Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Chuck: Chuck here. Upper intermediate, season 1, Lesson 3. Everyone’s lighter in Germany. Hello and welcome to germanpod101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn German.
Judith: I am Judith and thanks again for being here with us for this upper intermediate, season 1 lesson.
Chuck: In this lesson, you will learn how to talk to a fitness trainer in German.
Judith: This conversation takes place at a gym.
Chuck: The conversation is between Frank Jones and the fitness trainer.
Judith: The speakers are in a business relationship. Therefore they will be speaking formal German.
Chuck: Let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Jones: Hallo.
Fitness: Hallo.
Jones: Ich habe heute ein Probetraining.
Fitness: Ah okay. … Sind Sie Herr Brecht?
Jones: Nein, ich heiße Jones, Frank Jones.
Fitness: Ah, Herr Jones. Mein Name ist Sabine Schiller. Ich bin heute Ihre Trainerin.
Jones: Ah, schön. Freut mich.
Fitness: Gut. Dann ziehen Sie sich doch erst mal um. Dort vorn sind die Umkleidekabinen. Wenn Sie fertig sind, kommen Sie einfach wieder her. Ich warte hier auf Sie.
Jones: In Ordnung.
...
Jones: So, da bin ich.
Fitness: Super. Kommen Sie mit. Wenn Sie nichts dagegen haben, werden wir Sie jetzt erst einmal wiegen und Ihre Größe messen.
Jones: Oh, okay.
Fitness: … Okaaay… Sie sind 1 Meter 87 groß und wiegen 91 Kilogramm…
Jones: Hmm ist das gut?
Fitness: Na ja… 85kg wären besser…. Aber so schlimm sind 91kg nicht.
Jones: Hmm, dann sollte ich vielleicht ein paar Kilo abnehmen….
Fitness: Ja, das wäre nicht schlecht. Wenn Sie möchten, gebe ich Ihnen ein paar Tipps.
Jones: Ja, gerne…
Fitness: Gut. Dann würde ich sagen, fangen wir mit dem Training an!
...
Jones: Puuh, das war anstrengend!
Fitness: Das soll es ja auch sein! Aber ich hoffe, es hat Ihnen trotzdem Spaß gemacht?
Jones: Ja, auf jeden Fall.
Fitness: Freut mich. Wenn Sie möchten, können wir dann gleich über eine Mitgliedschaft sprechen. Aber am besten ziehen Sie sich erst mal um….
Jones: Gut, ich komme dann zur Rezeption, wenn ich fertig bin.
Fitness: Ja, bis gleich….
Jones: Hello.
Fitness: Hello.
Jones: I have a trial workout today.
Fitness: Ah okay. ... Are you Mr Brecht?
Jones: No, my name is Jones, Frank Jones.
Fitness: Ah, Mr Jones. My name is Sabine Schiller. I am your trainer today.
Jones: Ah, nice. Pleased [to meet you].
Fitness: Good. Then start by changing. The changing rooms are over there. When you're ready, just come back here. I shall wait here for you.
Jones: Okay.
...
Jones: So, there I am.
Fitness: Great. Come with me. If you don't mind, we shall weigh you first and measure your height.
Jones: Oh, okay.
Fitness: ... Okaaay... You are 1.87 metres tall and weigh 91 kilograms...
Jones: Hmm is that good?
Fitness: Well... 85kg would be better... But 91kg aren't that bad.
Jones: Hmm, then I should maybe lose a few kilos...
Fitness: Yes, that wouldn't be bad. If you want, I shall give you a few tips.
Jones: Yes, I'd like that...
Fitness: Good. Then I'd say we shall start with the workout!
...
Jones: Pooh, that was exhausting!
Fitness: It should be like that! But I hope that you enjoyed it anyway?
Jones: Yes, definitely.
Fitness: I'm glad. If you want, we can then talk about a membership. But it would be best if you first changed...
Jones: Good, I shall come to the reception when I'm done.
Fitness: Yes, see you soon...
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Judith: Okay with all this talk about kilograms and stuff, how about we talk about the metric system.
Chuck: Sounds good. Germany has been using the metric system for over 200 years. As a result, people are uniquely unfamiliar with any other system. Some don’t even know there is say another way to measure weight other than with grams and kilograms.
Judith: Yeah. People sometimes refer to [Pfund].
Chuck: That means pound, right?
Judith: Yeah but it’s not the pound that you are thinking of, what that means is 500 grams, half a kilogram.
Chuck: Okay, so for weight, Germans use grams and kilograms.
Judith: And for temperatures, everyone thinks in Celsius and they don’t even say it. They just say like [30 Grad] or [30] and they don’t say [30 Grad Celcius]. It’s just normal.
Chuck: Today it’s 35 degrees. It’s really hot.
Judith: Yes it is. Be careful when Germans tell you temperature.
Chuck: For distances, the most common measurements are centimeters, meters or kilometers.
Judith: Yeah and by the same token, areas are measured in square meters or square kilometers.
Chuck: And remember that speed, we measured in kilometers per hour if you are on the interstate for example.
Judith: And volumes are measured in cubic meters. Actually they are also measured in liters but the liter is just 1000th part of cubic meter. So a cubic decimeter really. The liter replaces gallons and also ounces.
Chuck: Remember that when you are in Germany, you want to see how many Euros it is per liter. That’s a really fun calculation where you could just [???] Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
VOCAB LIST
Judith: The first word is [sich umziehen].
Chuck: To change clothes.
Judith: [sich umziehen]. And the forms are [Er zieht sich um, Er zog sich um, Er hat sich umgezogen].
Chuck: Next
Judith: [Umkleide] or [Umkleidekabine].
Chuck: Changing room.
Judith: [Umkleide, die] This word is feminine and the plural is [Umkleiden].
Chuck: Next
Judith: [Kabine].
Chuck: Cabin.
Judith: [Kabine]. This word is feminine and the plural is [Kabinen].
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [dagegen].
Chuck: Against it or against that.
Judith: [wiegen].
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [wiegen].
Chuck: To weigh.
Judith: [wiegen]. The forms are [Er wiegt, Er wog, Er hat gewogen].
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [Kilo, Kilogramm].
Chuck: Kilogram.
Judith: [Kilo, das, Kilogramm, das] The plural is kilos.
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [messen].
Chuck: To measure.
Judith: [messen]. This is a vowel changing verb. So [Er misst, Er maß, Er hat gemessen].
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [abnehmen].
Chuck: To decrease or lose weight.
Judith: [abnehmen]. Again a vowel changing verb [Er nimmt ab, Er nahm ab, Er hat abgenommen].
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [Auf jeden Fall].
Chuck: Anyway or definitely.
Judith: [Auf jeden Fall].
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [Rezeption].
Chuck: Reception.
Judith: [Rezeption, die] And the plural is [Rezeptionen].
Chuck: Next.
Judith: [Ordnung].
Chuck: Order.
Judith: [Ordnung, die].
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 item is [sich umziehen].
Chuck: To change clothes that is to take off your current clothes and put on others.
Judith: However keep in mind that without the [sich, umziehen] means to relocate, to move to a different location, to a different home. Then I wanted to talk about [auf jeden Fall].
Chuck: Anyway or definitely.
Judith: The opposite is [auf keinen Fall].
Chuck: No way, definitely not.
Judith: And there is [in Ordnung].
Chuck: In order.
Judith: Some people use this expression instead of okay.

