Day 125: Vanilla Growers Weigh an Export Deal
At a meeting of a vanilla growers' cooperative near Papantla, Veracruz, Vicente (A), the chair, discusses a foreign buyer's offer with two members, Ana María (B) and Ulises (C), and Carlota (D), a young agronomist.
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
Compañeros, al grano: una empresa francesa ofrece casi el doble por kilo, siempre y cuando le vendamos la vainilla verde.
Friends, let's get to the point: a French company is offering almost twice as much per kilo, provided we sell them the vanilla green.
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B
¿Verde? Si se la vendiéramos sin curar, perderíamos justo lo que nos distingue: el beneficio tradicional, al sol y sin prisas.
Green? If we sold it to them uncured, we'd lose exactly what sets us apart: the traditional cure, in the sun and unhurried.
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C
Perdone, pero de tradición no vive uno. Venimos vendiéndoles a coyotes que pagan una miseria, y los muchachos se nos van.
Forgive me, but you can't live on tradition. We've been selling to middlemen who pay a pittance, and our young people keep leaving.
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A
Por eso invité a la ingeniera, que ya revisó el contrato con lupa. ¿Qué implicaría para nuestras parcelas?
That's why I invited our agronomist, who has already gone through the contract with a fine-tooth comb. What would it mean for our plots?
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D
Piden certificación orgánica, lo cual es factible, y que cortemos dos meses antes. Vengo observando que la vaina tierna pierde casi todo el aroma.
They want organic certification, which is doable, and for us to pick two months early. I've been noticing that unripe pods lose almost all their aroma.
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C
¿Y eso a nosotros qué? Si la quieren tierna, allá ellos: nos pagan por kilo, no por aroma.
And what's that to us? If they want it unripe, that's their problem: we're paid by the kilo, not by the aroma.
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D
No es tan sencillo, señor: la venderían como vainilla de Papantla, y si saliese de mala calidad, se desprestigiaría toda la región.
It's not that simple, sir: they'd sell it as Papantla vanilla, and if it turned out to be poor quality, the whole region's name would suffer.
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B
Y ojo: su representante anda diciendo por todo el Totonacapan que ya firmamos, para presionar a las demás cooperativas.
And watch out: their representative is going around the whole Totonacapan saying we've already signed, to put pressure on the other cooperatives.
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A
Pues se lo dejamos claro: si aceptase nuestras fechas de corte, firmaríamos mañana; si no, que busque su vainilla en Madagascar.
Then we'll make it clear to him: if he accepted our picking dates, we'd sign tomorrow; if not, he can look for his vanilla in Madagascar.
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