Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Chuck: Chuck here, intermediate series season 3 lesson 24. Signing up you get a five euro discount at a gym.
Judith: Hello everyone, I’m Judith and welcome to germanpod101.
Chuck: With us you’ll learn to speak German with fun and effective lessons.
Judith: We also provide you with cultural insights and tips you won’t find in a textbook.
Chuck: In this lesson you’ll learn how to sign up for a gym in German.
Judith: This conversation takes place at a gym in Berlin.
Chuck: This conversation is between Mr. Jones and one of the gym employees.
Judith: The speakers are in a business relationship, therefore they’ll be speaking formal German.
Chuck: Let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Fitnessfrau: Hallo.
Jones: Hallo, mein Name ist Jones. Frank Jones. Ich habe mir überlegt, ich muss wieder mehr Sport treiben…
Fitnessfrau: Okay, gut.
Jones: Ja und deswegen dachte ich, ich informiere mich mal über Ihr Studio hier.
Fitnessfrau: Ja, schön. Waren Sie denn schon einmal Mitglied in einem Fitnessstudio?
Jones: Hmm, nein.
Fitnessstudio: Okay, dann erkläre ich Ihnen alles.
Jones: Super.
Fitnessfrau: Also, es funktioniert so. Als Mitglied bei uns zahlen Sie 25 Euro im Monat.
Jones: Okay.
Fitnessfrau: Sie können so oft trainieren, wie Sie möchten. Ich glaube, die meisten Mitglieder trainieren etwa zwei- bis dreimal die Woche.
Jones: Okay. Und was kann man alles benutzen?
Fitnessfrau: Also, natürlich können Sie alle Kraftgeräte benutzen und an allen Kursen teilnehmen. Zahlen Sie 5 Euro zusätzlich im Monat, können Sie auch die Sauna und das Schwimmbad benutzen.
Jones: Das hört sich gut an.
Fitnessfrau: Am besten, Sie machen erst mal eine Probestunde mit einem Trainer. Gefällt Ihnen unser Studio, schließen Sie einfach einen Vertrag für ein Jahr ab.
Jones: Und muss ich dann den Beitrag alles auf einmal zahlen?
Fitnessfrau: Nein, der Beitrag wird jeden Monat von Ihrem Konto abgebucht.
Jones: Ah super. Und wie viel kostet es im Monat?
Fitnessfrau: Äh, na entweder 25 Euro oder 30 Euro…
Jones: Ach ja, klar. Gut. Wann kann ich Probetraining machen?
Fitnessfrau: Hmm, nächsten Montag um 18 Uhr?
Jones: Ja, super!
Gym woman: Hello.
Jones: Hello, my name is Jones. Frank Jones. I thought I should do more sports once again...
Gym woman: Okay, good.
Jones: Yes and so I thought I'll get some information about your gym.
Gym woman: Yes, nice. Have you ever been member at a gym?
Jones: Hmm, no.
Gym woman: Okay, then I shall explain everything to you.
Jones: Great.
Gym woman: Well, it works like this. As a member at our gym, you pay 25 euro a month.
Jones: Okay.
Gym woman: You can train as often as you like. I believe that most members train about twice or three times a week.
Jones: Okay. And what can I use?
Gym woman: Well, of course you can use all the strengthening machines and you can participate in all courses. If you pay an additional 5 euros per month, you can also use the sauna and the swimming pool.
Jones: That sounds good.
Gym woman: It's best if you first do a sample training with a instructor. If you like our gym, sign a contract for one year.
Jones: And will I have to pay the membership fee all at once?
Gym woman: No, the fee is deducted from your bank account every month.
Jones: Ah, great. And how much is it per month?
Gym woman: Ehm, well, either 25 or 30 euros...
Jones: Ah right. Well. When can I do a sample training?
Gym woman: Hmm, next Monday at 6pm?
Jones: Yes, great!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Judith: Now we’ve been mentioning so many euros, maybe we should talk about this currency.
Chuck: Or do you mean [Euro]
Judith: Yes. That’s how we say it German [Euro]. If you have studied with an older course before you may have read about the Deutsche Mark but now, well ever since 2002 everything in Germany is in Euros. A lot of people still calculate in marche in their heads though.
Chuck: Yes, in fact some of them even call it [D Marks].
Judith: Yes.
Chuck: When you are in Europe, you have to use euros to pay. The notes have different backsides on them. Not just for each unit but also for different pieces of the same value. But you notice it is very similar to say the quarters in the States. Each state has their own quarter but you can use those quarters in any state.
Judith: Yes that’s the same case here. Every European country has their own backsides for the coins and you can still use these coins anywhere.
Chuck: That’s pretty cool, when you are travelling a bit you notice hey I’ve got a Dutch fifty cent piece and a French fifty cent piece and so on.
Judith: Yes, Italian, Spanish, there are so many countries that have the Euro now. It’s very fascinating to watch the mingling of coins.
Chuck: See if you can get some of the rare ones like the Maltese coin.It’s really good if you want to travel between different countries because well I travelled before the Euro was introduced and every time I entered a new country I had to change currencies.
Judith: Yes it was so easy to cross borders and still you change currency, you wind up with a lot of change that you cannot use because it’s too small to be converted and also you pay the exchange fees all the time.
Chuck: Yes I remember I returned some money and then they gave me about a euro seventy five back. And they were like “are you sure you don’t want to save it till you go back?” And I was like “no I’m probably not going back there”.
Judith: Yes and another thing is that when you are paying with a foreign currency, you don’t really know what a good price is because you always have to convert and there issues with that, sometimes you don’t convert and sometimes your conversion is off and paying itself will feel less real to you, it’s all just toy money you know?
Chuck: I also noticed that for example if you pay with a credit card and then you get a refund, you’ll end up paying a currency exchange twice. Once for when you pay and once for when you get the refund.
Judith: Yes, it’s really nice to have the same currency everywhere.
Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is;
VOCAB LIST
Judith: [überlegen]
Chuck: To think of or to ponder.
Judith: [überlegen]
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [deswegen]
Chuck: Because of that or therefore.
Judith: [deswegen]
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [informieren]
Chuck: To inform.
Judith: [informieren]
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [benutzen]
Chuck: to use.
Judith: [benutzen]
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [Mitglied]
Chuck: Member.
Judith: [Mitglied], this word is neutral and the plural is [Mitglieder]
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [Kraft]
Chuck: Strings or power.
Judith: [Kraft, die] and the plural is [Kräfte]
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [Gerät]
Chuck: Machine or tool.
Judith: [Gerät] this word is neutral and the plural is [Geräte]
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [Kurs]
Chuck: Course.
Judith: [Kurs, der] and the plural is [Kurse]
Chuck: Next,
Judith: [zusätzlich]
Chuck: Additional or additionally in addition.
Judith: [zusätzlich]
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [Vertrag]
Chuck: Contract.
Judith: [Vertrag] this word is masculine and the plural is [Verträge]
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [abschließen]
Chuck: To lock up or conclude.
Judith: [abschließen] the forms are [Er schließt ab, Er schloss ab, Er hat abgeschlossen]
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [Beitrag]
Chuck: Contribution or membership fee.
Judith: [Beitrag, der] and the plural is [Beiträge]
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [Konto]
Chuck: Account. Notice this is only a bank account or a user account.
Judith: [Konto, das] and note the plural it is [Konten]
Chuck: Next
Judith: [abbuchen]
Chuck: To debit or charge.
Judith: [abbuchen] and the [ab] splits off.
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Chuck: Let’s have a closer look for the uses for some of the words and phrases for this lesson.
Judith: The first phrase is [Zwei bis dreimal die Woche]
Chuck: Two up to three times a week.
Judith: Yes notice we have combined the [die Woche, dreimal die Woche] three times a week. In German you use the definite article. Then another thing is the phrase [Einen Vertrag abschließen]
Chuck: Literally to lock up with a contract.
Judith: Yes to conclude a contract, sign a contract.
Chuck: Yes be very careful when anyone or any institution has the word [Vertrag] in it.
Judith: Yes, it usually comes combined with really difficult language. They try not to make you understand.
Chuck: Yes it once cost me one hundred and fifty euros for nothing so be very careful if you hear that word. And in no circumstance ever pronounce it [Vertrag].
Judith: Ouch! Don’t do that. Okay one more point. We had the phrase [Alles auf einmal]
Chuck: All at once.
Judith: Yes, it’s not this phrase. [Alles auf einmal]

