Day 80: Our Printer Has Tenure
In the History department of a university in Campeche, Marisela (A), the department chair, shows Carolina (B), a new professor, around on her first morning.
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
Bienvenida a Historia, Carolina. Te presento a nuestra integrante más antigua: la impresora, la única con plaza definitiva.
Welcome to History, Carolina. Let me introduce you to our longest-serving member: the printer, the only one here with tenure.
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B
¿Plaza definitiva? Ah, ¿quiere decir que ya no se puede dar de baja del inventario? Sí se ve algo achacosa.
Tenure? Oh, you mean it can't be written off the inventory anymore? It does look a bit decrepit.
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A
Inamovible, como todo aquí. Aprobado el formato, se imprime; impreso, se atasca; atascado, se reporta a Soporte, que viene en marzo.
Irremovable, like everything here. Once the form is approved, it's printed; once printed, it jams; once jammed, it's reported to IT Support, who come in March.
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B
¿Hasta marzo? Entonces mejor pido la reparación de una vez. ¿Dónde encuentro el formato?
Not until March? Then I'd better request the repair right away. Where do I find the form?
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A
En la impresora, naturalmente: el formato para reportarla se imprime en ella misma. Es un trámite cíclico, como el calendario maya.
In the printer, naturally: the form to report it is printed on the printer itself. It's a cyclical procedure, like the Maya calendar.
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B
¡Así nunca se va a poder reportar! Terminando el recorrido, lo imprimo en la biblioteca, si usted me da permiso.
That way it can never be reported! When we've finished the tour, I'll print it in the library, if you'll let me.
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A
¡Qué ternura! Allá imprimen en tamaño carta, y el formato va en oficio. Mejor pasemos a la cafetera, que es la que manda.
How sweet! They print on letter size there, and the form has to be legal size. Let's move on to the coffee machine instead: she's the one in charge.
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B
¿La cafetera manda? ¿O sea que aquí todo se decide con el café y no en las juntas de academia?
The coffee machine's in charge? You mean everything here is decided over coffee, not in the faculty meetings?
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A
Más o menos. Servido el café, se acaba cualquier debate: después del primer trago, nadie tiene ánimo de contradecir a nadie.
More or less. Once the coffee's served, every debate is over: after the first sip, nobody has the heart to contradict anybody.
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B
Ya voy entendiendo. Propongo que, vista su antigüedad, nombren a la impresora profesora emérita, y que por fin se jubile con honores.
I'm starting to get it. I propose that, in view of her length of service, the printer be made professor emerita, and finally retire with honors.
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A
Me encanta. Redáctalo en tamaño oficio, por supuesto, y entrégalo por triplicado. Aquí lo engorroso es tradición.
I love it. Write it up on legal-size paper, of course, and submit it in triplicate. Here, red tape is a tradition.
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B
Con gusto, doctora. Pero lo escribo a mano, no vaya a ser que la impresora se entere y lo atasque por despecho.
With pleasure, Doctor. But I'll write it by hand, in case the printer finds out and jams it out of spite.
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