Learn about identifying yourself on the phone
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Lizzie: Buenos días, soy Lizzie. |
| Allan: Soy Allan Phone card frustration – 3. |
| Lizzie: Hola hola hola. ¿Qué tal amigos de todo el mundo? |
| Allan: Muy bienvenidos a otra transmisión de SpanishPod101.com el castellano on demand. |
| Lizzie: Today we have the 32nd lesson of the Beginner Series. |
| Allan: My name is Allan La Rue and I'm joined here by the next Shakira, Lizzie Stolear. |
| Lizzie: Me? |
| Allan: Actually, Lizzie, I think that Shakira may possibly be the next Lizzie Stolear. I think she has conditions for that. But guys, hey, in any case, we’re really looking forward to the next song you decide to grace us with. You’ve got a beautiful voice. |
| Lizzie: ¿Dónde estás corazón? Ayer te busqué. Estoy aquí, queriéndote, ahogandome. Ya suficiente. |
| Allan: Ok, ok, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you, Lizzie. Ok, so today brings us to part three of this lesson on using phone cards and public phones. Talk about practical. |
| Lizzie: If it were any more practical, we’d have to make the call for you. |
| Allan: Good one, Liz. So today we’ll listen to Andres as he finally gets through to Paola, but unfortunately Andres has made his call on a noisy street, so it’s hard for both of them to hear each other. |
| Lizzie: Que frustrante. |
| Allan: Hence the title. |
| Lizzie: And for grammar? |
| Allan: Actually we’ve got a great topic today, one that anyone who’s going to place a call can use. And in order to do this, we’re simply going to have to use the verb ser. Pretty easy and very helpful. |
| Lizzie: Sounds like we’re ready to begin. |
| Allan: Just about. |
| Lizzie: And here comes today’s lesson conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| PAOLA: ¿Bueno? |
| ANDRÉS: Paola, hola, soy yo. |
| PAOLA: Andrés... ¿eres tú? No te escucho bien. |
| ANDRÉS: ¡Paola! Estoy en la calle. Es que hay un montón de gente. |
| PAOLA: ¡Ah, por eso es, que hace tanta bulla! |
| ANDRÉS: ¿Cómo?... ¿Qué?... Mejor te llamo después. |
| PAOLA: ¡Sí, sí, mejor! |
| PAOLA: Hello? |
| ANDRÉS: Paola, hey, it's me. |
| PAOLA: Andrés... it that you? I can't hear you very well. |
| ANDRÉS: Paola! I'm on the street. The thing is that there's a ton of people. |
| PAOLA: Ah, that's why, they're making a lot of noise. |
| ANDRÉS: What?... Huh?... I'd better call you later on. |
| PAOLA: Yeah, yeah, that'd be better. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Allan: Man, Andres must be ticked. I mean all he’s trying to do is make a simple phone call. |
| Lizzie: Yeah, but you know how this city can be. |
| Allan: It’s true. Well, there’s some little pockets of tranquility. Lima is - well, how should we say? - a lively city? I mean there’s life everywhere. |
| Lizzie: And lots of noise too. |
| Allan: Hey, Liz, where do you think one of the noisiest places in Lima is? ¿Dónde queda el sitio más bullicioso de Lima? |
| Lizzie: toda Lima es bulliciosa. All of Lima is noisy. |
| Allan: I know it seems that way sometimes. It’s such a big, big, busy city, but come on you have to admit that there are some very, very quiet neighborhoods. Well, now that we’ve gone through the conversation, what do you say we run through some of the vocabulary. |
| Lizzie: Sounds like a good idea. |
| Allan: So let’s begin with… |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Lizzie: escuchar |
| Allan: To listen, to hear. |
| Lizzie: escuchar, escuchar |
| Allan: Next we’ll look at… |
| Lizzie: montón |
| Allan: Ton, lot, a great quantity. |
| Lizzie: montón, montón |
| Allan: Now we have… |
| Lizzie: gente |
| Allan: People. |
| Lizzie: gente, gente |
| Allan: And then… |
| Lizzie: tanto, tanta |
| Allan: So much, so many. |
| Lizzie: tanto, tanta. tanto, tanta |
| Allan: And then… |
| Lizzie: bulla |
| Allan: Noise, racket. |
| Lizzie: bulla, bulla |
| Allan: Next we’ll look at… |
| Lizzie: mejor |
| Allan: Better. |
| Lizzie: mejor, mejor |
| Allan: Thanks as always, Lizzie. Now, a quick pronunciation tip. Today’s word, montón. |
| Lizzie: montón |
| Allan: You can hear how the stress falls on the second syllable - montón. |
| Lizzie: montón |
| Allan: This accent is written, as well as spoken. M-O-N-T-O with an accent, and then the N. |
| Lizzie: Un montón. |
| Allan: Alright, guys, so let’s get right into the usage by staying with the same word. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Lizzie: Ok, in today’s conversation this came up. |
| Allan: Right. As Andres, surrounded by noisy people, tries to explain to Paola why it’s so hard to hear. He says Es que hay un montón de gente.. |
| Lizzie: Esta palabra se usa para referir a un número o monto considerable. |
| Allan: Como por ejemplo un montón de gente. Como dice Andres. |
| Lizzie: Or you could say hay un montón de vuelos, “there are a ton of flights”. |
| Allan: Hey, good translation. However, we should point out that when we translate montón as “ton”, we’re translating it in its figurative sense. This is one of the best parts of the language, the different layers. |
