INTRODUCTION
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Chuck: Chuck here. Absolute Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 19 – “Have You Ever Seen a Blind Fish in Germany?” Hello and welcome to GermanPod101.com, where we study modern German in a fun educational format. |
Judith: So, brush up on the German that you started learning long ago or start learning today! |
Chuck: Thanks for being with us for this lesson [Judith]. What are we looking at today? |
Judith: Today, you’ll learn how to ask for directions in German. |
Chuck: This conversation takes place at a German street. |
Judith: The conversation is between Joe, [Anke] and later one passerby. |
Chuck: Joe and [Anke] are friends and they will be speaking informal German to each other, and formal German to the passerby. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
DIALOGUE |
Joe: Hey Anke! Schön, dass du mitkommst! |
Anke: Ach, mache ich doch gern! … Wollen wir los? |
Joe: Ja. Wie fahren wir? |
Anke: Wir können von hier aus zum Kudamm laufen. |
Joe: Okay, das klingt gut! |
Anke: Schön! Wir gehen auch nur die Straße hier geradeaus. |
Joe: Oh, super. Dauert das lange? |
Anke: Nein, vielleicht 10 Minuten. |
Joe: Na dann los. |
… |
Anke: Sieh mal, da vorn ist der Kudamm. |
Joe: Oh, so schnell sind wir da! |
Anke: Ja. … Hmm, wir könnten ja im Café Kranzler einen Kaffee trinken. |
Joe: Café Kranzler? |
Anke: Ja, das ist das Café da vorn. |
Joe: Wo? |
Anke: Na da, das Café mit dem roten Sonnenschirm! |
Joe: Ich sehe es nicht. |
Anke: Da links. An der Ecke. |
Joe: Aaaah, jetzt kann ich es sehen. |
Anke: Haha, du Blindfisch! |
Joe: Ich was? |
Anke: Du Blindfisch! Das sagt man, wenn jemand etwas nicht sehen kann. |
... |
Passant: Entschuldigung… könnt ihr mir sagen, wo die Gedächtniskirche ist? |
Anke: Natürlich. Sie können sie schon von hier aus sehen. Es ist die Kirche da links. |
Passant: Aaah, okay. Danke! |
Anke: Bitte. |
... |
Joe: Haha, wenn er die Kirche von hier aus nicht sehen kann, dann ist er auch ein Blindfisch! |
Joe: Hey Anke! Nice of you to come along! |
Anke: Ach, I'll gladly do that! ... Shall we go? |
Joe: Yes. How are we going? |
Anke: We can walk from here to the Ku´damm. |
Joe: Okay, that sounds good! |
Anke: Nice! We'll just go straight ahead on this street. |
Joe: Oh, super. Does it take long? |
Anke: No, maybe 10 minutes. |
Joe: Well let's go then. |
... |
Anke: Look, the Ku´damm is up there in front. |
Joe: Oh, we're there so quickly! |
Anke: Yes. ... Hmm, we could drink a coffee at the Café Kranzler. |
Joe: Café Kranzler? |
Anke: Yes, that's the cafe in front. |
Joe: Where? |
Anke: Well there, the café with the red parasol! |
Joe: I don't see it. |
Anke: There on the left. At the corner. |
Joe: Aaaah, now I can see it. |
Anke: Haha, you "blind fish"! |
Joe: Me what? |
Anke: You blind fish! That's what people say when somebody can't see something. |
... |
Passer-by: Excuse me... can you tell me where the Memorial Church is? |
Anke: Of course. You can see it from here already. It's the church over there on the left. |
Passer-by: Aaah, okay. Thanks! |
Anke: You're welcome. |
... |
Joe: Haha, if he can't see the church from here, then he, too, is a blind fish! |
POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
Judith: Alright, now all this talk is all about churches, let’s talk a bit about religion in Germany. What do you think? |
Chuck: Alright, sounds good. |
Judith: In Germany, just like in the States, freedom of religion is guaranteed by the constitution. Here we have any faith and practice any faith openly or also in private and you might not be prejudicial or favorite because of your religious beliefs. |
Chuck: The majority of Germans are non-practicing Christians. Officially there are 32.3 present Protestants and 31.9 Catholics. But actually, numbers are probably a bit higher because being registered as a Christian means you pay an extra tax which will go to your church to help it upkeep. So, if you come to work in Germany and they ask you what religion are you’re from, remember this will affect your taxes. |
Judith: Yes. The second largest religion is Islam. Four percent of Germans believe in it and then Buddhism and Judaism claim approximately, well, a quarter of a present each. This lack of diversity probably derives from the fact that Germany is not a country of immigrants unlike the United States. |
