Learn things that you need to know when taking flights in Germany
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Judith: Hello, [ich heiße] Judith. |
| Chuck: Hi, I’m Chuck. |
| Judith: [Sie hören GermanPod101.com] |
| Chuck: You’re listening to GermanPod101.com; this is the new beginner series lesson 1. |
| Judith: Willkommen. |
| Chuck: Welcome, but wait, is this the new beginner series? |
| Judith: Yes, this is the very first lesson of our new beginner series. |
| Chuck: This beginner series will help you build up your collection of vocabulary and expressions. |
| Judith: We will prepare you for situations that you will encounter as a tourist. |
| Chuck: Use this beginner series if you’ve studied German before, especially if you completed the 25 lessons of the newbie series or the previous beginner series. If you don’t know any German yet, please go back and do the newbie series first. |
| Judith: Also if you feel overwhelmed at any point, don’t be too proud to go back and study more. The flexible pace is one of GermanPod101’s key advantages over traditional classroom program. Plus we are putting a lot of tools at your fingertips that you can use to study. |
| Chuck: Yeah, it’s great, so you can go as slow or as fast as you want, and you can always go back and repeat anything you want. |
| Judith: And you can study whenever you want, on vacation, or you can stop studying during vacation. You don’t miss anything. |
| Chuck: Yeah, so basically whenever you have your mp3 player with you, which is like the phone, iPhone like me, that’s like all the time. but yeah. So, let’s talk about today’s dialogue. What is it and where is it situated? |
| Judith: It’s something that you Chuck should be very familiar with. It’s an announcement on an airplane. If your airplane is operated by a German company, or even if it’s any company flying into Germany, chances are that you will hear announcements in German. Let’s prepare for that. |
| MONOLOGUE |
| Chuck: Meine Damen und Herren, herzlich Willkommen an Bord dieses Lufthansa Fluges von New York nach Berlin. Der Flug wird etwa 9 Stunden dauern. Im Moment sind es 21 Grad in Berlin und die Sonne scheint. Ich hoffe, dass das Wetter so schön bleibt. Mein Name ist Christian Bauer und ich wünsche Ihnen einen angenehmen Flug. |
| Judith: Now read slowly. |
| Chuck: Meine Damen und Herren, herzlich Willkommen an Bord dieses Lufthansa Fluges von New York nach Berlin. Der Flug wird etwa 9 Stunden dauern. Im Moment sind es 21 Grad in Berlin und die Sonne scheint. Ich hoffe, dass das Wetter so schön bleibt. Mein Name ist Christian Bauer und ich wünsche Ihnen einen angenehmen Flug. |
| Judith: Now with the translation. Meine Damen und Herren. |
| Chuck: It’s a bit strange to translate actually. |
| Judith: Ladies and gentlemen. |
| Chuck: Ah, okay. Literally my women and men. |
| Judith: No, literally my Ladies and gentlemen. |
| Chuck: Ah. |
| Judith: Because these are not the usual words, we’ll get to that in the vocabulary section. |
| Chuck: All right. |
| Judith: herzlich Willkommen an Bord dieses Lufthansa Fluges von New York nach Berlin. |
| Chuck: A hearty welcome on board this Lufthansa flight from New York to Berlin. |
| Judith: Der Flug wird etwa 9 Stunden dauern. |
| Chuck: The flight will last around nine hours. |
| Judith: Im Moment sind es 21 Grad in Berlin und die Sonne scheint. |
| Chuck: At the moment, it's 21 degrees in Berlin and the sun’s shining. |
| Judith: Ich hoffe, dass das Wetter so schön bleibt. |
| Chuck: I hope that the weather stays so nice. |
| Judith: Mein Name ist Christian Bauer und ich wünsche Ihnen einen angenehmen Flug. |
| Chuck: My name is Christian Bauer and I wish you a pleasant flight. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Chuck: But wait a minute, 21 degrees and it's nice weather? |
| Judith: Yes this would be Celsius. If you hear something in German just assume it's going to be in Celsius. |
| Chuck: Good point. |
| Judith: Germans don't even know about Fahrenheit or they don't want to know. |
| Chuck: I guess unless they’ve been to the states or one of the other two little countries that still use Fahrenheit. |
| Judith: Now there was something else that went kind of weird in this dialogue, and that’s that Lufthansa does not actually fly into berlin, well not from New York anyway that I know of. |
| Chuck: So a mistake in the dialogue. |
