Learn the correct case for several German prepositions so your German sounds natural
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here, intermediate series season three lesson six. Are you waging a war against German technology. 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 three lesson. |
| Chuck: In this lesson you'll learn how to work at a call center in Germany. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place at a German office. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Mr. Jones a new employee and Mrs. Bayer, his trainer. |
| Judith: Later there will also be Mrs. Anderson, one of the people being called. |
| Chuck: The speakers are in a business relationship therefore they will be speaking formal German. Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Jones: Guten Morgen Frau Bayer. |
| Bayer: Guten Morgen Herr Jones. Sind Sie bereit für heute? |
| Jones: Aber klar! Was machen wir denn heute? |
| Bayer: Also, wir starten mit einigen Telefongesprächen. Erinnern Sie sich an den Stapel Kundendaten? Über die Datenbank rufen Sie heute Kunden an, die Interesse an einem Produkt haben. |
| Jones: Okay. Und wenn der Kunde das Produkt kaufen möchte? |
| Bayer: Dann tragen Sie das in die Datenbank ein. Die Vertriebsabteilung kümmert sich dann um den Rest. |
| Jones: Und wenn der Kunde eine Frage zu dem Produkt hat? |
| Bayer: Dann klicken Sie hier auf „Kundenservice“ und stellen den Kunden durch. |
| Jones: Okay. |
| ... |
| Andersen: Guten Tag, Sophie Andersen hier. |
| Jones: Guten Tag Frau Andersen. Frank Jones hier von der Star GmbH. In meinen Unterlagen sehe ich, dass Sie Interesse an einem Produkt von uns haben? |
| Andersen: Ja, ich habe da aber noch eine Frage zu der Garantie. |
| Jones: Kein Problem. Unser Kundenservice kann Ihnen das ganz genau erklären. Einen Moment bitte, ich verbinde Sie. |
| Andersen: Okay, danke. |
| (klick) |
| Jones: Oh, ich glaube ich habe aufgelegt statt zu verbinden! |
| Bayer: Ha ha ha. Mit der Technik stehen Sie wohl auf Kriegsfuß! |
| Jones: Ha ha, ja, da muss ich wohl jetzt noch einmal anrufen… |
| Jones: Good morning Mrs Bayer. |
| Bayer: Good morning Mr Jones. Are you ready for today? |
| Jones: But of course! What are we doing today? |
| Bayer: Well, we'll start by doing some conversations on the phone. Do you recall the stack of customer data? Today you will use the database to call customers who are interested in a product. |
| Jones: Okay. And if the customer wants to buy the product? |
| Bayer: Then you'll enter that into the database. The logistics department will then take care of the rest. |
| Jones: And if the customer has a question about the product? |
| Bayer: Then you click on "Customer Service" and patch the customer through. |
| Jones: Okay. |
| ... |
| Andersen: Good day, this is Sophie Andersen. |
| Jones: Good day Mrs Andersen. This is Frank Jones from Star Limited. In my documents I see that you are interested in one of our products? |
| Andersen: Yes, but I have a question about the guarantee first. |
| Jones: No problem. Our customer service can explain it to you in detail. One second, I will connect you. |
| Andersen: Okay, thanks. |
| (click) |
| Jones: Oh, I believe I hung up instead of connecting! |
| Bayer: Ha ha ha. You don't seem to get along well with this technology! |
| Jones: Ha ha, yes, I guess I will have to call again… |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay, I think it's about time that we talk about etiquette for calling on the phone especially if you're looking to do a call center job in Germany, you will have to know what to do. |
| Chuck: Pretty much if you expect to pick up any phone in Germany you'll have to know what to do. |
| Judith: Yes. |
| Chuck: I've never worked for a call center but most of this stuff is pretty important. For example if someone calls you in Germany, you don't just say hello but you'll actually say your name. |
| Judith: Yes, or you can say hello and your name or you can just say your name but your name is important. This will let the other person know that they have reached the right person or not. |
| Chuck: Just like German engineering, they want to be as efficient as possible at in getting the right person at the other end |
| Judith: Yes, and then they expect the same from you as the caller. So if you're calling somebody you also have to say your name and you could say your name you can say your name with a greeting but if you fail to say who you are altogether then quite a few people will get annoyed or just hang up. |
| Chuck: You know I've even hung up on someone that didn't tell me who they were actually, didn't speak. |
| Judith: Yeah. |
| Chuck: ______ (0:01:46) I mind. |
| Judith: It's not just a common courtesy; it also distinguishes you from people that have no business calling such as telemarketers. |
| Chuck: Well to be fair that caller had to be a prank call so it's a different category. If you want to talk to someone other than the person who picked up the phone in the household, you should still say your name before asking for the phone to be passed over. And if you know the person already you might want to have a brief conversation, how are you? How are things going? Before asking to be passed along. |
| Judith: Yes that's the polite thing to do. |
| Chuck: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: First word [bereit] |
| Chuck: ready. |
| Judith: [bereit] next [Gespräch] |
| Chuck: Conversation. |
| Judith: [Gespräch, das] this is neutral and the plural is [Gespräche] next [sich erinnern]. |
| Chuck: To remember. |
| Judith: [sich erinnern] next [Stapel] |
| Chuck: Stack. |
