Day 58: The Four-Day Week on Every Screen
In a TV store in Irapuato, Guanajuato, Christopher (A), a young customer choosing a TV, and Maribel (B), a salesclerk, watch a debate on the four-day workweek that is showing on every screen.
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
Oiga, ¿por qué pasan el mismo debate en todas las pantallas? Vine por una tele, no por un sermón.
Excuse me, why is the same debate on every screen? I came for a TV, not a sermon.
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B
Órdenes del gerente, joven. Vengo oyendo ese pleito desde que abrimos; ya me lo sé de memoria.
Manager's orders, young man. I've been listening to that argument since we opened; I know it by heart now.
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A
¿Y quién va ganando? Andan diciendo que trabajando menos se produce más, y eso me suena a cuento.
And who's winning? People are going around saying that working less, you produce more, and that sounds like a bunch of baloney to me.
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B
El de corbata soltó “al que madruga, Dios lo ayuda”, y la sindicalista, que no por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano.
The man in the tie came out with “the early bird catches the worm,” and the union rep with “getting up early won't make the sun rise any sooner.”
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A
Yo estoy con el de corbata: si con dos días de descanso el lunes nadie sirve, imagínese con tres.
I'm with the man in the tie: if nobody's any use on a Monday after two days off, imagine after three.
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B
Cada quien habla de la feria como le va en ella: yo trabajo seis días parada.
We all judge the fair by how it treats us: I work six days a week on my feet.
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A
Ahí sí me ganó. Pero a lo que vine: ¿la de cincuenta pulgadas o la de sesenta y cinco?
You've got me there. But back to what I came for: the fifty-inch or the sixty-five?
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B
Con la semana de cuatro días, la grande, para tres días de futbol. Si no, la de cincuenta, que está en oferta: más vale pájaro en mano.
With a four-day week, the big one, for three days of soccer. If not, the fifty-inch, which is on sale: a bird in the hand.
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A
Me llevo la de cincuenta, pues. Me convenció en cinco minutos, a puro refrán y sin corbata.
I'll take the fifty-inch, then. You won me over in five minutes, with nothing but proverbs and no tie.
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B
Ahí tiene la productividad que anda buscando el de corbata: una tele en cinco minutos. Ya me gané el viernes libre.
There's the productivity the man in the tie is after: a TV sold in five minutes. I've already earned my Friday off.
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