6 October, 2017 / It's good to know, Traducierto recommends / No Comments »

What holiday is the 12th of October in Spain?

Anyone who had lived in Spain long enough to become familiar with local customs knows that the 12th of October is an important public holiday. Its official name is National Day of Spain, although if you ask your Spanish friends, they might seriously confuse you with different names for this holiday, starting from Our Lady of Pilar Day (Fiestas de Pilar) to Columbus Day. Don’t be surprised to stumble across other semi-official names such as:

Day of the Spanish Race (Día de la Raza),
Motherland Day (Día de la Madre Patria),
Our Lady of Pilar Day (Día del Pilar),
Discovery Day (Día del Descubrimiento),
Columbus Day (Día de Colón),
National Day of Spain (Día Nacional de España) or
Hispanic Day (Fiesta de la Hispanidad).

So, what do Spaniards – and not only Spaniards – celebrate on the 12th of October?

13 March, 2017 / Terrific Tenerife, Traducierto recommends / No Comments »

How to transfer a car title to your name in Tenerife

Any long-term Tenerife resident at least once in his lifetime comes around to buying a car. If you buy a new car, usually a showroom or a car dealer takes care of all the paperwork, including issuing a vehicle registration certificate in the buyer’s name. But what happens when you buy a second-hand car? If you don’t speak fluent Spanish, it may pose a serious problem or at least become an extra cost, since specialised agencies charge between 60 and 200 euros to change the car’s documents into the new owner’s name. But your Spanish interpreter in Tenerife is here to help you with this quick guide as to how to do it yourself and save a few quid in the process.
So, you’ve chosen your dream car and agreed on the price. The first and most important step is to prepare a private purchase agreement. A standard template is available for download here.
The agreement must contain the basic information about the parties entering into the agreement and the car that is the subject of purchase, as follows:

– full names of buyer and seller;
– their respective ID numbers;
– the vehicle brand and model;
– chassis number (número de bastidor);
– its registration plate number (matrícula) and
– the agreed sale price.

Apart from purchase agreement the Traffic Office will require a change of car title notification form duly signed by both parties (it can be downloaded here). If the seller is open to negotiations and prepared to adjust the price a little bit, it’s worth comparing the final sale price with the estimated value of second-hand vehicles, because the property transfer tax calculations are based on the following values: if the estimated value of a particular brand and model is higher than the price stated in the agreement, the tax calculation will be based on the value from the tax authorities spreadsheet, however, if the agreed price is higher than the estimated value, then the tax will be calculated based on the purchase price. The corresponding spreadsheet is published annually by the Spanish tax authorities (you can find this year’s values here. If you can’t find your car model in the list, you can always call 012, the local general information number, and they will tell you the exact amount of property transfer tax.

Every vehicle circulating on Spanish roads needs to carry a registration certificate & a copy of MOT test card

The property transfer tax is called Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales, it amounts to 5,5% from the car purchase price. The payment form is called Modelo 620, you can obtain it from your nearest tax office and pay in any bank branch, or it can be paid online (provided you have a Spanish digital ID certificate that enables you to operate in the digital segment of Spanish Hacienda website), but, since you will have to visit the Central Traffic office in Santa Cruz for the final step of the procedure, I recommend settling the matter of the property transfer tax in the central tax office in Santa Cruz, situated at Avenida Tres de Mayo, 2.

You will need to bring a purchase agreement signed by both parties, pay the amount of tax resulting from the car’s estimated value, and after that, you can continue to the last step of the procedure – get the new car documents in your name in the Traffic Office. It’s situated at the following address: calle Heliodoro Rodríguez López, 34, 38005 Santa Cruz de Tenerife. It’s recommended to arrange a prior appointment on the following link. If you get a prior appointment for 11 or 12 o’clock and hit the tax office early in the morning the same day, say, at 9 o’clock, you’ll be able to do everything in one day. Please remember to bring the following documents:

– A duly signed and stamped form 620.
– An original and a copy of a purchase agreement.
– An original of the car’s registration certificate (Permiso de circulación).
– A copy of the car’s MOT test card (Ficha técnica del vehículo).
– A copy of seller’s ID documents and an original (or a certified copy) of buyer’s ID.

