Learn how to ask someone to repeat their name in a business situation
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to GermanPod101.com This is Business German for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 2 - Asking Someone to Repeat Their Name in German |
| John Here. |
| Jennifer: Guten Tag! I'm Jennifer. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask Someone to Repeat their Name When You Didn’t Catch It. The conversation takes place at an office hall. |
| Jennifer: It's between Linda Müller and Paul Schmitt. |
| John: The speakers are strangers, so they will use formal German. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Linda Müller: Entschuldigen Sie, könnten Sie den Namen etwas langsamer wiederholen? |
| Paul Schmitt: Pa-u-l Schmi-tt. |
| Linda Müller: Paul Schmitt. Dankeschön. |
| Paul Schmitt: Wir sind fast gleich so alt, könnten wir uns auch duzen? |
| Linda Müller: Gern. |
| Paul Schmitt: Nenn´ mich ruhig Paul. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Linda Müller: Entschuldigen Sie, könnten Sie den Namen etwas langsamer wiederholen? |
| Paul Schmitt: Pa-u-l Schmi-tt. |
| Linda Müller: Paul Schmitt. Dankeschön. |
| Paul Schmitt: Wir sind fast gleich so alt, könnten wir uns auch duzen? |
| Linda Müller: Gern. |
| Paul Schmitt: Nenn´ mich ruhig Paul. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Linda Müller: Excuse me, could you repeat your name a bit more slowly? |
| Paul Schmitt: Pa-u-l Schmi-tt. |
| Linda Müller: Paul Schmitt. Thank you. |
| Paul Schmitt: We are almost the same age, can I talk to you informally? |
| Linda Müller: Sure. |
| Paul Schmitt: Then call me Paul. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: German has two registers, formal and informal. It's important to clearly understand the difference in a business situation. |
| Jennifer: Right, when you’re meeting someone for the very first time in an official environment, be sure to use the formal you, Sie, and polite grammar. |
| John: Polite grammar is also expressed by using a conjunctive. |
| Jennifer: For example, Könnten Sie... means “Could you…” |
| John: In business environments like in the finance industry, of course you should use formal German, |
| Jennifer: ...but if you work in a creative or fashion industry, it's more common to use the informal du. |
| Jennifer: At the beginning after the self-introduction, it is common for the person who is in a higher position to offer to continue to speak with the informal you Du. You may hear Du kannst ruhig ‘du’ sagen. |
| John: literally meaning "You can say ‘you’ instead”. |
| Jennifer: or Duzen wir uns am besten. |
| John: literally "Let's say informal ‘you’ to each other." Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Jennifer: Entschuldigen Sie [natural native speed] |
| John: Excuse me |
| Jennifer: Entschuldigen Sie[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Entschuldigen Sie [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Jennifer: wiederholen [natural native speed] |
| John: to repeat |
| Jennifer: wiederholen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: wiederholen [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Jennifer: langsamer [natural native speed] |
| John: more slowly, slower |
| Jennifer: langsamer[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: langsamer [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Jennifer: könnten [natural native speed] |
| John: could |
| Jennifer: könnten[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: könnten [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Jennifer: duzen [natural native speed] |
| John: to address informally with "du" |
| Jennifer: duzen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: duzen [natural native speed] |
| John: And last.. |
| Jennifer: nennen [natural native speed] |
| John: to call someone (name) |
| Jennifer: nennen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: nennen [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of one of the phrases from this lesson. The phrase is.. |
| Jennifer: fast gleich alt sein |
| John: meaning "to be about the same age" |
| Jennifer: Fast means "nearly," gleich means "same," and alt sein means "to be [number] years old," for example 18 Jahre alt sein |
| John: meaning "to be 18 years old". This expression is more often used in casual situations. Use it if you would like to state a similarity with your conversation partner. It might break the ice and make the conversation more smooth afterwards. |
| Jennifer: The formal version would be Sie sind fast so alt wie ich. |
| John: “You are as old as I am.” |
| Jennifer: or Wir sind fast im gleichen Alter |
| John: "We are about the same age". Can you give us an example using the informal expression? |
| Jennifer: Sure. For example, you can say.. Ich bin fast gleich alt wie du. |
| John: ..which means "I am about the same age as you." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask Someone to Repeat their Name When You Didn’t Catch It. |
| Jennifer: When you didn’t catch your client’s name, you can ask him or her to repeat it again politely by starting the request with Entschuldigen Sie... |
| John: which is the polite way to say “pardon me.” |
| Jennifer: Both Entschuldigen Sie and Entschuldigen Sie bitte, mean “to excuse” and, be careful, because they are in the imperative mood, not the indicative present. |
| John:What is the main difference? |
| Jennifer: For the imperative there are only two forms – Entschuldige dich for the singular and Entschuldigt euch for the plural. |
| John: In English they both mean “may you excuse!” |
| Jennifer: For the indicative present we have to conjugate all the persons. |
| John: Can we hear the whole conjugation? |
| Jennifer: Sure, first we have entschuldige mich |
| John: meaning “I excuse” |
| Jennifer: entschuldigst dich |
| John: “you excuse” |
| Jennifer: entschuldigt sich |
| John: “he/she excuses” |
| Jennifer: entschuldigen uns |
| John: “we excuse” |
| Jennifer: entschuldigt euch |
| John: “you excuse (plural)” |
| Jennifer: entschuldigen sich |
| John: “they excuse” Ok, now let’s go back to the main topic of this lesson, asking someone to repeat their name. |
| Jennifer: As in the dialogue, you could say Könnten Sie den Namen etwas langsamer wiederholen? |
| John: Meaning “Excuse me, could you please repeat your name more a bit more slowly?” |
| Jennifer: In most cases you’ll need to address the client with Sie instead of Du. The conjugated form of können is könnten, so in polite occasions, you should use könnten. All together the request is Entschuldigen Sie, könnten Sie followed by the object of the request. |
| John: Can you repeat the example from the dialogue? |
| Jennifer: Sure, Könnten Sie den Namen etwas langsamer wiederholen? |
| John: meaning “Excuse me, could you please repeat your name a bit more slowly?” |
| Jennifer: Könnten wiederholen is a modal verb phrase. The modal verb könnten is used with the infinitive form of the main verb wiederholen. |
| John: Depending on which modal verb is used, the meaning of the sentence changes as well. |
| Jennifer: Right, instead of Können, you can use dürfen or müssen |
| John: respectively meaning “may” and “must.” |
| Jennifer: Etwas langsamer is translated as “a bit more slowly.” So etwas is a pronoun which means “a bit.” |
| John: Can you give us some other similar examples, using the same word? |
| Jennifer: For example, Ich bin etwas spät. |
| John: “I am a bit late” |
| Jennifer: Finally, we have Der Name which is a masculine noun. In this sentence it is changed to den Namen as it is an accusative object. |
| John: Can you make other similar requests using the same structure? |
| Jennifer: Yes, for example Entschuldige, könntest du hier bitte unterschreiben? |
| John: “Excuse me, could you please sign here?” |
| Jennifer: Entschuldigen Sie, können Sie lauter sprechen? |
| John: "Excuse me, can you talk louder?" |
| Jennifer: Entschuldigen Sie, können Sie dieses Dokument dem Chef übergeben? |
| John: "Excuse me, can you hand this document to the boss?" |
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! |
Comments
Hide