: 35 Registered: 07-2004 Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - 04:04 pm:    Phil's comment has been my key stumbling block to the idea of a Spanish version of any Construction Documents. There are many versions of the language and at the local level the idioms and nuances get even more complex. All the documents are written instructions to the Contractor and by default the language where the project is being built will have to be the governing point for any translation that might be attempted. Getting a basic translation would go a long way towards solving this issue and then the special local language issues can be determined and addressed on a case by case basis. I wonder if they have the same problem with Chinese construction documentation? John Regener, AIA, CCS, CCCA, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: john_regener Post Number: 573 Registered: 04-2002 Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - 06:34 pm:    I recall discussing with a CSI "patriarch" the issue of construction specifications in Spanish. He lived and worked in South Florida. A core issue, he told me, is not transliteration from English to Spanish but the style of language. We are taught to write in the imperative mood and to use the indicative mood only when necessary. In Spanish, I was informed, it is just the opposite. The direct approach of the imperative mood is considered rude ... effective but unpleasant. Someone conversant in Spanish and construction practices in Mexico and Latin America should offer more authoritative commentary. But even with transliteration there are problems, even humorous. I found this example of transliterated text into English, from a brochure of a car rental firm in Tokyo: "When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor." John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1439 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Tuesday, September 11, 2012 - 02:48 pm:    I'm not fluent in Spanish, but I have been studying it for a number of years. I've had instructors from many countries, and occasionally have studied the differences between Spanish-speaking countries. I don't think that the language differences would be a problem in specifications for a couple of reasons. The brevity of specs, for one thing, leaves out a lot of the nuances of spoken speech; but mainly because the differences are mostly in slang terms, common speech, or particular areas which are easy to be aware of. Precise technical construction terms probably don't vary much, and would in any case likely to be understood. However, how things are built may be different, especially between regions that are distant from one another. Now a native Spanish speaker can correct my post. Steven Bruneel, AIA, CSI-CDT, LEED-AP, EDAC Senior Member Username: redseca2 Post Number: 369 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Tuesday, September 11, 2012 - 04:33 pm:    I am not a native speaker, but I do agree with John. I would go farther and say that you should stick with Mexican spanish because it is the language of a vast percentage of popular media (TV, films, music) throughout the spanish speaking western hemisphere and beyond. In the same fashion, Arabic as spoken on the evening news in Cairo will get you through the middle east.