Learn how to make your German sound more native-like
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Upper Beginner Season 1, Lesson #20. Earth to Germany – Are You There? Hello and welcome back to germanpod101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn German. I am joined in the studio by |
| Judith: Hello everyone, Judith here. |
| Chuck: In this lesson, you will learn how to make your German sound more native like. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place on the phone. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Joe and Anke. |
| Judith: The speakers are friends. Therefore they will be speaking informal German. |
| Chuck: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Anke: Löwen, hallo…. |
| Joe: Hallo Anke. |
| Anke: Ja, hallo. Wer spricht denn da? |
| Joe: Hier ist Joe! |
| Anke: Ach Joe! Du bist es! Wie geht es dir? |
| Joe: Danke, sehr gut. Dir auch? |
| Anke: Ja. Joe, du hörst dich ja so weit weg an….Bist du noch in München? |
| Joe: Ja, ich bin noch bis morgen Abend hier, aber dann komme ich wieder nach Berlin. |
| Anke: Oh, fährst du also nicht mehr nach Zürich? |
| Joe: Nein, dafür habe ich leider keine Zeit mehr. |
| Anke: Ach so. Dann bist du also noch ein paar Tage in Berlin, bevor du wieder in die USA fliegst… |
| Joe: Genau. Ich möchte ja noch etwas von der Hauptstadt sehen... |
| Anke: Stimmt, da gibt es sicher noch ein paar Dinge, die du noch sehen musst. |
| Joe: Ja, auf jeden Fall. Ich muss unbedingt noch auf den Dom, und zum Checkpoint Charlie muss ich auch noch gehen... |
| Anke: Die Aussicht vom Dom ist sehr schön! Weißt du was... da komme ich mit! |
| Joe: Oh, das ist ja super! Dann muss ich das nicht alleine machen! Zusammen macht das ja auch mehr Spaß! |
| Anke: Das stimmt! Hmm, wir können uns ja übermorgen um 13 Uhr am Dom treffen. |
| Joe: Okay, super! Dann bis übermorgen! |
| Anke: Ja, bis dann! |
| Anke: Löwen, hello... |
| Joe: Hello Anke. |
| Anke: Yes, hello. Who is speaking? |
| Joe: This is Joe! |
| Anke: Ah, Joe! It's you! How are you? |
| Joe: Thanks, I'm well. You too? |
| Anke: Yes. Joe, you sound so far away. Are you still in Munich? |
| Joe: Yes, I'm here until tomorrow evening, but then I'm coming back to Berlin. |
| Anke: Oh, you're not going to Zurich anymore? |
| Joe: No, unfortunately I don't have time for that anymore. |
| Anke: I see. So you'll be in Berlin a couple more days before you're flying back to the USA... |
| Joe: Exactly. I do want to see something more of the capital. |
| Anke: Right, there are certainly a few more things, which you have to see still. |
| Joe: Yes, definitely. I absolutely have to go to the top of the cathedral, and I also still have to go to Checkpoint Charlie... |
| Anke: The view from the cathedral is really nice! You know what... I'll come along! |
| Joe: Oh, that's great! Then I don't have to do that alone! Together it's more fun anyway! |
| Anke: That's right! Hmm, we could meet at the cathedral day after tomorrow at 1pm. |
| Joe: Okay, great! See you day after tomorrow then! |
| Anke: Yes, see you then! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay let’s imagine for a moment that Joe didn’t reach Anke immediately but that her husband answered the phone. |
| Chuck: This could happen to you too when calling a German friend and if you get their parents, chances are that you have to get by in German until they decide you are not an axe murderer. |
| Judith: So you might say something like Hallo, ich heiße… und ich bin ein Freund von … Ist … gerade zu sprechen? |
| Chuck: The last bit means, is Anke available to talk right now? Then you will learn if your friend is there. |
| Judith: If she is, you will hear something like Ich gebe den Hörer weiter, which means that the receiver is being passed on. |
| Chuck: Mission accomplished. Also note here that Joe kind of did a faux pas here where he didn’t say what his name was when he called. |
| Judith: Yes well Anke did. Well she said Löwen as a start, that’s her last name so it’s a common way to answer the phone. |
| Chuck: Yeah and then I think she was a bit disturbed when she had to ask who is this any way? |
| Judith: Yeah. |
| Chuck: So don’t make the mistake Joe made. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is |
| Judith: Sich anhören. |
| Chuck: To listen to something or sound like. |
| Judith: Sich anhören. Sich anhören. And the an splits off. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Weg. |
| Chuck: Gone, not there or away. |
| Judith: Weg. Weg. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Leider. |
| Chuck: Unfortunately. |
| Judith: Leider. Leider. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Bevor. |