| Judith: Their base is in Düsseldorf, and the other really big airport in Germany is Frankfurt am Main. Not to be confused with Frankfurt an der Oder, which is rather small place in the very east of Germany. So Düsseldorf and Frankfurt am Main are the main places you're likely to fly into, but you can get flights directly into Berlin. |
| Chuck: There aren’t too many though. |
| Judith: Descent. The thing is that German airlines, well mostly Lufthansa of course, is not flying that much into Berlin. If you want to fly with Lufthansa you’re probably flying New York or whatever into Düsseldorf and then from there to Berlin or into Frankfurt and then to Berlin local flights. And there’re a lot of good airlines if you want to have a local flight to somewhere here in Germany, because all over Europe we still have those cheap airlines that just get you from one city to the next for very little money, and they are in a very heated competition, so the prices are really low. For example 19 Euros to go to another city including taxes and the like. |
| Chuck: But when you use such splits you should also see where’s that airport actually is, because for example in Berlin it’s nice. It’s only about a half hour outside the city center, but for Frankfurt on Main for example you’ll be taking a two hour bus ride, that will be an extra. I think it's 15 Euros or so. |
| Judith: Yeah, well, it’s still quite cheap compared to the main airlines which will fly you from one city to the next for 100 Euros, but particularly if you have an appointment, you shouldn't count on being there in time. |
| Chuck: Yeah, I mean you should also realize if you’re doing business travel, you probably wouldn't want to be doing these small flights anyway, these cheap flights. |
| Judith: Yeah, just look for Billig airline in German, or Billigflügef cheap flights. |
| Chuck: Yeah, the bunch of metasearch engines for flights over here, just talk to a student, they can help you out. |
| Judith: So, what do you think? What's a good time to visit Germany? |
| Chuck: Well, a lot of people like to visit in October. |
| Judith: For the Oktoberfest, but that’s a good time to visit Bavaria, it’s not a good time to visit Germany I’d say. |
| Chuck: Well, if you’re a board game fan, the largest board game fair in the world is in Essen at the end of October. |
| Judith: Oh, I forgot yeah, for you that would be another attraction. |
| Chuck: Well, I imagine some of our listeners are board game fans, that’s how I started learning German actually. So write in the comments if you like playing German board games. We’re curious to see how many fans we have out there. And if you're coming to the Essen Spielmesse, Essen game fair. |
| Judith: Apart from board game fans, let's think of some general interest things in Germany. Things that are not just Bavaria either. I can think of a sample of the whole month of the December should very nice to visit, because of the Christmas markets. Germany has a lot of traditions related to this time of waiting before Christmas, which we call the Advent, and families will be here went together and there’re special pastries and special cakes that you're eating and cookies. And there’s these Christmas markets which are really beautiful houses on the streets, and you can get crafts or artefacts and-- |
| Chuck: Yeah, a lot of people I know that have lived in Germany and move back home, so I think they miss most of his Christmas markets. I like also the Gluehwein is very popular it's kind of warm wine it’s made. |
| Judith: Yeah, warm wine with spices. |
| Chuck: Yeah, it’s interesting, and of course the sausages, as you can get the stand and... |
| Judith: Sausages as you can get at any [Kirmes] |
| Chuck: Yeah, everything, it’s not just like sweet stuff, it’s also, you can also get hardy stuff and-- I mean in the south you can also the special Bavarian foods and such. |
| Judith: Yeah, but the sweet stuff is what I like most about this whole time. It’s the love sweets to be had. |
| Chuck: That’s because you like sweets all the time. |
| Judith: That’s just-- Around Christmas you have a better selection. I mean, of course the shops will start selling these specialties already in September, but it's really Christmas time that you have a lot of specialties that are otherwise are not available. And it’s beautiful. It’s kind of cold in Germany but that's part of the fun drinking the mulled wine. If it’s not cold it doesn't work. |
| Chuck: Yeah, but also note that if you’re actually here on Christmas, you’ll be pretty bored unless you’re with a German family for example. Because pretty much if you’re staying in a hotel and Christmas everything is going to be close, you’ll be just stuck there. |