Chuck: There’s also a lack of diversity when it comes to [non-domination] churches and sex. That however might be due to Germany’s strict laws in such organizations. The German government doesn’t easily recognize new faiths and once more they will actively pursue organizations who use religions indoctrinations to defray people of their money. |
Judith: Still, there’s one way in which Germany is more Christian than the U.S.A. and that is in most of German [Bundesländer], that’s the federal states, German public schools have to provide religion education classes. The mission of German high schools is to produce mature adults who are capable of independent thought and who have some idea of what their purpose in life is, who know what is good and what is wrong and so on. |
Chuck: What happens if you’re really against attending religious classes? I can imagine that a lot of atheists would be against that. |
Judith: Yeah, of course atheists, Muslims also everybody else you can opt of those classes if you claim reasons of conscience, you have to write an official statement and say you have reasons of conscience forbidding you to attend these classes. |
Chuck: What’s an easier way to get out of it? |
Judith: Yeah, in some of the lower grades, people do it by having just to avoid going to these classes at all, but very often the school then will offer philosophy classes instead you have to attend with the same basic idea they are. The philosophical classes will also try to school you independent thought, think about what you purpose in life might be, what is good what is wrong just on the basis of philosophical beliefs. Anyway, religious educational classes in Germany are typically either for Catholic or for Protestant just very recently they started to introducing also Muslim religious education classes, but most of the content in these classes is not specific to one particular faith, you can attend it even if you’re an Atheist or a Muslim even, I know some of my classmates did that. Most of the time you’ll be talking about the beliefs of all kinds of religions not just the Christianity, to become familiar with what they believe and also you discuss issues that people might need guidance on, like drugs, sex, abuse, abortions that are foreign for discussion. |
Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
VOCAB LIST |
Chuck: The first word is? |
Judith: [los] |
Chuck: “Go!” or “Get going!” as in a shout of encouragement. |
Judith: [los, los] |
Chuck: Next? |
Judith: [können] |
Chuck: “Can, be able to” or “be allowed to”. |
Judith: [können, können] |
Chuck: Next? |
Judith: [Straße] |
Chuck: “Street”. |
Judith: [Straße, die Straße] and the plural is [Straßen] |
Chuck: Next? |
Judith: [geradeaus] |
Chuck: “Straight ahead”. |
Judith: [geradeaus, geradeaus] |
Chuck: Next? |
Judith: [dauern] |
Chuck: “To last” or “to take a certain amount of time”. |
Judith: [dauern, dauern] |
Chuck: Next? |
Judith: [schnell] |
Chuck: “Quick, quickly” or “fast”. |
Judith: [schnell, schnell] |
Chuck: Next? |
Judith: [rot] |
Chuck: “Red”. |
Judith: [rot, rot] |
Chuck: Next? |
Judith: [Schirm] |
Chuck: “Umbrella”. |
Judith: [Schirm, der Schirme] and the plural is [Schirme] |
Chuck: Next? |
Judith: [links] |
Chuck: “Left” or “on the left”. |
Judith: [links, links] |
Chuck: Next? |
Judith: [Ecke] |
Chuck: “Corner”. |
Judith: [Ecke, die Ecke] and the plural is [Ecken] |
Chuck: Next? |
Judith: [sagen] |
Chuck: “To say”. |
Judith: [sagen, sagen] |
Chuck: Next? |
Judith: [man] |
Chuck: “One, you” or “people”. |
Judith: [man, man] this is an impersonal pronoun much like the French [on] |
Chuck: Next? |
Judith: [jemand] |
Chuck: “Someone”. |
Judith: [jemand, jemand] |
Chuck: Next? |
Judith: [Kirche] |
Chuck: “Church”. |
Judith: [Kirche, die Kirche] and the plural is [Kirchen] |
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 word is [könnten] |
Chuck: “Could”. |
Judith: This form with the extra “t” is actually the conditional, which we won’t study until much later. However it’s useful to know this one form because we use it to make polite requests, for example [Könnten Sie mir helfen] |
