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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natalia: Buenos días, me llamo Natalia. |
| Carlos: What’s going on? I’m Carlos. |
| Natalia: “What a shame.” |
| Carlos: Here comes número dos. |
| Natalia: So how are you doing with this higher level? |
| Carlos: It’s a little bit of pressure but I work well under these conditions. |
| Natalia: Well, learning is using. |
| Carlos: That I know it. Maybe this beginner series is God’s way of telling me to step up. |
| Natalia: No, just Joe and I telling you to step up. |
| Carlos: Okay, that’s the truth, Naty, it’s not right, you both won’t leave me alone about that, you are my eyes. Okay, ouch. All right. Where are- I’m serious. |
| Natalia: I just poked his eyeballs. |
| Carlos: For some reason, he just poked my eyeballs. All right, where are we today? |
| Natalia: Buying sandals. |
| Carlos: Sandals? |
| Natalia: Yes, some people are happy when they wear sandals. |
| Carlos: Actually audience, funny little tidbit on my partner in crime right here, I have seen Natalia wear shoes only once in the last six months. |
| Natalia: Because I only wear flip flops because they are great. I know honestly. |
| Carlos: It’s freezing out here! |
| Natalia: What! So what? Thing is I’m one of the few girls in this world who does not like buying shoes. So I just go for flip flops because it’s like “I need black, these will do”. They are all the same. |
| Carlos: You know, it’s a little funny tidbit that you might want to know. So listen, I’m going to ask you to explain something else to us, Naty. |
| Natalia: What’s that? |
| Carlos: “Tan” and “como”. |
| Natalia: What about them? |
| Carlos: Just not clear how to use them in a combination. |
| Natalia: Okay, we’ll wait until the grammar section and we’ll sort that out. |
| Carlos: Cool, let’s get down to it. |
| DIALOGUE |
| DAVID: ¿A cuánto están las sandalias? |
| JULIA: Están a doscientos colones, pero puedo dejárselas a ciento noventa. |
| DAVID: ¿De qué son? ¿De oro? No valen más que ciento cincuenta. |
| JULIA: Ah! Es que todo el detalle es hecho a mano. No son de fábrica. |
| DAVID: Sí, pero no son tan finas como otras que he visto. ¿Qué tal ciento sesenta? |
| JULIA: Ay, no me sale. Mire, le voy a hacer un descuento especial para que se las lleve. Puedo dejárselas a ciento ochenta, pero nada menos. |
| DAVID: ¡Que lástima! Solo tengo ciento setenta. |
| JULIA: Bueno, está bien, ciento setenta. ¿Le doy una bolsa? |
| DAVID: How much are the sandals? |
| JULIA: They're two hundred Colones, but I can give them to you for one hundred and ninety. |
| DAVID: What are they made of? Gold? They're not worth more than one hundred and fifty. |
| JULIA: The thing is that all the detail is handmade. They're not from a factory. |
| DAVID: Yeah, but they're not as nice as others that I've seen. How about one hundred and sixty? |
| JULIA: Ah, that won't work. Look, I'm going to give you a special discount, so that you take them with you. I can let them go for one hundred and eighty, but nothing less. |
| DAVID: What a shame! I only have one hundred and seventy. |
| JULIA: Alright, it's OK. One hundred and seventy. Can I give you a bag? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Carlos: That’s a really good way to bargain. |
| Natalia: Hey, it is, but again, very lucky, not everybody is up to bargain. |
| Carlos: When I was in Guatemala, I used to walk around with, I forgot what the name of the bills were, but I would be like if you give me a price, I would be like “wow! that’s a great price, but I only have this much” and then he’d be like “okay, okay” and he’d go down a little bit and I’ be like “wow! You are so generous, this is an awesome price, but I only have this much”. |
| Natalia: Carlos, that’s being mean to people, what I’m saying is that some countries, the whole going back and forth, I’ll give you this, I’ll give you that, does not work. At least in Costa Rica, you don’t get anything. The price is what it is. |
| Carlos: Especially with taxes. And now that we’ve gone through the conversation, Naty what do you say we run through a little bit of vocabulary? |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Natalia: Sounds like a good idea. |
| Carlos: So, today we are going to start off with a masculine noun. |
| Natalia: “Detalle”. |
| Carlos: “Detail.” |
| Natalia: “De-ta-lle”, “detalle”. |
| Carlos: Then we have a feminine noun. |
| Natalia: “Fábrica”. |
| Carlos: “Factory.” |
| Natalia: “Fá-bri-ca”, “fábrica”. |
| Carlos: Next up we have a set phrase. |
| Natalia: “Hecho a mano”. |
| Carlos: “Handmade.” |
| Natalia: “He-cho a ma-no”, “hecho a mano”. |
