Learn how to talk about working conditions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Upper intermediate, season 1, Lesson 9. Don’t You Need To Review Your German Soon? |
| Judith: Hi my name is Judith and I am joined here by Chuck. |
| Chuck: Hello everyone and welcome back to germanpod101. |
| Judith: What are we learning today? |
| Chuck: In this lesson, you will learn how to talk about working conditions. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place at Frank’s home. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Manuela and Frank. |
| Judith: The speakers are friends. Therefore they will be speaking informal German. |
| Chuck: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Manuela: So, ich glaube, ich gehe dann mal nach Hause…. |
| Frank: Ja, es ist ja auch schon spät. Musst du morgen auch früh raus? |
| Manuela: Nein, ich muss nicht so früh raus. |
| Frank: Oh echt? Musst du denn gar nicht arbeiten? |
| Manuela: Doch doch. Aber wir haben doch Gleitzeit…. |
| Frank: Gleitzeit? Was ist das? |
| Manuela: Gleitzeit heißt, dass man keine feste Zeit hat, wann man auf der Arbeit sein muss. |
| Frank: Was? Na, dann kommt doch sicher niemand zur Arbeit! |
| Manuela: Nein, natürlich muss man zur Arbeit kommen. Aber man muss nicht um Punkt 8 Uhr da sein, sondern kann selber entscheiden, wann man kommt. Hauptsache, man ist spätestens um 9 Uhr 30 da und geht nicht vor 15 Uhr 30. |
| Frank: Ach so. Hmm, ich glaube, ich hätte auch nichts gegen Gleitzeit. Und das funktioniert wirklich? |
| Manuela: Ja, soweit ich weiß….ich glaube, in meiner Firma gab es noch nie Probleme. |
| Frank: Mensch, dann könnte ich immer erst um 9 Uhr 30 zur Arbeit gehen! Das heißt, jeden Tag ausschlafen! |
| Manuela: Haha, ja. Aber dafür bist du dann auch bis abends spät im Büro…. |
| Frank: Hmm, stimmt. Da hast du Recht. Dann stehe ich lieber etwas früher auf! |
| Manuela: Well, I think I should go home |
| Frank: Ya, it's getting late. Do you have get up early tomorrow? |
| Manuela: No, I don't have to get up that early. |
| Frank: Oh really? Don't you have to go to work? |
| Manuela: Certainly, but we have flex-time. |
| Frank: Flex-time? What's that? |
| Manuela: Flex-time means that you don't have a specific time that you have to be at work. |
| Frank: What? Then nobody would come to work at all! |
| Manuela: No, of course you have to show up, but you just don't have to be there exactly at 8am. You can decide for yourself what the best time is. All that's important is that you don't get there later than 9.30am, and you don't leave before 3.30pm. |
| Frank: Hmm, I think I wouldn't mind flex-time. And it really works? |
| Manuela: Ya, as far as I know. I think there haven't been any problems at my company. |
| Frank: Man, then I could show up to work at 9.30am all the time. I could sleep in every day! |
| Manuela: Haha, ya, but then you'd have to stay at the office later in the evening. |
| Frank: Hmm, you're right. I think I'd rather get up a bit earlier. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: All right so since we are talking about flex time and different models of work, how about we talk about the working conditions in general in Germany. |
| Chuck: Sounds good. So the law guarantees four weeks of movable holidays. So that translates to 20 days if you have 5-day workweek or 24 days if you have a 6-day workweek. |
| Judith: Doesn’t that make you want to start working in Germany immediately? |
| Chuck: Absolutely. Wait, I do. |
| Judith: Also young workers up to 18 years old get more time but keep in mind that your choice of work and your amount of weekly work hours are restricted when you are young to prevent child labor. |
| Chuck: Additionally, there are 9 to 13 non-movable public holidays. The exact amount depends on the state because some states recognize different religious holidays and others depending on the state’s prevalent confession, say catholic or protestant. |
| Judith: Is it not nice? So you have four weeks of movable holidays and 9 to 13 public holidays and you typically don’t have to worry about running out of paid sick days or losing your job because of sickness unless you are missing for more than a few months. However, to prevent abuse, you need to see a doctor and have them certify that you are actually sick. |
| Chuck: It’s impossible to get out of health insurance unless you are filthy rich. You can choose your health insurance company but you have to be insured. The money for the insurance goes straight out of your salary and your employer contributes half. If you are not employed, your health insurance is covered by the state and nonworking family members are covered by the working parent’s health insurance and actually in a way, it makes sense because I mean I think about it. In the States, if you have a car, you have to have car insurance. So if you are well living, then you should have to have health insurance right? |
| Judith: One would think. If you are an employee, it’s also impossible to opt out of the National Pension System but as a freelancer, you are responsible for your pension yourself. |
| Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: [gleiten]. |