You have up to one month from the date stated in the purchase agreement to change the car documents to your name. The new car registration certificate (permiso de circulación) is issued the same day when you apply for it.
Hopefully, I’ve not missed out anything important in this brief guide, but if you still have any questions, feel free to ask me. And please share this article with your friends – maybe it’s something they need to know 🙂

21 February, 2017 / Terrific Tenerife, Traducierto recommends, Translation for tourism / No Comments »

So, what is a guachinche?

The best part of a translator’s job, in my opinion, is the unique opportunity to shorten the cultural and linguistic distances and bring people closer together. That’s why in my spare time I try whenever possible to contribute to Wikipedia – an awesome project that makes knowledge widely available to anyone. I’ve written this article for Wiki after a thorough study of legal documents, media archives and endless talks with local residents and winegrowers about guachinche – a unique cultural phenomenon of the Canary Islands, – and today I would like to share it with my readers as well.

Guachinche is a typical Canary Island establishment, more widely spread on the island of Tenerife and to a lesser extent in Gran Canaria, where a locally produced wine (is served) can be tasted accompanied by homemade traditional food.

History

The origins of guachinches lie in the wine-tasting parties that the local wine growers organized at certain dates of the year to sell their products (in particular the famous malvasia wine) directly to the British buyers and later to the local consumers, to avoid having to deal with intermediaries.

The guachinches are usually situated next to important wine regions of the Island of Tenerife: especially in the northern municipalities, such as Tacoronte, El Sauzal, Tegueste, La Matanza de Acentejo, La Victoria de Acentejo, Santa Úrsula, La Orotava and Los Realejos. A few of them can also be found in the Güímar Valley (that is in Arafo, Candelaria and Güímar municipalities).

Etymology

The word “bochinche”, mainly used in Gran Canaria, and its variant “guachinche”, more typical of Tenerife, is used in the Canarian dialect of Spanish to refer to a popular establishment where local wine and typical foods are served. According to the historical-etymological dictionary of Canarian dialect, by Marcial Morera, it derived from the Latin American Spanish word “bochinche” (derived from “buche” – “sip, gulp”), which means ‘a poor tavern’. The other version claims that the word “guachinche” comes from the English expression “I’m watching you!”, apparently used by the British buyers to indicate that they were ready to try the local products and the Canarian farmers understood the phrase as “Is there a guachinche?”, that is if there was a party nearby (or a stand or shop) set up to taste the wine before finally making the purchase. guachinche-tenerife

Features

Long before the Canarian wines received their first Appellation of Origin (this was the region of Tacoronte-Acentejo), the guachinches were mounted in a room or a garage in the family house, where the wife of the winemaker offered some tapas made in the family kitchen to accompany the home-made wine.

The guachinche’s clients don’t look for an exquisite service or commodities, they value above all the unique local wines and a familiar and traditional cuisine: rich homemade stews, such as chickpeas with smoked meats (garbanzas), rabbit in spicy salmorejo sause, pork ribs with potatoes and corn on the cob, stuffed aubergines (bubangos), potatoes with mojo sause, carne fiesta (fried marinated pork and potatoes), carne de cabra (goat’s meat), churros de pescado (local battered fish), etc. For dessert you can taste the baked milk flan or a typical local dessert called bienmesabe, or you can also enjoy the locally grown fruits like mango, bananas, etc.

In essence, the guachinches have emerged as an offshoot of wine production activity, and not as proper restaurants or food establishments. For this reason, they have never been regulated and guachinche owners didn’t pay any taxes for this activity, although over the time many winemakers and their families became restaurateurs on a professional basis. So with the time along with legal guachinches plenty of clandestine establishments started to appear which served cheap wine from Latin America as their own and actually functioned as restaurants but without the obligations to comply with the fiscal and health requirements applicable to restaurants.