| Carlos: Then we have an adjective. |
| Natalia: “Fino, fina”. |
| Carlos: “Fine”, “nice.” |
| Natalia: “Fi-no, fi-na”, “fino, fina”. |
| Carlos: Then we have a masculine noun. |
| Natalia: “Descuento”. |
| Carlos: “Discount.” |
| Natalia: “Des-cuen-to”, “descuento”. |
| Carlos: Alright, then we have a feminine noun. |
| Natalia: “Lástima”. |
| Carlos: “Shame”, “pity.” |
| Natalia: “Lás-ti-ma”, “lástima”. |
| Carlos: “Lástima”. |
| Natalia: “Lástima”. |
| Carlos: “Descuento”. |
| Natalia: “Descuento”. |
| Carlos: “Descuento”. |
| Natalia: Come on. |
| Carlos: “Fábrica”. |
| Natalia: “Fábrica”. |
| Carlos: “Detalle”. |
| Natalia: “Detalle”. “Hecho a mano”. |
| Carlos: “Hecho a mano”. |
| Natalia: “Fino”. |
| Carlos: “Fino”. |
| Natalia: “Qué fino el detalle hecho a mano en esa fábrica”. |
| Carlos: “Qué fino de hecho a mano...” [laughter]. Almost, I was going to get you there. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Natalia: I’m loving those beginner series. |
| Carlos: Shhh, quiet. “Hecho a mano”, “fábrica”, “fino”, “fina”, “descuento”, “lástima”, “detalle”. |
| Natalia: Okay. |
| Carlos: Let’s get down to the details. |
| Natalia: You wasted no time with that one. |
| Carlos: What, with our first word “detalle”, “details”? |
| Natalia: Yes, that one. |
| Carlos: How about an example? |
| Natalia: “Es importante prestar atención a los detalles”, “it’s important to pay attention to details.” |
| Carlos: Speaking of details Naty, that’s a nice shirt you are wearing. Where was it made? |
| Natalia: [Laughs] I don’t know, probably China. |
| Carlos: Yes, but where in China? |
| Natalia: Carlos if you want to use “fábrica”, why don’t you just say it? |
| Carlos: Because I knew you would. “Fábrica”, “factory” or “manufacturing plant.” Hey Naty, do you think sweat shops count to? |
| Natalia: Ay Carlos, you are going in too deep. |
| Carlos: Okay, so how would you say “my shirt was made in a factory in China”? |
| Natalia: “Mi camisa fue hecho en una fábrica en China”, “my shirt was made in a factory in China”. But there’s something you should remember... |
| Carlos: What’s that? |
| Natalia: You should not confuse “fábrica” with “fabric.” |
| Carlos: That would be easy you know. How do you say “fabric” in Spanish? |
| Natalia: We use the word “tela”. |
| Carlos: Right. Now would “fabricar” mean “to manufacture”? |
| Natalia: How do you know that? |
| Carlos: Just a lucky guess. You know really, I added “r” to the end of “fábrica” and hoped for the best but you know what, it worked. |
| Natalia: See what I mean Carlos, sometimes you say things and I don’t know if you are making them up or if you are actually studying. Okay. |
| Carlos: Next up we have a set phrase. |
| Natalia: “Hecho a mano”. |
| Carlos: “Handmade.” No? |
| Natalia: Yes, it could also work as a magic tip phrase. |
| Carlos: You know, I’ll remember that for my teacher days, that means that it has to agree in number and gender with the word it’s modifying. |
| Natalia: “Las sandalias son hechas a mano”. “The sandals are handmade”, feminine plural form. |
| Carlos: Okay, and how about the masculine singular? |
| Natalia: Well, are you crazy? I could do this for days. |
| Carlos: Don’t talk about it, be about it. |
| Natalia: “El detalle es hecho a mano”. “The detail is handmade”, masculine singular form. |
| Carlos: Naty always delivers. |
| Natalia: Well, now I’m delivering an adjective and you know what that means. |
| Carlos: Concordance. |
| Natalia: Right. “Fino, fina”. |
| Carlos: Okay Naty, could you come up with some examples of fine things? |
| Natalia: Oh, a lot! I cannot come up with a couple. |
| Carlos: Naty likes the finer things in life. |
| Natalia: I do. Okay, Naty’s fine things in life. “Salmón ahumado”, “smoked salmon”, I could eat that all my life. Then again, “Makimoto pearls”, “perlas Makimoto”. ¿Qué más? Viajar, “ir a lugares del mundo”, “travel to different places on earth”. Hmmm, what else? “Descansar”, “tener tardes largas”, “have some rest”, “have long afternoons”. “Leer un buen libro”, “read a good book”. I can keep going and going... |
| Carlos: No, no, no. I get it, I get it. |
| Natalia: “Tener muchas perlas y diamantes”, “have a lot of diamonds and pearls.” |
| Carlos: Of course. |
| Natalia: Jewelry. |
| Carlos: Next up, “descuento”. |
| Natalia: I was happy doing the finer things. |
| Carlos: “Descuento”. |
| Natalia: Ay, “descuento”. |
| Carlos: “Discount.” |
| Natalia: Okay, that’s definitely a good word to know. “Me encantan los descuentos”. “I love discounts.” |
| Carlos: I know you do. You know I have a neighbor who’s very proud in his ability to find deals and discounts. |
