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Learn how to flirt in German with GermanPod101.com! This lesson is the beginning of a new story arc set in Düsseldorf, Germany, and you are going to learn a vital skill: how to start a conversation with random people (of the opposite sex) in Germany, Austria, Switzerland or another German-speaking country. Be sure to get a subscription so that you can practise these phrases till they come naturally - you don’t want to be tongue-tied in this situation.

Grammar: | Function: | Topic: , | Politeness Level:


This entry was posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 6:43 pm and is filed under Newbie Season 1 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

28 Responses to “Newbie lesson #3 - Düsseldorf Arc - How it all began”

GermanPod101.com says:

I apologize for the delay. I hope our studio trouble is over now so that we can pick up speed. Now, can you think of other things you can say to start a conversation with somebody you don’t know? I will translate them to German for you.

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Alec says:

Thank you for getting this lesson up and best of luck sorting your studio!

Danke schön!

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Li says:

Thanks for the new lesson, and good luck with the studio.

To start a conversation with someone I don’t know… I always have telephone converstion (in English) with the customers in Germany, but I’ve never seen them in person. When I’m visiting them in the near future, I’d like to say “It is so nice to see you in person”.

Also, how to say “with best regards” in German when writing an email?

Danke,
Li

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Jacqueline says:

Danke für die sehr gute lektion ! :grin:

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petiteclaire says:

Ich freue mich, diese neue Lektion zu sehen ! Hoffentlich werden nächste Woche viel mehr Lektionen freigegeben.

When meeting people, how would you say “it’s been such a long time ?”

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Anne says:

@ Li:
Like always there are many ways to say what you want to know.
On way would be:
“Es ist schön sie endlich mal persönlich zu treffen.”
(It’s nice to finally meet you in person.)
It’s rather formal, because of the “Sie” and as far as I know a version with “du” is rather uncommon. If you got to know that person better before hand you could say:
“Endlich treffen wir uns mal.” (Finally we meet each other. - just that the German version doesn’t sound as stiff as this English translation)
or
“Endlich sehen wir uns mal.” (Finally we see each other - again not as stiff as the translation) That’s really casual and should be delivered as such. But it’s okay if you know the person beforehand. Note that these to versions say “seeing each other”
If you want to say it more along the line of “I see you at last” it would be
“Endlich sehe ich dich mal.” This is really casual and you should say it with a grin and a light note, cause if you deliver it to stern, it might sound like an accusion, like something a boss might say, when he has not seen a certain person around for days…
As for the “best regards”. If it is to a superior I would use
“Hochachtungsvoll, *your name*.”
If it is more toward a costumer you usually find
“Mit freundlichen Grüßen, *your name or name of the company*”
And if you write to a friend you can use a simple
“Grüße, *your name*” or “Bis dann, *your name*”
It’s kinda like a line. The first one says that you are really thinking high of the person you write to and it is really formal. The second on literaly means “to send kind greatings along” or something along that line. If you ever stumble upon MfG that will be the short version of that, sometimes used in circulars or something.
And the last one is a bit tricky. A friend of mine regularly uses the first form with “Grüße”. It does sound a tad choppy, but it suits him. And be sure to not miss the comma, otherwise it could be read as a request to great someone instead of greatings comming from you. And the last one is more like “Till than”. You can drop your name in that case, but it’s always better to add it. A lot of people have strange eMail addresses and sometimes people might not be sure who send the eMail….

@ petiteclaire:
“It’s been a long time” translate to “es ist lange her.” or if you want to emphasize that it was a really long time “es ist wirklich lange her”. However: you might find that you want to clarify what has last happened such a long time ago. So you likely want to say: “Es ist lange her, dass wir uns das letzte mal gesehen haben.”
Which translates to: “It’s been a long time, that we last meet each other.” Or with emphasize on the time. “Es ist wirklich lange her, dass wir uns das letzte mal gesehen haben.”

I hope I could help. ^_^;;

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João Paulo says:

Thank you for the lesson.

Looking forward for the next ones!!! :cool:

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_petiteclaire_ says:

Will there be lesson(s) this week too ? Or are you on a once-every-other-week schedule at the moment ?
In case you are simply having problems with your studio, I hope this clears soon !

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GermanPod101 says:

The problem is that the new studios in Berlin didn’t record things in the sound quality we expect. However, one of our remote sound engineers is now on it, so that hopefully we can make good recordings this week and release them immediately. Then we can present you with a steady stream of at least two lessons every week because lesson-writing has of course continued despite the recording problems. I am very sorry for the inconvenience. Subscribers will of course get additional time added to their account.

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Li says:

Danke schön, Anne
Thanks for your detailed explaination, that was very kind of you.

Not sure when I will be seeing our German friends, but I’m definately going to add a few German in my future emails. :smile:

Thanks again,
Li

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DaoistCheetah says:

I am a classical singer by profession. I’m learning German get deeper into the texts I sing. Also Neue Musik is more popular in Germany than it is here in the US. So there are more possibilities to sing this music in Germany.