In recent years, legal restaurants and bars have complained heavily about the unfair competition from guachinches, since those attracted customers by ridiculously low prices and a wide range of dishes on the menu. So in 2013, the Canarian government has issued a decree 83/2013 regulating the guachinche activity as a complementary tourist activity aimed at a preservation of local traditions and the natural rural environment and introducing a number of rules that limit the food and beverages that can be served at a guachinche and define its operating conditions. These rules include, but are not limited to, the following:

The wine to be marketed must come from vineyards belonging to or exploited by the person who runs the activity and must be of own production; the winery must be duly registered in the Register of Agrarian Industries and in the Register of wine producers.
The person who runs the activity must accredit the origin of the wine through the harvest and production declarations that must be presented in accordance with European regulations.
The personnel of the establishment must be certified for sanitary food manipulation training according to the applicable specific regulations.
The wine marketed in the establishment must meet the safety and quality characteristics of this type of product according to the applicable legislation.
The opening period of the establishment must not exceed four months a year; in any case, ceasing the activity from the moment the home-grown wine is depleted.
A maximum of three different culinary dishes can be offered and served, as well as pickles, nuts and fruit grown by the owner of the activity or produced in the area. The food must be made mainly with ingredients also grown or produced by the owner of the activity or with local products or rooted in the local culinary tradition. The supply of beverages shall be limited to home-grown wine and water.
The owner must inform customers of the prices of products offered through a listing placed in the exterior and interior of the establishment and invoice the services in accordance with the prices of that listing.
The owner must inform customers of the opening period of the establishment and of the days and hours of operation, by placing an information poster at the entrance.
The owner must display the distinctive plaque at the entrance (in the photo).

Curiosities

Traditional guachinche opening day is the day of St. Andres, 30^th of November, otherwise called the young wine festival. The wine of the new harvest is traditionally served with roasted chestnuts, maturing at the same time, and grilled sardines. Most guachinches open on that day and close when all their wine is sold out. For this reason, a guachinche season normally lasts from late autumn till early spring, as with the onset of summer they would have either run out of wine or would be obliged to comply with the maximum permitted opening time.

Canarians love their guachinches so much that they have traditional “guachinche routes» (rutas de guachinches), when in a single day they visit several places at once. To avoid getting lost on the way, they even created a special mobile application Guachapp.

The word «guachinche» cannot be used as a business name by the businesses not related to this category, due to the special fiscal regime and the nature of the services they offer. In rare cases, an exception can be made for those restaurants that started as guachinche and later registered as a restaurant while retaining the old name.

Despite the fact that guachinches represent the cultural heritage of Tenerife, the word «guachinche» cannot be legally used by Canarians. In 2009 it was registered as a trademark by an individual, and since then the Canary Islands government is trying to challenge the registration, and in parallel to register the expression «guachinches de Tenerife», so that the legal establishments of this category can use it in their business names.

Most guachinches do not accept credit cards.

P.S.

If you are a Tenerife resident but haven’t yet found your way to the best guachinches on the island, or you’re here on holiday and would like to discover a different Tenerife, just drop me a note. I will gladly accompany you on a guachinche route!

25 October, 2016 / Traducierto recommends, Translation tools and gadgets, Wise words / No Comments »

GNMT – breakthrough or breakdown?

Just over a month ago I’ve written in my blog about a little known Google Translate option – the augmented reality translation, and it seems like Google was listening to me. At the end of September, to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Google Translate launch, the company has announced it has created a new algorithm called Google Neural Machine Translation system (GNMT). The full details can be found in a report published on 27th of September on Google corporate web, but the company claims it to be a huge step forward in the development of machine-perfect translation. The original algorithm behind the Google Translate launched 10 years ago was based on Phrase-Based Machine Translation (PBMT) and used the mechanism of breaking up input sentences into separate words and phrases and translating them independently, as opposed to analyzing and translation the whole sentence. According to Google, the new neural machine translation system is capable of learning. It considers the whole input sentence as a unit to be translated, simultaneously breaking it up into smaller pieces, that is words and short phrases, and analyzing them. It could be compared to a human eye that can perceive the whole picture without losing sight of smaller brushstrokes.
gnmt_en

