Learn how to talk about history
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Intermediate Series Season 2, Lesson 18. Do you know how to find the best Germany has to offer? Hello and welcome back to GermanPod101.com. |
| Judith: This is where you can rapidly improve your German through fun and easy lessons. |
| Chuck: We’re back from our summer break. |
| Judith: And we brought back lots of interesting lessons. |
| Chuck: So what’s today’s lesson about? |
| Judith: In this lesson you will learn how to talk about history. |
| Chuck: Today’s conversation takes place at the Brandenburg gate in Berlin. The conversation is between Mike and his German friend, who are sightseeing there. The speakers are friends, therefore they will be speaking informal German. |
| Judith: Listeners, I have a question. |
| Chuck: A question? |
| Judith: Yes. I want to know when was the last time you commented? |
| Chuck: Ah yes. Great question, but didn’t you ask that last week too? |
| Judith: Anyways, stop by GermanPod101.com, leave us a comment or just say hi. |
| Chuck: When we’ll see lots of comments, we’ll stop asking the question. Ok, you heard Judith. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| D: Da sind wir! Mike, das hier ist das Brandenburger Tor. |
| A: Nicht schlecht! Es ist viel größer als ich dachte! |
| D: Das Brandenburger Tor ist das bekannteste Wahrzeichen Berlins. Außerdem ist es ein Symbol für Deutschland und für die Wiedervereinigung. |
| A: Wieso ist es ein Symbol für die Wiedervereinigung? |
| D: Weil das Brandenburger Tor während des kalten Krieges geschlossen war, es war Teil der Grenze zwischen West und Ost. |
| A: Ah, die Grenze zwischen Westdeutschland und Ostdeutschland? |
| D: Nein, die Grenze verlief weiter westlich. West-Berlin war eine Insel in Ostdeutschland. Deshalb baute die DDR eine Mauer um West-Berlin herum, um West-Berlin von Ost-Berlin und vom Rest der DDR abzugrenzen. |
| Judith: Now read slowly. |
| D: Da sind wir! Mike, das hier ist das Brandenburger Tor. |
| A: Nicht schlecht! Es ist viel größer als ich dachte! |
| D: Das Brandenburger Tor ist das bekannteste Wahrzeichen Berlins. Außerdem ist es ein Symbol für Deutschland und für die Wiedervereinigung. |
| A: Wieso ist es ein Symbol für die Wiedervereinigung? |
| D: Weil das Brandenburger Tor während des kalten Krieges geschlossen war, es war Teil der Grenze zwischen West und Ost. |
| A: Ah, die Grenze zwischen Westdeutschland und Ostdeutschland? |
| D: Nein, die Grenze verlief weiter westlich. West-Berlin war eine Insel in Ostdeutschland. Deshalb baute die DDR eine Mauer um West-Berlin herum, um West-Berlin von Ost-Berlin und vom Rest der DDR abzugrenzen. |
| Judith: Und jetzt mit Übersetzung. Now with the translation. |
| D: Da sind wir! Mike, das hier ist das Brandenburger Tor. |
| D: We're there! Mike, this is the Brandenburg Gate. |
| A: Nicht schlecht! Es ist viel größer als ich dachte! |
| A: Not bad! It's much bigger than I thought! |
| D: Das Brandenburger Tor ist das bekannteste Wahrzeichen Berlins. Außerdem ist es ein Symbol für Deutschland und für die Wiedervereinigung. |
| D: The Brandenburg Gate is the most well-known symbol of Berlin. It is also a symbol of Germany and the reunification. |
| A: Wieso ist es ein Symbol für die Wiedervereinigung? |
| A: Why is it a symbol of the reunification? |
| D: Weil das Brandenburger Tor während des kalten Krieges geschlossen war, es war Teil der Grenze zwischen West und Ost. |
| D: Because the Brandenburg Gate was closed during the Cold War, it was part of the border between West and East. |
| A: Ah, die Grenze zwischen Westdeutschland und Ostdeutschland? |
| A: Ah, the border between West Germany and East Germany? |
| D: Nein, die Grenze verlief weiter westlich. West-Berlin war eine Insel in Ostdeutschland. Deshalb baute die DDR eine Mauer um West-Berlin herum, um West-Berlin von Ost-Berlin und vom Rest der DDR abzugrenzen. |
| D: No, the border was further west. West-Berlin was an island in East Germany. Therefore the GDR built a wall around West-Berlin, to separate West-Berlin from East-Berlin and from the rest of the GDR. |
| CULTURAL INSIGHTS |
| Judith: Ok, guess what we will talk about. |
| Chuck: The cultural beer? |
| Judith: No… Berlin during the Cold War. |
| Chuck: Ah, I guess that does make more sense, even though I'm thirsty. |
| Judith: Ok. After the Second World War, every allied power got a slice of Germany. So Germany was not just split into East and West, but the West was also split between Britain, France and the USA. |
| Chuck: That left the issue of Berlin. Berlin was clearly in the East, but every allied power wanted to have the capital, of course. So they split Berlin into four zones, just like Germany as a whole was split. Very soon, Britain, France and the USA decided to merge their zones into one West German state, while the soviets followed soon by creating their own East German state. |