| Chuck: Before. |
| Judith: Bevor. Bevor. This one always starts as subclause. So don’t use it like before 10 PM. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Fliegen. |
| Chuck: To fly. |
| Judith: Fliegen. Fliegen. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Hauptstadt. |
| Chuck: Capital. |
| Judith: Hauptstadt. Hauptstadt. Die Hauptstadt and the plural is Hauptstädte. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Fall. |
| Chuck: Case or fall. |
| Judith: Fall. Fall. Der Fall and the plural is Fälle. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Unbedingt. |
| Chuck: Absolutely, unconditional or absolute. |
| Judith: Unbedingt. Unbedingt. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Dom. |
| Chuck: Cathedral or Dome. |
| Judith: Dom. Dom. Der Dom and the plural is Döme. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Allein or alleine. |
| Chuck: Alone. |
| Judith: Alleine. Alleine. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Übermorgen. |
| Chuck: Day after tomorrow. |
| Judith: Übermorgen. Übermorgen. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Sich treffen. |
| Chuck: To meet up. |
| Judith: Sich treffen. Sich treffen. And this is a vowel changing verb. So the third person is er trifft sich. |
| 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 I want to look at is Haupt. |
| Chuck: It means main. |
| Judith: Yes at least it is used for that. For example, we’ve already seen Hauptbahnhof. |
| Chuck: Main train station. |
| Judith: And Hauptsache. |
| Chuck: Main thing or most important thing. |
| Judith: This lesson introduces the word Hauptstadt. |
| Chuck: The main city is the capital. |
| Judith: Of course. Also let’s look at the phrase auf jeden Fall. |
| Chuck: This is an expression you should memorize. It means in any case or no matter what. |
| Judith: Similarly there is auf keinen Fall. |
| Chuck: No way or under no circumstance. |
| Judith: And we saw the expression weißt du was? It’s an expression but it mirrors the English. So it should be easy for you. |
| Chuck: The English is, you know what? |
| Judith: Yeah in German, weißt du was? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The focus of this lesson is the use of the particle ja. As you may have noticed, Germans put a lot of jas in their sentences and these usually aren’t translated to English. |
| Judith: To sound really natural, you have to devolve a feel for this important particle and start using it yourself. |
| Chuck: Ja! Let’s look at the various ways that was used in this dialogue. |
| Judith: Hallo Anke. Ja hallo. |
| Chuck: Here it’s a confirmation that Joe has indeed reached Anke. |
| Judith: Joe, du hörst dich ja so weit weg an. |
| Chuck: If you left out the ja in this sentence, the sentence would sound like a fact. With the ja, it sounds like Anke is making a point and that subtedly prompts Joe’s explanation. |
| Judith: Yeah so he explains that he is still in Munich. Ich möchte ja noch etwas von der Hauptstadt sehen. |
| Chuck: Again the ja makes the sentence sound like Joe is making a point. Because of this, you might wonder if Joe is defensive about this issue if he wants to prevent anyone implying that Joe is not interested in Berlin. |
| Judith: Oh das ist ja super. |
| Chuck: Here the ja expresses surprise as Joe didn’t expect Anke to come along sightseeing. |
| Judith: Zusammen macht das ja auch mehr Spaß. |
| Chuck: Joe is making another point for going sightseeing together even though Anke is already convinced. |
| Judith: Hmm, wir können uns ja übermorgen um 13 Uhr am Dom treffen. |
| Chuck: Even though Anke uses können instead of könnten, the ja makes it clear that this is just an idea, suggestion. She is not presuming to know that Joe will be able to meet at that time which wir können would imply. |
Outro |
| Chuck: That just about does it for today. |
| Judith: Listeners, do you know the powerful secret behind rapid progress? |
| Chuck: JA! Using the entire system. |
| Judith: Lesson notes are an important part of the system. |
| Chuck: They include a transcript and translation of the conversation. |
| Judith: Key lesson vocabulary |
| Chuck: And detailed grammar explanations. |
| Judith: Lesson notes accompany every audio or video lesson. |
| Chuck: Use them on the site or your mobile device or print them out. |
| Judith: Using the lesson notes with audio and video media will rapidly increase your learning speed. |
| Chuck: Go to germanpod101.com and download the lesson notes for this lesson right now. So see you next week. |
| Judith: Also, bis nächste Woche. |
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