Day 21: Seating Two Feuding Aunts
At a café in San Miguel de Allende, where she is getting married next month, Paulette (A) goes over her seating plan with her best friend Frida (B), who works in protocol at the Foreign Ministry.
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
Tú que acomodas embajadores, sálvame: mis tÃas Amalia y Carmela no se hablan desde 2011.
You seat ambassadors for a living, so save me: my aunts Amalia and Carmela haven't spoken since 2011.
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B
¿Las de los romeritos salados? Uy, eso no es una boda, es una cumbre bilateral.
The ones with the salty romeritos? Ooh, that's not a wedding, that's a bilateral summit.
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A
Esas. Y mi tÃa Amalia anda diciendo que la invité por compromiso: si la siento lejos, le doy la razón.
Those two. And Aunt Amalia's been going around saying I only invited her out of duty: if I seat her far away, I'll prove her right.
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B
SimetrÃa: dos mesas a la misma distancia de la de honor, una a cada lado de la pista.
Symmetry: two tables the same distance from the head table, one on each side of the dance floor.
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A
¿Y quién se queda a la derecha? Mi tÃa Carmela viene diciendo desde diciembre que le toca por ser la mayor.
And who gets the right-hand side? Aunt Carmela has been saying since December that it's hers because she's the eldest.
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B
Que se quede con la derecha, siempre y cuando a Amalia le des algo que pese igual: el brindis.
Let her have the right, as long as you give Amalia something that carries the same weight: the toast.
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A
¿El micrófono a mi tÃa Amalia? Capaz que cuenta lo de los romeritos delante de trescientos invitados.
The microphone to Aunt Amalia? She's liable to tell the romeritos story in front of three hundred guests.
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B
Nadie sabotea una fiesta donde le toca brindar. Eso sÃ, pÃdele el texto antes, como a cualquier canciller.
Nobody sabotages a party where they're giving the toast. But ask her for the text beforehand, as you would any foreign minister.
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A
Espérate, me escribe mi mamá: mi tÃa Amalia pide sentarse junto a Carmela, para no perderla de vista.
Hang on, Mom's texting me: Aunt Amalia is asking to sit next to Carmela, so she can keep an eye on her.
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B
Eso ya no es protocolo, es El Padrino: a los amigos, cerca, y a los enemigos, más cerca.
That's not protocol anymore, that's The Godfather: keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
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