Learn how to apologize for something you forgot to do
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to GermanPod101.com. This is Business German for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 14 - Apologizing When You Forget Something. John Here. |
| Jennifer: Guten Tag! I'm Jennifer. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to apologize for something you forgot to do. The conversation takes place in the office. |
| Jennifer: It's between Linda Müller and Stefan Herzog. |
| John: The speakers are colleagues, therefore, they will speak informal German. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Linda Müller: Hast du das Datenmaterial mitgebracht? |
| Stefan Herzog: Das Datenmaterial...? |
| Linda Müller: Ja, die über die Werbekampagne. |
| Stefan Herzog: ...Oh, Verzeihung! Ich habe es völlig vergessen sie auszudrucken. |
| Linda Müller: Das ist problematisch... |
| Stefan Herzog: Ich könnte sie in etwa einer Stunde bereit haben. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Linda Müller: Hast du das Datenmaterial mitgebracht? |
| Stefan Herzog: Das Datenmaterial...? |
| Linda Müller: Ja, die über die Werbekampagne. |
| Stefan Herzog: ...Oh, Verzeihung! Ich habe es völlig vergessen sie auszudrucken. |
| Linda Müller: Das ist problematisch... |
| Stefan Herzog: Ich könnte sie in etwa einer Stunde bereit haben. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Linda Müller: Did you bring the data? |
| Stefan Herzog: The data...? |
| Linda Müller: Yes, about the advertising campaign. |
| Stefan Herzog: ...oh, I'm sorry! I completely forgot to print it out! |
| Linda Müller: That's a problem... |
| Stefan Herzog: I can have it ready in an hour! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: It sounds like Linda forgot something important! |
| Jennifer: Yeah, she said that she could have it ready in an hour. I hope that will be good enough! |
| John: So the data is for an advertising campaign. What’s advertising like in Germany? |
| Jennifer: I have a question for you, John. Can you guess how much German companies spent on advertising last year? |
| John: Oh wow, I have no idea. Give me a hint. |
| Jennifer: Okay, how many billions of Euros did they spend? |
| John: Billions? Um, 12 billion? |
| Jennifer: Higher. |
| John: 20 billion? |
| Jennifer: Actually, it was 29.2 billion Euros in total. German companies invested 0.3 billion in advertising on mobile devices. |
| John: I’m sure that number will just keep increasing. |
| Jennifer: Right! |
| 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: mitbringen [natural native speed] |
| John: to bring along |
| Jennifer: mitbringen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: mitbringen [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: Datenmaterial [natural native speed] |
| John: data |
| Jennifer: Datenmaterial[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Datenmaterial [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: Werbekampagne [natural native speed] |
| John: advertising campaign |
| Jennifer: Werbekampagne[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Werbekampagne [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: Verzeihung [natural native speed] |
| John: apology |
| Jennifer: Verzeihung[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Verzeihung [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: problematisch [natural native speed] |
| John: problematic |
| Jennifer: problematisch[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: problematisch [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: etwa [natural native speed] |
| John: approximately, surely not (in questions) |
| Jennifer: etwa[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: etwa [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: Stunde [natural native speed] |
| John: hour |
| Jennifer: Stunde[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Stunde [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Jennifer: bereit haben [natural native speed] |
| John: to have ready |
| Jennifer: bereit haben[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: bereit haben [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at one of the words from this lesson. The word is... |
| Jennifer: problematisch |
| John: Meaning "problematic." Tell us about this word, Jennifer. |
| Jennifer: This comes from the noun das Problem. |
| John: Which means, “the problem.” |
| Jennifer: There are several adjectives that end with tisch. |
| John: Can you give us an example or two? |
| Jennifer: Romantisch and gigantisch. |
| John: “Romantic” and “gigantic,” respectively. Can you give us an example using “problematic?” |
| Jennifer: Sure. For example, you can say, Das könnte problematisch werden. |
| John: ...which means "That can be problematic." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about apologizing for something you forgot to do. Everybody forgets something eventually, especially if you’re really busy and have several things to take care of. |
| Jennifer: Yes, the important thing is how you deal with it. |
| John: What should you do if you forget something while working for a German business? |
| Jennifer: You may need to excuse yourself. You can use Verzeihung and Entschuldigen Sie in a formal situation. Entschuldigung and Entschuldige are good in an informal situation. |
| John: Are there any differences between those words? |
| Jennifer: You must use Entschuldigt if you are talking to more than one person. |
| John: Okay. So next, let’s look at the verb “to forget.” |
| Jennifer: Yes, let’s not forget about that! |
| John: I’d rather forget that joke... |
| Jennifer: Sorry! In German, “to forget” is vergessen. It’s an irregular verb. |
| John: We need to say “I have forgotten…” so we will use it in the past perfect tense. |
| Jennifer: Ich habe vergessen. |
| John: How do we say “you have forgotten?” |
| Jennifer: Du hast vergessen. |
| John: Or “she has forgotten?” |
| Jennifer: Sie hat vergessen. |
| John: In the dialogue, after Linda explained what had happened, she said she’d fix the problem in an hour. |
| Jennifer: If you make a mistake, people will expect you to fix it in a professional way. |
| John: If you’re lucky, you’ll probably also find that your colleagues will try to help you. What are some phrases we can use to show that we're trying to fix it? |
| Jennifer: If the situation is not too complicated, you can say Ich werde so schnell wie mögliche eine Lösung finden. |
| John: “I’ll find a solution right away.” If you also know when you can have the situation fixed, you should add that information as well. |
| Jennifer: In the dialogue we saw this in Ich könnte sie in etwa einer Stunde bereit haben |
| John: which means “I can have it ready in an hour.” |
| Jennifer: If the situation is more complicated, you’d better say: Ich werde mich so schnell wie möglich darum kümmern. |
| John: “I’ll try to find a solution right away.” Is there anything to avoid? |
| Jennifer: Try not to be vague, so don’t use vielleicht. |
| John: That means “maybe.” |
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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