The phone call, an interactive excercise.

Question

Every few days my lovely wife ( a Spanish native speaker, and fluent in English )

and I will sit here at my computer and do an interactive script as a translation

exercise.

She will dictate to me in English and I must translate it to proper

Spanish as I correct her English.( with great difficulty and much scolding for me) I may add!.

These posts do not require an answer unless you wish to answer. But if you do not answer, please comment and vote.

Download them and modify them to your intent if you wish. Practice with a friend or several friends, The grammar is correct for daily speech.

This was the script of a few days ago. And please note this is Spanish of northern México, as we would use it in ordinary conversation.

I think most of us learners live in fear of the phone call.

This is a two person script

We do these with the intention of coming as close as possible to a real world dialogue, not a studied, structured script.

Note: the Actors here are friends which can be seen in the nature of the conversation.

I thought I would share these as it may be useful to any of you who wish to practice interactive Spanish and also use it as a reading and pronunciation exercise, there are several difficult words in it. You may even want to record it and add your recording here. The names may be changed to protect the innocent! Enjoy!

Discutiendo negocios por teléfono.

Frank: Buenos días Carlos, ¿cómo estás?

Carlos: Bien Frank ¿y tú?

Frank: También. ¿Estuviste fuera de la ciudad la semana pasada?

Carlos: Sí, volé a la ciudad de México. Andaba cerrando un negocio. ¿Por qué?

Frank: Porque te llamé a tu celular y no contestaste.

Carlos: Lo perdí. No sé donde.

Frank: ¿Ya tienes uno nuevo?

Carlos: Todavía no. ¿Qué hay de nuevo?

Frank: Muchas noticias Carlos. Recibí muchos planos. “Cal Fin” ha modificado algunos elementos. Hoy te los enviaré por e- mail. Ayer te mandé los planos preliminares. ¿Los recibiste?

Carlos: Sí, y ya los revisé. Tengo algunas preguntas al respecto.

Frank: Es urgente vernos para discutir el asunto.

Carlos: Está bien, ¿cuándo?

Frank: ¿Qué te parece el lunes al mediodía?

Carlos: No hay problema. Necesito tiempo para imprimir los nuevos planos.

Frank: ¿Dónde nos vemos? ¿En el taller o en tu oficina?

Carlos: En la oficina es mejor, allí tenemos una mesa grande y aire acondicionado.

Frank: Buena idea. El calor es insoportable en estos días.

Carlos: ¿Qué tal a las doce?

Frank: Sí, perfecto. Si recibo más noticias, te llamaré a la oficina o a tu casa.

Carlos: De acuerdo. Recuerda traer los planos viejos. Digo, los anteriores.

Frank: Pon el café amigo. Te veré allí´.

Carlos: Bueno Frank, nos vemos.

Frank: Adiós, hasta pronto.

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Thanks a lot, Paco! Is this your second exercise of this kind? I don't want to miss any of them, that's why I ask :) - Ingeteacher, Aug 18, 2011

This should be number 4 - pacofinkler, Aug 18, 2011

If you search the forum for "interactive excercise" you will find all four of these. :) - pesta, Aug 18, 2011

another classic post mate. this goes on my 'links'. say thanks from me to your wife too :) - billygoat, Aug 18, 2011

Thanks, Paco and Pesta. I found the other ones. I thought the elegant restaurant was the first one. - Ingeteacher, Aug 19, 2011

I really like these. Thank you, Paco. - MLucie, Oct 13, 2011

Truly helpful. Awfully kind of you to post these. - territurtle, Oct 13, 2011

Answer 1

Wow Frank - these conversations are very useful!! Thank you very much for posting them!!

Thanks Chris - pacofinkler, Aug 19, 2011

Answer 2

Just to answer some questions:

Volé is used just as we would use " I flew" in English, and please remember this is daily conversation.

Hi Pesta : Yes Sí needs a tilde, corrected that.

Hi Toothpaste tech: no Spanglish here.

Hi La Burra: no typo here " al respecto" refers to the affair we are discussing ( meaning about the matter) "Carlos: Sí, y ya los revisé. Tengo algunas preguntas al respecto."

Thanks for clarifying! - LaBurra, Aug 18, 2011

Answer 3

Great conversation. I'd like to talk to someone on the phone at an advanced level somewhat like this. How do I go about finding someone with a similar interest in live telephone conversations in Spanish. BTW, I have a MagicJack so it would not cost me to call anyone in the US.

Answer 4

Thanks again, Frank. Excellent flow of dialog and natural expression, as far as I can tell.

Si, volé a la ciudad de México

Should that be "Sí (tilde)"?

I read somewhere that "volar" is not used this way; that "viajar" is preferred, and you would not "fly" somewhere unless you had wings like a bird. Is this a regionally accepted expression?

(Edit: fixed misspelled volar )

He could have flown in a plane or simply gone there rapidly. - lorenzo9, Aug 18, 2011

usually you say that you "travelled by plane" or "took a flight" I got made fun of for saying i "flew" all the time in my travels. - toothpastechica, Aug 18, 2011

but as the intro said northern mexico, theres a lot of spanglish grammer in northern mexico/southern usa spanish. - toothpastechica, Aug 18, 2011

Hi Pesta " volar" - pacofinkler, Aug 18, 2011

Thank you Pesta!! - pacofinkler, Aug 18, 2011

Answer 5

If possible, I would like to practice these dialogs with another beginner, till we feel comfortable with them.

Any takers