Learn how to dine at a restaurant
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Upper Beginner Season 1, Lesson #22. Ten Things You Must Know Before Eating Out in Germany. |
| Judith: Hi my name is Judith and I am joined here by Chuck. |
| Chuck: Hello everyone and welcome back to germanpod101.com |
| Judith: What are we learning today? |
| Chuck: In this lesson, you learn how to dine at a restaurant. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place at an Italian restaurant in Berlin. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Joe and Anke. |
| Judith: The speakers are friends. Therefore they will be speaking informal German. |
| Chuck: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Anke: So, da sind wir. Guck mal, da vorn ist ein Tisch frei. |
| Joe: Ja super. |
| Anke: Und wie findest du das Restaurant? |
| Joe: Gut. Es erinnert mich an mein Lieblingsrestaurant in Kanada. |
| Anke: Oh, wirklich? Na ich hoffe, das Essen hier schmeckt genauso gut wie in deinem Lieblingsrestaurant! |
| Joe: Kannst du etwas empfehlen? |
| Anke: Also, ich esse hier immer die Lasagne. Die schmeckt super. |
| Joe: Okay, dann nehme ich die! |
| Anke: Wow, das ist aber eine schnelle Entscheidung! Dann können wir ja bestellen. |
| Ober: Hallo, zwei Karten für Sie….. |
| Anke: Danke, aber die brauchen wir nicht…..Wir nehmen zwei Mal die Lasagne und zwei Wasser dazu…. |
| Ober: Wie Sie möchten. |
| Anke: Und Joe, wie schmeckt dir die Lasagne? |
| Joe: Sehr gut. Sie ist sogar leckerer als die Lasagne in meinem Lieblingsrestaurant! |
| Anke: Na Mensch, dann hast du jetzt wohl ein neues Lieblingsrestaurant in Berlin. |
| Joe: Haha, ja vielleicht. Ich muss sagen, die Kellner sind hier auch etwas freundlicher als in Kanada… Sind alle Kellner in Deutschland so freundlich wie die Kellner hier? |
| Anke: Hmm, nein nicht alle. Es kommt auf das Restaurant an. Es gibt auch unfreundliche Kellner hier. Aber denen gebe ich dann einfach kein Trinkgeld! |
| Joe: Haha! |
| Anke: So, here we are. Take a look, there in front there's a table free. |
| Joe: Yeah, great. |
| Anke: And how do you find the restaurant? |
| Joe: Good. It reminds me of my favorite restaurant in Canada. |
| Anke: Oh, really? Then I hope the food here tastes just as good as in your favorite restaurant! |
| Joe: Can you recommend something? |
| Anke: Well, I always eat the lasagne here. It tastes great. |
| Joe: Okay, then I'll take that! |
| Anke: Wow, that's a fast decision! I guess we can order. |
| Waiter: Hello, two menus for you... |
| Anke: Thanks, but we won't need them...We'll take two lasagnes and two waters. |
| Waiter: As you like. |
| Anke: And Joe, how does the lasagne taste? |
| Joe: Very good. It's even tastier than the lasagne in my favorite restaurant! |
| Anke: Man, then maybe you now have a new favorite restaurant in Berlin. |
| Joe: Haha, yeah maybe. I have to say, the waiters here are also somewhat friendlier than in Canada. Are all the waiters in Germany as friendly as the waiters here? |
| Anke: Hmm, no, not all. It depends on the restaurant. There are also unfriendly waiters here. But I simply don't give them a tip! |
| Joe: Haha! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay this is the time where I give you ten tips that you must know before you enter a German restaurant. |
| Chuck: Uhoo I want to start so… |
| Judith: Okay. |
| Chuck: Number 10, don’t wait for seating except in very fine restaurants if there is a sign. Actually I’ve never seen this in a German restaurant so… |
| Judith: Yes and the other thing. There is no free water and it’s very hard to get noncarbonated water but you do get usually free bread before the meal at least at middle class restaurants. |
| Chuck: Oh definitely try some German food. Lots of variety, regional specialties and lots of foreign restaurants as well. It’s comparatively healthy while most menu items will involve a generous amount of vegetables and few will involve fries but there aren’t many vegetarian options. So be careful. |
| Judith: Yeah or vegan is almost impossible. Eat with a fork in the left hand and knife in the right hand. |
| Chuck: Well if you can. I always mess that up. No one complains too badly. |
| Judith: And avoid making any kind of noises during or after eating. |
| Chuck: What were you saying? I was just eating. |
| Judith: Don’t talk during eating. |
| Chuck: Okay. Try to finish your plate especially when you have the chance to put food on your plate yourself like at a buffet or eating at somebody’s house |
| Judith: And when you are done and you want to leave a tip, pay the waiter. Don’t leave money on the table. If you need to, you can go upfront to pay or also if you are paying for a party and you don’t want to show off your money. |
| Chuck: Tipping is lower than in the states because service is usually included in the bill already. Also waiters get a decent wage without the tips. |
| Judith: Yes and keep in mind that value added tax is already included in all prices you’ll ever see in Germany. |
| Chuck: That’s sort of like sales tax in the States. Also note #1, you may not be able to pay by credit card. So be sure to check and see if there’s any credit card symbols before you enter the restaurant if you don’t have enough cash on you. |
| Judith: Very important. |