| Judith: Yeah, better get a German friend. Apart from that, well, earlier in the year there is a kind of I wish-- I can also recommend going to Germany if you’re going into one of those carnivals, big cities for example, in North Rhine-Westphalia Cologne or Düsseldorf, or also in the south they celebrate the carnival. It’s kind of like [Mardi Gra] in Louisiana and it this has some similarities. It’s a very fun time, if you can be there it's a good time to visit Germany as well. Of course if you're coming in spring or in summer you’re also going to enjoy yourself, because then it's a lot more fun to go around and see the sights and walk along the rivers and enjoy the architecture. |
| Chuck: Yeah, yet Germany is fun almost every time of year except for, well, winter’s kind of annoying [inaudible] in the most of the time. |
| Judith: Well December is very beautiful, but I wouldn’t-- |
| Chuck: Not true. |
| Judith: --I wouldn’t recommend Germany and say in January or, yeah, February if it's not the kind of-- well, unless you’re going to skiing, you know Germany has a part of the German Alps as well. |
| Chuck: Yeah, then you better go to Switzerland, right? |
| Judith: Or Austria but Germany has some skiing spots too. All right, let's talk about some [Vokabeln] that's vocabulary for you. |
| Chuck: For me? |
| Judith: For everybody. |
| Chuck: Okay. |
| Judith: I’m just going to list every word that might be an issue in this dialogue, or rather this monologue, even if some of you will recognize some of the words already. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: Okay, first is an expression [Meine Damen und Herren]. |
| Chuck: Ladies and gentlemen. |
| Judith: [Meine Damen und Herren] |
| Chuck: Ladies and gentlemen. |
| Judith: [Dame] here is a lady, you may also see [Damen] on bathroom signs. |
| Chuck: As well as [Herren] |
| Judith: Yes [Herren] gentlemen or Mr. |
| Chuck: I think some might even just have a D and H. |
| Judith: Yes, So D is for the ladies, and H is for the guys. |
| Chuck: Yup. |
| Judith: Next word up [herzlich] |
| Chuck: Heartily or heartfelt. |
| Judith: [herzlich] |
| Chuck: Heartily or heartfelt. Notice that [Herz] means heart there. |
| Judith: Next [An Bord] |
| Chuck: aboard. |
| Judith: [An Bord] |
| Chuck: aboard. |
| Judith: Next [Dieser, diese, dieses] |
| Chuck: This. |
| Judith: It changes according to the gender. For masculine it’s [Dieser], for feminine it’s [Diese], for neutral it’s [Dieses], and then of course you have the other forms, just like an adjective. Next [Flug] |
| Chuck: Flight. |
| Judith: [Flug] |
| Chuck: Flight. |
| Judith: It’s masculine and the plural is [Flüge] |
| Chuck: Flights. |
| Judith: Next [Etwa] |
| Chuck: Approximately or about. |
| Judith: [Etwa] |
| Chuck: Approximately. |
| Judith: Next [Stunde] |
| Chuck: Hour. |
| Judith: [Stunde] |
| Chuck: Hour. How do you say hours? |
| Judith: [Stunden] it’s the standard rule, you have a feminine word that ends in E, and always adds an N for plural. Next [dauern] |
| Chuck: To last. |
| Judith: [dauern] |
| Chuck: To last. |
| Judith: Next [Im moment] |
| Chuck: At the moment. |
| Judith: [Im moment] |
| Chuck: At the moment. |
| Judith: Next [Sonne] |
| Chuck: Sun. |
| Judith: [Sonne] |
| Chuck: Sun. |
| Judith: This word is feminine and the plural is [Sonnen]. Next [Scheinen] |
| Chuck: To shine or to seem. |
| Judith: [Scheinen] |
| Chuck: To shine or to seem. |
| Judith: We will talk more about this later. Next [Wünschen] |
| Chuck: To wish. |
| Judith: [Wünschen] |
| Chuck: To wish. |
| Judith: Next [Von] |
| Chuck: Of. |
| Judith: [Von] |
| Chuck: Of. |
| Judith: Nowadays this is often used to replace the genitive especially in spoken language. Next [Hoffen] |
| Chuck: To hope. |
| Judith: [Hoffen] |
| Chuck: To hope. |
| Judith: Next [bleiben] |
| Chuck: To stay. |
| Judith: [bleiben] |
| Chuck: To stay. |
| Judith: And last word for today [Grad] |
| Chuck: Degrees. |
| Judith: [Grad] |
| Chuck: Degrees. But wait, aren’t you forgetting one very important word in this lesson? |
| Judith: Which one? |
| Chuck: Announcement. |
| Judith: That didn’t actually come up in the text, but it’s [Ansage] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Chuck: All right, so let’s look some more for at these words that we use. So, I want to call out words from the list. So Judith, can you give us example sentences? |
| Judith: [Ich,] you want me to do that? I guess I could, though you shouldn’t forget that in the PDF transcript, you can also find example sentence for every vocabulary item, and in the learning center you can listen to the words again and again and practice your vocabulary. |
