Sebastian: ¡Hola! ¿Cómo están? Soy Sebastian y estás escuchando Un día en español, a podcast for beginner learners! Estoy aquí para ayudarte a aprender palabras difíciles y entender que pasa en las historias.

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Today we're going salsa dancing with Francisco! But dancing is not Francisco's forte, which might be a problem because he has a date with Blake, who Francisco thinks is going to be a great salsa dancer! Let's hear Francisco‘s story and get ready for some beginner salsa moves!

Francisco: Hola, ¿qué tal? ¡Soy Francisco! Soy de Miami, pero ahora vivo en New York o, como también se dice en español, Nueva York.

Sebastian: Francisco is from Miami but is now living in New York. His parents are Argentinians, therefore, como muchas personas, like many others whose parents are from other countries, his cultural identity is una mezcla de culturas, a mixture of cultures.

Francisco: Mi papá y mi mamá son de Argentina. Como muchas personas que tienen papás y mamás de otros países, mi identidad cultural es una mezcla de culturas.

Sebastian: Have you noticed that Francisco used como? In Spanish we use cómo to ask questions like, ¿Cómo te llamas?”, but also when we want to compare something, Como muchas personas, Francisco tiene padres de otro país, “like other people, Francisco has parents from another country”.

Francisco: Y, a veces, por esta mezcla de culturas puede ser difícil encontrar pareja para inmigrantes de primera generación.

Sebastian: Hm, ¿Por qué? Why is it difficult?

Francisco: ¿Por qué? Porque encontrar una persona que entienda la mezcla de culturas que es tu mezcla de culturas no es fácil.

Sebastian: Ah, I see. It is because, porque, it is not easy to find a person who understands it, who gets the mix of cultures that you call tu mezcla, your mix. And Francisco develops this further, and says that one of his specific problems about this is that no sé bailar, he can't dance.

Francisco: Uno de mis problemas, por ejemplo, es que no sé bailar. Y este es un gran problema.

Sebastian: And this is a big problem for him, because lots of women assume that he is a good salsa and bachata dancer. However those dances are not so common in Argentina. Of course there's tango in Argentina, but it's a very different dance than salsa and bachata, and Francisco can't dance that either.

Francisco: Muchas chicas piensan que yo sé bailar muy bien salsa o bachata porque soy latino, pero en Argentina la salsa o bachata no son típicas.

Tenemos tango, pero es un baile muy diferente… y… tampoco sé bailar tango.

Sebastian: Ok, and why is Francisco telling us all of this?

Francisco: Y bueno, ¿por qué les cuento todo esto? ¡Porque hoy tengo una cita!

Sebastian: Oh great! Today he's got una cita, a date! And it's his first date with Blake, who's also from Miami, like Francisco!

Francisco: Es mi primera cita con Blake. Ella es de Miami, ¡como yo! Eso es genial. Y también es una chica inteligente, divertida y relinda.

Sebastian: And being from Miami isn't the only thing great about her, she's also inteligente, divertida y relinda, intelligent, funny and very pretty. And did you notice how he used “re-” just before "linda". This is a common way in Argentina to say muy, “very”. Anyway, what could go wrong?

Francisco: Pero tengo un problema: nuestra cita va a ser en una fiesta de salsa en el Brooklyn Museum. Y Blake es mitad colombiana, mitad costarricense, ¡seguro que baila muy bien salsa!

Sebastian: Well, well, well. Francisco's worst nightmare: their date is at a salsa party! And on top of that, Francisco thinks Blake is going to be a great dancer because she's half Colombian and half Costa Rican!

Francisco: No quiero perder la oportunidad de tener una cita con Blake… ¿Va a ser mi falta de ritmo otra vez un problema?

Sebastian: Francisco says, “I don't want to miss the chance”, no quiero perder la oportunidad, of going on a date with Blake. But he wonders if his lack of rhythm, falta de ritmo, will be a problem once again.

Alright, so he arrives at his date! Francisco says that nos encontramos, “we meet”, at the museum's entrance.

Francisco: Nos encontramos en la puerta de la fiesta.

Sebastian: And as he might have expected, at the party everyone baila fenomenal. I'd be so nervous about this, and Francisco feels very intimidated. But, who wants to be the boring guy, el chico aburrido, who doesn't want to dance? Surely not Francisco, who wants to have a good time with Blake, la chica más simpática y divertida, the nicest and funniest of all the girls at the party.

Francisco: En la fiesta todo el mundo baila fenomenal. Es muy intimidante. Pero yo estoy en la fiesta con la chica más simpática y es redivertida y no quiero ser el chico aburrido que no quiere bailar.

Sebastian: On the dance floor they start to dance and something inesperado, unexpected happens: Francisco says that Blake me pisa el pie, “steps on my foot”.

Francisco: Vamos a la pista de baile… Empezamos a bailar y algo inesperado sucede: ella me pisa el pie.

Blake: —¡Perdona! No bailo muy bien.

Francisco: —No te preocupes. Estoy seguro de que bailas mejor que yo.

Sebastian: He tells her not to worry, and that he's sure that she can dance mejor, better, than him. Blake replies to him ¿por qué?, why?

Blake: —¿Ah sí? ¿Por qué?

Francisco: —Bueno, porque los argentinos no bailamos salsa…

Blake: —Yo tampoco bailo muy bien. Y realmente no sé bailar salsa o bachata.

Sebastian: But it just so happens that Blake isn't a good dancer either, and she also can't dance salsa or bachata. This is a major relief for Francisco, who no longer is worried about making a fool of himself, hacer el ridículo. So they decide to just relax and practice some salsa moves together.

Francisco: —¿Tampoco sabes? ¡Qué bien! Ahora ya no estoy preocupado de hacer el ridículo.

Blake: —Yo tampoco. Bueno, pero podemos practicar juntos hoy.

Sebastian: They continue dancing, and they really enjoy practicing some salsa steps and he says la pasamos genial, “we have a lot of fun”.

Francisco: Al final la pasamos genial. Ninguno de los dos baila bien, pero es muy divertido practicar juntos.

Sebastian: Alright! So their first date went really well, so well, that un año más tarde, a year later, they are living together.

Francisco: Me alegra decir que un año más tarde vivimos juntos y ahora ya no necesitamos bailar para impresionarnos el uno al otro.

Sebastian: And of course, now they don't need to dance to impress each other!

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!