Learn how to write a business letter
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Intermediate Series Season 2, Lesson 10. Applying for a job - Part two. Hello and welcome to GermanPod101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn German. |
| Judith: I'm Judith and thanks again for being here with us for this Intermediate Series Season 2 Lesson. |
| Chuck: In this lesson you’ll learn how to write a business letter. |
| Judith: The use of correct form is very important. |
| Chuck: This conversation takes place at a German home. It is between Mike and his German friend. |
| Judith: It’s not much of a conversation though. Mike’s German friend is just reading out an introductory letter to go with Mike’s CV. |
| Chuck: The speakers are friends so they should be speaking informal German. |
| Judith: However, the letter they write is to a stranger, so there you will hear very formal German. |
| Chuck: Attention, listeners. Comment. |
| Judith: Comment. |
| Chuck: And comment some more. |
| Judith: It’s easy. |
| Chuck: And asking questions really helps improve progress. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| D: „Meine Zielgruppe waren ausländische Studenten, die so schnell wie möglich Englisch lernen sollten, um den Vorlesungen folgen zu können. Meine Intensivkurse waren sehr erfolgreich und auch sehr beliebt.“ |
| D: „Danach arbeitete ich weitere zwei Jahre als Sozialarbeiter für benachteiligte Jugendliche, denen ich auch neue Fähigkeiten beibringen konnte.“ |
| D: „Aufgrund dieser Erfahrungen bin ich mir sicher, dass ich auch Ihren Kunden die englische Sprache beibringen kann. Auf eine Einladung zum Vorstellungsgespräch freue ich mich sehr.“ |
| D: „Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Mike Marshmellow.“ |
| Judith: Now read slowly. Jetzt langsam. |
| D: „Meine Zielgruppe waren ausländische Studenten, die so schnell wie möglich Englisch lernen sollten, um den Vorlesungen folgen zu können. Meine Intensivkurse waren sehr erfolgreich und auch sehr beliebt.“ |
| D: „Danach arbeitete ich weitere zwei Jahre als Sozialarbeiter für benachteiligte Jugendliche, denen ich auch neue Fähigkeiten beibringen konnte.“ |
| D: „Aufgrund dieser Erfahrungen bin ich mir sicher, dass ich auch Ihren Kunden die englische Sprache beibringen kann. Auf eine Einladung zum Vorstellungsgespräch freue ich mich sehr.“ |
| D: „Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Mike Marshmellow.“ |
| Judith: Now with the translation. |
| D: „Meine Zielgruppe waren ausländische Studenten, die so schnell wie möglich Englisch lernen sollten, um den Vorlesungen folgen zu können. Meine Intensivkurse waren sehr erfolgreich und auch sehr beliebt.“ |
| D: „My target audience were foreign students, who should learn English as quickly as possible, in order to be able to follow the lectures. My intensive courses were very successful and also very popular.“ |
| D: „Danach arbeitete ich weitere zwei Jahre als Sozialarbeiter für benachteiligte Jugendliche, denen ich auch neue Fähigkeiten beibringen konnte.“ |
| D: „Afterwards I worked another two years as a social worker for disadvantaged youths, whom I could also teach new abilities.“ |
| D: „Aufgrund dieser Erfahrungen bin ich mir sicher, dass ich auch Ihren Kunden die englische Sprache beibringen kann. Auf eine Einladung zum Vorstellungsgespräch freue ich mich sehr.“ |
| D: „Because of these experiences I am sure that I can also teach English to your customers. I am looking very much forward to receiving an invitation to an interview.“ |
| D: „Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Mike Marshmellow.“ |
| D: „Best regards, Mike Marshmellow.“ |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Chuck: Why are you calling my character Mike Marshmallow? |
| Judith: It’s funny, isn’t it? |
| Chuck: I guess so. |
| CULTURAL INSIGHTS |
| Judith: Let’s talk about German candy. I think we never talked about German candy yet. |
| Chuck: That works. Are you going to give me a help to help my memory of… |
| Judith: Well, one thing I always like to point out is that in Germany even cheap chocolate is high quality milk chocolate. |
| Chuck: No, I meant like you could give me some chocolate. |
| Judith: No, sorry, none here. |
| Chuck: That’s actually quite interesting that in recent fashion, chocolates with a very high quantities of cocoa become somewhat popular. |
| Judith: Yeah. |
| Chuck: Yeah. Eat those with caution, I’d say. They’re actually meant to be eaten extremely slowly, like one nibble at a time. |
| Judith: Yeah. That’s something for connoisseurs. |
| Chuck: I was once given one and I didn’t realize it was anything extra, and I took a whole block in my mouth and I almost threw up. Just so bitter. |
| Judith: I prefer milk chocolate and of that we have some very good… |
| Chuck: You are missing here. Very dearly is the combinations of peanut butter and chocolate that we have in the States so much. |
| Judith: You mean like peanut butter M&M’s and peanut butter Twix and whatever? |
| Chuck: Exactly, and like Reese’s peanut butter cups. |
| Judith: Yeah. I'm very glad we don’t have them over here, I don’t like them. But I guess you could send a care package to Chuck. |
