Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Chuck: Chuck here. Beginner series, Season 2, Lesson #34. If You Can't Swim with the Big Fish, Stay Off the German Autobahn! Hello and welcome to the beginner series, Season 2 at germanpod101.com where we study modern German in a fun and educational format.
Judith: So brush up on the German that you started learning long ago or start learning today.
Chuck: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson. So Judith, what are we looking at today?
Judith: Today, you will learn how to express aggression in German. This conversation takes place in a car on the German interstate.
Chuck: The conversation is between Martin and Caroline, two American tourists. The speakers are friends. Therefore they will be speaking informal German and don’t forget. You can leave us a comment on this lesson.
Judith: So if you have a question
Chuck: Or some feedback.
Judith: Please leave us a comment.
Chuck: And it’s very easy to do. Just stop by germanpod101.com
Judith: Click on comments, enter your comment and name and that’s it.
Chuck: We look forward to hearing from you. All right, let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Martin: Das macht Spaß! Ich liebe die Autobahn jetzt schon!
Caroline: Solltest du nicht etwas langsamer fahren? Ich möchte schnell ankommen, aber nicht tot!
Martin: Aber in den USA kann ich nicht so richtig schnell fahren!
Caroline: Bitte fahre trotzdem nicht so schnell.
Caroline: Pass auf!
Martin: Scheiße! Was macht dieser Idiot??
Caroline: Ich glaube, er ist betrunken. Er fährt nicht geradeaus.
Martin: Er ist eine Gefahr für sich selbst und auch andere! Leute wie er sollten nicht Auto fahren. Ich könnte ihn umbringen!
Judith: Now it’s slowly.
Martin: Das macht Spaß! Ich liebe die Autobahn jetzt schon!
Caroline: Solltest du nicht etwas langsamer fahren? Ich möchte schnell ankommen, aber nicht tot!
Martin: Aber in den USA kann ich nicht so richtig schnell fahren!
Caroline: Bitte fahre trotzdem nicht so schnell.
Caroline: Pass auf!
Martin: Scheiße! Was macht dieser Idiot??
Caroline: Ich glaube, er ist betrunken. Er fährt nicht geradeaus.
Martin: Er ist eine Gefahr für sich selbst und auch andere! Leute wie er sollten nicht Auto fahren. Ich könnte ihn umbringen!
Judith: Now with the translation.
Martin: Das macht Spaß! Ich liebe die Autobahn jetzt schon!
Martin: This is fun! I love the Autobahn already now!
Caroline: Solltest du nicht etwas langsamer fahren? Ich möchte schnell ankommen, aber nicht tot!
Caroline: Shouldn't you drive a little more slowly? I want to arrive quickly, but not dead!
Martin: Aber in den USA kann ich nicht so richtig schnell fahren!
Martin: But in the USA I can't drive really fast!
Caroline: Bitte fahre trotzdem nicht so schnell.
Caroline: Please don't drive so fast anyway.
Caroline: Pass auf!
Caroline: Pay attention!
Martin: Scheiße! Was macht dieser Idiot??
Martin: Shit! What is this idiot doing?
Caroline: Ich glaube, er ist betrunken. Er fährt nicht geradeaus.
Caroline: I believe he is drunk. He doesn't drive straight.
Martin: Er ist eine Gefahr für sich selbst und auch andere! Leute wie er sollten nicht Auto fahren. Ich könnte ihn umbringen!
Martin: He is a danger to himself and to others as well! People like him shouldn't drive cars. I could kill him!
CULTURAL SECTION
Judith: All right now calm down.
Chuck: err…
Judith: Calm down. Let’s look at some traffic rules for Germany.
Chuck: To drive safely in Germany, you should know the most important differences between American and German traffic rules.
Judith: First of course, the speed limits. It’s 50 kilometers per hour in the cities and towns and 100 kilometers per hour on the highway unless otherwise marked.
Chuck: There is no speed limit on the Autobahn except where marked. Take a note of that.
Judith: Yeah but authorities recommend a speed of 130 kilometers per hour and you are not allowed to go on the Autobahn if your vehicle isn’t approved for speeds over 60 kilometers per hour.
Chuck: To convert kilometers to miles, you can drop the zero and multiply by 6. For example, 40 kilometers is 4 x 6 or roughly 24 miles. You can also just think of it as being a little more than half but you will have to be very careful too. If you want to pass other cars, it’s only allowed if you are on the left of the car that you are passing. If you are using the left most lane of the Autobahn to overtake, you should also leave it as soon as possible so that others can use it for overtaking.
Judith: Or for insane speeding.
Chuck: Yeah I guess that too.
Judith: If you are going at 180 kilometers per hour, you are probably not leaving the left lane. Anyway, the key thing is to use your left side mirror and look very carefully when entering that lane because if cars are going so fast, they can appear really quickly.
Chuck: They use the seatbelts as mandatory everywhere no matter if you are sitting on the front or the back.
Judith: And another rule is that at an intersection without traffic lights or signs regulating the traffic, vehicles coming from the right have the Right-of-way. Also if you want to turn into the street, pedestrians and bicycles have the right of way over you. You need to be really careful with this because there are lot of these situations in Germany.
Chuck: If you have an accident even if you just bump into a parked car, you have to wait where you are until the other car’s owner or a policeman comes. If you don’t do that, you may be charged with a hit and run and a much higher penalty. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
VOCAB LIST
Judith: First word [Spaß]
Chuck: Fun.
Judith: [Spaß, Spaß] This word is masculine [Der Spaß]. Next [Langsam]
Chuck: Slow or slowly.
Judith: [Langsam, langsam] Next [Ankommen]
Chuck: To arrive.
Judith: [Ankommen, ankommen] And the [An] splits off. Next [Tot]
Chuck: Dead.
Judith: [Tot, tot] Next [Richtig]
Chuck: Correct, really.
Judith: [Richtig, richtig] Next [Trotzdem]
Chuck: Despite that.
Judith: [Trotzdem, trotzdem] Next [Aufpassen]
Chuck: To pay attention, watch out, look after.
Judith: [Aufpassen, aufpassen] And the [Auf] splits off. Next [Idiot]
Chuck: Idiot.
Judith: [Idiot, Idiot, der Idiot] And the plural is [Idioten] Next [Betrunken]
Chuck: Drunk.
Judith: [Betrunken, betrunken] Next [Geradeaus]
Chuck: Straight ahead.
Judith: [Geradeaus, geradeaus] Next [Gefahr]
Chuck: Danger.
Judith: [Gefahr, Gefahr, die Gefahr] And the plural is [Gefahren]. Next [Leute]
Chuck: People.
Judith: [Leute, Leute] This word is always pleural. And the last word for today, [Umbringen]
Chuck: To kill.
Judith: [Umbringen, umbringen] The [Um] splits off.
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 word we look at is [Langsamer]
Chuck: Slower, more slowly.
Judith: Yes the er at the end of this word makes it comparative. [Langsamer] slower same as in English and the other thing I want to draw your attention to is the phrase [Ich möchte schnell ankommen, aber nicht tot] In this sentence, the second verb has been omitted as in [Aber nicht tot ankommen] You have to imagine the word [Ankommen] there. So this is the general rule. If the second part of the sentence has the same verb, then it can be implied.

