Sebastian: ¡Hola! and welcome to Un día en español, a Babbel podcast for Spanish learners that welcomes you into the lives of Spanish speakers in the US and Latin America.  

I’m your host, Sebastian, and I’m here to help you follow the story and make sure you learn something new by the end of each episode. 

Remember, if you don’t understand everything the first time through, you can always go back and listen again. You can also read along while you listen to help train your comprehension skills. Visit babbel.com/podcasts to access our dynamic transcript, which includes the full text of the story as well as extras, like maps, photos, and more! 

Today we‘ll hear a story from Carmela, a Spanish teaching assistant in her first day of work at a college in Pennsylvania, which was also her first time working in the US. Although she had a great experience working there, at the beginning there were a few cultural misunderstandings, and her first class did not go as she expected. As you‘ll hear, sometimes misunderstandings can be great icebreakers. So let’s listen to the story of her primer día de trabajo, her first day of work.

Carmela: ¡Hola! Soy Carmela y soy profesora de español. Soy de España, pero ahora vivo en Pensilvania. Hoy es mi primer día de trabajo como TA y también mi primer día de trabajo en Estados Unidos. ¡Y estoy muy nerviosa! 

Es temprano en la mañana y voy al campus. 

Sebastian: Carmela is heading to the campus temprano en la mañana, early in the morning, on her first day, and she’s very nervous about it. 

Remember your first day at your job, or your first day of school? Oh boy, I get anxious just thinking about it! 

But could there be other reasons for her to be nervous? 

Carmela: También estoy nerviosa porque todavía no conozco a mis estudiantes y porque solo puedo hablar con ellos en español. Es una clase de inmersión. ¡Qué nervios! 

Sebastian: Ah, I see, she's also nervous porque, because, she hasn‘t met her students yet, todavía no conozco a los estudiantes. And she‘s also nervous porque she'll be teaching a clase de inmersión, a total immersion course, so she can only speak Spanish to them – even if her students end up not understanding Spanish at all! 

So, back on campus, Carmela is going to a meeting, a reunión, with the Spanish professor she’ll be assisting.

Carmela: En el campus voy a una reunión con la profesora de español en la sala de profesores. 

–¡Hola, Nicole! Soy Carmela.

Nicole: –¡Hola! Encantada. ¿Cómo estás? ¿Estás preparada?

Carmela: –¡Sí, claro! Pero estoy un poco nerviosa.

Nicole: –Es normal, ¡hoy es tu primer día!, pero no te preocupes, don‘t worry, you‘ll do great!

Carmela: –¡Gracias! Eso espero, I hope so.

Sebastian: No te preocupes, don‘t worry, wasn‘t as comforting as Carmela tried to pretend! It might have been because no te preocupes is something that we say so often in Spanish that it loses its meaning a bit, or perhaps because she was truly nerviosa. 

The first lesson is going to start in 5 minutes! Nicole and Carmela are going together to the class, because Nicole is going to introduce her to the students. 

Carmela: ¡La clase empieza en 5 minutos! Nicole y yo vamos juntas al salón de clase. Ella me va a presentar a los estudiantes. 

Nicole: –¡Buenos días, clase! ¿Cómo están? Ella es Carmela, la nueva profesora de español. 

Recuerden, aquí en la clase solo hablamos español, ¿OK? No hablamos inglés. Bien, Carmela, tu turno. ¡Hasta luego!… ¡Y buena suerte!… Good luck! 

Carmela: –¡Buenos días! ¡Y BIENVENIDOS a la clase de conversación de español! Yo soy Carmela, tengo veinticinco años y soy de Santiago de Compostela, pero mi universidad está en Zaragoza. 

¿Y vosotros… cómo estáis? 

Sebastian: She tells them she’s 25, veinticinco, from Santiago de Compostela but her university is in Zaragoza. As you can hear, she‘s not getting much of a reaction. So she is going to ask the students if she‘s talking very fast, muy rápido, and tell them that she can speak slower más despacio. 

Carmela: –¡¿Hablo muy rápido?

