Bridging the Gap Challenge #004

<p>One of the best ways to <strong>take your Spanish to the next level</strong> is to <a href="https://deliberatespanish.com/blog/notice-mistakes">get better at noticing mistakes</a>. The exercise below is designed to help you do just that.</p><p>Here's an example:</p><div class="translation mistake gap"><p><span class="sp">M0: ¿Qué es la problema?</span></p></div><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">R1: ¿Cuál es su solución?</span><br><span class="en">What is their solution?</span></p><p><span class="sp">R2: Tengo un problema.</span><br><span class="en">I have a problem</span></p></div><p>The sentence in red contains two mistakes.</p><p>We know that because it has two blue sentences below it. These are the <strong>reference sentences</strong>, they each contain a structure that is used incorrectly in the sentence in red.</p><p>Your job is to <strong>notice these structures</strong> and to <strong>fix the mistakes</strong>. Something like this: "R1 says <span class="sp">¿Cuál es…?</span>, but M0 has <span class="sp">¿qué es…?</span>; that's probably one mistake. Then, R2 says <span class="sp">un problema</span>, which is masculine, but M0 has <span class="sp">la problema</span>, so that's probably wrong as well."</p><p>The final answer would be:</p><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">¿Cuál es el problema?</span></p></div><p>That was just an example. Here are the four sentences that actually make up this challenge (there are 10 mistakes in total, one for each reference sentence):</p><h2>The challenge</h2><div class="translation mistake gap"><p><span class="sp">M1: Gracias para los consejos, pero ¿hay otros calles en esta ciudad cuales no son seguras?</span></p></div><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">R1: No te preocupes por las flores. Ya me encargo yo.</span><br><span class="en">Don't worry about the flowers. I'll take care of it (right now).</span></p><p><span class="sp">R2: En esta calle está la casa donde nació mi padre.</span><br><span class="en">In this street stands the house where my father was born.</span></p><p><span class="sp">R3: ¿En tu casa hay algún mueble que no sea de Ikea?</span><br><span class="en">In your house, is there a (piece of) furniture that isn't from Ikea?</span></p></div><div class="translation mistake gap"><p><span class="sp">M2: Estás correcta en no perdonarle. Que no intente echarle la culpa a sus raíces latinos.</span></p></div><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">R4: Aunque me cueste admitirlo, reconozco que tienes razón.</span><br><span class="en">Although it's hard for me to admit it, I admit that you're right.</span></p><p><span class="sp">R5: Vamos a la raíz del asunto: no te puedes fiar de él.</span><br><span class="en">Let's go to the root of the matter: you can't trust him.</span></p></div><div class="translation mistake gap"><p><span class="sp">M3: No tengo algo más que decir, pero te prometo que haremos todo lo que podemos.</span></p></div><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">R6: No te puedo regalar nada más porque me he quedado sin dinero.</span><br><span class="en">I can't give you anything else (for free) because I've run out of money.</span></p><p><span class="sp">R7: Te juro que a partir de ahora voy a hacer todo lo que me digas.</span><br><span class="en">I swear that from now on I'm going to do everything you tell me.</span></p></div><div class="translation mistake gap"><p><span class="sp">M4: Yo era en un trabajo muy aburrido, y un día mi jefe me dio el oportunidad de cambiar y le dije sí.</span></p></div><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">R8: Últimamente siempre estás en la biblioteca. ¿A qué viene ese interés por el estudio?</span><br><span class="en">Lately you're always at the library. Why this interest in studying?</span></p><p><span class="sp">R9: Menuda oportunidad acabas de perder.</span><br><span class="en">What an opportunity you just lost.</span></p><p><span class="sp">R10: ¿Y tu hermano dónde está? Dile que venga ahora mismo.</span><br><span class="en">And your brother, where is he? Tell him to come right now.</span></p></div><p><strong>Pro tip</strong>: To get the most out of this exercise, do it in two steps:</p><ul><li>In the first step, <strong>go with your gut</strong> and correct whatever you think is wrong.</li><li>In the second step, make sure that <strong>each correction traces back to a reference sentence</strong>. If one of your corrections doesn't have a corresponding reference sentence, the change you proposed might still be perfect Spanish, but you're still missing one mistake.</li></ul><hr /><p>If you like public accountability, <strong>post your attempt in the comments</strong>; otherwise, <a href="mailto:nacho@deliberatespanish.com/blog?subject=Bridging%20the%20Gap%20Challenge"><strong>email it to me</strong></a>. Either way, you'll get an email with the answer key within 24 hours.</p><p>Have fun!</p>