Day 63: A Quinceañera Fight, Novel-Style
Over coffee in Atlixco, Puebla, Esmeralda (A) tells her best friend Amanda (B) about the fight at her cousin's quinceañera, the fifteenth-birthday party for which each madrina, or godmother, pays for one part.
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
Prepárate, que esto merece capítulo aparte. Terminado el vals, mi mamá, la madrina del pastel, se levantó para el brindis.
Brace yourself: this deserves a chapter of its own. Once the waltz was over, my mom, the cake godmother, stood up to give the toast.
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B
Ay, no, ya sé por dónde va esto. Cuéntamelo con adornos de novela, como tú sabes.
Oh no, I can see where this is going. Tell it with all the novel-style trimmings, the way you do.
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A
Agradeció hasta a la madrina de la muñeca. A mi tía Hilda, la mamá de la festejada, ni la mencionó.
She thanked even the doll godmother. My aunt Hilda, the birthday girl's mother, she didn't even mention.
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B
Uy, en cualquier familia poblana eso es declaración de guerra. ¿Y tu tía?
Ooh, in any family in Puebla that's a declaration of war. And your aunt?
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A
Apenas hubo terminado mi madre su brindis, cuando mi tía, pálida cual heroína de folletín, le arrebató el micrófono: “Ese pastel es de Costco”.
Scarcely had my mother finished her toast when my aunt, pale as the heroine of a dime novel, snatched the microphone from her: “That cake is from Costco.”
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B
¡No! ¿Enfrente de los chambelanes? ¿Y tu prima qué cara puso?
No! In front of all her escorts? And how did your cousin take it?
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A
Emma, ajena al drama, iba en su segunda rebanada. Y cuando el DJ hubo comprendido la gravedad del momento, puso “Payaso de rodeo”.
Emma, oblivious to the drama, was on her second slice. And once the DJ had grasped the gravity of the moment, he put on the line-dance classic “Payaso de rodeo.”
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B
Qué narradora tan fina. Pero ya sin folletín: el domingo, en la comida familiar, ¿de qué lado vas a estar?
What a refined narrator. But no melodrama now: on Sunday, at the family lunch, whose side are you going to be on?
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A
La narradora es omnisciente y neutral. Además, omití un detalle: el pastel me lo encargaron a mí, y la pastelería ya había cerrado.
The narrator is omniscient and neutral. Besides, I left out one detail: the cake was my job, and the bakery had already closed.
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B
¡No manches! Entonces eres la villana del capítulo. Y apenas se entere tu mamá, el próximo brindis te lo dedica a ti.
No way! So you're the villain of the chapter. And the minute your mom finds out, her next toast will be dedicated to you.
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