Day 38: An Eight-Year-Old Pitches Horchata
At home in Campeche, Karla (A), a bank loan officer, hears out her eight-year-old son Ethan (B), who wants to sell horchata, a sweet rice drink, in the park on Sunday.
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
A ver, señor empresario: tienes cinco minutos, como cualquier cliente. ¿Cuál es el negocio?
OK, Mr. Businessman: you've got five minutes, like any other customer. What's the business?
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B
Vender horchata el domingo en el parque de San Román. Ahà no hay nadie que venda nada de tomar.
Selling horchata on Sunday in San Román park. There's nobody there selling anything to drink.
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A
¿Y por qué crees que no hay nadie que la venda? A veces un hueco en el mercado es un hueco sin clientes.
And why do you think there's nobody selling it? Sometimes a gap in the market is a gap with no customers.
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B
SÃ hay clientes: el de los elotes le echa chile a todo y no vende ni agua para apagarlo.
There are customers: the corn man puts chili on everything and doesn't even sell water to put it out.
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A
Nada mal. Pero con este calor, el hielo se te derrite en el camino, y horchata aguada no compra nadie.
Not bad. But in this heat your ice will melt on the way, and nobody buys watery horchata.
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B
Por eso congelo la mitad de la horchata en cubitos. Derretido el hielo, sigue siendo horchata.
That's why I'll freeze half the horchata into cubes. Once the ice has melted, it's still horchata.
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A
Muy listo. ¿Y los costos? Porque me late que el capital lo pongo yo.
Very clever. And the costs? Because I have a feeling I'm the one putting up the capital.
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B
Todo sale en ciento cincuenta y vendo cuarenta vasos a quince. Vendidos los vasos, te pago y me quedan cuatrocientos cincuenta.
It all comes to a hundred and fifty, and I'll sell forty cups at fifteen. Once the cups are sold, I pay you back and I've got four hundred and fifty left.
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A
¿Y si llueve? Sin garantÃa no hay crédito, y tu alcancÃa está insolvente: treinta y dos pesos y un botón.
And what if it rains? No collateral, no credit, and your piggy bank is insolvent: thirty-two pesos and a button.
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B
Si llueve, se la vendo a mi abuelita. Y ella presta sin garantÃa, nomás con un beso.
If it rains, I'll sell it to Grandma. And she lends without collateral, just for a kiss.
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A
Crédito aprobado, sin intereses, antes de que esa prestamista me gane al cliente. El primer vaso, eso sÃ, es para el banco.
Loan approved, interest-free, before that moneylender steals my customer. The first cup, though, goes to the bank.
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