Chuck: “Could you please help me?” |
Judith: Then, I want to talk about [Sonnenschirm] |
Chuck: “A sun umbrella”. |
Judith: Yes, it’s a compound based on [Sonne] |
Chuck: “Sun”. |
Judith: And [Schirm] |
Chuck: “Umbrella”. |
Judith: Similarly you can say [Regenschirm] which is based on [Regen] |
Chuck: “Rain”. |
Judith: And [Schirm] |
Chuck: “Umbrella”. |
Judith: Or you can just say [Schirm] and people would guess which one you mean. Then, there’s this word [Blindfisch] |
Chuck: “Blind-fish”. |
Judith: It’s a term for someone who doesn’t see the obvious. A mild insult based on the word [blind] |
Chuck: “Blind”. |
Judith: And [Fisch] |
Chuck: “Fish”. |
Judith: Finally, we have one name in this dialogue which is a bit difficult [Gedächtniskirche] |
Chuck: “Memorial church”. |
Judith: [Gedächtniskirche] This refers to the [Kaiser-Wilhelm] Memorial Church [Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche] which we listed among Berlin sights in the previous lesson. It’s a really nice building to see. |
Lesson focus
|
Chuck: The focus of this lesson is the irregular verb [können] as in the phrase? |
Judith: [Jetzt kann ich es sehen] |
Chuck: “Now I can see it!” In this lesson we came across the verb [können] which is also a similar irregular in German. Actually it matches [wollen] one to one. |
Judith: Yes. For [wollen] the singular stamp is [will] and for [können] it’s [kann]. For [wollen] the plural stamp is [woll] and for [können] it’s [können]. |
Chuck: The endings are exactly the same, so what are the forms? |
Judith: [Ich kann] |
Chuck: “I can”. |
Judith: [Du kannst] |
Chuck: “You can”. |
Judith: [Er kann] |
Chuck: “He can.” |
Judith: [Wir können] |
Chuck: “We can”. |
Judith: [Ihr könnt] |
Chuck: “You all can”. |
Judith: [Sie können] |
Chuck: “They can”. That just about does it for today. Before we go, I want to tell you about a way to improve your pronunciation drastically. |
Outro
|
Judith: The voice recording tool. |
Chuck: Yes, the voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
Judith: Record your voice with a click of a button. |
Chuck: Then play it back just as easily. |
Judith: So, you record your voice then you listen to it. |
Chuck: Then compare it to the native speakers. |
Judith: And adjust your pronunciation. |
Chuck: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast. So, see you next week! |
Judith: [Also bis nächste Woche] |
Comments
HideWo ist euer Lieblingscafé? Beschreibt die Position.
Where is your favorite café? Describe the location.
Hi Anthony,
Thank you for posting. 👍
You partly answer your questions with your second comment! We do include these "particles" as you call them
in our lessons in order to make the conversations sound as natural and authentic as possible, but very often
there isn't a literal translation in another language, including English.
As for the "doch", it is (in this context) kind of emphasizing what is said, in this case the fact that the speaker is happy doing something for the other person. The same can be said for the second "ja" in the other sentence.
I guess English is too efficient for that most of the time - throwing in words that aren't really needed. 😉
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us again.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
In the dialogue there is the following sentence. "Ja. … Hmm, wir könnten ja im Café Kranzler einen Kaffee trinken." What does the second "ja" add to the meaning of the sentence? Or does it add only a nuance (like English "Well, " or "Now, " or "You know," If the expectation is that we will get the sense of such words (I call them "particles") from the different contexts in which they occur, not from attempted single-word translations, I'll stop asking questions about them for the time being and just try to absorb (so to speak) what they contribute in different sentences. I'm happy doing that.
I am trying to get a "feel" for German particles.
For example, in the dialogue, B says "Ach, mache ich doch gern!" What does "doch" add here? Would anything be lost if B had said, simply, "Ach, mache ich gern!" I assume that "doch" does not affect the meaning (denotation). Does it affect the tone (connotation)? And, if so, how so?
Hi Max,
Thank you for getting back to us.
