Day 131 of 135

Day 131: The Evening After a Failed Pitch

In Puebla, the evening after investors tore apart Vestida y Alborotada, an app for renting out quinceañera (fifteenth-birthday) dresses, Danae (A), a journalism student, visits its founder, her older sister Adilene (B), and reads her the investors' comments.

How to study this lesson 3 steps
  1. Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
  2. 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.
  3. 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

  1. A

    Llegaron los comentarios de los inversionistas. Te los leo como columnista, para que duelan menos: “He de decir que la fundadora trajo mucho tul y pocos números”.

    The investors' comments have come in. I'll read them to you like a columnist, so they hurt less: “I must say the founder brought plenty of tulle and hardly any numbers.”

  2. B

    ¿“He de decir”? Suenas a editorial de 1950. Eso lo dijo el de los tenis blancos, que se la pasó viendo el celular.

    “I must say”? You sound like a 1950s editorial. That was the one in the white sneakers, who spent the whole time looking at his phone.

  3. A

    Pues tiene razón. Si hubieses traído el costo de tintorería por vestido, no te lo habría preguntado tres veces.

    Well, he's right. If you'd brought the dry-cleaning cost per dress, he wouldn't have asked you three times.

  4. B

    Estaba en un Excel que no alcancé a abrir. Pero el que dijo que ninguna quinceañera quiere un vestido usado no sabe nada.

    It was in a spreadsheet I didn't get around to opening. But the one who said no birthday girl wants a second-hand dress knows nothing.

  5. A

    Yo tampoco habría querido uno rentado. Aunque el mío lo usé una noche y lleva seis años en el clóset de mamá.

    I wouldn't have wanted a rented one either. Although I wore mine for one night and it's been in Mom's closet for six years.

  6. B

    ¡Ahí está! Mamá pagó catorce mil pesos por ese merengue rosa. Si lo hubiese rentado, nos habríamos ido de vacaciones con la diferencia.

    There you go! Mom paid fourteen thousand pesos for that pink meringue. If she'd rented it, we could have gone on vacation with the difference.

  7. A

    Apúntate esa frase. Ahora, la más dura: si las tiendas del centro se pusiesen a rentar por internet, ¿qué le quedaría a tu empresa?

    Write that line down. Now, the toughest one: if the stores downtown started renting online, what would your company have left?

  8. B

    Esa me dolió porque es justa. Ellas tienen el inventario; yo, una plataforma y trescientas mamás en lista de espera.

    That one hurt because it's fair. They've got the stock; I've got a platform and three hundred moms on a waiting list.

  9. A

    Entonces no compitas: hazlas tus proveedoras. Y he de advertirte que uno preguntó si sabías que “vestida y alborotada” se queda la novia a la que dejan plantada.

    Then don't compete: make them your suppliers. And I must warn you that one of them asked if you knew that “vestida y alborotada,” all dressed up with nowhere to go, is how a bride is left when she's stood up.

  10. B

    ¡Claro que lo sé! Por eso lo escogí: con nosotras ninguna se queda así, porque el vestido le llega un día antes.

    Of course I know! That's why I chose it: with us, no girl is left like that, because the dress arrives the day before.

  11. A

    Pues explícalo en la primera diapositiva, que nadie lo entendió. Te reescribo el guion, sin columnista: si hablases así, te correrían antes del vals.

    Well, explain it on the first slide, because nobody got it. I'll rewrite the script for you, minus the columnist: if you talked like that, they'd throw you out before the waltz.

  12. B

    Va. Las cemitas de celebración las invito yo, pero el día que levantemos la ronda, ni uno antes.

    Deal. The celebration cemitas are on me, but on the day we close the funding round, not one day before.

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