Learn how to talk about your job
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Talking About Your Job in Mexico. John Here. |
| Laura: Hola. I'm Laura. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn about occupations and job titles. The conversation takes place in a meeting room. |
| Laura: It's between Alan Brown, Alma Cordero, and Alejandra Soto. |
| John: The speakers are employees from different branches, therefore, they will speak formal Spanish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Alejandra Soto: Alan, ¿conoce usted a la Licenciada Cordero? |
| Alan Brown: No, no he tenido el gusto. |
| Alma Cordero: Yo he leído sus reportes. El informe sobre la nueva estrategia me pareció muy audaz. |
| Alejandra Soto: La Licenciada Cordero es la encargada del área comercial. |
| Alan Brown: Entonces está al día con el nuevo plan de exportaciones. |
| Alma Cordero: Sí, me parece una estrategia efectiva. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Alejandra Soto: Alan, ¿conoce usted a la Licenciada Cordero? |
| Alan Brown: No, no he tenido el gusto. |
| Alma Cordero: Yo he leído sus reportes. El informe sobre la nueva estrategia me pareció muy audaz. |
| Alejandra Soto: La Licenciada Cordero es la encargada del área comercial. |
| Alan Brown: Entonces está al día con el nuevo plan de exportaciones. |
| Alma Cordero: Sí, me parece una estrategia efectiva. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Alejandra Soto: Alan, ¿conoce usted a la Licenciada Cordero? |
| Alejandra Soto: Alan, do you know Ms. Cordero? |
| Alan Brown: No, no he tenido el gusto. |
| Alan Brown: No, I haven't had the pleasure. |
| Alma Cordero: Yo he leído sus reportes. El informe sobre la nueva estrategia me pareció muy audaz. |
| Alma Cordero: I have read your reports. The report about the new strategy seemed very bold. |
| Alejandra Soto: La Licenciada Cordero es la encargada del área comercial. |
| Alejandra Soto: Ms. Cordero is responsible for the commercial area. |
| Alan Brown: Entonces está al día con el nuevo plan de exportaciones. |
| Alan Brown: Then you are up to date with the new exports plan. |
| Alma Cordero: Sí, me parece una estrategia efectiva. |
| Alma Cordero: Yes, it seems to be an effective strategy. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: Laura, what can you tell us about education and professions in Mexico? |
| Laura: The main education levels in Mexico are elementary, middle, and high school. |
| John: And then after high school would be higher education? |
| Laura: Yes, usually a Bachelor’s degree. A Master’s degree is seen as important these days for a good job. And of course some people go for a PhD too, but they commonly go to study abroad. |
| John: Is education expensive in Mexico? |
| Laura: There is both free and private education in Mexico, actually. |
| John: Can you tell us a bit more about the free education? |
| Laura: There are two main universities that give free education if you can pass the entry exams, or come from the high schools linked to them. |
| John: Is private education expensive? |
| Laura: It can be, especially at university. Some colleges are as expensive as American or European colleges. |
| John: Is it considered important for people to learn English in Mexico? |
| Laura: It’s becoming increasingly so. People are investing a lot into learning English. |
| John: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Laura: reporte [natural native speed] |
| John: "report" |
| Laura: reporte[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: reporte [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: informe [natural native speed] |
| John: "report" |
| Laura: informe[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: informe [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: estrategia [natural native speed] |
| John: "strategy" |
| Laura: estrategia[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: estrategia [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: audaz [natural native speed] |
| John: "bold" |
| Laura: audaz[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: audaz [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: día [natural native speed] |
| John: "day" |
| Laura: día[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: día [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: encargado(a) [natural native speed] |
| John: "manager" |
| Laura: encargado(a)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: encargado(a) [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: exportaciones [natural native speed] |
| John: "exports" |
| Laura: exportaciones[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: exportaciones [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: gusto [natural native speed] |
| John: "pleasure" |
| Laura: gusto[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: gusto [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: efectivo [natural native speed] |
| John: "effective" |
| Laura: efectivo[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: efectivo [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Laura: área comercial [natural native speed] |
| John: "commercial area" |
| Laura: área comercial[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: área comercial [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Laura: no he tenido el gusto |
| John: meaning "I haven't had the pleasure." |
| John: Let’s break down this phrase. |
| Laura: First is no, which means "no." Next is he tenido. |
| John: This means "have had." We learned about this tense in a previous lesson. Finally, is "the pleasure." |
| Laura: el gusto. |
| John: You can use this phrase to politely say you haven’t had the chance to do something. |
| Laura: It’s usually used in formal settings, but can be used in informal settings too. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Laura: Sure. For example, you can say... No he tenido el gusto de conocerla en persona. |
| John: ...which means "I have not had the pleasure to meet her in person." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Laura: estar al día |
| John: meaning "to be up to date." |
| John: This is also a phrase. |
| Laura: The first word is estar, it means "to be." Next is al día. |
| John: This means "updated" or "up to date." |
| Laura: You can use this to say that something is up to date. |
| John: Yes, meaning it doesn’t need changes because it is the most current version. |
| Laura: It can be used for things or people. |
| John: Meaning something or someone can be |
| Laura: al día |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Laura: Sure. For example, you can say... La tabla estaba al día con la información necesaria. |
| John: ... which means "The chart was up to date with the necessary information." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about occupations and job titles. |
| John: When talking about occupations, we need to think about the gender. Sometimes the same word to describe someone’s occupation is used for both male and female persons.... |
| Laura: For example la dentista for a female dentist and el dentista for a male dentist. |
| John: And sometimes, the words are different. |
| Laura: For example, la profesora for a female teacher and el profesor for a male teacher. |
| John: Are there any set rules for what is the male and the female forms of the words for occupations? |
| Laura: Basically, if you are not sure about the feminine form just add an -a at the end of the masculine form or change the -o at the end of the word to an -a. |
| John: Does that always work? |
| Laura: Of course there are some exceptions. Another rule you can remember is that occupations that end in -dor are changed to -dora for the feminine. |
| John: Such as in "accountant." |
| Laura: Yes, contador, contadora. Also, it will be useful for you to remember that occupation names that already end in -a are the same in masculine or feminine. |
| John: Such as "contractor" |
| Laura: Yes, that is contratista. |
| John: Depending on the context, sometimes the occupations need an article before the occupation. |
| Laura: In nearly all cases, you use la with the feminine form and el with the masculine form. |
| John: Let’s hear another couple of occupations. First is masculine, second is feminine. The first occupation is "lawyer." |
| Laura: abogado, abogada |
| John: Next is "engineer" |
| Laura: ingeniero, ingenieria |
| John: Next is "researcher" |
| Laura: investigador, investigadora |
| John: Okay, now that we are talking about jobs and occupations, remember that (as we have learned in previous lessons) in Mexico, the job title is very important. Not only in formal, but also in informal settings. So let’s hear some example sentences with job titles in them. |
| Laura: La Maestra Fernández ha trabajado como arquitecta durante más de una década. |
| John: "Ms. Fernández has worked as an architect for over a decade." This points out that Ms. Fernández has a Master’s degree. |
| Laura: La Licenciada Ruiz es experta en economía. |
| John: "Ms. Ruiz is an expert in economics." This states Ms. Ruiz has a Bachelor’s degree. |
| John: Listeners, find more examples and vocabulary in the Lesson Notes PDF of this lesson. |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Laura: Hasta la próxima. |
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