Day 104: An Obituary for the Organ Grinder
On a bench in the main square of Tlaxcala, Don Epifanio (A), who played dominoes with the town's late organ grinder for thirty years, is interviewed by Abraham (B), a young reporter writing the organ grinder's obituary (don is a title of respect).
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
- Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Point at (or tap) a Spanish word to see what it means.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Spanish, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day · point at a word to see its meaning
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A
驴Usted es el del peri贸dico? Si茅ntese, que desde el martes no hay nadie que se atreva a ocupar el lugar de Feliciano.
Are you the one from the paper? Sit down: since Tuesday there's nobody who dares to take Feliciano's place.
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B
Gracias, don Epifanio. Tengo cuatrocientas palabras, y en la redacci贸n nadie sabe de 茅l m谩s all谩 del uniforme caqui y la gorra.
Thank you, Don Epifanio. I've got four hundred words, and nobody in the newsroom knows anything about him beyond the khaki uniform and the cap.
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A
No alcanzan ni para una vuelta de manivela. Apenas hubo llegado, all谩 por el ochenta, empe帽贸 su reloj para rentar un cilindro de ocho canciones.
Four hundred won't cover a single turn of the crank. No sooner had he arrived, back around 1980, than he pawned his watch to rent a barrel organ with eight tunes.
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B
驴Ocho canciones en cuarenta a帽os? No hay tlaxcalteca que no se las sepa, empezando por mi abuela.
Eight tunes in forty years? There isn't a soul in Tlaxcala who doesn't know them all, starting with my grandmother.
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A
Hubo una novena: un vals suyo que no cab铆a en el cilindro. Me lo silbaba cuando me ahorcaba la mula de seises.
There was a ninth: a waltz of his own that wouldn't fit on the organ. He used to whistle it to me whenever he left my double six stranded.
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B
驴Y nadie m谩s se lo oy贸? Ser铆a el cierre perfecto: la canci贸n que no le cupo al cilindro.
And nobody else ever heard him whistle it? It'd be the perfect ending: the tune the organ had no room for.
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A
Nadie, ni su hija. P贸ngalo, que para eso lo compuso. Nom谩s le pido que deje fuera de d贸nde ven铆a.
Nobody, not even his daughter. Put it in, that's what he wrote it for. I only ask you to leave out where he came from.
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B
驴No era de aqu铆? En la redacci贸n juran que nunca sali贸 de Tlaxcala.
Wasn't he from here? In the newsroom they swear he never left Tlaxcala.
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A
Era poblano hasta el tu茅tano. No lo publique: aqu铆 lo lloramos como tlaxcalteca, y bastante tenemos con que en internet digan que Tlaxcala no existe.
He was Puebla through and through. Don't publish that: here we're mourning him as one of our own, and it's bad enough having people online say Tlaxcala doesn't exist.
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B
Descuide, en mi nota no va a haber poblano que valga. 驴C贸mo quiere que cierre?
Don't worry, there'll be no Puebla ifs, ands or buts in my piece. How would you like me to end it?
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A
Ponga que no hubo nadie que le ganara al domin贸. Es mentira: yo le ganaba los viernes, pero a un amigo se le deja ganar la 煤ltima.
Say there was nobody who could beat him at dominoes. It's a lie: I used to beat him on Fridays, but you let a friend win the last one.
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