Learn how to express annoyance and how to book a hotel room
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Beginner series, Season 2, Lesson #38. How Many Ways Can You Say No in German? Hello and welcome to the germanpod101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn German. |
| Judith: I am Judith and thanks again for being here with us for this beginner series, season 2 lesson. |
| Chuck: And in this lesson, you will learn how to express annoyance in German. |
| Judith: And also how to book a hotel room. |
| Chuck: Conversation takes place at a German Hotel at the outskirts of Munich. The conversation is between Mike, Caroline and the hotel clerk. The speakers are in a business relationship. Therefore they will be speaking formal German but wait! If you don’t already have one, |
| Judith: Stop by germanpod101.com |
| Chuck: And sign up for your free lifetime account. |
| Judith: You can sign up in less than 30 seconds. |
| Chuck: All right. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Caroline: Ah, ein Münchener Hotel! Sollen wir hier übernachten? |
| Martin: Es ist sehr spät, ich weiß nicht, ob sie noch freie Zimmer haben. Aber wir können es versuchen. |
| Caroline: Ja. Am besten redest du, du sprichst besser Deutsch. |
| Martin: Okay. |
| Hotelangestellte: Guten Abend! Willkommen im Hotel „Zur Post“. |
| Martin: Guten Abend! Wir suchen ein Doppelzimmer für diese Nacht. |
| Hotelangestellte: Was ist Ihre Reservierungsnummer? |
| Martin: Wir haben keine Reservierung... |
| Hotelangestellte: Sie kommen erst jetzt und wollen noch ein Zimmer für die Nacht?? |
| Martin: Haben Sie noch ein Doppelzimmer frei? |
| Hotelangestellte: Wieso haben Sie nicht eher mit uns telefoniert und ein Zimmer reserviert? |
| Martin: Wir waren nicht sicher, ob wir heute noch München erreichen. Also, haben Sie ein Zimmer für uns? |
| Hotelangestellte: Ja. Vierter Stock, ein Doppelzimmer mit Bad. Wie lange bleiben Sie? |
| Martin: Nur diese Nacht. |
| Hotelangestellte: Hmpf. Hier ist Ihr Schlüssel. Zimmer 413. Den Weg finden Sie schon. |
| Martin: Danke. |
| Judith: Now it’s slowly. |
| Caroline: Ah, ein Münchener Hotel! Sollen wir hier übernachten? |
| Martin: Es ist sehr spät, ich weiß nicht, ob sie noch freie Zimmer haben. Aber wir können es versuchen. |
| Caroline: Ja. Am besten redest du, du sprichst besser Deutsch. |
| Martin: Okay. |
| Hotelangestellte: Guten Abend! Willkommen im Hotel „Zur Post“. |
| Martin: Guten Abend! Wir suchen ein Doppelzimmer für diese Nacht. |
| Hotelangestellte: Was ist Ihre Reservierungsnummer? |
| Martin: Wir haben keine Reservierung... |
| Hotelangestellte: Sie kommen erst jetzt und wollen noch ein Zimmer für die Nacht?? |
| Martin: Haben Sie noch ein Doppelzimmer frei? |
| Hotelangestellte: Wieso haben Sie nicht eher mit uns telefoniert und ein Zimmer reserviert? |
| Martin: Wir waren nicht sicher, ob wir heute noch München erreichen. Also, haben Sie ein Zimmer für uns? |
| Hotelangestellte: Ja. Vierter Stock, ein Doppelzimmer mit Bad. Wie lange bleiben Sie? |
| Martin: Nur diese Nacht. |
| Hotelangestellte: Hmpf. Hier ist Ihr Schlüssel. Zimmer 413. Den Weg finden Sie schon. |
| Martin: Danke. |
| Judith: Now with the translation. |
| Caroline: Ah, ein Münchener Hotel! Sollen wir hier übernachten? |
| Caroline: Ah, a Munich hotel! Shall we spend the night here? |
| Martin: Es ist sehr spät, ich weiß nicht, ob sie noch freie Zimmer haben. Aber wir können es versuchen. |
| Martin: It is very late, I don't know if they still have free rooms. But we can try. |
| Caroline: Ja. Am besten redest du, du sprichst besser Deutsch. |
| Caroline: Yes. It would be best if you talk, you speak better German. |
| Martin: Okay. |
| Martin: Okay. |
| Hotelangestellte: Guten Abend! Willkommen im Hotel „Zur Post“. |
| Hotel clerk: Good evening! Welcome to the hotel "Zur Post". |
| Martin: Guten Abend! Wir suchen ein Doppelzimmer für diese Nacht. |
