Specs Without Spanglish—Crafting Technical Documents in Plain, Powerful Spanish

The day my API spec became a telenovela

Two springs ago in Santo Domingo, I wrote a 12-page API specification for a Colombian client. I sprinkled it with English jargon—“endpoint,” “payload,” “throttle bursts”. The engineering lead skimmed three pages, set it down, and quipped, “James, esto parece libreto de ciencia ficción.” Translation: it read like science fiction, not an instruction manual. The team lost a day clarifying that “token freshness” meant “vigencia del token,” not “token fresco” (which sounds like a trendy soda). That embarrassment pushed me to study how the best Latin-American tech writers strip specs down to human Spanish—no fluff, minimal anglicisms, and zero room for double takes.

Why plain Spanish beats bilingual soup

In multinational teams we assume bilingual equals efficient, yet mixed jargon slows comprehension. Colombian QA testers may grasp payload, but Dominican front-enders might default to carga útil; then a Spanish contractor opens DeepL, and the thread derails. Clear Spanish specs cut translation cycles, reduce bugs, and respect every reader’s mental RAM. They also demonstrate cultural savvy: you’re meeting colleagues on their linguistic home turf, not forcing them up yours.

Five pillars of a crystal-clear spec

First, name the objective in one sentence: “El módulo valida transacciones en menos de 250 ms.” Second, define every key term the first time it appears—“Token: credencial cifrada de acceso.” Third, prefer verb-first instructions: “Enviar solicitud POST…” instead of “La solicitud debe ser enviada.” Fourth, keep paragraphs under 70 words and use headings to chunk logic. Finally, include real-world examples that mirror local data formats: “RD$1,250.00” for the DR, “$COP 12.500” for Colombia.

Vocabulary table—tools for your Spanish spec toolkit

Fold two terms per sprint into your active Spanish Vocabulary; they’ll pop out naturally when you draft.

Example conversation—engineer requests clarification

Lucía (Medellín, formal)
“El manejo de errores menciona timeout. ¿Podemos usar tiempo límite para que quede claro?”
The error-handling section mentions timeout. Could we use tiempo límite so it’s clear?

James (bridging)
“Claro. Ajusto a ‘tiempo límite de 30 s’ y añado el código 504 como ejemplo.”
Of course. I’ll adjust to “time limit of 30 s” and add code 504 as an example.

Lucía
“Perfecto. Así evitamos confusiones.”
Perfect. That way we avoid confusion.

(This exchange shows Colombian formality, the power of one plain term, and the quick win for clarity.)

Taming anglicisms without losing precision

Some English tech words are entrenched—API, backend, commit. Others have elegant Spanish twins. Swap endpoint for punto de acceso, payload for carga, and rollback for reversión. When no good twin exists, define once and bold it: middleware (capa intermedia), then use middleware throughout. Local teams feel respected; global readers keep their bearings.

Regional formatting quirks

Dates: Spain writes 31/12/2025; Mexico may use 12/31/2025 in multinational docs. Solve with ISO: 2025-12-31. Decimals: Colombians prefer 12,5 MB; Dominicans lean 12.5 MB. State the convention upfront: “Todas las cifras se expresan con punto decimal.”

Currency: prefix and thousand separators vary. Show both style and key: RD$ 1,250.00 (monto en pesos dominicanos). Specs read by finance teams across borders will thank you.

Structuring a spec the Latin way—micro story, macro logic

Open with a human problem: “Los usuarios pierden la sesión cada veinte minutos.” Follow with the goal line. Each requirement then answers the implicit “para qué” before describing “cómo.” For example:

Requisito 2: Renovación de token
• Para qué: Mantener sesiones activas sin comprometer seguridad.
• Cómo: Se emitirá un token nuevo tras 25 min de inactividad…

This narrative framing matches the storytelling instincts of Latin readers and keeps non-technical stakeholders engaged.

De-cluttering long lists without bullet points

Bullet lists are visually clean, but some corporate templates forbid them. Turn bullets into short lines separated by semicolons: “El servicio valida: formato JSON; autenticidad del token; integridad del checksum.” Each clause reads like a mini sentence yet honours the no-bullet decree.

Handling dialect differences up front

Insert a mini glossary titled Términos y convenciones. Note that equipo means team, not hardware, in your doc; that script retains English spelling but always masculine in Spanish: el script. Mention that tabla refers to database table, not spreadsheet. One page of definitions saves dozens of Slack pings later.

Consulting with reviewers—feedback loop in plain Spanish

After your draft, invite critique using language that opens, not defends: “Agradezco sus observaciones para pulir el documento. ¿Qué partes resultan ambiguas?” Respond with “Entiendo la inquietud; propongo este cambio.” Record each decision in a Historial de cambios table. Latin teams value seeing iteration; it proves you listened.

Avoiding the top three clarity killers

Passive overload: “Será realizado el despliegue…” feels bureaucratic. Flip to active: “El ingeniero DevOps desplegará…”

Big English nouns: “Authentication failure management interface.” Translate to “Interfaz para manejar fallos de autenticación.” Words shrink; meaning grows.

Standalone acronyms: Spell once: “Redundancy as a Service (RaaS).” Thereafter, RaaS flies solo.

Reflection: specs as language gyms

Writing specs in plain Spanish forces my brain to slice jargon fat and pump clarity muscle. I learned that vigencia trumps “freshness,” reversión feels sturdier than “rollback,” and every accent mark (encriptación, índice) telegraphs professionalism. Each document is a workout for the Spanish ear—tuning rhythm, register, and regional empathy.

Share the phrase that tripped you up—or the swap that saved a deadline—in the comments. Together we’ll keep Latin American tech docs sharp, human, and bug-free.