| Chuck: Okay, okay, we got the picture. All right, so what comes to mind when you hear [Herzlich] |
| Judith: Well, the one word that we heard in the dialogue was [Herzlich willkommen] |
| Chuck: A heartily welcome. |
| Judith: Or people might say [Herzlichen Dank] |
| Chuck: A heartily thank you. |
| Judith: Or also very common [Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag] |
| Chuck: Heartily congratulations to your birthday. |
| Judith: Yeah, it’s happy birthday. You have to say like this, you can’t say [Frohe Geburtstag] or something, that doesn’t work. Let me say it again slowly for you [Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag] |
| Chuck: A heartily happy wish to your birthday. You can also say [Alles Gute zum Geburtstag] right? |
| Judith: Yeah, that’s everything is good, I wish you everything good for you. |
| Chuck: Okay, that’s a bit easier, since the phrases are long enough. All right, enough of [Herzlich] how about [Scheinen] |
| Judith: [Scheinen] for example, [Die Sonne scheint] |
| Chuck: The sun is shining. |
| Judith: And maybe you see a bird out there and you’re not sure what it is, you could say for example [Es scheint ein Storch zu sein] |
| Chuck: It seems to be a stork. |
| Judith: Yeah, so this is the two ways that you can use [Scheinen], either [schein] as a sun is shining, or it seems, it seems to be a stork, [Es schein ein Storch zu sein] any other questions? |
| Chuck: How about [Wünschen] |
| Judith: [Wünschen] Yeah, careful with the ü there, [Wünschen, ich wünsche mir ein Buch zu Weihnachten] |
| Chuck: Or maybe you want to join Pod101 subscription? |
| Judith: Always looking for the possibility of promoting, right? But can you translate [Ich wünsche mir ein Buch zu Weihnachten] |
| Chuck: I wish myself a book for Christmas. |
| Judith: Yes, or [Ich wünsche mir, dass mehr Leute Kommentare schreiben] |
| Chuck: I wish that more people would write comments. |
| Judith: Yeah, note the [dass] there, [dass] has a double S, when it used in this way and means that. So same with [denken] or [hoffen], for example [Ich hoffe das du noch bei uns bleibst] |
| Chuck: I hope that you will still stay at our place. |
| Judith: Yes, or with us. |
| Chuck: Yeah, and also know in these sentences that when [das] is used you put the verb in the end. |
| Judith: Yes, generally in a sub clause the verb’s always at the end. Okay, maybe one more? |
| Chuck: All right, let’s see. I’ll pick another one, how about [dauern] |
| Judith: [dauern] yeah, [Der Flug dauert 9 Stunden] |
| Chuck: The flight lasts nine hours. |
| Judith: Yes, or if you’re in a big road ship with you’re kids you might hear [Wie lange dauert es noch] |
| Chuck: How long’s still got to last? |
| Judith: Or [Wann sind wir endlich da?] |
| Chuck: We will finally be there. |
| Judith: Make a trip with German kids and you will learn this phrase really well. |
| Chuck: Yeah, I think in the states you will hear more, Are we there yet? |
| Judith: [Sind wir schon da?] Yeah, that works too. |
| Chuck: So [Wie lange dauert diese Lektion noch?] How long will this lesson take? |
| Judith: Not too long anymore I think, I mean we’re almost done, just listen to the announcement one more time I guess and--. |
| Chuck: [Die Ansage] |
| Judith: Yes, [Ansage] |
| Chuck: [Die]? |
| Judith: Yes, [Die] |
| Chuck: Okay. |
| Judith: You guessed it. Great, let’s listen. |
| Announcement: Meine Damen und Herren, herzlich Willkommen an Bord dieses Lufthansa Fluges von New York nach Berlin. Der Flug wird etwa 9 Stunden dauern. Im Moment sind es 21 Grad in Berlin und die Sonne scheint. Ich hoffe, dass das Wetter so schön bleibt. Mein Name ist Christian Bauer und ich wünsche Ihnen einen angenehmen Flug. |
| Chuck: That was a nice flight, wasn’t that? We’re back in the studio. |
| Judith: Das hat Spaß gemacht. That was fun. I like this new format. |
Outro |
|---|
| Chuck: Yeah, it’s not bad either, except makes maybe they could pay for a real flight for me, but anyway I’d like to hear the listeners opinions of it, so send us feedback, you can post a comment underneath the lesson, write in the form, send us Email, contact us at germanpod101.com. |
| Judith: [Ich freue mich auf eure Kommentare.] I’m looking forward to reading your comments, thank you for listening. |
| Chuck: Bis bald! |
| Judith: Eh, that was my line. See you soon. |
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