Learn how to express desperation
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Beginner series, Season 2, Lesson #36. Don't Let Desperation Lead You Down a Lonely Highway in Germany! Hello and welcome to 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: In this lesson, you will learn how to express desperation in German. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place on a German street. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Caroline and Martin, two American tourists. The speakers are friends. Therefore they will be speaking informal German. Now if you are listening on an iPod |
| Judith: Or an iPod Touch or a iPhone. |
| Chuck: Click the center button of the iPod or tap the screen on an iPod Touch or iPhone to see the notes for this lesson. |
| Judith: Read along while you listen. |
| Chuck: This technique will help you remember faster. Okay let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Martin: So, jetzt sind wir nicht mehr auf der Autobahn. Soll ich rechts oder links abbiegen? |
| Caroline: Hmm, normalerweise ist die andere Autobahnauffahrt links, oder? |
| Martin: Okay, ich biege links ab. |
| Martin: Diese Landstraße ist langweilig, und ich sehe die andere Autobahnauffahrt immer noch nicht! |
| Caroline: Hmm, ich auch nicht. Fahr einfach weiter, bis wir sie sehen. |
| Martin: Ich glaube nicht, dass die Auffahrt noch auf dieser Straße ist. Ich werde in die nächste Stadt fahren. |
| Caroline: Das sieht nicht gut aus. Wir sind allein auf einer Landstraße, mitten in der Nacht, und es scheint noch nicht einmal andere Städte hier zu geben. |
| Martin: *gähnt* Ich bin müde. Wir sollten bald anhalten. |
| Caroline (panicking): Es gibt hier nichts! Keine Stadt, kein Hotel, gar nichts! Wo werden wir schlafen?? Und wie finden wir je zurück? |
| Martin: Mach dir keine Sorgen! Deutschland ist nicht so groß. Wenn wir auf einer Landstraße bleiben und immer geradeaus fahren, werden wir bald in einer Stadt ankommen, und von dort aus finde ich schon zurück. |
| Judith: Now it’s slowly. |
| Martin: So, jetzt sind wir nicht mehr auf der Autobahn. Soll ich rechts oder links abbiegen? |
| Caroline: Hmm, normalerweise ist die andere Autobahnauffahrt links, oder? |
| Martin: Okay, ich biege links ab. |
| Martin: Diese Landstraße ist langweilig, und ich sehe die andere Autobahnauffahrt immer noch nicht! |
| Caroline: Hmm, ich auch nicht. Fahr einfach weiter, bis wir sie sehen. |
| Martin: Ich glaube nicht, dass die Auffahrt noch auf dieser Straße ist. Ich werde in die nächste Stadt fahren. |
| Caroline: Das sieht nicht gut aus. Wir sind allein auf einer Landstraße, mitten in der Nacht, und es scheint noch nicht einmal andere Städte hier zu geben. |
| Martin: *gähnt* Ich bin müde. Wir sollten bald anhalten. |
| Caroline (panicking): Es gibt hier nichts! Keine Stadt, kein Hotel, gar nichts! Wo werden wir schlafen?? Und wie finden wir je zurück? |
| Martin: Mach dir keine Sorgen! Deutschland ist nicht so groß. Wenn wir auf einer Landstraße bleiben und immer geradeaus fahren, werden wir bald in einer Stadt ankommen, und von dort aus finde ich schon zurück. |
| Judith: Now with the translation. |
| Martin: So, jetzt sind wir nicht mehr auf der Autobahn. Soll ich rechts oder links abbiegen? |
| Martin: So, now we are no longer on the interstate. Should I turn right or left? |
| Caroline: Hmm, normalerweise ist die andere Autobahnauffahrt links, oder? |
| Caroline: Hmm, normally the other interstate entrance is on the left, isn't it? |
| Martin: Okay, ich biege links ab. |
| Martin: Okay, I'll turn left. |
| Martin: Diese Landstraße ist langweilig, und ich sehe die andere Autobahnauffahrt immer noch nicht! |
| Martin: This highway is boring, and I still don't see the other entrance to the interstate! |
| Caroline: Hmm, ich auch nicht. Fahr einfach weiter, bis wir sie sehen. |