| Chuck: I think there is a phrase I heard, nur Bares is Wahres. |
| Judith: Yes. That means only cash is the real thing. |
| Chuck: Yeah. If you see that in a restaurant, you know it’s a place that doesn’t take credit cards. |
| Judith: Or debit cards. |
| Chuck: And they may even be proud of it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is |
| Judith: Tisch. |
| Chuck: Table. |
| Judith: Tisch. Tisch. Der Tisch and the plural is Tische. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Restaurant. |
| Chuck: Restaurant. |
| Judith: Restaurant. Restaurant. Das Restaurant and the plural is Restaurants. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Erinnern. |
| Chuck: To remind. |
| Judith: Erinnern. Erinnern. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Schmecken. |
| Chuck: To taste or to taste good. |
| Judith: Schmecken. Schmecken. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Genauso. |
| Chuck: Just like that or same as. |
| Judith: Genauso. Genauso. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Empfehlen. |
| Chuck: To recommend. |
| Judith: Empfehlen. Empfehlen. And this is a vowel changing verb. So er empfiehlt. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Sich entscheiden. |
| Chuck: To decide. |
| Judith: Sich entscheiden. Sich entscheiden. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Karte. |
| Chuck: Card, menu, map or ticket. |
| Judith: Karte. Karte. Die Karte and the plural is Karten. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Dazu. |
| Chuck: With that. |
| Judith: Dazu. Dazu. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Sogar. |
| Chuck: Even |
| Judith: Sogar. Sogar. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Kellner. |
| Chuck: Waiter |
| Judith: Kellner. Kellner. Der Kellner and the plural is the same. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Es kommt auf … an. |
| Chuck: It depends on… . |
| Judith: Es kommt auf … an. Es kommt auf … an. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Denen. |
| Chuck: To those |
| Judith: Denen. Denen. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Trinkgeld. |
| Chuck: Tip. |
| Judith: Trinkgeld. Trinkgeld. Das Trinkgeld and the plural is Trinkgelder. |
| 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 es schmeckt. |
| Chuck: It tastes good. |
| Judith: You can say es schmeckt schlecht. |
| Chuck: It tastes bad. |
| Judith: But unless you specify that, es schmeckt always has a positive meaning and there is this word Karte. Karte has a lot of translations. Card, map, menu, ticket basically it’s anything that’s rectangular and made of paper. Die Entscheidung |
| Chuck: Decision. |
| Judith: Is the noun based on sich entscheiden. |
| Chuck: To decide |
| Judith: And unfreundlich |
| Chuck: Unfriendly |
| Judith: Is the opposite of freundlich as you can guess. |
| Chuck: In German, opposites generally start with un. There aren’t as many different ways of forming opposites as in English for example. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The focus of this lesson are comparisons. |
| Judith: To say that something is nicer, bigger, better or the alike in German, add er to any adjective. |
| Chuck: English has a similar rule except in English, you sometimes have to add more instead. For example, you wouldn’t say beautifuller, you have to say more beautiful. |
| Judith: Yes and in German, it’s not possible to use mehr which means more. You have to add er for any adjective. |
| Chuck: It’s actually simpler that way. Note there are a few irregular comparison forms. For example, gut changes to besser. Additionally, adjectives still change according to the gender, number and case of the accompanying noun. |
| Judith: We will cover this topic later though. This is just a first overview. So remember to add er to your adjectives. |
| Chuck: And use genauso...wie for as… as. |
| Judith: How about some examples? |
| Chuck: Yes let’s have some examples of comparisons. |
| Judith: Köln ist schöner als Düsseldorf. |
| Chuck: Cologne is nicer than Dusseldorf. I think you will offend some people with that statement. |
| Judith: Köln ist weniger schön als Düsseldorf. |
| Chuck: Cologne is less nice than Dusseldorf. Now you are offending all the other people. |
| Judith: Okay. Düsseldorf und Köln sind genauso schön. |
| Chuck: Dusseldorf and Cologne are equally nice. There you go. |
| Judith: Or you could say that also Düsseldorf ist genauso schön wie Köln. |
Outro |
| Chuck: Well that just about does it for today. Listeners, do you know the reason flashcards are so popular? |
| Judith: It’s because they work. |
| Chuck: We’ve taken this time-tested studying tool and modernized with My Word Bank flashcards. |
| Judith: Learn vocabulary using your eyes and ears. |
| Chuck: It’s simple and powerful. Save difficult and interesting words to your personal vocabulary list called My Word Bank. |
| Judith: Master words in you’re my Word Bank by practicing with flashcards. |
| Chuck: Words in My Word Bank come with audio so you learn proper pronunciation. |
| Judith: While you learn to recognize words by site. |
| Chuck: Go to germanpod101.com now and try My Word Bank and flashcards today. So see you next week. |
| Judith: Also, bis nächste Woche. |
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