| Chuck: To glide or slide. |
| Judith: [gleiten]. The forms are [Er gleitet, Er glitt, Er ist geglitten]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [fest]. |
| Chuck: Firm, set or solid. |
| Judith: [fest]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Punkt]. |
| Chuck: Point or dot. |
| Judith: [Punkt, der] And the plural is [Punkte]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [sondern]. |
| Chuck: But as in to introduce a replacement. |
| Judith: [sondern]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [selber]. |
| Chuck: To do something oneself. |
| Judith: [Hauptsache]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Hauptsache]. |
| Chuck: The main thing or most important point. |
| Judith: [Hauptsache, die] And the plural is [Hauptsachen]. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: [spätestens]. |
| Chuck: At the latest. |
| Judith: [spätestens]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [soweit]. |
| Chuck: As far as. |
| Judith: [soweit]. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: [ausschlafen]. |
| Chuck: To sleep in. |
| Judith: [ausschlafen] And the forms are [Er schläft aus, Er schlief aus, Er hat ausgeschlafen]. So this is a vowel changing and splitting verb and it’s a regular for the past tense [aufstehen]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [aufstehen]. |
| Chuck: To get up. |
| Judith: [aufstehen]. Well it’s not vowel changing but it’s a splitting, separable verb [Er steht auf, Er stand auf] and [Er ist aufgestanden]. |
| 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 phrase is [Musst du morgen auch früh raus]. This means [Musst du morgen auch früh aufstehen]. |
| Chuck: Do you have to get up early tomorrow as well? |
| Judith: The [raus] out of refers to [raus aus dem Bett]. |
| Chuck: Get out of bed or get up. |
| Judith: [Musst du morgen auch früh raus, Musst du morgen auch früh aus dem Bett]. And the other point is when you say [Punkt 8 Uhr]. |
| Chuck: Exactly 8 o’ clock. |
| Judith: Yes. |
| Chuck: [Punkt] is short for [pünktlich] isn’t it? |
| Judith: No it’s [Punkt] like on the spot like don’t be 5 minutes late, exactly 8 o’ clock. |
| Chuck: 8 o’ clock sharp. |
| Judith: And finally, there is a phrase [Ich hätte nichts gegen]. |
| Chuck: I wouldn’t mind or I would like that. |
| Judith: Yeah that’s the meaning. I would like that but you say [Ich hätte nichts gegen] I wouldn’t mind like [Ich hätte nichts gegen ein Stück Kuchen jetzt]. |
| Chuck: Well go ahead and eat one if you want it. |
| Judith: You are so kind. |
| Chuck: This lesson is a real lesson but we should have something to talk about, the grammar section. So let’s review the various ways of making the sentence negative in German. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Judith: The most obvious way is using [nicht]. |
| Chuck: Not. |
| Judith: As in [Ich kenne ihn nicht]. |
| Chuck: I don’t know him. You could strengthen the negation by adding [gar] and [nicht]. |
| Judith: [gar nicht]. |
| Chuck: Not at all. |
| Judith: Sometimes it’s not possible to use [nicht] when you would have the combination [nicht ein] or [nicht] with noun immediately following, then you have to use [kein]. |
| Chuck: No not any. |
| Judith: For example [Ich kenne keinen guten Arzt]. |
| Chuck: I don’t know a good doctor. |
| Judith: You don’t say [Ich kenne nicht einen guten Arzt] like in English. |
| Chuck: This sounds really bad. |
| Judith: Yeah. [Ich kenne keinen guten Arzt] or [Ich kenne keinen Markus Schulz]. |
| Chuck: I don’t know any [Markus Schulz]. This is very important and it’s also very common mistake that English speakers make and if you make it, then most Germans will have a hard time understanding or if not misunderstanding completely. |
| Judith: Yeah so let’s repeat the rule. When you would have the combination [nicht ein] or [nicht] with a noun immediately following, then you have to use kein instead. |
| Chuck: And again you can strengthen the negation with [gar]. |
| Judith: [gar kein]. |
| Chuck: Any at all. |
| Judith: Then there are also words that we looked at two lessons ago where it’s like [niemand] or [nie] or also [nichts]. These replace the negation. |
| Chuck: In German, you don’t’ say I don’t know anyone. You see the equivalent of I know no one. |
| Judith: [Ich kenne niemanden]. |
| Chuck: Similarly, it’s not possible to say I don’t know anything. You say, I know nothing. |
| Judith: [Ich weiß nichts] Note that [nichts] can again be combined with [gar, gar nichts]. |
| Chuck: Nothing at all. |
| Judith: However [niemand] and [nie] cannot combine with [gar] that will sound weird. |
| Chuck: And also, it doesn’t even make that much sense. I mean, you are already saying no one or never so… |
| Judith: Well never at all, no one at all. It’s possible in some languages. |
Outro |
| Chuck: That’s true. Well that just about does it for today. Premium members don’t forget to subscribe to the premium feed. |
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| Chuck: Get the sample feed at germanpod101.com. So see you next week. |
| Judith: [Also bis nächste Woche]! |
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