Falling in love with Sanhattan

According to CNN, our country’s capital, Santiago, is the third most loved city in the world. Several highlights await you: the Lollapalooza festival, the majestic Andes encircling the city and of course attractive business opportunities in Sanhattan, Santiago’s financial district. Read on and find out more about why Chile is the perfect place for you and your business.

1.      Financial Advantages

Every three years UBS publishes its Prices and Earnings study. The last version was published in 2009 and updated in 2011. The result is surprising and, at the same time, important for everyone who is interested in investing in Chile: Santiago is one of the cheapest cities for foreign companies. Chile obtained 45.8 points and therefore ranks 59^th out of 73 cities. The most expensive city is the Norwegian capital, Oslo, with 103.3 points.

Another interesting study called Global Office Rents, published by CB Richard Ellis Global Research and Consulting, states that rents in Santiago are among the cheapest in Latin America. The Chilean capital ranks fifth, and is even cheaper than Montevideo, Buenos Aires or Mexico City.

2.      Low Risks

The Sovereign rating published by the Country Risk Service of the Economist Intelligence Units in May 2012 acknowledges that Chile is a low-risk country, judging it with an A, meaning that it is a stable country with a strong capacity and commitment to honor obligations. Chile is the only Latin-American country rated with an A.

3.      Legal Certainty

In the Index of Economic Freedom, published in 2012, Chile obtains the 7^th rank out of 184 countries. And again, Chile leads the Latin American ranking. The index states that contractual agreements in Chile are the most secure in Latin America, that courts are transparent and efficient and that property rights are strongly respected, and expropriation is rare.

4.      You can count on us!

Of course, moving to a foreign country and setting up a company or establishing business relations there always implies a risk. But there is no need to worry, as we are here to help you. Whether you need to overcome the language barrier, due to lacking Spanish knowledge, or whether you need cultural advice in order to avoid faux pas, as professional translators we are prepared to lend you a hand. Just contact us and we will gladly assist you.

So, why wait any longer? Leave Manhattan and come over to Sanhattan – it’s only a flight away!

Something about Chilean business and beauty

Chile has a lot of business areas that can be of your interest, among them, copper mining, agriculture, wine and fishing.  Chilean exports are increasing. Last year, for example, the country exported US$71 billion in goods. Exports of minerals and agricultural products still dominate the export basket.  Over the last decades, Chile has signed several free trade agreements with different countries which give its goods and services a preferential access to international markets.

If you come here on business, it may be useful to know that general office hours in Chile are from Monday to Friday, from 8.30 am to 6 pm and that banks are only open to the public from 9am to 2pm.

However, Chile is not only a good place for doing business; it is also a country with natural beauties.  From the Atacama Desert of the north to the massive glaciers of the south, and with the Andes mountain range bordering one side and the Pacific Ocean bordering the other, Chile offers its geographic diversity as one of the principal attractions for travelers. Here you can go hiking, skiing, rafting, canoeing and much more within the same country.

Here some useful information if you decide to come to Chile. Firstly, the international airport is in Santiago, the capital city, and it is called Arturo Merino Benitez. The airport is about 30 kilometers from the city center. It's easy to get a taxi or transfer from the airport to the city center. From Santiago you can travel around the country by plane, bus, car; or even hitchhiking.

Secondly, the Chilean currency is the peso. One US dollar is equal to around $500 Chilean pesos. You can exchange cash and traveler’s check in casas de cambio (exchange houses). Look around for competitive rates.  Try to avoid changing money at the airport exchange because they give have the lowest rates.

And remember:  if you need any language assistance, do not hesitate to contact us. We are language facilitators at your service.

I hope this information has been useful and that you will visit Chile soon.

Sources:

http://www.southamerica.cl/Chile/Business.htm

http://www.businesschile.cl/en/content/diversifying-chile%E2%80%99s-exports

http://www.tourismchile.com/

By Cristina Zavala Osorio

CONCEPCIÓN: THE BUSINESS TOURISM CAPITAL

Concepción is the second largest city in Chile, with more than a million inhabitants, only exceeded by the capital Santiago with more than five millions. From an historic, political and economic perspective, it is also one of the most important cities in the country along with the port of Valparaíso and, of course, Santiago. Since its foundation back in the sixteenth century, it has always represented a counterweight for the almighty capital. In the twentieth century Concepción became highly industrialized, with thousands of people from all over the country coming to work in fisheries, coal mining, steel industry, oil refineries, forestry and  the manufacturing industry. As the city was striving, a lot of progress was made in education and many universities were created to supply professionals to its rising economy.

Today, Concepción stands as one of the most interesting places to do business in Latin America thanks to the permanent investment in general infrastructure, hotels, entertainment, public transport, security and services. According to a recent study made by the América Economía Magazine*, Concepción holds the 24^th position among the 50 best cities in Latin America to do business. In fact, according to official data, more than 80% of tourists come to Concepción for this purpose, and every year the city receives an average of 500,000 visitors.

Therefore, the service provided by specialized and skilled translators and interpreters becomes crucial. There has been a great deal of improvement in Chilean’s English proficiency during the last 20 years. Nevertheless, it is always advisable to let professionals take care of communication issues. Their job will ensure high levels of reliability and accuracy, which are fundamental aspects when engaging in a negotiation process. In addition, they often become cultural advisors, tourist guides and why not, friends.

*http://rankings.americaeconomia.com/

By Pablo González

HISTORY OF INTERPRETERS AND LANGUAGE IN LATINAMERICA

“Trujimán”, “truchimán”, “nahuatlato”, “lenguaraz”, “amanuense”. What do these terms refer to? Through times, interpreters have had several denominations. Let’s see what happened in the beginning of the epoch of the creation of the interpreters’ labor.

                In 1563, laws gave interpreters a professional and well defined status:

-          They received a fixed salary according to the number of questions they have to interpret.

-          They had a schedule: certain days and hours of work.

-          There should be a certain quantity of interpreters in the audience.  

-          Interpreters had to swear they would use the language appropriately and accurately without being favorable to any party.

Already at the beginning of the XVI century, interpreters were designated to act as mediators between people which spoke different languages. Interpreters were also asked to obey to several requirements, for example: fidelity, clarity and impartiality. They were asked Christianity and kindness, virtues outside linguistic knowledge and even more interesting, it was said that they could suffer several punishments if they had a deficient performance.

A very surprising fact is that at that time, monolingualism existed, which meant that in 1770, Amerindian languages turned to be illegal, so finally all languages in the different dominion could extinguish and then Castilian(Spanish) would be the only language spoken.

However, there were no many official efforts to spread Castilian, because really it wasn’t easy to do it.  Sacristans, natives and mestizos were not capable to teach Castillian to millions of people and missionaries didn’t want to teach. Also, some people held that natives were not in conditions to learn a European language.

 Regarding languages, some American languages remained being used to evangelize or in other types of oral contact, but in the written culture, laws, documents, university studies and books were always published in Latin or Castilian. The later finally spread due to colonization and the result was another Spanish culture.

In that epoch, the complex economic, political and military situation of the Aztec empire forced Hernan Cortés to give and ask for information, negotiate, to make pacts, look for allies, etc. And for that purpose he needed interpreters.

We are witnesses of the importance of our labor throughout the generations and today, thanks to the advancements and new technologies we can improve techniques to have a better performance every day. Finally, to make things good it’s necessary that we go back in time and see how things were done and how we can do it better.

By Estefanía Sanhueza Vásquez