| Chuck: Yay! |
| Judith: If you have any, if you have access, send them to Germany. Or if you’re visiting, bring us some and we’ll be sure to meet up. |
| Chuck: We could exchange some American peanut butter chocolate candy for a nice German meal. |
| Judith: Sounds good. I do miss authentic brownies and chocolate chip cookies. So that’s the way to get me. I tasted them in the States and now I can’t really enjoy the German ones anymore. |
| Chuck: Yeah, it is true that it’s practically impossible to find authentic brownies and chocolate chip cookies or cupcakes also. |
| Judith: On the bright side though, we have a lot more type of liquorish and gummy candy. |
| Chuck: It’s very true. I even shipped some over to a friend in the States once. So let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: First word, [Möglich]. |
| Chuck: Possible. |
| Judith: [Möglich, möglich] Next, [Vorlesung]. |
| Chuck: Lecture. |
| Judith: [Vorlesung, Vorlesung] Next, [Folgen]. |
| Chuck: To follow. |
| Judith: [Folgen, folgen] Next, [Intensiv] |
| Chuck: Intensive. |
| Judith: [Intensiv, intensiv] Next, [Kurs]. |
| Chuck: Course. |
| Judith: [Kurs, Kurs] Next, [Erfolgreich]. |
| Chuck: Successful. |
| Judith: [Erfolgreich, erfolgreich] Next, [Beliebt]. |
| Chuck: Popular. |
| Judith: [Beliebt, beliebt] Next, [Danach]. |
| Chuck: Afterwards. |
| Judith: [Danach, danach] Next, [Beibringen]. |
| Chuck: To teach. |
| Judith: [Beibringen, beibringen] And, in this case, the [Bei] splits off. Next, [Aufgrund]. |
| Chuck: Because of. |
| Judith: [Aufgrund, aufgrund] Next, [Einladen]. |
| Chuck: To invite. |
| Judith: [Einladen, einladen] And also the [Ein] splits off. Next, [Vorstellungsgespräch]. |
| Chuck: Job interview. |
| Judith: [Vorstellungsgespräch, Vorstellungsgespräch] This literally means “introduction” or “presentation” talk and it’s neuter, [Das Gespräch]. Next, [Gruß]. |
| Chuck: Greeting. |
| Judith: [Gruß, Gruß, der Gruß] masculine. Plural, [Grüße]. |
| 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’ll look at is [Möglich]. |
| Chuck: Possible. |
| Judith: This is used in the set phrase [So] something [Wie möglich], so that you’re expressing something has to be as good, as thoroughly or as quickly as possible. [Basically] you can place any German adjective into the blank between [So] and [Wie möglich]. |
| Chuck: So how about if I say [So wie betrunken wie möglich]. |
| Judith: [So betrunken wie möglich] means “as drunk as possible”. The other thing is [Der Gruß]. |
| Chuck: The greeting. |
| Judith: The plural is [Grüße]. |
| Chuck: Greetings. |
| Judith: When and you end the letter, just before signing you name, this verb will invariably come up. If you’re writing to a business acquaintance you should end the letter with [Mit freundlichen Grüßen]. |
| Chuck: Which is equivalent to “best regards” but it literally means “with friendly greetings”. |
| Judith: Yes. And if you’re writing to friends or family that would really sound weird. You should choose a less formal phrase, maybe [Viele Grüße]. |
| Chuck: Many greetings. |
| Judith: Or [Liebe Grüße]. How about some grammar? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: Ok. The focus of this lesson is the usage of the [Preterite] past tense. We started to cover that in the last lesson. Do you still recall how it’s formed? |
| Judith: For regular verbs you just do as if their stem contained an additional TE. |
| Chuck: Well I know you know how they’re formed. I was asking our audience. |
| Judith: Ok. So [Warten] behaves as if it was a verb called [Warteten, Ich wartete]. |
| Chuck: I waited. |
| Judith: [Du wartetest] |
| Chuck: You waited. |
| Judith: [Er wartete]. |
| Chuck: He waited. |
| Judith: [Wir warteten]. |
| Chuck: We waited. |
| Judith: [Ihr wartetet]. |
| Chuck: You all waited. |
| Judith: [Sie warteten] |
| Chuck: They waited. |
| Judith: There’s just one difference – instead of the expected [Er wartetet], we get [Er wartete]. And they’re also verbs with irregular stems. For example, [Ich sang]. |
| Chuck: I sang. |
| Judith: Or [Ich blieb]. |
| Chuck: I stayed. |
| Judith: [Ich schloss ab]. |
| Chuck: “I closed” or “concluded”. |
| Judith: And since it’s just one word, separable verbs will still split off their prefix. |
| Chuck: Now when should you use the [Preterite] past tense and when should you use the perfect past tense? |
| Judith: Generally, the [Preterite] past tense is used in writing. It sounds a bit stilted if you’re saying it in speech. So, in speaking, we use the perfect past tense. However, sometimes it’s just too nice to have a short verb instead of something as [Convoluted] as [Ich bin gewesen]. |
| Chuck: I have been. |
| Judith: So for the really common verbs we use the [Preterite] past tense even in speaking. So we say [Ich war]. |
| Chuck: I was. |
| Judith: [Ich hatte]. |
| Chuck: I had. |
| Judith: [Ich konnte]. |
| Chuck: I could. |
| Judith: And so on. |
Outro |
| Chuck: That just about does it for today. Premium Members, don’t forget to subscribe to our Premium Feed. |
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| Judith: Bis nächste Woche! |
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