| Judith: As the cold war erupted, the soviets tried to force the other nations to hand over their parts of Berlin. They blocked the narrow transit routes that were supposed to connect West Berlin to the rest of Germany. The West responded by supplying Berlin completely by air for almost a full year, after which the soviets had to give up the blockade. |
| Chuck: Later, when more and more people were fleeing the communist east, East Germany built [inaudible 00:02:09] fortification on the inner German border and they built a wall all around West Berlin because it was the easiest point for East Germans to come to the West. |
| Judith: A common misconception is just that the wall was just a wall which could have been climbed. This was not the case. It was reinforced with barbed wire, death zones, watch towers, guard dogs and other measures. Many people died trying to escape. |
| Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: The first word is [Bekannt]. |
| Chuck: “Known” or “well-known”. |
| Judith: [Bekannt, bekannt] [Wahrzeichen] |
| Chuck: Symbol of a city. |
| Judith: [Wahrzeichen, Wahrzeichen, das Wahrzeichen] this is neuter. [Symbol] |
| Chuck: Symbol. |
| Judith: [Symbol, Symbol, das Symbol] neuter. [Wiedervereinigung] |
| Chuck: Reunification. |
| Judith: [Wiedervereinigung, Wiedervereinigung, die Wiedervereinigung]. [Schließen] |
| Chuck: “To close” or “shut”. |
| Judith: [Schließen, schließen] [Teil] |
| Chuck: Part. |
| Judith: [Teil, der Teil], this is masculine. [Grenze] |
| Chuck: Border. |
| Judith: [Grenze, Grenze, die Grenze], this is feminine. And the plural is [Grenzen]. [Verlaufen] |
| Chuck: “To run” or “take course”. |
| Judith: [Verlaufen, verlaufen] [Weiter] |
| Chuck: Further. |
| Judith: [Weiter, weiter] [Insel] |
| Chuck: Island. |
| Judith: [Insel, Insel, die Insel], this is feminine. And the plural is [Inseln]. [Bauen] |
| Chuck: To build. |
| Judith: [Bauen, bauen] [Mauer] |
| Chuck: “Wall” or “brick wall”. |
| Judith: [Mauer, Mauer, die Mauer] [Abgrenzen] |
| Chuck: To delimit, distinguish. |
| Judith: [Abgrenzen, abgrenzen] |
| Chuck: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Judith: The first word we’ll look at is [Um]. |
| Chuck: In order to. |
| Judith: For example, [Er sagte nichts, um nicht dumm auszusehen]. |
| Chuck: He didn’t say anything in order not to look stupid. |
| Judith: And we can also use [Um] with another word, with [Herum], and then it means… |
| Chuck: Around this. |
| Judith: [Um die Stadt herum]. |
| Chuck: Around the city. |
| Judith: So be careful whether you see [Um] alone or with [Herum]. Ok, how about some grammar now? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: To say that something is nicer, bigger, better or the like in German, add ER to any adjective. English has a similar rule, except in English you sometimes have to add “more” instead. |
| Judith: For example, the word “beautiful”. It’s impossible to say “beautifuler” in English, you have to say “more beautiful”. But in German it’s not possible to use [Mehr], you have to add ER. Additionally, adjectives still change according to the gender, number and the case of the accompanying noun. |
| Chuck: Could you give us some examples? |
| Judith: Of course. For example, [Köln ist schöner als Düsseldorf]. |
| Chuck: Cologne is nicer than Dusseldorf. |
| Judith: Or if it’s not as nice, then you could say [Köln ist weniger schön als Düsseldorf]. |
| Chuck: Cologne is less nice that Dusseldorf. |
| Judith: And if you don’t want to start a fight, maybe you should say [Düsseldorf und Köln sind genauso schön]. |
| Chuck: Dusseldorf and Cologne are equally nice. |
| Judith: There are a few irregular comparison forms. For example, [Gut] changes to [Besser]. This shouldn’t be hard to memorize, however, because English mirrors this change. |
| Chuck: If you want to say that something is the very best out of a large group, you need the superlative. The superlative is the most augmented form of an adjective. For example, superlatives in English are “strongest”, “hardest” or “most beautiful”. In German, the superlative is formed much the same. |
| Judith: Yeah, you also add [Est]. For example, [Schönste, der Schöne, die Schönste]. [Die schönste Stadt ist Berlin, oder?] |
| Chuck: “The most beautiful city is Berlin, isn’t it?” |
Outro |
| Chuck: Well, with our Berlin pride I think that just about does it for today. Some of our listeners already know about the most powerful tool on GermanPod101.com. |
| Judith: Line by line audio. |
| Chuck: The perfect tool for rapidly improving listening comprehension. |
| Judith: By listening to lines of the conversation again and again. |
| Chuck: Listen until every word and syllable becomes clear. Basically, we break down the dialogue into comprehensible, bite-sized sentences. |
| Judith: You can try the line by line audio in the Premium Learning Center at GermanPod101.com. |
| Chuck: So, hope to see you there. |
| Judith: Bis nächste Woche! |
| Chuck: See you next week! |
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