Day 82: Voting on Our Colonia's Budget
In the Colonia Portales in Mexico City, three friends and neighbors, Ingrid (A), Israel (B) and Esmeralda (C), talk about the vote on how to spend their colonia's share of the participatory budget; the alcaldía is the borough government.
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
Oigan, la consulta del presupuesto participativo cierra el domingo y no sé por qué proyecto votar. ¿Ya decidieron?
Listen, the participatory budget vote closes on Sunday and I don't know which project to vote for. Have you two decided yet?
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B
Yo, por la cancha: está toda cuarteada y es el único lugar donde se juntan los chavos.
The court, for me: it's cracked all over and it's the only place where the kids get together.
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C
Revisando las once propuestas, con todo y costos, encontré un detalle por el cual cambié de opinión.
Going through all eleven proposals, costs and all, I found a detail that made me change my mind.
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B
A ver, señora contralora, ilumínanos. Ya sé que vas a salir con lo de las lámparas del parque.
Go on then, Madam Auditor, enlighten us. I already know you're going to bring up the park lights.
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C
Pues sí: la cancha está en ese mismo parque. ¿De qué sirve arreglarla si en invierno oscurece antes de las siete?
Well, yes: the court's in that same park. What's the point of fixing it if it gets dark before seven in winter?
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A
Tiene sentido. Mi mamá ya ni cruza por ahí cuando sale del trabajo, porque está oscurísimo.
That makes sense. My mom doesn't even cut through there anymore after work, because it's pitch-dark.
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B
Bueno, me rindo: voto por el alumbrado. Cerrada la consulta, tú nos organizas para que la alcaldía cumpla.
All right, I give up: I'm voting for the lighting. Once the vote's closed, you're organizing us so the alcaldía keeps its word.
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C
Hecho. Y el año que entra proponemos la cancha, para la cual, créanme, ya hasta hice el croquis.
Done. And next year we put forward the court, for which, believe me, I've even drawn up a plan already.
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