9.2 Tarea 5: Informal Everyday Dialogue

Listen for Who Expresses the Information

Listening Tarea 5 asks you to understand a conversation between two people and assign six statements to the man, the woman or neither. The official specifications describe about 250–300 words. This differs from choosing one of three answers about a final decision. Read the response categories printed in the actual booklet and keep them in view while listening.

The conversation may involve daily plans, preferences, memories or a practical problem. You need both meaning and source: recognizing a sentence is not enough if you attach it to the wrong voice. The third category, ninguno de los dos, matters because a plausible statement may not be expressed by either speaker.

The recording is heard twice. Use the reading and checking periods it announces; there is no universal one-minute interval to assume between hearings or after every task. Practice with official audio to learn the sequence. The dialogue below is an original written exercise, not an audio simulation.

Preview Statements without Inventing a Story

Before listening, underline the claim in each statement. A statement such as Prefiere hacer las compras por internet concerns a shopping preference; it does not ask who owns a computer. Contrast statements that mention the same activity but differ in cause, frequency or attitude.

Make a provisional prediction of useful vocabulary, not a prediction of the answer. For le parece demasiado caro, listen for cuesta mucho, no me llega el dinero or another equivalent expression. Those words are clues only when the complete utterance supports the claim. A person can report someone else’s opinion or explain an idea they later abandoned.

Do not distribute answers evenly merely because there are three categories. Choose by evidence. Follow the wording about dice, afirma or menciona: another speaker’s brief agreement does not necessarily make the original statement theirs. If a particular statement seems to fit both, check its exact wording and the context again instead of inventing a “both” category absent from the response sheet.

Original Practice Conversation

Read this shortened dialogue first to understand the method. Later, ask a partner to read it aloud twice while you hide the transcript, or apply the same steps to the official recorded model.

Carlos: Sara, el dueño viene a revisar el piso este sábado. Yo preferiría contratar una empresa de limpieza para terminar antes.

Sara: Yo no quiero gastar dinero en eso. Este mes tengo que pagar la matrícula. Puedo limpiar la cocina el viernes por la tarde.

Carlos: El viernes yo trabajo hasta las ocho. El sábado por la mañana pasaré la aspiradora por el salón. Mañana compraré los productos de limpieza.

Sara: De acuerdo. Yo ya tengo guantes y bolsas. No hace falta comprar más.

Now attribute these statements by the information actually expressed:

The fourth item illustrates the “neither” trap: a familiar noun does not establish the added claim nueva or the completed action ha comprado. The final item also requires tense discrimination. Compraré mañana is a plan, whereas ya he comprado would refer to a completed purchase.

Understand Proposals, Rejections and Agreement

Conversational formulas help identify the meaning of a turn. They do not automatically determine a response category. Listen to the proposition attached to the formula and identify its speaker.

• ¡Qué va! often rejects an earlier idea: ¿Vas a comprar otro coche? ¡Qué va! Voy a reparar el mío. The second speaker rejects buying another car.
• Me da igual can express indifference between alternatives: El sábado o el domingo, me da igual. It does not imply that a particular date has already been booked.
• Por si acaso introduces a precaution: Llevo una copia por si acaso. It does not make the feared event certain.
• Menos mal expresses relief: Menos mal que has reservado. Identify who made the reservation rather than treating the relieved speaker as its author.
• Trato hecho accepts an arrangement. To attribute the underlying information, still follow the statement’s wording and the preceding turns.

A reported view also needs care. In Mi hermana cree que es caro, pero a mí me parece bien, the current speaker reports a sister’s concern and gives a different opinion. Do not attribute le parece caro to the speaker simply because those words occurred in their turn.

Two Hearings with Different Jobs

On the first hearing, follow the whole exchange, identify the voices and note provisional categories. Write very short cues, such as matrícula → mujer, rather than attempting a full transcript. A missed clause should not prevent you from processing the next turn.

On the second hearing, check uncertain attributions. Listen for the exact link between person, action and qualifier: yo, mi hermano, antes, todavía no, solo los viernes. A short negation can reverse an otherwise convincing match. If the statement is unsupported after both hearings, “neither” remains a legitimate answer; it is not a category reserved for nonsensical claims.

Transfer answers to the numbered rows under the recording’s instructions. Compare the statement number and response category each time. A correct judgment written on the wrong row loses its value. During review, classify your errors: wrong voice, missed meaning, extra inference or transfer slip. Then repeat the relevant kind of practice with new material. Memorizing this transcript demonstrates recall; understanding a fresh recording demonstrates listening.