| Lizzie: Alright, moving right along. |
| Allan: Well, look at the way Paola reacts to this explanation. She says ¡Ah, por eso es, que hace tanta bulla!. |
| Lizzie: What’s the focus here? |
| Allan: Well, two words: tanta and bulla. |
| Lizzie: Let’s start with tanta. |
| Allan: Ok. So here it’s being used as an adjective. And Lizzie, if it’s an adjective, then which noun does it modify? |
| Lizzie: Bulla. |
| Allan: Ok, y podemos observar que el adjetivo y sustantivo concuerdan en número como también en género. . |
| Lizzie: Singular femenino. |
| Allan: So the masculine singular form is tanto. This is the one you’ll find in the dictionary. What this really means is “so much” or “so many”, and it can be used in comparisons to mean “as much” or “as many”. |
| Lizzie: Sounds like a useful word. |
| Allan: La uso tanto. |
| Lizzie: ¿Tanto la usas? |
| Allan: Si, tanto. |
| Lizzie: So what about the noun bulla? |
| Allan: Este sustantivo se refiere al ruido producido por muchas personas. |
| Lizzie: Claro, pero también puede significar la concurrencia de mucha gente. |
| Allan: So we see that bulla can mean “noise”, but it really also has the sense of bustle, of there being lots of people in the same place, making some noise. |
| Lizzie: Y para la próxima yo quiero escoger. |
| Allan: Escoge. |
| Lizzie: Estudiemos la palabra mejor. |
| Allan: Great idea. This one came up twice today. |
| Lizzie: How is it being used? |
| Allan: Basically, as an adverb. |
| Lizzie: Un adverbio. |
| Allan: Así es. Lo que pasa es que la palabra mejor puede denotar la idea de preferencia. |
| Lizzie: For example? |
| Allan: Por ejemplo, mejor te llamo después en vez de competir con esta bulla. |
| Lizzie: Ok, now I see. |
| Allan: Can you think of another example? |
| Lizzie: Mejor quiero almorzar tarde que cenar temprano. |
| Allan: You’re hungry, Liz? I mean that means “I’d rather have a late lunch than an early dinner.” |
| Lizzie: So when we use the word mejor as an adverb this way, we express preference. |
| Allan: And this idea of preference usually gets translated with the words “would” and “rather”. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Allan: Onto the grammar. |
| Lizzie: La gramática. |
| Allan: [inaudible 00:06:54] of the language, guys. So for today’s topic, we’ve got a totally practical point for you. One that I guarantee will come in handy sometime soon. |
| Lizzie: You’ve got to love the confidence. |
| Allan: Seriously, guys, when I tell you the topic you’re going to think, “Come on, I know this” but uh-huh, there’s a lot more to it than you think. |
| Lizzie: So what’s the topic? |
| Allan: We’re going to look at how to use the verb ser on the telephone in order to identify yourself. |
| Lizzie: Really? |
| Allan: Hey, not even you believe me. Alright, I’ll just have to show you then. Check this out. If we’re speaking in English and you call me, how could you let me know that it’s you on the other line? |
| Lizzie: I could say, “Hey, Allan. It’s Lizzie.” |
| Allan: Ok, and now if we look a bit closer at the English construction here, what is the verb being used? |
| Lizzie: To be? |
| Allan: And what’s the person and number that when we say “is” |
| Lizzie: It’s the third person singular. |
| Allan: And now, in Spanish, how would you form the same expression? How would you say “It’s Lizzie”? |
| Lizzie: Hola Allan, soy Lizzie. |
| Allan: ¿Y el verbo aqui es? |
| Lizzie: El verbo es ser. |
| Allan: ¿Y la persona y el número? |
| Lizzie: Primera persona singular. |
| Allan: So here it’s the first person singular. Literally, you’re saying “I am Lizzie”. |
| Lizzie: Hey, that is pretty different. |
| Allan: Yeah, this is so hard to get used to as a non-native speaker. I mean look at the first two lines. First Gabriel says soy yo, literally “I am I”, but the correct translation is “It’s me”. |
| Lizzie: And then in the second line Paola asks eres tu? |
| Allan: Again, literally, “Are you you?” But figuratively “Is that you?” So if I call someone on the phone and I want to identify myself, I say Hola, soy Allan. |
| Lizzie: It’s interesting to see how these constructions differ between English and Spanish. |
| Allan: De acuerdo. |
Outro |
| Lizzie: Well, this is as far as we’ll go for today. |
| Allan: Lizzie, thanks again for another great show. Step by step we’re making a move. |
| Lizzie: And if you think you’re ready for an even greater challenge, check out the lower intermediate series with Katy and Ana. |
| Allan: So in the words of Herman Hess, “If you really want it and you work at it, you’ll get it.” And keep learning, guys. It’s worth it. Spanish will make it easier to travel to meet people, to find work, it will improve your understanding of another culture. Learning a language will open the door to a very enriching experience. Take care. Chao. |
| Lizzie: Chao. |
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