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English translation: Single-family detached home/house
09:01 Mar 22, 2019
Spanish to English translations [PRO] Law/Patents - Architecture
Spanish term or phrase:Vivienda unifamiliar adosada
Hola! Es el objeto de un contrato de compraventa.
No estoy demasiado puesto en arquitectura, pero encuentro como definición general una vivienda unifamiliar que tiene otras dos viviendas unifamiliares a cada lado. Las traducciones más comunes que veo son terraced house o semi-detached house, pero ninguna me convence porque terraced house implica que las viviendas estén pegadas pared con pared, y semi-detached house implica lo mismo, que esté pegada, pero tan sólo a una de las viviendas.
Mi pregunta es, suponiendo que la vivienda de mi traducción forme parte de un grupo de viviendas, pero NO esté pegada pared con pared con ninguna de ellas, ¿cuál sería el término correcto en inglés?
Thanks for the explanation. The same thing has happened, on a vast scale, in London and other British cities, where thousands of houses originally built as homes for wealthy upper- and middle-class families (with servants) have been divided up into flats (i.e., apartments), completely independent homes bought and sold separately. Some are offices. I don't think they are usually condos, though I'm a bit hazy on that point. A property company buys the original house freehold, converts it into flats and sells them leasehold, typically with 99-year leases. In central London the original large town houses divided in this way are rarely detached or even semi-detached (in UK terms); they are normally high (typically four-storey) terraced houses and in most cases were built in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. There can be as many as eight or so entirely separate homes in the space once occupied by a single family (plus servants). Many of these flats are let to tenants by their leasehold owners. Very few such old houses remain unconverted and the freehold on the whole house, now an investment, not a residence, is rarely offered for sale on the normal property market.
Further to my explanation below, many large old houses have been divided up into condos, or 'units'. They cease to be called houses unless the entire house is on the market. Here is a current example of a "three-unit building" that used to be a single-family home in my old neighborhood in Washington, D.C.: https://tinyurl.com/y4tln5s3
There are regulations governing the right to rent them separately and to sell the as separate condos--in the latter case, a requirement to have separately metered for utilities, a kitchen, and at least one bath.
Is it common for two families to share the same home in the US, or does "two-family dwelling" refer to a residential building containing two independent dwellings? Most families prefer to have a home to themselves, in my experience. And a home that occupies part of a building is normally owned and sold separately in the UK. That is, homes for more than one family are rarely offered for sale there. So it is rare to find a "one-family" or "single-family" home advertised, because it is assumed by default that a residential property is intended for one family. And "semi-detached", in British English, means that only one wall adjoins another residence: that is, a semi-detached home occupies half of a building. The Wikipedia entry apparently applies to the UK:
"A semi-detached house (often abbreviated to semi) is a single family dwelling house built as one of a pair that share one common wall." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-detached
The provisions of the 2015 IRC shall apply to the construction, alteration, movement, enlargement, replacement, repair, equipment, use and occupancy, location, removal and demolition of: detached one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses not more than three stories above grade plane in height with a separate means of egress and their accessory structures not more than three stories above grade plane in height,
This particular client was selling electrical installations for everything from industrial facilities, office blocks, apartment buildings (or condos) to "detached family homes" and beyond....
Does the asker want 'detached' or 'semi-detached'? In the US we say 'townhouse' or 'row house', but technically it is semi-detached because at least one façade, namely the front, is detached. On the 'single-family' debate, as a US English speaker I see no harm in including it. It is not unusual here to sell a detached multifamily dwelling, consisting of two, three, or more units, in its entirety. They are either large homes that have been cut up into condos or they were built that way. I routinely see ads on Zillow for such circumstances. Yesterday I saw the neighbor and twin of a house I used to own now on the market as two separate condos.
And I think that's the assumption just about eveywhere: a "vivienda" is intended for one family, though of course if it's big enough more than one family can live there if they want to. I don't think it's an issue. But in my experience when clients complain (which is not often) it tends to be because they think you've left something out.
What you said was "The assumption in Spain appears to be that detached houses will be inhabited by a single family unit. Hence the need to express it in the name". My point was if that's the assumption, you don't need to express it; you only need to express if it goes against what is normally assumed.
Like I say, give them what they want. If what they're asking for is definitely not in their interests, you warn them, but I wouldn't make an issue out of something like this.
In my case, the client definitely wanted some mention of "family" maintained in the translation. It was important to them. And by the way, your presumption is mistaken. I meant what I said - I think "unifamiliar" suggests that the dwelling or building will be occupied by one family, not several.
Fair enough. If it's for the US market, or might be, then OK (though Americans very rarely buy property in Spain and huge numbers of British people do, or at least used to). All I'm saying is that "single-family" would look very odd in a British ad, especially in an ad for what appears to me to be a terraced house. But I suppose it's better to err on the side of caution, and as Neil says, Spanish clients, whose perspective is Spanish and who don't know the conventions of the British property market, would probably want it included. And even if it looks quaint it can't actually do any harm.
I presume you mean that the assumption in Spain is that detached houses will be inhabited by more than one family unit. (I'm not at all sure that's true, but still.) If the assumption is that it will be a single family unit there's no need to express it. But the translation is by definition for English speakers, who are not Spanish and do not share Spanish assumptions (although I note what Jane stays about the American real-estate market). And in any case, unless the person who wrote this doesn't know what "adosada" means, this is not a detached house.
However, I'm all for keeping clients happy and for giving them what they want, even though they're not usually qualified to tell what they need.
You are correct of course, Charles, if translation is for the UK, but if for the US apparently the this term is more common.
In the United Kingdom, the term single-family home is almost unknown, except through Internet exposure to U.S. media. Whereas in the U.S., housing is commonly divided into "single-family homes", "multi-family dwellings", "condo/townhouse", etc., the primary division of residential property in British terminology is between "houses" (including "detached", "semi-detached", and "terraced" houses and bungalows) and "flats" (i.e., "apartments" or "condominiums" in American English). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-family_detached_home
And the asker hasn't specified whether the translation is for UK of US.
Uni means "1"; and "familiar" means family. The assumption in Spain appears to be that detached houses will be inhabited by a single family unit. Hence the need to express it in the name. By including "(single) family" in the translation, I managed to keep an important client happy. Circumstances alter cases. And IMHO side by side (or back to back) are synonyms, to all intents and purposes.
And "unifamiliar" doesn't need to be translated, in my opinion; it's taken for granted. Residential properties that are not "unifamiliares" are rarely offered for sale. How often have you seen "single-family" in an estate agent's description?
If you know for sure from the context that this house does not share a party wall with any other house, then yes, it's detached. But in that case "adosada" has been used wrongly. If it's really adosada it's terraced, not detached. A detached house is aislada or exenta.
Adosada does not mean back-to-back, though it looks as though it ought to. Casas/viviendas adosadas adjoin others at the sides (on both sides), not at the back.
= back to back, which usually refers to a semi-detached, at least in UK English. However, if these are indeed separate buildings, then something like single family detached residences/homes should work nicely.