Guillermo Urbina Valdés May 31, 2014:

@Wilsonn Si te fijas bien, la única traducción correcta es "establish a company" en ambas variantes. "Establish a corporation" sería una traducción correcta sólo en inglés americano y sólo cuando la sociedad tiene personalidad jurídica propia. Dependiendo del país, puede haber modelos de sociedades sin personalidad jurídica, en cuyo caso "corporation" sería incorrecto en ambas variantes.

Guillermo Urbina Valdés May 30, 2014:

@Henry You should check your spelling and review the rules on preposition usage, I don't care how many million people live in the same country as you.

Wilsonn Perez Reyes May 30, 2014:

Hay varias respuestas, unas en inglés y otras en español. Me parece que Karen Rosenberg quiere saber cómo se debe traducir "establish a company". De manera que en el encabezado debió ponerse esta frase en inglés en lugar de "establecer una sociedad".
Por tanto, es una consulta sobre una frase del inglés al español. Según parece se dice "incorporate a corporation" y "establish a corporation" en inglés US, e "incorporate a company" y "establish a company" en inglés UK.

Henry Hinds May 30, 2014:

Guiilermo You are the kind of person with whom I do not ever wish any contact with again. Stay way from me.

Guillermo Urbina Valdés May 30, 2014:

@Henry There is absolutely no relationship between population numbers and correct language usage. By that definition, Costa Ricans should learn Spanish from Californians. I find it rather presumptous to assume an entire country speaks its own language wrong.

I never claimed (nor would ever claim) that Castilian Spanish or British English are in any way superior to Mexican Spanish or American English.

You, on the other hand, claimed that "corporation" was the only correct term because it's the American English equivalent of "sociedad" as used in Mexico and that "company" was incorrect despite it being the correct translation in British English (as well as an acceptable translation in American English) of the term "sociedad" as used in most Spanish-speaking countries (including Mexico). You then said that my use of Castilian Spanish and British English showed "profound ignorance" despite the fact that I, too, used words that are part of my everyday vocabulary, basing these claims on the fact that the US and Mexico are more populous than England and Spain.

Are you aware of how stupid that sounds?

If I were you, I’d be quick to delete those comments. What they show goes beyond ignorance.

Henry Hinds May 29, 2014:

Gmo. Oh yes, without going into it extensively (not our purpose here), there IS a relationship between population numbers and correct language usage. For instance, Spaniards like to say that Mexicans use antique language and come up with a whole list to cross out as incorrect usage. What? I can look at such a list and find that most words are in my daily vocabulary, so who are the Spaniards to say they set the standards (or the Brits for English). This is merely an observation, not a point to be argued.

Guillermo Urbina Valdés May 29, 2014:

@Henry Thank you for your response. Indeed, the term "corporation" is roughly equivalent to what we would call a "limited company" in nearly every other English-speaking country. I am not going to get into an argument about whether there is a relationship between population numbers and correct language usage because there isn't one.

Regarding the source of the text, the asker is clearly based in Spain. However, in such a globalised world, there's no way to know whether she was translating a Mexican document for an American audience.

My point was that, if a generic term is used in the source language (and "Sociedad" is a generic term), it should be translated into a generic term in the target language. "Company" is generic in both US and Commonwealth English (see http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/company ).

You've always been great help on here and I would really like to thank you for your repeated contributions and for answering some of the questions I've posted. However, calling me "profoundly ignorant" was completely uncalled for, especially when it was based on my obviously greater degree of familiarity with the legal system in Spain and the European Union.

Henry Hinds May 29, 2014:

Legal Entity Yes, for us a corporation is a legal entity with a legal existence or personality separate from that of the owners/shareholders or partners. That it a good definition. In USA, the most populous English-speaking country in the world, and Mexico, the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world, "corporation = sociedad" is a very common equivalency although not appropriate in all cases. BTW, in Mexico a "Comunidad de Bienes" refers to the community property of husband and wife, while a non-profit corporation is usually incorporated as an "Asociación Civil". Therefore, one has to know where in the world they are and where they are going to be in order to find the right solution.

Guillermo Urbina Valdés May 29, 2014:

@Henry As I understand it, a corporation in the US is a type of company characterised by the fact that it has a legal personality separate from that of the owners/shareholders. (I admit I haven't carried out extensive research so, please, do correct me if I'm wrong).

While it is true that in some countries a "sociedad" always has a separate legal personality, this is not the case in all countries. This is why I suggested a generic term in the translation.

In Spain, for instance, companies may be structured as a "Comunidad de Bienes" (considered a "sociedad" without a legal personality of its own) or as a "Sociedad Civil", which has no legal personality either.

Henry Hinds May 29, 2014:

UK? I will confess to total ignorance of the UK, and you are completely wrong in a USA context.

Guillermo Urbina Valdés May 28, 2014:

@Henry In addition to unprofessional, conceited and rude, your response is wrong.
In the US, a "corporation" is roughly equivalent to what we call a "limited company" in the UK. There are many types of companies and not all companies are limited companies.
Similarly, "Sociedades" may or may not be "limitadas". There are many types and these vary from country to country. See the following link for the types that exist in Spain alone:
http://www.iberinform.es/Noticias/informes-comerciales/Forma...
If you still don't believe me, look up "sociedad" on http://iate.europa.eu and see the official translation used by the EU itself.
If I were you, I'd do some research before calling other people ignorant only to reveal my own ignorance.
We all make mistakes and only by admitting them will you ever be able to learn from yours.

Karen Rosenberg (asker) May 28, 2014:

perdonad, tenía que haber puesto el título de la pregunta en inglés.
La pregunta es del inglés al español, básicamente si "establecer una sociedad" es correcto, ya que pongo 'constitución' por 'incorporation', entonces necesito saber si 'date established' se puede traducir por 'fecha de establecimiento', y si no, ¿qué alternativa?

Ruth Wöhlk May 28, 2014:

no me aclaro con los idiomas: ES-EN o EN-ES?

Karen Rosenberg (asker) May 28, 2014:

aunque tenga el mismo sentido, en el certifficado de sociedad, consta:
Date of incorporation
Date established
No puedo poner dos veces constituir.
Si 'fecha de establecimiento' suena correcto, lo utilizaré.
¿qué opinas?