Lesson focus

Chuck: The focus of this lesson is the conditional sentence type 1.
Judith: In this and the following few lessons, we shall have a closer look at conditional sentences. In German just like in English, there are three types of conditional sentences. They are classified according to the likelihood that the condition will be met.
Chuck: If it’s pretty likely that the condition will be met, you need type 1. This type is pretty much like a normal sentence. Here you may use in the present tense or the future tense even though the things haven’t taken place yet and may never happen. Can you give us some examples from the dialogue?
Judith: Of course, we saw [Wenn Sie nichts dagegen haben, werden wir Sie jetzt erst einmal wiegen und Ihre Größe messen]. So we have this [werden wir Sie wiegen] but actually the present tense would work too [wiegen wir Sie jetzt] just is fine. And then we saw [wenn sie möchten, gebe ich Ihnen ein paar Tipps]. Here we saw the present tense but again the future would be possible too [werde ich Ihnen ein paar Tipps geben] why not.
Chuck: Are there any examples where the future tense wouldn’t work?
Judith: Yeah for example [wenn Sie möchten, können wir dann gleich über eine Mitgliedschaft sprechen]. Here it would sound weird because of the [können, werden wir dann gleich über eine Mitgliedschaft sprechen können] that’s the future of [können] is always a bit weird.
Chuck: Note however that the German word [wenn] can also mean when for sentences that are not conditions. We saw this in the dialogue as well. Didn’t we?
Judith: Yes. [Wenn Sie fertig sind, kommen Sie einfach wieder her] or [Ich komme dann zur Rezeption, wenn ich fertig bin]. The thing is this is not a condition. Of course he will be done changing at some point.

Outro

Chuck: That just about does it for today. Okay some of our listeners already know about the most powerful tool in germanpod101.com
Judith: Line by line audio.
Chuck: The perfect tool for rapidly improving listening comprehension.
Judith: By listening to lines of the conversation again and again.
Chuck: Listen until every word and syllable becomes clear.
Judith: Listen to the dialogue in bite size sentences.
Chuck: And understand it all.
Judith: Try the line by line audio at germanpod101.com.
Chuck: So see you next week.
Judith: [Also bis nächste Woche]!

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