Lesson focus

Chuck: Today we’ll look at the comparatively easy part of German grammar, shorten the sub-clauses.
Judith: This means sub-clauses where you leave out the conjunction that is the introductory word.
Chuck: It is possible to create such sub-clauses in English. For example you can shorten, I think that I must do more sport to “I think I must do more sport” leaving out the that. You can do exactly the same in German but only with spoken German. You shouldn’t write like that.
Judith: Yes, anyway, the equivalent German sentences are [Ich denke, dass ich mehr Sport treiben muss] and [Ich muss mehr Sport treiben]
Chuck: Note that the word order for the second part of this sentence is like the word order of the main clause now. The verb does not go to the end of the sentence here.
Judith: It’s essentially like turning into two separate sentences. The first one being [Ich denke] and the second one being [Ich muss mehr Sport treiben]. This paradigm works for all verbs of consciousness. For example, thinking, believing, saying, asking.
Chuck: In English you can also shorten relative clauses. For example you can say, the man walking down the street instead of the man who is walking down the street dropping the who. This is not possible in German.
Judith: However, one thing that you can do in German that you can’t do in English is to drop the [wenn]. If you are starting a sentence with [wenn] again in spoken German only.
Chuck: Could you give me an example of that? I’m a bit confused.
Judith: Yes we had it twice in the dialog. Once the woman at the gym said “[Gefällt Ihnen unser Studio, schließen Sie einfach einen Vertrag für ein Jahr ab.]”
Chuck: But how would that be in normal German?
Judith: Well, she should have said “[Wenn Ihnen unser Studio gefällt, schließen Sie einfach einen Vertrag für ein Jahr ab].”
Chuck: Ah so she did speak wrong.
Judith: No it’s just colloquial. [Gefällt Ihnen unser Studio? Wenn Ihnen unser Studio gefällt]. it’s just a shorter way.
Chuck: Ah, and here the verb has to move to the front to draw attention to the shorter [wenn]. Can you all spot the other sentence in the dialogue where all this happened?
Judith: That’s a task for you.

Outro

Chuck: Well, that just about does it for today. Stop by germanpod101.com and pick up the lesson notes.
Judith: It has the conversation transcript, vocabularies, sample sentences, grammar explanations and a cultural insights section.
Chuck: Singing in German,
Judith: Really helps you remember faster.
Chuck: Don’t take our word for it. Please have a look for yourself.
Judith: And let us know what you think.
Chuck: Okay see you next week.
Judith: [Bis nächste Woche]!

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