Day 142: Teaching the Baby Maya
At home in Valladolid, Yucatán, YazmÃn (A), who is expecting the couple's first child and grew up speaking Maya with her grandmother, tells her husband Raúl (B) how she plans to talk to the baby.
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
Ya lo decidÃ: al bebé le voy a hablar en maya desde el primer dÃa, como hacÃa mi abuela conmigo.
I've made up my mind: I'm going to speak Maya to the baby from day one, the way my grandmother did with me.
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B
Suena bonito, pero si llega a la primaria con el español a medias, va a ir atrasado.
It sounds lovely, but if our child starts elementary school with half-baked Spanish, they'll be behind.
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A
El español se le va a pegar en la calle; el maya no. Cuanto más lo escuche de chiquito, mejor lo va a hablar.
Spanish will rub off on them out in the street; Maya won't. The more of it they hear as a baby, the better they'll speak it.
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B
Mi papá también lo hablaba, y en la escuela lo castigaban por eso, razón por la cual nunca nos lo enseñó.
My dad spoke it too, and they punished him for it at school, which is why he never taught it to us.
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A
Eso era antes, amor, y por ese estigma se está perdiendo: lengua que no se habla en casa, se muere.
That was then, honey, and because of that stigma it's dying out: a language nobody speaks at home dies.
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B
¿Y si se hace bolas con dos idiomas y tarda más en hablar? Eso le pasó al hijo de mi prima.
And what if two languages confuse them and they're slower to talk? That happened to my cousin's son.
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A
Revolverlos un tiempo es normal. Además, es la única herencia de mi abuela, aparte de lo terca.
Mixing them up for a while is normal. Besides, it's the only thing my grandmother left me, apart from being stubborn.
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B
Eso sà se nota. Pero dime, ¿qué hago yo cuando ustedes dos se secreteen en maya y no entienda nada?
That does show. But tell me, what do I do when you two whisper secrets in Maya and I can't understand a thing?
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A
Pues aprendes, como el bebé. Y cuanto más te quejes, más palabras te voy a enseñar por dÃa.
Well, you learn, like the baby. And the more you complain, the more words a day I'll teach you.
Your progress is saved in this browser only, with no sign-up. The course page and the menu show where you left off. Well done! Next up: Day 143: New Glasses for Myopia
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