A lesson dealing with contemporary classical or avant-garde music or opera in Germany would be great! :grin:

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kate says:

i really like the 3 time repetition on the new words, and it would be nice to see more repetition in the full sentences: instead of only speaking the new sentence once in german and once translated in english, it would be useful for newbies to hear the sentence in german, then english, then german and english again; then one more time in german and english… this is how chinesepod.com has their lessons and it makes the new sentences easier to remember.

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Lauren says:

I am American, and not particularly old, but I was raised with the same rules as you describe in German culture. Women are served first, followed by older males, and finished with younger males. On trains and buses, women should be allowed to sit first. I’m sad that this is not always the case in some places.

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sam says:

sehr gut!
im 13 and just started german in school. about two years ago when i did french i didnt listen much because i never realy saw the point of a language i dont like and to this date i know about 10 french words ^^. but i like german so im using these to get an upper hand in the lessons. there awsome!

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Peter says:

I’m British and so I don’t speak to anyone until I have been formally intrdouced. So I don’t know anything I could say to start a conversation with somebody I don’t know.

Mind you, after having studied this lesson, I could pretend to be German and say, “Kommen Sie oft hierhin?”

Then I could say, “What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?” Well, I could if you were to translate it into German for me.

Danke.

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GermanPod101.com says:

Hello Peter,

to request introductions, you can ask a common acquaintance “Können Sie uns bitte vorstellen?” (Can you please introduce us?). Or if you want to just hint at that step, say “Darf ich mich vorstellen? Ich bin…” (May I introduce myself? I am…).

Now for the phrase you requested: “What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?” would be “Was macht ein nettes Mädchen wie du an einem Ort wie diesem?”. “nettes” means “nice” in the sense of “agreeable” or “friendly”, but you might want to opt for “schönes” (pretty) instead.

Good luck! ;-)

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MEVOWO says:

Ohhh If only I had listened to this yesterday!! I made the horrible hand shake mistake!! Thank you for clearing this up, I now know what that was all about. Danka!

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Amanda says:

Thanks for the lessons!

I have two questions. In one of the newbie lessons you said that German can be read phonetically. Where can I find an explanation of German phonetics?

Also, I have a PC laptop that runs Windows XP. What do I need to do to type the letters that aren’t in English?

Danke!!

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Judith says:

To type the letters, have a look at the forum topic http://www.germanpod101.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28 , where this question also came up.

As for German phonetics, there’s a basic list of the letters’ phonetic values at http://www.omniglot.com/writing/german.htm and for more information see Wikipedia’s article on German phonology. And of course don’t miss our Accent Improvement Series, which deals with all the obstacles to a good German accent, one by one.

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Granty says:

:wink:
i love the german pod, i am just getting started with german and i really enjoy it. i should be visiting germany in the near future and i am looking foward to the beer and culture!

Danke Germanpod!!

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Rob says:

Hi,

I am enjoying the lessons and I especially like the additional information you provide with the basic dialogue material.
I am having a problem with my word bank and have sent a separate email on this topic. Hopefully you can help me with that, as I like the idea of a personal word bank.
Keep up the good work. I am studying German so that I can converse with my wife’s relatives when we visit Austria. Our next visit is 2011, so I have some time yet to make good progress.
Cheers,
Rob

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Issac says:

Hello everyone,

I’m currently learning Spanish at my university and I enjoy it. The German culture is a part of who I am and after visiting my great grandmother in Munich this summer German is all I can think about. I really want to be conversationally fluent someday and I’m enjoying the lessons thus far.

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Sharon says:

Thanks for the lessons. I was sort of wondering how to ask “What kind of music do you listen to?” in German. I simply MUST know this if I’m to befriend someone. I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with knowing this, though… :???:

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Steve says:

I’m a little bit confused.
They say “Ich hiesse Lena Wagner” and “Ich hiesse Chuck Smith” but then later say “duzen wir uns doch.” Wouldn’t calling yourself “Lena Wagner” instead of “Frau Wagner” be considered informal anyway?

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marc says:

ummm, im sorry for this stupid question but when my trial ends do i have to pay automatically or is some stuff just going to be locked from me?

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Joel says:

I have always been intrested in my german heratige. I am the 2nd generation of a German immagrant, of which none of the language or culture was passed on. After becoming disabled 6 years ago, I am now finding myself wanting to start the process of learning. Mostly because I have a lot of time on my hands.

I am finding the course a bit advanced, so its taking me a little more time in comprehening the information, but, I am doing it!

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Monica says:

I plan to return to Germany this summer after a visit I had 20 years ago. I want to learn German this time and take family and friends. I really like the flirting Dusseldorf lesson. I think Germans are very disciplined and the men are really manly. I just began the Newbie series, and I love it. I hope my trip is a speaking success.

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cyrus says:

your lessons are very useful but you should slow down when you talk in german

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