Learn how to talk about your career
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here upper intermediate season 1 lesson 24. German careers. |
| Judith: Hi my name is Judith and I’m joined here by chuck. |
| Chuck: Hello everyone and welcome back to germanpod101.com. |
| Judith: What are we learning today? |
| Chuck: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about your career. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place at a German office. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Mrs. Byer and Mr. Jones. |
| Judith: The speakers are colleagues and friends therefore they’ll be speaking in informal German. |
| Chuck: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Bayer: Hmm, wusstest du, dass Stefan Raab Metzger war und Jura studiert hat, bevor er zum Fernsehen gegangen ist? |
| Jones: Stefan Raab? Das ist dieser Moderator oder? |
| Bayer: Ja genau. Er hat fünf Semester lang Jura studiert. Das hätte ich nicht gedacht. |
| Jones: Was hast du denn studiert? |
| Bayer: Ich habe zuerst ein Jahr lang Jura studiert, habe dann aber zu BWL gewechselt. Und du? |
| Jones: Ich habe Business studiert. Ich denke, das ist so wie BWL oder? |
| Bayer: Ja, ich glaube schon. |
| Jones: Hattest du früher einen Traum, was du mal werden wolltest? |
| Bayer: Hmm. Als ich ganz klein war, wollte ich gerne Tierärztin werden. Später wollte ich dann Anwältin werden, aber das Jura-Studium hat mir nicht gefallen. Mit meinem Beruf jetzt bin ich ganz zufrieden. Und du, was wolltest du mal werden? |
| Jones: Haha, als kleiner Junge wollte ich Müllmann werden. Ich fand das Müllauto so toll… |
| Bayer: Haha, wie lustig! |
| Jones: Und dann wollte ich Pilot werden. |
| Bayer: Hmm, Pilot ist ein anstrengender Beruf glaube ich. |
| Jones: Ja. Außerdem bin ich zu klein für den Beruf. Aber seit drei Jahren nehme ich Flugunterricht und möchte eine private Fluglizenz machen. |
| Bayer: Wow. Das ist ja toll! |
| Jones: Ja, dann fliege ich zwar keine großen Flugzeuge, aber wenigstens bin ich ein Pilot! |
| Bayer: Hmm, did you know that Stefan Raab was a butcher and had studied law, before he went on TV? |
| Jones: Stefan Raab? That's that TV host, right? |
| Bayer: Yes, exactly. He studied Law for 5 semesters. I wouldn't have thought that. |
| Jones: So what did you study? |
| Bayer: First I studied Law for a year, but then changed to Business. And you? |
| Jones: I studied Business. I think that's like BWL, right? |
| Bayer: Yeah, I think so. |
| Jones: What did you want to be when you grew up? |
| Bayer: Hmm, when I was really little, I really wanted to be a veterinarian. Later I wanted to be a lawyer, but I didn't really like law school. I'm quite satisfied with my current profession. And you? What did you want to be? |
| Jones: Haha, as a little boy I wanted to be a garbage man. I thought the garbage truck was so cool... |
| Bayer: Haha, how funny! |
| Jones: And then I wanted to be a pilot. |
| Bayer: Hmm, I think being a pilot is quite strenuous. |
| Jones: Yeah. Besides that, I'm too short for the job. But for 3 years I've been taking flying lessons and I'd like to get a private pilot's license. |
| Bayer: Wow, that's really cool! |
| Jones: Yeah, then even though I won't be flying any huge planes, at least I'll be a pilot! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Alright, let’s talk a bit about German careers and the typical time distribution in a German CV. First we have four years of primary school starting at the age of six or seven. |
| Chuck: And then at least six or nine years of secondary school depending on the school type. More years if you have to repeat a year. |
| Judith: Yes if your marks get too bad you have to repeat years. And there’s either two or three years at a trade school or at least four and a half years at University. Usually more because you make your own timetable for most degrees. |
| Chuck: That changed now with the switching over to the new system. |
| Judith: Yes we have bachelors and masters now but bachelors is still not very accepted in the German industry so a lot of people stay on for a masters. So it’s not really that they need less time and of course there’s a lot of people who come to University not knowing what they are going to study so they switch around. |
| Chuck: For men there’s still nine months of compulsory military service or if rejected for reasons of conscience equivalent community service in positions that are otherwise hard to fill. |
| Judith: Yes this may soon be a thing of the past. They are looking to cut down on the German military especially on the compulsory military service. Well all this means that if you are a university graduate you only enter the workforce at the age of 24 in the very best of cases and there are plenty of graduates who only start to work at the age of thirty or so. |
| Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall look at is |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: [Metzger] |
| Chuck: Butcher. |
| Judith: [Metzger] this word is masculine and the plural is the same. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Jura] |
| Chuck: Law as in a study subject. |
| Judith: [Jura] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [studieren] |
| Chuck: to study |
| Judith: [studieren] and note that it is only at university. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Betriebswirtschaftslehre] |
| Chuck: Management studies or business. |
| Judith: [Betriebswirtschaftslehre] also abbreviated as [BWL] |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: [Traum] |
| Chuck: Dream. |
| Judith: [Traum, der] and the plural is [Träume] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Anwalt] |
| Chuck: Lawyer. |
| Judith: [Anwalt, der] and the plural is [Anwälte] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Studium] |
| Chuck: Study. |
| Judith: [Studium, das] and the plural is [Studien] |
| Chuck: Next, |
| Judith: [Beruf] |
| Chuck: Profession. |
| Judith: [Beruf, der] and the plural is [Berufe] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Müll] |
| Chuck: Garbage. |
| Judith: [Müll, der] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [anstrengend] |
| Chuck: Taxing or tiring. |
| Judith: [anstrengend] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Flugzeug] |
| Chuck: Airplane. |
| Judith: [Flugzeug, das] and the plural is [Flugzeuge] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Lizenz] |
| Chuck: License. |
| Judith: [Lizenz, die] and the plural is [Lizenzen] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [wenigstens] |
| Chuck: At least. |
| Judith: [wenigstens] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [zwar] |
| Chuck: Indeed or in fact. |
| Judith: [zwar] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Chuck: Let’s have a closer look for the usage of some of the words and phrases for this lesson. |
| Judith: The first word we’ll look at is [Tierarzt] |
| Chuck: Literally animal doctor but it really means veterinarian. |
| Judith: [Tierarzt] Animal doctor. The next word is [Müllmann] |
| Chuck: Garbage man. |
| Judith: Yes the prefix [Müll] means garbage. Trash, so [Müllmann] is garbage man and [Müllauto] is a garbage truck. And finally we have the word [Flug] |
| Chuck: Flight. |
| Judith: Direct from this we get [Flugunterricht] |
| Chuck: Flying lessons. |
| Judith: [Fluglizenz] |
| Chuck: Pilot’s license. |
| Judith: And [Flugzeug] |
| Chuck: Flying thing. Ah I guess that’s an aircraft isn’t it? |
| Judith: Yes. Let’s have some grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The focus of this lesson is [seit Jahren] or [jahrelang] |
| Judith: Let’s talk about another set of expressions that’s difficult to master for English speakers. The question is how to translate for x years. In German, there are two possible translations and they cannot be used interchangeably. |
| Chuck: One is [seit x Jahren] |
| Judith: This means that you started in the past and you are still doing it. [seit] literally translates to since, so that’s the reason a lot of Germans will say since three years instead of for three years. [Seit drei Jahren] |
| Chuck: The other possibility is [x jahrelang] |
| Judith: This means that you did something for three years but then you stopped or at least you interrupted what you were doing. For example, you could say that you went to university [drei Jahre lang] in English, this distinction is usually made through the tenses using “I have done something for someone for many years” but I did something since and I ….anyway, in German, you should pay attention to the fact that you use the present tense when you are saying [drei Jahre lang] or [seit drei Jahren, Ich lebe hier seit drei Jahren], I have lived here for three years. It’s not over yet so you use the present tense in German. |
Outro |
| Chuck: That just about does it for today. Like our podcasts? |
| Judith: Then like our Facebook page too. |
| Chuck: Get lesson updates or German words a day and news on Facebook. |
| Judith: Just search for germanpod101.com and like our fan page. |
| Chuck: And if you like our lesson or series on germanpod101.com, |
| Judith: Let us know |
| Chuck: By clicking the like button next to the lesson or series. Okay see you next week. |
| Judith: [Bis nächste Woche]! |
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