Learn how to talk about a match you watched
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Upper intermediate series, season 1, Lesson 2. Finding pride in Germany. Hello and welcome to germanpod101.com where we study modern German in a fun, educational format. |
| Judith: So brush up on the German that you started learning long ago or start learning today. |
| Chuck: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson Judith. What are we talking about today? |
| Judith: In this lesson, you will learn how to talk about a match that you watched. |
| Chuck: This conversation takes place at a German office. |
| Judith: The conversation is between Ms. [Bayer] and Mr. Jones. |
| Chuck: The speakers are colleagues. Therefore they will be speaking formal German. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Jones: Guten Morgen, Frau Bayer! |
| Bayer: Guten Morgen, Herr Jones! |
| Jones: Und, haben Sie gestern Abend das Spiel Deutschland gegen Spanien noch gesehen? |
| Bayer: Ja natürlich! Sie nicht? |
| Jones: Nein, ich war doch noch im Fitnessstudio wegen dem Probetraining. Ich habe nur das Ergebnis in den Nachrichten gehört. |
| Bayer: Klasse, oder?! 2 zu 0! Die Begegnung war echt spannend! |
| Jones: Wirklich? |
| Bayer: Ja, die Spanier hatten viele Möglichkeiten, Tore zu schießen, aber sie hatten kein Glück. |
| Jones: Gut für Deutschland, würde ich sagen! …Gucken Sie jedes WM-Spiel? |
| Bayer: Hmm, ich versuche es… |
| Jones: Dann haben Sie sicher viel Ahnung von Fußball? |
| Bayer: Hmm, na ja, meine Fußballkenntnisse halten sich in Grenzen… Aber ich weiß, was ein Abseits ist! |
| Jones: Haha, das ist immer gut! |
| Bayer: Und Sie? Kennen Sie sich mit Fußball aus? |
| Jones: Ach, ein wenig. Aber alle Einzelheiten der Regeln kenne ich nicht. Mit Basketball und Football kenne ich mich besser aus… |
| Bayer: Hmm, wollen Sie nicht das Finale mit meinem Mann und mir gucken? Das Spiel wird sicher ein Erlebnis! |
| Jones: Oh ja, das wäre super! Wann ist das Finale denn? |
| Bayer: Am Sonntag. Was meinen Sie, gewinnt Deutschland wohl? |
| Jones: Hmm, ich denke, Deutschland könnte es schaffen… |
| Bayer: Ja, denke ich auch…Qualität setzt sich schließlich immer durch! |
| Jones: Haha, sagen Sie das mal den Engländern! |
| Jones: Guten Morgen, Frau Bayer! |
| Bayer: Guten Morgen, Herr Jones! |
| Jones: Und, haben Sie gestern Abend das Spiel Deutschland gegen Spanien noch gesehen? |
| Bayer: Ja natürlich! Sie nicht? |
| Jones: Nein, ich war doch noch im Fitnessstudio wegen dem Probetraining. Ich habe nur das Ergebnis in den Nachrichten gehört. |
| Bayer: Klasse, oder?! 2 zu 0! Die Begegnung war echt spannend! |
| Jones: Wirklich? |
| Bayer: Ja, die Spanier hatten viele Möglichkeiten, Tore zu schießen, aber sie hatten kein Glück. |
| Jones: Gut für Deutschland, würde ich sagen! …Gucken Sie jedes WM-Spiel? |
| Bayer: Hmm, ich versuche es… |
| Jones: Dann haben Sie sicher viel Ahnung von Fußball? |
| Bayer: Hmm, na ja, meine Fußballkenntnisse halten sich in Grenzen… Aber ich weiß, was ein Abseits ist! |
| Jones: Haha, das ist immer gut! |
| Bayer: Und Sie? Kennen Sie sich mit Fußball aus? |
| Jones: Ach, ein wenig. Aber alle Einzelheiten der Regeln kenne ich nicht. Mit Basketball und Football kenne ich mich besser aus… |
| Bayer: Hmm, wollen Sie nicht das Finale mit meinem Mann und mir gucken? Das Spiel wird sicher ein Erlebnis! |
| Jones: Oh ja, das wäre super! Wann ist das Finale denn? |
| Bayer: Am Sonntag. Was meinen Sie, gewinnt Deutschland wohl? |
| Jones: Hmm, ich denke, Deutschland könnte es schaffen… |
| Bayer: Ja, denke ich auch…Qualität setzt sich schließlich immer durch! |
| Jones: Haha, sagen Sie das mal den Engländern! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Now in the conversation, we had two interesting lines. Mrs. [Bayer] was saying [Dann haben Sie sicher viel Ahnung von Fußball] and Mr. Jones replied [Ach, ein wenig. Aber alle Einzelheiten der Regeln kenne ich nicht. Mit Basketball und Football kenne ich mich besser aus] and I thought this really gives rise to the idea of how can you make compliments like say oh you know a lot and then how should you react and how much can you say about your own abilities without sounding like you are boasting. |
