C2 Comprehension Workshop: Compare Difficult Audio, Written, and Visual Evidence

C2 Comprehension Workshop: Compare Difficult Audio, Written, and Visual Evidence

In this workshop, you will compare three difficult sources about the same issue: a spoken interview, a written report, and a visual data display. Each medium highlights different information. You will identify agreement, tension, and possible distortion caused by presentation, and you will preserve unresolved differences instead of forcing a single story.

Issue

A city has extended evening bus service for three months. The question is whether the extension should continue.

Source A: audio interview transcript

Transport manager:

En general estamos satisfechos. Los autobuses de las últimas dos horas no van llenos, pero sí transportan a personas que antes tenían muy pocas opciones para volver a casa. El coste adicional existe, claro, y todavía estamos estudiando si todas las líneas necesitan exactamente el mismo horario. — Overall, we are satisfied. Buses in the last two hours are not full, but they do carry people who previously had very few options for getting home. There is an additional cost, of course, and we are still studying whether every route needs exactly the same schedule.

What audio adds

The speaker gives an evaluative stance:

En general estamos satisfechos. — Overall, we are satisfied.

But the same source also qualifies the policy:

todavía estamos estudiando si todas las líneas necesitan exactamente el mismo horario — we are still studying whether every route needs exactly the same schedule.

Source B: written report

Durante los tres meses de prueba, el número medio de pasajeros entre las 22:00 y las 24:00 aumentó de 1.180 a 1.460 por noche. El coste operativo total del servicio nocturno aumentó un 11 %. El informe no calcula todavía el coste por viaje adicional ni compara el resultado con otras posibles medidas de movilidad. — During the three-month trial, the average number of passengers between 22:00 and 24:00 increased from 1,180 to 1,460 per night. Total operating cost of the nighttime service increased by 11%. The report does not yet calculate the cost per additional trip or compare the result with other possible mobility measures.

What the written source adds

It provides:

1.180 → 1.460 pasajeros por noche — 1,180 → 1,460 passengers per night.

11 % de aumento del coste operativo — 11% increase in operating cost.

It also makes an important limitation explicit:

no calcula todavía el coste por viaje adicional — it does not yet calculate cost per additional trip.

Source C: visual evidence

The course visual display is represented by this table:

Line	Passengers before	Passengers during trial	Relative change
Línea A	420	650	+55 %
Línea B	390	430	+10 %
Línea C	370	380	+3 %

What the visual adds

The overall increase is unevenly distributed.

Strongest change:

Línea A: +55 %. — Line A: +55%.

Smallest change:

Línea C: +3 %. — Line C: +3%.

This supports the manager's caution about whether every line needs the same schedule.

Agreement across media

Audio:

not every line may need the same schedule.

Visual:

ridership growth differs sharply by line.

Written report:

overall ridership increased.

The three sources are compatible on these points.

Tension across media

Manager says:

En general estamos satisfechos. — Overall, we are satisfied.

The written report does not measure satisfaction.

Therefore, do not convert the manager's stance into a measured finding.

Possible visual distortion

Imagine the chart uses separate vertical scales for each line. Line C's small increase could look visually as dramatic as Line A's large increase.

Correct response:

La forma de presentar la escala puede exagerar visualmente diferencias pequeñas. — The way the scale is presented can visually exaggerate small differences.

Always inspect labels and scale before inferring magnitude from bar height alone.

Possible written-source limitation

The report gives total cost change but not:

coste por pasajero adicional — cost per additional passenger.

Without that calculation, one important efficiency comparison remains open.

Possible audio limitation

The interview is useful for priorities and operational interpretation, but one manager's evaluation does not replace measured outcomes.

Integrated interpretation

La prueba aumentó el uso nocturno total y el crecimiento fue especialmente fuerte en la Línea A, mientras que la Línea C cambió poco. El coste operativo subió un 11 %, pero el informe todavía no permite calcular el coste por viaje adicional ni comparar la ampliación con otras medidas. El responsable de transporte valora positivamente el servicio por las opciones que ofrece a algunos pasajeros, aunque reconoce que quizá no todas las líneas necesiten el mismo horario. En conjunto, la evidencia apoya continuar evaluando el servicio, pero no demuestra que deba mantenerse sin cambios en todas las líneas. — The trial increased total nighttime use, with especially strong growth on Line A while Line C changed little. Operating cost rose by 11%, but the report still does not allow calculation of cost per additional trip or comparison of the extension with other measures. The transport manager evaluates the service positively because of the options it provides some passengers, while acknowledging that not every line may need the same schedule. Overall, the evidence supports continued evaluation of the service, but does not show that it should be maintained unchanged on every line.

Keep disagreement visible

If another source later argues that social access matters more than cost per trip, that introduces a value disagreement rather than a simple factual contradiction.

Workshop criteria

1. Identify what each medium contributes uniquely.
2. Preserve numerical scale and source limitations.
3. Do not turn a speaker's evaluation into a measured finding.
4. Inspect how visual design may amplify or suppress apparent differences.
5. Separate factual disagreement from different evaluation criteria.
6. Keep unresolved questions visible.
7. Produce one integrated interpretation rather than three adjacent summaries.

From Multimodal Evidence to Fine Lexical Choice

You can now weigh complex evidence across media without collapsing their different strengths. The next lesson teaches Distinguishing Near-Synonyms by Spanish Register, Connotation, and Collocation.