Day 18 of 160

Day 18: A Typo on My Birth Certificate

At home in Morelia, Alexis Ibarra (A), 17, who is applying to college, shows his father César (B) a problem with his birth certificate; the CURP is Mexico's personal ID number.

How to study this lesson 3 steps
  1. Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
  2. 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.
  3. 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

  1. A

    Pa, la universidad me rechazó la solicitud: mi acta no coincide con mi CURP.

    Dad, the university's rejected my application: my birth certificate doesn't match my CURP.

  2. B

    A ver, enséñamela. ¡No puede ser, aquí dice “Ybarra”, con y griega!

    Let me see it. It can't be, it says “Ybarra,” with a Y!

  3. A

    ¿Y en diecisiete años nadie lo notó? ¿Tú no la revisaste cuando me registraste?

    And nobody noticed in seventeen years? Didn't you check it when you registered me?

  4. B

    La verdad, no. Sería viernes en la tarde, el del Registro andaría despistado y yo firmé sin leer.

    To be honest, no. It must have been a Friday afternoon, the registrar was probably miles away, and I signed without reading it.

  5. A

    Si la hubieras leído, nos habríamos ahorrado este lío. ¿Y ahora qué, me quedo sin universidad?

    If you'd read it, we'd have saved ourselves this mess. So what now, no college for me?

  6. B

    Claro que no. Mañana llevamos tu acta, la mía y mi INE al Registro Civil para que la corrijan.

    Of course not. Tomorrow we'll take your certificate, mine and my voter ID card to the civil registry so they can correct it.

  7. A

    Va, pero esta vez lees todo antes de firmar, ¿eh?

    OK, but this time you read everything before you sign, all right?

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