Learn how to ask about office rules and procedures
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to GermanPod101.com. This is Business German for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 11 - Asking for Information About German Office Procedures. John Here. |
| Jennifer: Guten Tag! I'm Jennifer. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask for basic office rules. The conversation takes place in the office. |
| Jennifer: It's between Linda Müller and Stefan Herzog. |
| John: The speakers are co-workers, therefore, they will speak informal German. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Linda Müller: Wohin soll ich die Rechnung schicken? |
| Stefan Herzog: Bitte schicke sie an die Buchhaltung. |
| Linda Müller: Verwendest du das Abrechnungssystem zum Monatsende? |
| Stefan Herzog: Ja. |
| Linda Müller: Danke für die Info. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Linda Müller: Wohin soll ich die Rechnung schicken? |
| Stefan Herzog: Bitte schicke sie an die Buchhaltung. |
| Linda Müller: Verwendest du das Abrechnungssystem zum Monatsende? |
| Stefan Herzog: Ja. |
| Linda Müller: Danke für die Info. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Linda Müller: Where should I send the invoice? |
| Stefan Herzog: Please send it to the accounting office. |
| Linda Müller: Do you use the month-end payment system? |
| Stefan Herzog: Yes. |
| Linda Müller: Thank you for the information. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: Linda asked about some important information there. |
| Jennifer: Yes, knowing how to get paid is vital. |
| John: Maybe the most important! As she needs to send an invoice, I guess she isn’t working directly for the company. |
| Jennifer: No, it sounds like she is a Freiberuflerin. |
| John: Oh, a “freelancer.” |
| Jennifer: That’s right. In the last few years, German companies have begun to avoid hiring people as direct employees. |
| John: It can be better sometimes. You can hire people project by project, and it’s especially helpful if the project needs a specialist or a special skill set. |
| Jennifer: And that’s where Freiberufler/in come in. |
| John: How do you work as a freelancer in Germany? Is there anything special that you need or should do? |
| Jennifer: You need an Umsatzsteuernummer. |
| John: What’s that? |
| Jennifer: It’s a VAT number that allows the state to monitor the finances of this type of worker. |
| John: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Jennifer: Rechnung [natural native speed] |
| John: invoice |
| Jennifer: Rechnung[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Rechnung [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: Buchhaltung [natural native speed] |
| John: accounting office |
| Jennifer: Buchhaltung[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Buchhaltung [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: Abrechnungssystem [natural native speed] |
| John: billing system |
| Jennifer: Abrechnungssystem[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Abrechnungssystem [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: Info [natural native speed] |
| John: information |
| Jennifer: Info[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Info [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: Danke [natural native speed] |
| John: thank you |
| Jennifer: Danke[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Danke [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Jennifer: für [natural native speed] |
| John: for |
| Jennifer: für[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: für [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Jennifer: die Rechnung schicken |
| John: meaning "to send the bill." What can you tell us about this phrase? |
| Jennifer: Die Rechnung is "the bill." |
| John: So the other word is the verb “to send?” |
| Jennifer: We can use schicken with a noun to say that we’re sending something. |
| John: Getting back to the bill, how would we say that we want to pay a bill by credit card? |
| Jennifer: Ich zahle per Rechnung. |
| John: Can you give us an example using the original phrase? |
| Jennifer: Sure. For example, you can say, Ich schicke eine Rechnung. |
| John: ...which means "I send an invoice." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Jennifer: die Buchhaltung |
| John: meaning "the accounting." What can you tell us about this word? |
| Jennifer: This word has two nouns buch and haltung. |
| John: They are literally “book” and “keeping” respectively. |
| Jennifer: So, it refers to the accounting department in a company. |
| John: Are there any other handy phrases for part of a company that we should know? |
| Jennifer: How about lager, which is “warehouse.” And Verwaltung der Human Resources. |
| John: That’s “administration of Human Resources.” Can you give us another example using the word for the accounting? |
| Jennifer: Sure. For example, you can say, Die Buchhaltung kümmert sich um Finanzen. |
| John: .. which means "The accounting department deals with finances." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about how to ask for basic office rules. Whether you’re a freelancer like Linda or full staff, you’ll probably need to ask a question at some point. |
| Jennifer: Yes, and you can do that with question words. |
| John: These go at the front of sentence, and are followed by a verb and a complement. Let’s go through a few question words. First, “what?” |
| Jennifer: In German, that is was. |
| John: How about “when” and “where?” |
| Jennifer: “When” is wann. “Where” has two versions: wo, and woher which means “where from.” |
| John: Let’s hear some sentences. Remember what Jennifer said earlier: The question word is the first word in the sentence. |
| Jennifer: Warum hat sie nicht angerufen? |
| John: “Why did she not call?” |
| Jennifer: Woher kommt sie? |
| John: “Where is she from?” |
| Jennifer: Note how the question words keep the verb as the second idea of the sentence. The subject comes after. |
| John: It inverts the subject and the verb, as you would in a question that doesn’t include any of these w- question words. |
| Jennifer: An important verb is sollen. |
| John: It means "to have to," “should,” or "must." How is it conjugated in a sentence? |
| Jennifer: It should be conjugated according to the subject. Then, it’s followed by an action in the infinitive form. |
| John: We saw an example of this in the conversation. |
| Jennifer: Yes. Wohin soll ich die Rechnung schicken? |
| John: Meaning “Where should I send the invoice?” |
| Jennifer: soll ich is “I should,” inverted for a question sentence. |
| John: Let’s hear some more examples. |
| Jennifer: Wohin soll ich die Rechnung archivieren? |
| John: “Where should I file the invoices?” |
| Jennifer: Wie soll der Kunde die Rechnung beschriften? |
| John: “How should the customer fill in the invoice?” |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Jennifer: Auf Wiedersehen! |
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