| Judith: [Stapel] this word is masculine and the plural is the same, next [eintragen] |
| Chuck: To enter or record. |
| Judith: [eintragen] next [Er trägt ein, Er trug ein, Er hat eingetragen]. |
| Chuck: To care for or about something. |
| Judith: [sich kümmern] next [durchstellen] |
| Chuck: To patch through or put through. |
| Judith: [durchstellen] and the [durch] splits off, next [Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH] |
| Chuck: A German type of limited liability Company, normally you only see the abbreviation for this. |
| Judith: [Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH] this is feminine and the plural is [Gesellschaften mit beschränkter Haftung] next [Unterlagen]. |
| Chuck: Documents, papers or records. |
| Judith: [Unterlagen] this word is always plural, next [Garantie] |
| Chuck: Warranty or guarantee. |
| Judith: [Garantie, die] it's feminine and the plural is [Garantie] next [verbinden] |
| Chuck: To connect or to bandage. |
| Judith: [verbinden, Er verbindet, Er verband, Er hat verbunden] next [auflegen]. |
| Chuck: To hang up as in on the phone. |
| Judith: [auflegen] the [auf] splits off next [statt]. |
| Chuck: Instead of. |
| Judith: [statt] next [auf Kriegsfuß stehen]. |
| Chuck: To be at daggers drawn or be at war with someone. |
| Judith: [auf Kriegsfuß stehen]. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Chuck: Let's have a look at the usage for some of the words and phrases for this lesson. |
| Judith: First we shall have a look at the expression [auf den Kriegsfuß stehen] this is a funny German expression, it evokes Native American tribes, it can be used literally when two parties are at war but very often it's used in a figurative sense for example in today's dialogue [Mit der Technik stehen sie wohl auf Kriegsfuß]. |
| Chuck: Seems we're at war with technology, but it really means, seems you don't get along with technology. |
| Judith: The other word I want to look at is [sich kümmern]. |
| Chuck: To take care of. |
| Judith: You can use this word in the context of taking care of an aging relative, to take care of customers. |
| Chuck: Could you also use this like in a mafia sense to take care of someone? |
| Judith: Yes. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: I guess next we'll take care of the grammar point. The grammar focus of this lesson are German prepositions part one. |
| Judith: In this lesson, we've seen quite a lot of different prepositions, as you're becoming more and more familiar with prepositions, you should start working on mastering the fine points of German grammar. |
| Chuck: Using the right case with each preposition is one of those things, it's not vital to be understood, but you'll sound funny if you use the wrong case. Let's start our overview with the prepositions that came up in today's dialogue. |
| Judith: First there are three prepositions that use the dative that we've seen, one is [mit]. |
| Chuck: With. |
| Judith: As in [Gehst du mit ihm ins Kino]? |
| Chuck: Are you going to the movies with him? |
| Judith: Then there is [von] |
| Chuck: On or from. |
| Judith: [Hast du das von ihm] |
| Chuck: Did you get that from him? |
| Judith: And [zu] |
| Chuck: Towards or about. |
| Judith: [zu diesem Thema kann ich nichts sagen]. |
| Chuck: I can't say anything about this topic. |
| Judith: So the three prepositions that use dative are [mit, von and zu] then we have the accusative ones, [an] |
| Chuck: To. |
| Judith: [Schreibst du einen Brief an ihn]? |
| Chuck: Are you writing a letter to him? |
| Judith: [für] |
| Chuck: For. |
| Judith: [Hast du ein Geschenk für ihn]? |
| Chuck: Do you have a present for him? |
| Judith: [um] |
| Chuck: Around, at or about. |
| Judith: [In diesem Film geht es um einen jungen Mann]. |
| Chuck: This movie is about a young man. |
| Judith: The three prepositions with accusative that we've seen [an, für, um] and then there are a few prepositions that can have either dative or accusative depending on the context. One of those is [in] |
| Chuck: [in] as dative. |
| Judith: To use [in] as a dative, you have to talk about a location for example [Ich habe ihn im Park gesehen]. |
| Chuck: I saw him in the park. |
| Judith: To use it with accusative you have to talk about a direction so in English you would say into [Ich habe ihn in den Park gehen sehen]. |
| Chuck: I saw him go into the park. |
| Judith: The same difference exists for [auf] can be either on or onto, it is dative if you're saying on in English [Ich habe ihn auf dem Marktplatz gesehen]. |
| Chuck: I saw him on the market square. |
| Judith: And it is accusative if you say onto in English [Ich habe ihn auf dem Marktplatz gehen sehen]. |
| Chuck: I saw him go onto the market square. |
| Judith: Of course there are always cases where these translations don't exactly match where you'd use different prepositions in English but these are the general rules that you can remember. |
Outro |
| Chuck: Well that just about does it for today, okay some of our listeners already know about the most powerful tool on germanpod101.com and to give more details I'll patch that through to Judith. |
| Judith: It's Line by line audio |
| Chuck: The perfect tool for rapidly improving listening comprehension. |
| Judith: By listening to lines of conversation again and again. |
| Chuck: Listen until every word and syllable becomes clear, basically we break down the dialogue into comprehensible bite sized sentences. |
| Judith: You can try the line by line audio in the premium learning center at germanpod101.com. |
| Chuck: We hope you enjoyed this lesson, see you next week. |
| Judith: [Bis nächste Woche]! |
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