| Martin: Good evening! We are looking for a double room for tonight. |
| Hotelangestellte: Was ist Ihre Reservierungsnummer? |
| Hotel clerk: What is your reservation ID? |
| Martin: Wir haben keine Reservierung... |
| Martin: We don't have a reservation… |
| Hotelangestellte: Sie kommen erst jetzt und wollen noch ein Zimmer für die Nacht?? |
| Hotel clerk: You are only coming now and you want a room for the night?? |
| Martin: Haben Sie noch ein Doppelzimmer frei? |
| Martin: Do you have a free double room? |
| Hotelangestellte: Wieso haben Sie nicht eher mit uns telefoniert und ein Zimmer reserviert? |
| Hotel clerk: Why didn't you call us earlier and reserve a room? |
| Martin: Wir waren nicht sicher, ob wir heute noch München erreichen. Also, haben Sie ein Zimmer für uns? |
| Martin: We weren't sure if we would reach Munich today. So, do you have a room for us? |
| Hotelangestellte: Ja. Vierter Stock, ein Doppelzimmer mit Bad. Wie lange bleiben Sie? |
| Hotel clerk: Yes. Fourth floor, a double room with a bath. How long are you staying? |
| Martin: Nur diese Nacht. |
| Martin: Just this night. |
| Hotelangestellte: Hmpf. Hier ist Ihr Schlüssel. Zimmer 413. Den Weg finden Sie schon. |
| Hotel clerk: Hmpf. This is your key. Room 413. You'll find the way. |
| Martin: Danke. |
| Martin: Thanks. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: I think it wouldn’t have to be necessary for them to speak German with the clerk? |
| Chuck: Not really. |
| Judith: I think Caroline just wanted to get out of dealing with him. |
| Chuck: You see in Germany, English is a mandatory subject at school for at least 5 years. I’d say 7 if you want to go to University. |
| Judith: Yeah it’s even increasingly present in Kindergartens but the quality of instruction varies a lot and most people won’t remember any of the English ten years after they took it that is of course unless they’ve had to use it in the mean time. |
| Chuck: So if you want to ask a German something in English, it’d be best to ask a student or a businessman. Hotel clerk should also know English but sometimes they don’t. At an airport, you are pretty much always going to find someone who’d speak English from the personnel. |
| Judith: Yes it has to be but in other groups, understanding of English is actually quite low. For example, in a recent study, more than 50% of Germans were unable to understand English slogans used in German TV ads. Things as simple as where money lives. This is another reason for you to learn German of course. |
| Chuck: Of course, you are also much more likely to have success with your English in a city like Berlin or Hamburg than you would in a smaller city or a town for example. |
| Judith: Oh I’d say your success with English is much higher in a small town in Western Germany than in – or even a bigger town in the east like Berlin because so many people learned Russian here. |
| Chuck: Yeah I guess that it also depends on how old the people are that you are______ (0:02:14) talking with. |
| Judith: Yeah still other than English, French is the most commonly studied foreign language followed by Latin but these would normally not be studied instead of English, they are studied as a second foreign language. |
| Chuck: And as we said earlier, in Eastern Germany, Russian was the most common foreign language. And if you intend to go to University, you will have to study two foreign languages each for at least 5 years at high school which is supposed to get you fluent command of them. People are usually at least conversational by the end. |
| Judith: Yeah. |
| Chuck: But given a few years without speaking any, well, you know what happens. |
| Judith: Also the focus is more on enabling people to write essays, understand Shakespeare that kind of thing. They may not be able to fluently order some rolls or bread in a bakery. |