Lesson focus

Chuck: The focus of this lesson are locations and directions.
Judith: The accusative which we’ve already seen for direct objects is also used when talking about the direction.
Chuck: By a position. The dative is used when talking about a location. A static place from which you are not moving. Can we have an example of that?
Judith: Of course, I have several examples actually. [Ich gehe in den Park]
Chuck: I am walking into the park.
Judith: This is accusative because it’s a direction. [Ich gehe im Park] maybe [Ich gehe im Park herum]
Chuck: I am walking maybe around in the park.
Judith: It’s this dative for a location, the park. [Ich lege das Buch auf den Tisch]
Chuck: I am putting the book on to the table.
Judith: Accusative. It’s a direction. [Das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch]
Chuck: The book is lying on the table.
Judith: Dative the location. [In die USA kann ich nicht so schnell reisen]
Chuck: I can’t travel this fast to the USA.
Judith: Accusative. [In der USA kann ich nicht so schnell reisen]
Chuck: I can’t travel as fast in the USA.
Judith: Dative.
Chuck: Don’t forget. You can also find these phrases in the grammar section of the lesson PDF if you want to stay at them for a bit.

Outro

Chuck: That just about does it for today. Premium members, use the review track to perfect your pronunciation.
Judith: Available in the premium section of the website
Chuck: The learning center and through iTunes via the premium feed.
Judith: The review track gives you vocabulary and phrases followed by a short pause so you can repeat the words aloud.
Chuck: The best way to get good fast.
Judith: Okay.
Chuck: See you next week.
Judith: [Bis nächste Woche].

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