“When I bought I didn't know”

A young woman who recently bought a home in Santa Úrsulaa municipality in the north of Tenerifehe found a reality that he did not expect: at his first meeting of the community of owners, everything was held in German and had to pay 200 euros for a translation service In Spanish.

According to the medium 'Atlantic today', the young woman attended the Board trusting in participating normally, but was surprised to verify that the language used by default was the German. “When I saw that he was starting to speak in German and translated into Spanish I was freaking out “he declared. The building, composed of about 30 homes, belongs mostly to foreign citizens, mostly Germans, who reside on the island during part of the year.

This situation, which the owner described as “surreal“, reflects an increasingly common reality in tourist regions of the Canary Islands: the growth of the number of international owners has transformed the dynamics of many neighborhood communities. In this case, the German is the most common language among residents, meetings are organized in that language, and hires an interpreter so that the few Spanish -speaking neighbors can follow the conversations. This cost, about 200 euros, is divided among the attendees.

“I have no link with my neighbors,” admitted the young woman, visibly uncomfortable with a community organization that is not only alien to the language, but also difficult to modify. He explained that The voting system is linked to the square meters of each houseand that its property, of 74 m², does not give it enough weight to boost changes. “It is very difficult to change what had already“He lamented.

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The situation has evidenced for her the challenges of integrating into a community with a marked international composition. He assures that he had no knowledge of this context before acquiring the house. “When I bought it, much less in the north. I would never have imagined that my neighbors were going to be Germans“He said.