Other techniques that made possible vast system improvements include the ability to divide complex words into small pieces and analyze them as separate words thus deducing the meaning of a complex source word from its components. Currently the new system is being tested and so far it’s available for English-Chinese translations, as this combination has proven to be the most difficult and error-prone, but it’s also being tested for French and Spanish which means we could see improvements in these language combinations any time soon. According to Google, the GNMT will reduce translation errors by more than 55%-85%, although it still lags behind a human-made translation. In their own words, “Machine translation is by no means solved. GNMT can still make significant errors that a human translator would never make, like dropping words and mistranslating proper names or rare terms, and translating sentences in isolation rather than considering the context of the paragraph or page. There is still a lot of work we can do to serve our users better. However, GNMT represents a significant milestone.”

It’s clear that Google wastes no time and inverts a lot of research, time and money into its translation algorithm, but as we can see even they admit that their translation mechanisms still have plenty of field for improvement. It’s very likely that in some years ahead we could trust the machine to make a perfect translation of virtually any type of document, but meanwhile a professional translator still remains our best ally in smooth communication with diverse cultures.

12 September, 2016 / Traducierto recommends, Translation for tourism / No Comments »

Translation magic by Google

I guess there’s not a single person in the world who hasn’t heard of Google Translate. It’s free, quick, easily accessible from any device, integrated in most Google services, it supports a large number of languages and, although not perfect and prone to errors on complicated phrases, colloquialisms and generally on context issues, as no machine has yet learned to understand the context the same way a human translator does, it remains one of the best options of the kind available on the market.

However few people know that since acquiring in 2014 Quest Visual, the creators of WordLens, an augmented reality translation app, Google Translate app when installed in your smartphone or tablet, provides you with an option of camera translations in real time, without the need to manually type or copy the text you want to translate into Google Translate app.

This is how it works: you point your phone camera to any text you want to translate, and – voila! – you see the translation on the screen instantly. Magic!

The good thing about it, apart from being instant and free, is that it can work offline, provided you previously download language packs you want to use. The not so good thing is its accuracy, but then again I guess most Google Translate users realize that although the app provides an easy and fast solution for an approximate understanding of a foreign language text, so far no algorithm has been invented to properly understand the context or double or triple meanings of the words in order to deliver a 100% accurate translation. wordlens2

However said that, the new enhanced Google Translate app for iOS and Android would certainly help you to bridge the communication gap and greatly improve your travel experience.

7 September, 2016 / Translation for tourism, Wise words / No Comments »

Can you speak with “IconSpeak”?

Oh, show me the way to the next whisky bar!

I bet you’ve already heard of IconSpeak – a super-innovative traveller t-shirt that allows you to communicate your basic travel needs when in a foreign country.

The t-shirt is printed with 40 universal icons that, according to its creators were designed to be understood in any part of the world (well, in fact only 39 of them are useful, as the designers couldn’t resist the temptation of self-advertising by printing the IconSpeak logo right in the centre). When I say “basic needs”, I indeed mean basic – by pointing a finger you can indicate you’re looking for a doctor, a policeman, somewhere to sleep or something to eat, and that’s more or less about it.

So, just how far would you get with these, what do you think? Obviously by pointing to a doctor’s icon you would finally get to a doctor, but how would you explain to him what’s wrong with you and, more importantly, how would you understand his reply? How would you report an incident to a policeman with the help of a few icons? Would the t-shirt not make you an easy prey for pickpocketers? Would you just as well carry these icons neatly printed on a piece of paper in your wallet without announcing to the entire world your tourist status?

Long and short of it, the t-shirt might be a nice addition to your wardrobe, but it shouldn’t discourage you from at least attempting to speak a language of the country you visit. Because the same way that travelling cures racism, speaking languages opens your mind and helps you make new friends. And do remember – when in serious trouble, always seek a professional translator’s help.

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