Vale, ok, puedo hablar más despacio… Qué estresante – ehmm… Santiago de Compostela está en Galicia, en el norte de España. 

Sebastian: Well, this is not going great, and Carmela is finding the situation estresante, stressful. 

Student 1: –Can you say that in English? 

Student 2: –Sí, in inglés, por favor. 

Carmela: –No, no hablo inglés, lo siento. ¿Vosotros podéis decir eso en español? 

Student 1: –Does she have a lisp? 

Student 2: –And what is "vosotros"? 

Carmela: –¡Oh, guau! Ya sé cuál es el problema… ¡¿Un lisp?. . . ¡Yo no tengo un lisp! ¡Es mi acento! 

Sebastian: Ah, right, ok. I know what is happening here, and so does Carmela. Carmela’s new students aren’t used to her European Spanish accent at all. They are confused by the “th” in Tharagotha and by her using vosotros when she asked ¿vosotros podéis decir eso en español? – Can you all say that in Spanish? So, to give you guys some context, vosotros is the European Spanish “you” in plural. Her students have probably only studied Latin American Spanish, so they would say ustedes, and haven‘t learned vosotros. Vosotros to us in Latin America sounds like something from an old textbook, and in Spain ustedes sounds very formal, but all Spanish speakers understand each other no matter where we come from. 

Carmela: –¿Mi acento es muy diferente? 

Student 1: –Yes.

Carmela: –Y… ¿Es extraño Zaragoza y Galicia, porque digo the, the, the?¿Verdad? En España pronunciamos ese sonido en ciertas palabras, como “gracias”, “Zaragoza”, “Galicia”. ¡Es un sonido muy bonito!

Sebastian: Yep, it was that typical Spanish difference between “th” and “s”, that is not made in Latin America that threw them off! The students find it very different to the accent they are used to. She asks them if it is extraño, strange, the "th" "th" sound. Carmela explains to her students that it’s a sound you pronounce in certain words and she says es un sonido muy bonito, it’s a very beautiful sound! Yeah, I think so too, Carmela – but I don’t know if the students are fully convinced. 

Student 1: –¿Qué acento es correcto? 

Carmela: –¡Los dos! Yo entiendo GRASIAS, y en América Latina entienden GRATHIAS. ¡Podemos comunicarnos sin problema! También en aquí clase, estoy segura, I’m sure! You don’t have to say Tharagotha, but I’m not gonna lie, the Zaragozanos would really appreciate your effort! 

Sebastian: So this was the whole problem! The class is finally reacting and asking her which accent is the correct one. Good to know that it's possible to use both, I guess it all depends on the variety of Spanish. As she said, we can communicate without any problems, podemos comunicarnos sin problema! 

Carmela: –Ok, let 's continue in “español”. Y tú, ¿cómo te llamas? 

Student 2: –Es un nombre español, Cecilia… or “Thethilia”.

Carmela: "Thethilia…" es un nombre muuuy bonito. 

Sebastian: After class, Carmela is having lunch with Nicole to let her know how the class went and to talk about the upcoming classes. She‘s not nervous anymore, and she has a new class at two, but she knows that from now on she just needs to explain her accent, and all is good, todo está bien – yes, Carmela, everything will be fine, ¡estoy seguro! 

Carmela: Después de clase Nicole y yo almorzamos juntas en la cantina. Tengo otra clase a las dos, pero no estoy nerviosa. Solo tengo que explicar mi acento a los estudiantes y así todo está bien. 

Sebastian: So Carmela's first day of teaching in Pennsylvania was un poco difícil, a bit difficult, but she powered through and even made the students laugh by the end! Seems to me that those students will have no problem understanding different accents after this class. 

Were you able to catch a lot of the Spanish in this episode? Visit babbel.com/podcasts to follow along with the dynamic transcript, get helpful learning resources, and test your knowledge with the full Spanish story. 

Un día en español is produced by the language experts at Babbel. Whether you're hoping to make new Spanish-speaking friends or explore a new culture, the Babbel app teaches everything you need to understand and use the language. Thanks for listening and ¡Hasta el próximo día!