| Natalia: I know there are people like that, but there is one thing we should point out. |
| Carlos: What’s that? |
| Natalia: Be sure not to spell it with an “I” in Spanish. Give the Spanish spelling, Carlos. |
| Carlos: Right, “descuento”. |
| Natalia: “¡Qué lástima!” |
| Carlos: “What a shame!” What? |
| Natalia: We are almost done with the vocabulary usage section. |
| Carlos: You say I’m corny sometimes. |
| Natalia: “Qué lástima”. It’s a very common phrase. |
| Carlos: More dramatic! “¡Qué lástima!” |
| Natalia: “¡Qué lástima!” |
| Carlos: She puts her hand on her forehead. |
| Natalia: “¡Qué lástima!” Well, you know what it’s a very, very common phrase. |
| Carlos: No, no, no, it’s one that I’ve definitely heard. |
| Natalia: Know the feminine noun “lástima” and its connection to the verb “lastimar”. |
| Carlos: “To hurt”, “to offend” or “to injure.” I’ll make sure to remember that one. |
| Natalia: Yes, make sure. |
| Carlos: Grammar time! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Natalia: You come up with something more original. |
| Carlos: I will try next time Naty, just for you. |
| Natalia: Good because today’s not so simple. |
| Carlos: Never is, what are we doing? |
| Natalia: Comparisons of equality with a “tan” and “como”. |
| Carlos: Okay, both mean “as”, right? |
| Natalia: Yes and there is a formula for it. |
| Carlos: I like formulas, you know that simplifies everything. |
| Natalia: “Tan” plus adjective or adverb plus “como”. |
| Carlos: Can that go either way? |
| Natalia: What do you mean? |
| Carlos: I mean “como” plus adjective or adverb and “tan”? |
| Natalia: No, it cannot. |
| Carlos: Man that was one finalized answer. |
| Natalia: No! [Laughs] |
| Carlos: No! Where was this used in the conversation, Naty? |
| Natalia: “Sí, pero no son tan finas como las otras que he visto”. |
| Carlos: “Yes but they are not as nice as the others I have seen.” |
| Natalia: Here we use the adjective “finas”. |
| Carlos: Which we remember means “fine”. “Tan finas como…” |
| Natalia: Here’s another one. “Esta película no es tan interesante como la que vimos anoche”. |
| Carlos: “This movie isn’t as interesting as the ones we saw last night.” |
| Natalia: Right and which adjective are we using? |
| Carlos: “Interesante”. “Tan interesante como…” How about another? |
| Natalia: “Hablas tan rápido como yo”. |
| Carlos: “You speak as fast as I do.” Adverb, “rápido”. |
| Natalia: One more just for good measure, “manejas tan lento como mi abuela”. |
| Carlos: “You drive as slowly as my grandmother does.” Hey, with the way people drive around here, it’s the only way to be safe. |
| Natalia: You know I support taxi drivers. |
| Carlos: Yes, she does by the way. In that example, you used the adverb “lento”, you know, I think with those examples, this is a very easy concept. |
| Natalia: Well I figured, if I told you that, you wouldn’t try as hard. |
| Carlos: Probably a safe bet. |
| Natalia: Alright mister know it all, time for your homework. |
| Carlos: Bring it woman! |
| Natalia: Don’t call me woman and don’t call me man either. [Laughs] |
| Carlos: Okay, dude. |
| Natalia: Here’s today’s assignment. I’m going to give you five groups of two sentences, each group is going to describe two things, what you need to do, is form a comparison for the quality out of these. For example, I’ll say something like “hablas rápido” and then “hablo rápido también” and then what you need to do is form the comparison, “Tú hablas tan rápido como yo”. “You speak as fast as I do.” |
| Carlos: Alright, alright I can take it. Let’s have at it. |
| Natalia: Number one, “tu camisa es grande”, “la mía es grande también”. Number two, “ella está bronceada”, “yo también estoy bronceada”. Number three, “nosotros comemos tarde”, “ellos también comen tarde”. Number four, “tu libro es interesante”, “el mío también es interesante”. Number five, “la música acá es buena”, “la de allá también es buena”. |
Outro |
| Carlos: Now remember people, you can always get the answers and comments on the answers by checking up the premium audio track labelled “tarea”. |
| Natalia: Just apply what you learn. |
| Carlos: You know, that about does it for today, you know I think we are getting the whole hang of this beginner season two thang. |
| Natalia: Don’t you mean thing? |
| Carlos: You got the gist, you know what I mean. |
| Natalia: I have to teach you English too. Well, either way, let us know what you think audience. Leave us a comment on the lesson and post it in the forum. Ahora vamos a decir adiós. Say “bye” and say it nice and charming. |
| Carlos: Goodbye, everybody. |
| Natalia: Good! Bye-bye! |
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