You are right: both "ja" and "aus" can
be omitted and the sentences would still stand.
However, for a German native something would be missing. 😉
Especially in the case of "von hier aus" the aus suggests that the speakers
will go "straight from here". We say it that way without even thinking.
As for the "ja", it's there to give emphasis to the idea.
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us again.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
“Hmm, wir könnten ja im Café Kranzler einen Kaffee trinken.”
What does “ja” mean here?
“Hmm, wir könnten im Café Kranzler einen Kaffee trinken.” seems perfect, why adding the “ja”?
Wir können von hier aus zum Kudamm laufen.
Why there is an “aus” in the sentence. Doesn’t see to make sense.
Why not
Wir können Von hier Zum Kudamm laufen.
Hello KG,
Thank you for posting.
A Lieblingskneipe is also okay, as long as you don't
go there 9 o'clock in the morning. 😄
Please allow me to make a few tiny little changes to your sentences in order
to aid your leaning:
Sie ist drei Kilometer weit entfernt von meiner Wohnung, und auf dem Land.
Ich muss zu Fuß gehen um dorthin zu gelangen. 👍
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us again.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Hi Delia,
Thank you for getting back to us.
Please allow me to make a few tiny little changes to your sentence
in order to aid your learning:
Mein Lieblingscafé ist nicht weit von meinem Haus. Ich gehe geradeaus, auf der rechten Straßenseite,
und laufe fuenf Minuten. Es gibt Tische draussen. 😉
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us again.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Ich habe kein Lieblingscafé aber ich habe eine Lieblingskneipe. Es ist drei Kilometer weit entfernt von meine Wohnung, und auf dem Lande. Ich muss Fußmarsch um dorthin zu gelangen.
Meine Lieblingscafe ist nicht weit von mein haus. Ich gehe geradeaus, rechts an der erste Strasse, und laufe funf minuten. Es gibt Tische draussen.
Hallo robert groulx,
Danke schön for taking the time to leave us a comment. 😇
We are very happy to have you here.
Let us know if you have any questions.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Levente
Team GermanPod101.com
thank you for the lesson transcript
favorite phrase is [Jetzt kann ich es sehen]
robert
Hi Zachariah,
Great effort!👍
Your first sentence is perfect. Please allow me to make a few
tiny little changes to the second one:
Gehen Sie Richtung Süden auf der Bethanystraße und es ist zu Ihrer Rechten (auf Ihrer rechten Seite),
vor dem Walmart.
Thank you.
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Mein Lieblingscafé ist Tim Hortons.
(My favorite cafe is Tim Hortons)
Gehen Sie Süd auf der Bethany strauße und zur Rechten es ist, von der Walmart.
(Go South on Bethany Street, and it is on the right, by the Walmart.)
Hello Ivan,
Thank you for your comment.
"Von hier aus" simply means "from here". It refers to the place where the two of them are currently standing.
Once it's used to indicate a route: from here to there.
In the other case it refers to the view they have: they can see the church from here.
I hope this helps you.
Sincerely,
Anne
Team GermanPod101.com
Hello there,
I saw that in this lesson there are 3 usages of phrase "von hier aus". Can someone please explain a bit more about it? Thanks.
Hello Chris,
Thank you for posting.
You can read more about our methodology here:
https://www.germanpod101.com/helpcenter/methodology/lessons
If you're interested in a specific topic, I recommend you the Learning Paths:
https://www.germanpod101.com/learning-paths/
Let us know if you have any further questions.
Cheers,
Lena
Team GermanPod101.com
Hello there,
I feel total confused about Das ist - Es ist - (Sie ist).
In this text you use 'Es ist die Kirche da links'. Could I use also 'Sie ist die Kirche' and 'Das ist die Kirche' as well?
Thank you!
Vica
Hello,
Is there a good guideline to follow that will help you know at what point you should move on to the next lesson? I find myself studying the same lesson for a long time before moving on and it feels like my progress rate is slow because of that.
I also wanted to say thank you for this amazing web site and for the wonderful material you have to offer :).
Velen dank
Chris
Hi Samah,
Thank you very much for sharing this information with us!
So you mean refugees use Germanpod101.com to study German? We are pleased to hear if we can help them to improve their German!! :thumbsup:
Best
Jennifer
Team Germanpod101.com