| Caroline: Hmm, me neither. Just keep driving until we see it. |
| Martin: Ich glaube nicht, dass die Auffahrt noch auf dieser Straße ist. Ich werde in die nächste Stadt fahren. |
| Martin: I don't believe that the entrance is on this street still. I will drive to the next city. |
| Caroline: Das sieht nicht gut aus. Wir sind allein auf einer Landstraße, mitten in der Nacht, und es scheint noch nicht einmal andere Städte hier zu geben. |
| Caroline: This is not looking good. We are alone on a highway, in the middle of the night, and there doesn't even seem to be other cities around here. |
| Martin: *gähnt* Ich bin müde. Wir sollten bald anhalten. |
| Martin: *yawns* I am tired. We should stop soon. |
| Caroline (panicking): Es gibt hier nichts! Keine Stadt, kein Hotel, gar nichts! Wo werden wir schlafen?? Und wie finden wir je zurück? |
| Caroline (panicking): There is nothing here! No city, no hotel, nothing! Where will we sleep?? And how will we ever find [our way] back? |
| Martin: Mach dir keine Sorgen! Deutschland ist nicht so groß. Wenn wir auf einer Landstraße bleiben und immer geradeaus fahren, werden wir bald in einer Stadt ankommen, und von dort aus finde ich schon zurück. |
| Martin: Don't worry! Germany is not very big. If we stay on a highway and always go straight ahead, we will soon arrive at a city, and from there I'll find my way back. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay so I think we should discuss a bit what your options are for accommodation in Germany. |
| Chuck: When you come to Germany, you have several options of where to stay. |
| Judith: Obviously there are hotels. You could stay at a hotel and most will probably do that but depending on your need for luxury, you can spend little or very much money and you don’t need to be afraid because the German star ranking of hotels corresponds very closely to the international star rating. |
| Chuck: Or you can stay in a hostel. A hostel might be called a Gasthaus or [Pension] in German. Now it will typically be cheaper, less luxurious and a more homely place to stay. |
| Judith: And a special case are the youth hostels. They are called [Jugendherbergen] in Germany. They mainly cater to school or college aged kids and families but they are open to anybody. If you don’t mind the very basic furnishings and the noise, they might well be a good option for you. |
| Chuck: Now you might think you want to stay in a motel especially if you are driving to Germany but there are quite few of these not nearly as many as there are in the States for example. |
| Judith: You might want to do a home stay. Its interesting way to see Germany if you are traveling as an individual especially. If you stay with the German family, you get to speak more German and you experience the real German culture. |
| Chuck: Several companies offer to organize homestays along with language courses or you could just sign up for a hospitalities network like couchsurfing and make the contact yourself. When staying with a German family, it’s customary to bring a gift from your region. |
| Judith: Unless you are paying them, you should also help with chores like washing dishes or buying some grocery sometimes you know like any member of the household. If you are on a really, really bad emergency like if you are about to sleep on the bridge, then you can go to the [Bahnhofsmission] instead. |
| Chuck: This is a shelter available at most train stations. Homeless people go there a lot but the [Bahnhofsmission] only let’s you stay one or two nights. So let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: First word [Rechts] |
| Chuck: Right or on the right. |
| Judith: [Rechts, rechts] Next [Links, links] |
| Chuck: Left or on the left. |
| Judith: [Links, links] Next [Abbiegen] |
| Chuck: To turn as in by car. |
