Day 66: A Tsotsil Radio Show on Campus
At the Intercultural University of Chiapas in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Gabriel (A), a first-year student from Mexico City, meets Eliseo (B), an older student who hosts a radio show in Tsotsil, a Mayan language of the Chiapas Highlands.
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
Oye, ¿tú eres el del programa en tsotsil? Me encantaría echarte la mano.
Hey, are you the one with the Tsotsil show? I'd love to give you a hand.
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B
Bienvenido, siempre faltan manos. Eso sí, todo es en tsotsil, de principio a fin.
Welcome, we're always short of hands. Just so you know, it's all in Tsotsil, from start to finish.
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A
¿Y si traduzco una parte al español? Así tendríamos mucha más audiencia.
What if I translate part of it into Spanish? That way we'd have a much bigger audience.
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B
Eso es justo lo que no hacemos: la estación fue fundada por hablantes de tsotsil para difundir su lengua.
That's exactly what we don't do: the station was founded by Tsotsil speakers to spread their language.
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A
Pero casi todos los jóvenes de los Altos hablan español. ¿No sería más práctico un programa bilingüe?
But nearly all the young people in the Highlands speak Spanish. Wouldn't a bilingual show be more practical?
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B
Por eso: el español lo oyen hasta en la sopa. Si de niño no hubiera escuchado radio en tsotsil, habría olvidado mi lengua.
That's why: they hear Spanish everywhere they turn. If I hadn't listened to radio in Tsotsil as a child, I'd have forgotten my language.
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A
Entonces no traduzco nada: mejor enséñame tsotsil, y a cambio te cargo los cables.
Then I won't translate a thing: teach me Tsotsil instead, and in return I'll carry your cables.
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