Why Mexican Spanish specifically
Most translation apps target Spain Spanish (es-ES) by default — the school-textbook variant. The construction workforce in the US and Mexico speaks something different. Concreto, not hormigón. Triplay, not contrachapado. Pegazulejo, not adhesivo de azulejo. Postes, not montantes.
Journeyman's parser is tuned for the vocabulary that actually gets used on job sites — terms a framer in Houston or a tile setter in Phoenix would say out loud, not what would show up in a Spanish 101 textbook. The keyword maps and synonym tables are built from that register.
Both languages active simultaneously
There's no toggle to flip. Both English and Spanish parsers are always running. You can ask in English, get the answer in English. You can ask in Spanish, get the answer in Spanish. You can switch mid-session — ask one question in English, the next in Spanish — and Journeyman picks up the language each time from the words you used.
For mixed-language crews, this is the difference between an app that works and an app that doesn't. The foreman asks the question, hands the phone to the framer, who reads the answer. Both see the same numbers. Both understand them.
What gets translated, what doesn't
UI text and system messages translate fully. Formula names are provided in both languages — “Stud Count” and Cantidad de Postes. But trade jargon that's been adopted into Spanish unchanged stays unchanged. Pitch is pitch, not inclinación. OC stays OC. The parser recognizes both the Spanish term and the borrowed English one — whichever the speaker uses first.
That's the test: does this sound like a real bilingual crew talking, or does it sound like a translation engine? We tuned for the first.