| Chuck: Well what is the cultural point today? |
| Judith: Pride and prejudice. |
| Chuck: Wait! Are you sure you got that one, right? |
| Judith: No, I mean modesty. |
| Chuck: I think you are watching a bit too much Colin Firth. |
| Judith: Pride and modesty in Germany. |
| Chuck: In Germany, people are not as overly modest as say the Chinese but neither they are easy to praise themselves as much as the Americans. So I think we will have to give you a rough guide on how not to sound too full of yourself. |
| Judith: When it comes to talking about money [?], don’t tell people in any way that you are rich or poor because Germans don’t like to show that off and it won’t improve people’s opinion of you. Also avoid putting a price on things that you bought. People will learn about your financial situation through other means. For example, by seeing your home or the clothes that you wear. |
| Chuck: When it comes to your country, you will also make a lot more friends if you don’t express pride in so many words. Because of history, you will be hard-pressed to find a German who is proud of his country and those who are are likely for the wrong reasons. That’s reinforced by education to the point that some Germans find it excessively strange to be proud of any country. Well after all, just being born in the country, it’s just a matter of chance, isn’t it. I mean it’s not really a personal achievement. |
| Judith: When it comes to talking about abilities and accomplishments, present them in an objective way. For example, in German I would tell people that I speak English fluently. There is no need to understate that. I would understate it when speaking Chinese but on the other hand, you also shouldn’t elaborate more on that unless you are asked. That would be boasting. |
| Chuck: Germans generally give less compliments than the Americans and most of the compliments are honest observations rather than an effort to be nice well, unless they are talking to foreigners and are aware of cultural differences. That means that when a German compliments you and you think what he said is true, you can accept that compliment matter of factly or choose as you would in the understandable interjection. There is no need to say thanks to downplay the compliment. |
| Judith: When it comes to talking about your career and your work, you can show pride in that and you can praise yourself a bit or embellish stories. It’s very common and it won’t be held against you. |
| Chuck: So you mean they won’t hold prejudice against you for your pride. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: [wegen]. |
| Chuck: Because of. |
| Judith: [wegen]. This was originally used with genitive and now increasingly it’s used with dative. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [klasse]. |
| Chuck: Awesome, great, neat. |
| Judith: [klasse]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Begegnung]. |
| Chuck: Encounter or a meeting. |
| Judith: [Begegnung, die]. This word is feminine and the plural is [Begegnungen]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Möglichkeit] |
| Chuck: Possibility. |
| Judith: [Möglichkeit, die]. And the plural is [Möglichkeiten]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [schießen]. |
| Chuck: To shoot. |
| Judith: [schießen]. The forms are [Er schießt, Er schoss, Er hat geschossen]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Ahnung]. |
| Chuck: Foreboding, hunch or knowledge colloquially. |
| Judith: [Ahnung, die] And the plural is [Ahnungen]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Kenntnis]. |
| Chuck: Knowledge. One particular thing that is known. |
| Judith: [Kenntnis, die] And the plural is [Kenntnisse]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Grenze]. |
| Chuck: Border. |
| Judith: [Grenze, die] And the plural is [Grenzen]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [abseits]. |