| Judith: [Abbiegen, abbiegen] Next [Normalerweise] |
| Chuck: Normally. |
| Judith: [Normalerweise, normalerweise] Next [Landstraße] |
| Chuck: Highway. |
| Judith: [Landstraße, Landstraße] Next [Langweilig] |
| Chuck: Boring |
| Judith: [Langweilig, langweilig] Next [Mitten] |
| Chuck: Amid or in the middle of |
| Judith: [Mitten, mitten] Next [Nacht] |
| Chuck: Night |
| Judith: [Nacht, Nacht, die Nacht] And the plural is [Nächte] Next [Müde] |
| Chuck: Tired. |
| Judith: [Müde, müde] Next [Bald] |
| Chuck: Soon |
| Judith: [Bald, bald] Next [Anhalten] |
| Chuck: To stop as in a car. |
| Judith: [Anhalten, anhalten] This is a vowel changing verb. The third person form is [Er hält an] Next [Schlafen] |
| Chuck: To sleep. |
| Judith: [Schlafen, schlafen] Also a vowel changing verb. The third person is [Er schläft] Next [Je] |
| Chuck: Ever. |
| Judith: [Je, je] Next [Dort] |
| Chuck: There |
| Judith: [Dort, dort] |
| 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 we look at is [Autobahnauffahrt] This is a combination of Autobahn. |
| Chuck: Interstate. |
| Judith: And [Auffahrt] |
| Chuck: Entrance. |
| Judith: Yeah a place where you enter the Autobahn and [Auffahrt] is closely related to [Ausfahrt] |
| Chuck: An exit. |
| Judith: [Auffahrt, Ausfahrt] Next I want to talk about the [Landstraße] |
| Chuck: It’s literally a country street. |
| Judith: Yeah it’s the German equivalent of a highway. It’s a street connecting cities but unlike the Autobahn, the opposite lane is right next to you. There are also traffic lights occasionally and the speed limit is 100 kilometers per hour. |
| Chuck: That would be 62 miles per hour. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The focus of this lesson are certain adverbs and adverb combinations. Some German adverbs have to be studied further because they don’t quite match up with their English equivalents. |
| Judith: For example, [Noch] means still but [Noch nicht] is not yet. [Guckst du noch Fernsehen?] |
| Chuck: Are you still watching TV? |
| Judith: [Guckst du noch nicht Fernsehen?] |
| Chuck: Aren’t you watching TV yet? |
| Judith: Also if you mean to say, are you still not watching TV, that will be [Guckst du immer noch nicht Fernsehen] So you have to add the [Immer] to get the meaning that you have in English. [Immer noch nicht] |
| Chuck: Still not. |
| Judith: There is also [Nicht mehr] |
| Chuck: That means not any more. |
| Judith: [Guckst du nicht mehr Fernsehen?] |
| Chuck: Don’t you watch TV anymore? |
| Judith: However the opposite of that is not [Mehr] |
| Chuck: Which simply means more. |
| Judith: It’s [Weiter] |
| Chuck: Further or continue to. |
| Judith: [Doch ich gucke weiter Fernsehen] |
| Chuck: Yes I am still watching TV. |
| Judith: In colloquial German, you will find people use [Einmal] |
| Chuck: Once. |
| Judith: Or the shorter [Mal]. This just makes the request more informal, kind of like saying if you have time. This [Einmal] has nothing to do with the one in [Nicht einmal] |
| Chuck: Not even. |
| Judith: For example, [Er grüßt mich nicht einmal] |
| Chuck: He doesn’t even greet me. This part of German is quite illogical and difficult but if you now pay attention to what’s said in German, you will intuitively learn all these expressions. |
Outro |
| Chuck: Well that just about does it for today. Don’t forget that you can leave us a comment on this lesson. |
| Judith: So if you have a question or some feedback, please leave us a comment. |
| Chuck: And it’s very easy to do. Just stop by germanpod101.com |
| Judith: Click on comments. |
| Chuck: Enter your comment and name |
| Judith: And that’s it. |
| Chuck: So no excuses. We are looking forward to hearing from you. See you next week. |
| Judith: [Bis nächste Woche] |
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