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Nov 27, 2021 17:44
2 yrs ago
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French term

habitation à un seul logement

French to English Other Real Estate Property description (Switzerland)
This is part of a property description in a sale contract. I don't know whether this means "a one-family dwelling" or "a detached dweliing"

N° xxxx, habitation à un seul logement de zzz m2, sise chemin de yyyy, [ville]

xxx is the parcel number as recorded in the Cadastral Register of town yyyy
Proposed translations (English)
4 +6 single-family home/dwelling
4 single-dwelling building
3 +1 A single residential unit
References
One definition
Change log

Nov 28, 2021 00:32: writeaway changed "Field" from "Law/Patents" to "Other"

Discussion

Conor McAuley Nov 28, 2021:
My last word on this, for the sake of us all, hopefully:

OECD typology:

Page 1, end paragraph 3:

"[...] we distinguish among four types of dwellings: detached house, semi-detached house, flat/apartment and others: [...]

https://www.oecd.org/social/family/HM1-5-Housing-stock-by-dw...
Conor McAuley Nov 28, 2021:
Sorry, Emmanuella, generally I'm a fan of official translations, even when they're only just passable, but this...DOES NOT COMPUTE!
Emmanuella Nov 28, 2021:
https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/construction...
Conor McAuley Nov 28, 2021:
The obvious tool to use here is... ...(drum roll)...Google Street View. Then say what you see.
Conor McAuley Nov 28, 2021:
"Une maison unifamiliale est destinée à l'occupation par une seule famille. Au sens large, une famille est constituée soit d'une personne qui vit habituellement seule, soit de deux personnes ou plus qui, liées ou non par un lien de parenté, demeurent et cohabitent dans une seule et même maison."

Définition Maison unifamiliale - Besafehttps://www.besafe.be

There are a few issues with a direct translation.

1) It doesn't translate culturally into the cultures of Anglosphere countries.
2) The definition above is self-contradictory (maybe I'm being literal, but words mean what they mean, and there's no exception for "family").
3) The concept is predicated on the conservative concept that the dominant (or at least preferable) social unit is the family (for better or for worse).

The best thing I can find to say about a direct translation is that it works as a calque, as an insight into the Swiss mind.
Emmanuella Nov 28, 2021:
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/society/home-odd-home_the-15-mo...
Conor McAuley Nov 27, 2021:
Page 13 in the PDF document:

Construction et logement 2016 - Admin.chhttps://www.bfs.admin.ch › dam › assets › master

"Lorsqu’on considère la Suisse dans son ensemble, les statistiques montrent un habitat peu densifié. La moitié de la population vit dans des bâtiments comprenant de 1 à 4 logements, dont près d’un tiers (31%) dans une habitation à un seul logement (maisons individuelles, mais aussi bâtiments d’habitation avec usage annexe et bâtiments partiellement à usage d’habitation avec un seul logement)."

Certainly "detached houses" are part of what this term covers, since "maison individuelle" = detached house

"single-dwelling buildings"

or

"buildings containing a single dwelling"

?

Proposed translations

+6
1 hr
Selected

single-family home/dwelling

Conor's reference shows that it could also include, for example, an apartment above a shop, or a house with a commercial workshop attached. But those are in a small minority, and I think this is a good enough approximation. It's clearly Swiss French.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 hrs (2021-11-28 01:29:12 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I don't know if I should dignify Adrian's comment with a reference, but

Single-family (home, house, or dwelling) means that the building is usually occupied by just one household or family, and consists of just one dwelling unit or suite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-family_detached_home
As most of us aware, a household can consist of any number of people.
Peer comment(s):
agree Johannes Gleim : single-dwelling (single-unit) house/housing
32 mins
agree Yolanda Broad
1 hr
agree Jennifer Levey : Aka "maison unifamiliar" - not only in CH but also in (some) other FR-phone countries.
4 hrs
Thanks! I've never heard of that - it sounds like a mixture of French and Spanish.
neutral Adrian MM. : There are plenty of single people - rather than families - living in this type of residence in Switzerland. // You - if you really have remarried - are being contradictory. Husband and wife do count as a family unit, not just in Switzerland.
5 hrs
You're being literal, as usual. My wife and I live in a single-family home, but we're not a family.
agree writeaway : I think Jennifer was trying to say unifamiliale, which is of course common terminology/Ok, if you wish. I don't really understand what the difficulty is.
6 hrs
Thanks. I didn't know that either. More to the point, do you agree with my answer? :-)
agree Emmanuella
16 hrs
neutral ormiston : Reading this cold, single-family with a hyphen looks odd (Vs multi-family dwellings?)
17 hrs
The hyphen is essential.
agree Eliza Hall
2 days 3 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
18 hrs

single-dwelling building

As apposed to an apartment block, terraced houses à l'anglaise, etc.

Or

building containing a single dwelling


"les statistiques montrent un habitat peu densifié"

Page 13 in the PDF document:

Construction et logement 2016 - Admin.chhttps://www.bfs.admin.ch › dam › assets › master

These few words tell us something key, I think: the Swiss don't go in for high-rise accomodation much, they mostly do what Ireland and UK English-speakers know as detached houses.


And even "single-dwelling building" I propose as a compromise between a literal translation and the translation that I personally would use, which is "detached house".

The additional clue is that the address is "Chemin", lane, which indicates a suburban or semi-rural location.



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 hrs (2021-11-28 11:51:15 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

And "chemin" also translates as "path" and "track"...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 hrs (2021-11-28 11:55:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

See the Discussion for my view of the disadvantages and the one advantage of a literal translation.

Something went wrong...
+1
19 hrs

A single residential unit

Peer comment(s):
neutral writeaway : A single residential unit could be in a block of flats, non? I think the term 'unit' could lead to confusion
5 mins
agree Adrian MM. : habitation does not necessarily equal une maison > 'a single residential unit means a *building* or portion of a building consisting of one principal dwelling unit only, and may include a secondary suite.'
57 mins
Thank you Adrian. Yes, it's more the notion of dwelling.
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

26 mins
Reference:

One definition

Here is ONE definition of a "single family residence": https://retipster.com/terms/sfr/
I am not sure whether this is universally recognized.
Note from asker:
Good reference which explains that "single-family dwelling" is a misnomer; I often thought that too. Thanks.
Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree writeaway : Dwelling or residence. Both work imo
19 hrs
neutral Adrian MM. : sfr is misleading, suggesting - as it does - Swiss French, whereas it stands for single family residence in the USA and is unusable for the mass of single people and divorcees I know in Switzerland living in such a 'seul logement'.
20 hrs
agree philgoddard
22 hrs
Something went wrong...
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