Day 131: Two Reviewers Said No
At a café in Guanajuato, Irene (A), a doctoral student, meets her close friend Yadira (B), who is also doing a doctorate, the day after a journal turned down Irene's first article.
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
Me rechazaron el artículo, Yadira: ocho meses de trabajo, y la revista me lo regresó en tres semanas.
They rejected my article, Yadira: eight months' work, and the journal sent it back in three weeks.
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B
Bienvenida al club: a mí me rechazaron los dos primeros. A ver, léeme los dictámenes, sin dramatizar.
Welcome to the club: they rejected my first two. OK, read me the reviewers' reports, and no drama.
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A
El primero dijo que el tema era relevante, pero que la muestra era chica y que parecía un capítulo de tesis.
The first one said the topic was relevant, but that the sample was small and it read like a thesis chapter.
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B
Eso se lo dicen a todos: es la frase de cajón de cualquier revisor con prisa. ¿Y el otro?
They say that to everyone: it's the stock phrase of any reviewer in a hurry. And the other one?
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A
Ese fue despiadado: dijo que no quedaba claro cómo había elegido a mis entrevistadas y que me faltaban citas.
That one was merciless: they said it wasn't clear how I'd chosen the women I interviewed, and that I didn't cite enough.
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B
Lo de las citas, ignóralo. Pero lo otro es serio: si no sé cómo escogiste a esas mujeres, no puedo confiar en tus conclusiones.
Ignore the bit about citations. But the other point is serious: if I don't know how you picked those women, I can't trust your conclusions.
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A
Las conseguí por conocidos de mi tía, y me dio pena ponerlo, porque se veía poco serio.
I found them through my aunt's acquaintances, and I was embarrassed to put that, because it looked unprofessional.
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B
Se llama muestreo de bola de nieve, y es perfectamente válido. Lo que no se vale es disimularlo como si fuera trampa.
It's called snowball sampling, and it's perfectly valid. What's not OK is covering it up as if it were cheating.
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A
Si lo hubiera explicado, me habrían pedido cambios en vez de rechazarlo. En la versión que mande a otra revista, mi tía sale en los agradecimientos.
If I'd explained it, they'd have asked for changes instead of rejecting it. In the version I send to another journal, my aunt goes in the acknowledgments.
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