| Chuck: And they will certainly get confused when they go to the States and get bombarded with different options at restaurants. |
| Judith: At German schools, you have the option of studying up to 4 foreign languages even. That’s what I did but there’s actually few people doing that. Foreign language classes once you’ve chosen them can’t be dropped easily and they will affect your mark average. So you have to make a commitment to really become conversational in the chosen languages. |
| Chuck: So we will make commitment to become fluent in our chosen language by looking at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: [Übernachten] |
| Chuck: To spend the night. |
| Judith: [Übernachten, übernachten] Next [Frei] |
| Chuck: Free. |
| Judith: [Frei, frei] Next [Zimmer] |
| Chuck: Room. |
| Judith: [Zimmer, Zimmer, das Zimmer] And the plural is the same. Next [Versuchen] |
| Chuck: To try. |
| Judith: [Versuchen, versuchen] Next [Am besten] |
| Chuck: The best or it would be best if. |
| Judith: [Am besten, am besten] Next [Reden] |
| Chuck: To talk. |
| Judith: [Reden, reden] Next [Besser] |
| Chuck: Better. |
| Judith: [Besser, besser] Next [Doppel] |
| Chuck: Double. |
| Judith: [Doppel, doppel] Next [Telefonieren] |
| Chuck: To call, make a phone call. |
| Judith: [Telefonieren, telefonieren] Next [Reservieren] |
| Chuck: To reserve. |
| Judith: [Reservieren, reservieren] Next [Erreichen] |
| Chuck: To reach, achieve or accomplish. |
| Judith: [Erreichen, erreichen] Next [Stock] |
| Chuck: Floor or stick. |
| Judith: [Stock, der Stock] Next [Bad] |
| Chuck: Bath or bathroom. |
| Judith: [Bad, Bad, das Bad] The plural is [Bäder] Next [Schlüssel] |
| Chuck: Key |
| Judith: [Schlüssel, Schlüssel, der Schlüssel] And the plural is the same. |
| 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 will look at is [Am besten] |
| Chuck: It will be best if. |
| Judith: You can use this to politely make a suggestion. For example, [Am besten gehen wir sofort los] |
| Chuck: It will be best if we go immediately. |
| Judith: Next let’s talk about [Reservierung] |
| Chuck: Reservation. |
| Judith: This is the noun based on [Reservieren] |
| Chuck: To reserve |
| Judith: And [Reservierungsnummer] with an s to connect two words is reservation number. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The grammar focus of this lesson is the use of the word [Kein] as in no. |
| Judith: The word [Kein] is used more often in German than in English. |
| Chuck: For example to say, I don’t drink beer, you can’t say [Ich trinke nicht Bier] in German. You have to say [Ich trinke kein Bier] and in the same way, you will actually hear Germans make the mistake, I drink no beer. |
| Judith: Similarly in today’s dialogue, Martin said [Wir haben keine Reservierung] for we don’t have a reservation. He did not say [Wir haben nicht eine Reservierung]. That would sound extremely bad to a German. |
| Chuck: It’d be about like going into hotel and saying, I have no reservation. The rule seems to be that whenever you combine [Nicht] and [Ein], you have to use [Kein] in German. |
| Judith: Also if your sentence contains a direct object without any article neither [Der, Die, Das] nor [Ein] nor mein or so like, then you also have to use [Kein] |
| Chuck: When you have an object introduced with the form of [Der, Die] or [Das], you can’t use [Kein]. Instead you will typically put the object before the [Nicht]. |
| Judith: As in [Ich trinke das Bier nicht] |
| Chuck: I am not drinking the beer. |
Outro |
| Chuck: That just about does it for today. Okay some of our listeners already know about the most powerful tool on germanpod101.com. Do you? |
| 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 size sentences. |
| Judith: You can try the line by line audio in the premium learning center at germanpod101.com |
| Chuck: So see you next week. |
| Judith: [Bis nächste Woche]. |
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