Learn how to go through passport control in Germany
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Absolute Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 8 – “What Will it Take for You to Get Through German Passport Control” |
| Judith: Hi, my name is [Judith] and I’m joined here by Chuck. |
| Chuck: Hello everyone and welcome to GermanPod101. |
| Judith: What are we learning today? |
| Chuck: In this lesson you’ll learn how to go through passport control in Germany. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place at a German Airport, at passport control. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Joe and the passport officer. |
| Judith: This is a formal situation and the speakers do not know each other, therefore they will be speaking formal German. |
| Chuck: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| P: Ihren Pass bitte. |
| A: Hier. |
| P: Sie sprechen Deutsch? |
| A: Ja. |
| P: Das ist gut. Also, kommen Sie aus Kanada? |
| A: Ja, ich komme aus Kanada, aber ich wohne in Washington, in den USA. |
| P: So so. Wie lange werden Sie in Deutschland bleiben? |
| A: Ich werde nur zwei Wochen bleiben. Ich komme als Tourist, nicht beruflich. |
| P: Werden Sie nur Berlin besuchen? |
| A: Hmm. Berlin ist groß und interessant, aber vielleicht werde ich auch nach Köln oder München reisen. Mal sehen. |
| P: Werden Sie auch arbeiten, während Sie in Deutschland sind? |
| A: Nein. |
| P: Sind Sie sicher? |
| A: Ja. Ich mache Ferien in Deutschland, ich arbeite nicht. |
| P: Gut. Hier ist Ihr Pass. |
| P: Your passport please. |
| A: Here. |
| P: You speak German? |
| A: Yes. |
| P: That's good. So, do you come from Canada? |
| A: Yes, I come from Canada, but I live in Washington, in the USA. |
| P: Uhuh. How long will you stay in Germany? |
| A: I will only stay for two weeks. I come as a tourist, not for business. |
| P: Will you visit just Berlin? |
| A: Hmm. Berlin is big and interesting, but maybe I will also travel to Cologne or Munich. We'll see. |
| P: Will you work as well while you're in Germany? |
| A: No. |
| P: Are you sure? |
| A: Yes. I'm on holidays in German, I don't work. |
| P: Good. Here's your passport. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Alright. Now for our cultural point, how about we talk about passports and passport control. |
| Chuck: That sounds pretty reasonable. |
| Judith: Germans have mandatory identity card in addition to being able to get a passport. The identity card contains a photo and also some basic information about yourself. For example, your current address. |
| Chuck: So do you have that on your driver’s license? |
| Judith: Yes, of course. Driver license has nothing to do with ID, you can’t use them for ID. If you want to prove your age, for example to buy alcohol, then you need to show your identity card and also if you want to take advantage of regional offers, you show your identity card to prove your address. |
| Chuck: So, I guess if you’re over 21 you can get alcohol then, right? |
| Judith: No. We had this before. The drinking age is 16 or 18 for stronger stuff. |
| Chuck: Ah! That’s right. |
| Judith: And, I guess that in that case you would use the identity card is when you have to prove your identity. For example, when you’re making a contract or when you’re having a wedding. You can also use your passport for that, but you can’t use your passport to prove your address because it doesn’t contain it. |
| Chuck: European citizens can also use their identity card to travel within the European Union, with what they don’t need a passport. But they still need it if they travel outside the E.U, of course. I remember I once traveled from Netherlands to Germany and I forgot my passport and I was lucky to only be able to get away with just my driver’s license, but the passport controller wasn’t very happy with me. |
| Judith: Yes. The driver’s license is not accepted as an ID, even for Americans. |
| Chuck: Yeah. |
| Judith: You have to have your passport while travelling here. |
| Chuck: I’m pretty sure how on our flight I wouldn’t be able to board the plane, but I was [going] by train. |
| Judith: Yeah, you’re lucky. As an American coming to Germany you can, usually, get in without the special visa, if you’re just coming as a tourist or for a limited amount of time, then just having your passport is enough, you just board the train and you’re here. No more formalities. |
| Chuck: Yeah. |
| Judith: But you do need a visa if you’re going to stay here for a longer time or if you’re planning to study or take a job here. |
| Chuck: The board control wore similar uniforms as regular German police. Based on the color green. |
