¡Hola amigo o amiga! Welcome back to the Spanish Conversation Podcast! I’m Alyssa Bonelli, and I am thrilled to have you aquí. You are, in my unbiased opinion, in one of the best places in the podcast mundo for actually speaking – not listening to an interview, a grammar lesson, or a story – actually SPEAKING! I know, wild, right? Similar to the first tres episodios, hoy tengo ocho preguntas that you can use for help when you are just not getting it. Maybe its too loud, someone is speaking through a mask, on the teléfono, etc. It happens, to the best of us, no matter your level. So, it’s really importante to have one or a couple of these preguntas in your toolkit during conversaciones, its up to you to decide which ones. As you’re hearing the questions, don’t be afraid to repeat the question out loud, noting your pronunciation and flow. And when answering during the silencio, don’t be afraid to pause or try again. Before we begin, here are a couple palabras o frases that might help you to formulate both questions and responses: entender = to understand repetir = to repeat lo = it aclarar = to clarify el menú = menu la manera = manner, way traducir = to translate la ayuda = help Okay, shall we hear the questions? Imagine you are confused in a conversation and need to ask for help in traducir or entender what is being said. Here are some ways to achieve that! 1. ¿Me puedes explicar de otra manera?– Can you explain to me in another way? You are asking if the person can do something using poder. Here we treat them as tú. You could also say otra vez for again, instead of de otra manera, if you would rather just hear the same thing once more. 2. ¿Estoy entendiendo bien lo que dijiste? – Am I understanding well what you said? Here is a request to see if you understood. You would usually follow this question with a summary of what you understood, so the person can confirm or clarify the message. 3. ¿Puedes repetir lo que dijiste por favor? – Can you repeat what you said please? This is asking for repetition of the same information, using repetir. You could also put in something like aclarar / explicar for clarify or explain instead of repetir for to repeat. You could also use a command instead, like Repite. 4. ¿Me puedes aclarar lo de…? –Can you clarify for me the topic of….? In this question, we ask for one thing about the conversation to be confirmed or clarified, so you aren’t asking the person to repeat everything. This is great for when you got most of the meaning except for one small piece, so they don’t have to start over. 5. ¿Puedes decirlo más lento? –Can you say it more slowly? This is asking for the same thing to be said, but slower. Often this can be a way to better understand if there was background noise or someone is speaking through a mask, etc. 6. ¿Hay alguien aquí quien puede traducir? – Is there anyone here who can translate? This is for when you give up and really can’t understand anything that is being said so you need to see if someone can come explain. This would be good for a medical or legal conversation where precision is important. Interpretar is another option, for to interpret the spoken language, but traducir is a bit more common for learners to know. 7. ¿Tienen un menú en inglés? – Do you have an English menu? At a restaurant, you could see if there is an english menu to make ordering easier. Of course we want to aim for reading off a spanish menu, but one step at a time right? 8. ¿Hablas inglés, o hay alguien quien sí habla aquí? – Do you speak English, or is there someone who does here? When there is little hope of good communication in Spanish, you can try this question. Note that the [removed] directly translates as [removed] for confirmation that they do speak English. It starts as tú and then broadens to anyone using the él, ella, usted. Okay, listo, ready? Here come the questions in random order. Make sure you pause during the break if you don’t have enough time to reply. ¿Estoy entendiendo bien lo que dijiste? PAUSE Mi respuesta es: No no, es que, solo aceptamos tarjeta de crédito o débito, no aceptamos efectivo. (Did you catch that this is about payment methods?) ¿Hablas inglés, o hay alguien quien sí habla aquí? PAUSE Mi respuesta es / My answer is: No tenemos hablantes de inglés aquí los fines de semana, pero hay una línea telefónica con interpretes que podemos utilizar (how could the interpreter be reached?) ¿Me puedes explicar de otra manera? PAUSE Mi respuesta es: Sí, por supuesto. La pizza va a estar tarde, unos quince o veinte minutos más. Podemos cancelar si no quieres esperar más tiempo, siento la tardanza (what are we hearing about the pizza?) ¿Tienen un menú en inglés? PAUSE Mi respuesta es: No, lo siento, no tenemos una versión en español, pero si usas el código QR en tu teléfono, puedes traducir las opciones en la carta, ¿entiendes? (código means code, and carta is another word for menu). ¿Puedes decirlo más lento? PAUSE Mi respuesta es: Sí, no pasa nada. ¿Prefieren tortillas de harina o de maíz? (harina is flour) ¿Hay alguien aquí quien puede traducir? PAUSE Mi respuesta es: Mi hija habla un poco de inglés, espera un minuto y le voy a marcar para ver si puede traducir para nosotros. (marcar is another way to say llamar, as in to dial) ¿Puedes repetir lo que dijiste por favor? PAUSE Mi respuesta es: Tu puerta de embarque es el B23, Necesitas pasar por la seguridad y aduana, allá a la izquierda. (Where am I?) ¿Me puedes aclarar lo del horario? PAUSE Mi respuesta es: Sí, los autobuses a Ciudad de México salen cada treinta minutos, lunes a viernes, y cada hora en los fines de semana. Necesitas abordar el autobús cinco minutos antes de la hora indicada. ¿Tienes alguna otra pregunta? (did you catch the bus schedule, or horario?) Alrighty that’s all for now, I hope this episode makes it easier to reestablish communication if things are falling apart, which, spoiler alert, they will! And its ok. Remember to stay calm, repeat what you did understand and ask for clarification about the rest. I would love to hear any ideas for future episodes, or any takeaways or questions from the episode. Send me a note at gringaconsulting.com ¡Chau, nos vemos en el próximo episodio!