Day 85: Wittgenstein Spoken With Voseo
During a seminar break at the UNAM's Faculty of Philosophy and Literature in Mexico City, Marcela (A), a doctoral student, challenges Facundo (B), a visiting professor from Argentina, over something he said in the session.
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
Doctor, con todo respeto, lo de la sesión no me convenció. ¿De veras cree que pensamos igual en cualquier idioma?
Professor, with all due respect, what you said in the session didn't convince me. Do you really believe we think the same in any language?
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B
Mirá, vos sabés que para Wittgenstein los límites de mi lenguaje significan los límites de mi mundo. Yo creo que exageraba.
Look, you know that for Wittgenstein the limits of my language mean the limits of my world. I think he was exaggerating.
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A
Pues usted mismo es mi mejor argumento: lleva tres semanas en México y no ha dicho “tú” ni una vez.
Well, you yourself are my best argument: you've been in Mexico for three weeks and you haven't said “tú” once.
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B
Eso es costumbre, no pensamiento. Que yo diga “vos pensás” y no “tú piensas” no cambia lo que pienso, che.
That's habit, not thought. My saying “vos pensás” rather than “tú piensas” doesn't change what I think, che.
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A
El voseo es lo de menos. Lo interesante es que usted me habla de vos y yo a usted, de usted.
The voseo is the least of it. What's interesting is that you call me vos and I call you usted.
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B
En Buenos Aires mis alumnos me vosean desde el primer día. ¿Vos creés que por eso piensan distinto?
In Buenos Aires my students call me vos from day one. Do you believe that makes them think differently?
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A
Claro. Es ahí donde está la diferencia: en español no puedo hablarle sin decidir antes cuánta distancia hay entre nosotros.
Of course. That's exactly where the difference lies: in Spanish I can't speak to you without first deciding how much distance there is between us.
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B
Un inglés también calcula la distancia; solo que no la anuncia en cada verbo. Eso es hablar distinto, no pensar distinto.
An Englishman gauges the distance too; he just doesn't announce it in every verb. That's speaking differently, not thinking differently.
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A
Jakobson le diría que las lenguas difieren en lo que obligan a decir, no en lo que permiten. Y la mía me obliga a pensarlo.
Jakobson would tell you that languages differ in what they oblige you to say, not in what they allow. And mine obliges me to think about it.
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B
Me ganaste con mi propio voseo. Te concedo medio punto, pero fue Jakobson quien lo ganó, no vos.
You've beaten me with my own voseo. I'll give you half a point, but it was Jakobson who won it, not you.
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A
Acepto el medio punto, doctor. Para el otro medio, después del receso hábleme de tú, a ver si sigue pensando igual.
I'll take the half point, Professor. For the other half, call me tú after the break, and let's see if you still think the same.
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