| Judith: German police cars are also green. It’s also in white or in silver. Except the newer police uniforms and the newer police cars use the color blue instead, because this is becoming standardized across Europe. |
| Chuck: Really, I never see policemen in blue uniforms. Where did you see that? |
| Judith: Well, they’re still kind of rare ,but you sometimes see them. I saw them in the Berlin train station, for example. |
| Chuck: Okay. That makes more sense as it’s a more international place, too. |
| Judith: I think it’s just a matter of who has the money to give them all new uniforms. |
| Chuck: Okay. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chuck: The first word we shall look at is? |
| Judith: [so] |
| Chuck: “So” or “well”. |
| Judith: [so, so] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [besuchen] |
| Chuck: “To visit”. |
| Judith: [besuchen, besuchen] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [groß] |
| Chuck: “Tall” or “large”. |
| Judith: [groß, groß] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [interessant] |
| Chuck: “Interesting”. |
| Judith: [interessant, interessant] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [vielleicht] |
| Chuck: “Maybe”. |
| Judith: [vielleicht, vielleicht] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [reisen] |
| Chuck: “To travel”. |
| Judith: [reisen, reisen] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [mal] |
| Chuck: “Have a...” – colloquial particle for doing something in a leisurely way. |
| Judith: [mal] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [sehe] |
| Chuck: “To see”. |
| Judith: [sehen] This word is a vowel changing verb, hence the form for the second and third person singular is [du siehst] and [er sieht], for all the rest based on [sehen]. |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [während] |
| Chuck: “While” or “during”. |
| Judith: [während, während] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [Ferien] |
| Chuck: “Holidays” or “vacation”. |
| Judith: [Ferien, Ferien] This verb is always plural. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Chuck: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Judith: The first phrase we’ll look at is [Sie sprechen Deutsch]. Normally, you’d have to say [Sprechen Sie Deutsch] in order to make this a question. However, German is a melodious language, so in this case we’re just relying on the sentence melody to show that it is a question. So, we say [Sie sprechen Deutsch] and you hear the [Deutsch], and the voice goes up at the end. If this was a statement, it would go down. [Sie sprechen Deutsch] The next phrase we should look at is [in den U.S.A.] |
| Chuck: “In the U.S.A.” |
| Judith: Just like in English, there’s a difference between saying “In Canada” and “In the U.S.A” that extra article is also reflected in German, and since we’re talking about more than one United State, we have the plural article which is [den] in this case. So, [in den U.S.A.] lastly, we should talk about [Ferien machen] |
| Chuck: Literally, “To make holidays.” |
| Judith: This means “to go on holidays”. |
| Chuck: Or vacation. |
| Judith: Indeed. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The grammar focus of this lesson is the future tense. The future tense – |
| Judith: [Zukunft] |
| Chuck: - is formed using a form of the auxiliary [werden] and the infinitive of the verb you’re meant to use. [werden] is conjugated similarly to a vowel changing verb. |
| Judith: [Ich werde, Du wirst, Er wird, Wir werden, Ihr werdet, Sie werden] |
| Chuck: Note that all the verbs are regular in the future tense. However it’s marked [unintelligible 00:06:50]. The main verb gets placed at the end of the sentence, after everything else. That will take some getting used to. Here are some examples of sentences used in the future tense? |
| Judith: Of course, for example [Ich werde Deutsch lernen] |
| Chuck: “I will learn German.” |
| Judith: [Wann werden Sie Deutschland besuchen] |
| Chuck: “When will you visit Germany?” |
| Judith: [Wirst du hier arbeiten] |
Outro |
| Chuck: “Will you work here?” That just about does it for today. Testing yourself is one of the most effective ways to learn. |
| Judith: That’s why we have three types of quizzes. |
| Chuck: Vocabulary, grammar and content specific. |
| Judith: Each quiz targets a specific skill. |
| Chuck: And together, these quizzes will help you master several fundamental skills. |
| Judith: You can find them in the learning center at GermanPod101.com. |
| Chuck: Okay, see you next week. |
| Judith: [Dann bis nächste Woche] |
| -- |
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