| Chuck: Aside, off sides, aloof or apart. |
| Judith: [abseits]. This is neuter and it’s also used as an adjective. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Einzelheit]. |
| Chuck: Detail. |
| Judith: [Einzelheit, die]. And the plural is [Einzelheiten]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Regel]. |
| Chuck: Rule. |
| Judith: [Regel, die]. The plural is [Regeln]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [sich auskennen]. |
| Chuck: To know one’s stuff, to be street-smart. |
| Judith: [sich auskennen]. The forms are [Er kennt sich aus, Er kannte sich aus, Er hat sich ausgekannt]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Erlebnis]. |
| Chuck: Experience, one particular thing that was experienced. |
| Judith: [Erlebnis, das]. And the plural is [Erlebnisse]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [durchsetzen]. |
| Chuck: To enforce, or with [sich] to prevail, or hold sway. |
| Judith: [durchsetzen]. The [durch] splits off. |
| 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 is [wegen]. |
| Chuck: Because of. |
| Judith: Traditionally, this preposition required the following noun to be in the genitive case but now-a-days, most people use the dative especially in speaking. For all things actually the genitive is slowly going out of usage. Then what I wanted to talk about is [sich in Grenzen halten]. |
| Chuck: To keep within a limit, to be limited. |
| Judith: Yes it’s an expression. For example, in this dialogue, we had [Meine Fußballkenntnisse halten sich in Grenzen]. |
| Chuck: My knowledge of soccer is limited. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The focus of this lesson are knowing nouns and what they are. In this lesson, we have encountered five different endings that can be used to create nouns in German. Almost all of them result in the noun becoming feminine. |
| Judith: The easiest ending is [tät] as in [die Qualität]. |
| Chuck: Quality. |
| Judith: This is literally just the equivalent of the English T. So you can usually replace [tät] with T to get the translation. |
| Chuck: However it doesn’t work the other way around because Germans like to translate the Latin roots for example saying [Freiheit] for liberty. |
| Judith: Which brings us to the next ending [heit] as in [die Freiheit] or [die Einzelheit]. |
| Chuck: Detail. |
| Judith: [Einzelheit] is very often used to turn an adjective into a feminine noun. |
| Chuck: Same for keit which is more rarely used and only for longer words like. |
| Judith: [die Möglichkeit], possibility. Then there is the ending ung as in [die Begegnung]. |
| Chuck: Encounter. |
| Judith: Or [die Ahnung]. |
| Chuck: Foreboding. |
| Judith: This one turns verbs into nouns, not adjectives. The key aspect is one of duration. |
| Chuck: If you need a noun for a onetime thing, then the noun is more likely to use the ending [nis] in German. |
| Judith: Nis. This is the only ending out of today’s list that creates neuter nouns. For example [Das Ergebnis]. |
| Chuck: Result. |
| Judith: [Das Erlebnis]. |
| Chuck: Experience. Not your work experience. |
| Judith: That would be [Erfahrung] with ung for the duration but [Erlebnis] is one particular experience. Also another word with [nis] is [Kenntnis]. |
Outro |
| Chuck: Knowledge as in one thing or one subject area that you know. I think that’s enough for today. There are more noun endings which we will cover at a later point. Before we go, we want to tell you about a way to improve your pronunciation drastically. |
| Judith: The voice recording tool. |
| Chuck: Yes the voice recording tool. |
| Judith: Record your voice with a click of a button |
| Chuck: Then play it back just as easily. |
| Judith: Record and listen. |
| Chuck: Compare it to the native speakers. |
| Judith: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Chuck: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast. So see you next week. |
| Judith: [Also bis nächste Woche]! |
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