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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to GermanPod101.com. This is Business German for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 11 - Asking for Information About German Office Procedures. John Here.
Jennifer: Guten Tag! I'm Jennifer.
John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask for basic office rules. The conversation takes place in the office.
Jennifer: It's between Linda Müller and Stefan Herzog.
John: The speakers are co-workers, therefore, they will speak informal German. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Linda Müller: Wohin soll ich die Rechnung schicken?
Stefan Herzog: Bitte schicke sie an die Buchhaltung.
Linda Müller: Verwendest du das Abrechnungssystem zum Monatsende?
Stefan Herzog: Ja.
Linda Müller: Danke für die Info.
John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Linda Müller: Wohin soll ich die Rechnung schicken?
Stefan Herzog: Bitte schicke sie an die Buchhaltung.
Linda Müller: Verwendest du das Abrechnungssystem zum Monatsende?
Stefan Herzog: Ja.
Linda Müller: Danke für die Info.
John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Linda Müller: Where should I send the invoice?
Stefan Herzog: Please send it to the accounting office.
Linda Müller: Do you use the month-end payment system?
Stefan Herzog: Yes.
Linda Müller: Thank you for the information.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
John: Linda asked about some important information there.
Jennifer: Yes, knowing how to get paid is vital.
John: Maybe the most important! As she needs to send an invoice, I guess she isn’t working directly for the company.
Jennifer: No, it sounds like she is a Freiberuflerin.
John: Oh, a “freelancer.”
Jennifer: That’s right. In the last few years, German companies have begun to avoid hiring people as direct employees.
John: It can be better sometimes. You can hire people project by project, and it’s especially helpful if the project needs a specialist or a special skill set.
Jennifer: And that’s where Freiberufler/in come in.
John: How do you work as a freelancer in Germany? Is there anything special that you need or should do?
Jennifer: You need an Umsatzsteuernummer.
John: What’s that?
Jennifer: It’s a VAT number that allows the state to monitor the finances of this type of worker.
John: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is...
Jennifer: Rechnung [natural native speed]
John: invoice
Jennifer: Rechnung[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jennifer: Rechnung [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Jennifer: Buchhaltung [natural native speed]
John: accounting office
Jennifer: Buchhaltung[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jennifer: Buchhaltung [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Jennifer: Abrechnungssystem [natural native speed]
John: billing system
Jennifer: Abrechnungssystem[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jennifer: Abrechnungssystem [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Jennifer: Info [natural native speed]
John: information
Jennifer: Info[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jennifer: Info [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Jennifer: Danke [natural native speed]
John: thank you
Jennifer: Danke[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jennifer: Danke [natural native speed]
John: And last...
Jennifer: für [natural native speed]
John: for
Jennifer: für[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jennifer: für [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is...
Jennifer: die Rechnung schicken
John: meaning "to send the bill." What can you tell us about this phrase?
Jennifer: Die Rechnung is "the bill."
John: So the other word is the verb “to send?”
Jennifer: We can use schicken with a noun to say that we’re sending something.
John: Getting back to the bill, how would we say that we want to pay a bill by credit card?
Jennifer: Ich zahle per Rechnung.
John: Can you give us an example using the original phrase?
Jennifer: Sure. For example, you can say, Ich schicke eine Rechnung.
John: ...which means "I send an invoice."
John: Okay, what's the next word?
Jennifer: die Buchhaltung
John: meaning "the accounting." What can you tell us about this word?
Jennifer: This word has two nouns buch and haltung.
John: They are literally “book” and “keeping” respectively.
Jennifer: So, it refers to the accounting department in a company.
John: Are there any other handy phrases for part of a company that we should know?
Jennifer: How about lager, which is “warehouse.” And Verwaltung der Human Resources.
John: That’s “administration of Human Resources.” Can you give us another example using the word for the accounting?
Jennifer: Sure. For example, you can say, Die Buchhaltung kümmert sich um Finanzen.
John: .. which means "The accounting department deals with finances."
John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

John: In this lesson, you'll learn about how to ask for basic office rules. Whether you’re a freelancer like Linda or full staff, you’ll probably need to ask a question at some point.
Jennifer: Yes, and you can do that with question words.
John: These go at the front of sentence, and are followed by a verb and a complement. Let’s go through a few question words. First, “what?”
Jennifer: In German, that is was.
John: How about “when” and “where?”
Jennifer: “When” is wann. “Where” has two versions: wo, and woher which means “where from.”
John: Let’s hear some sentences. Remember what Jennifer said earlier: The question word is the first word in the sentence.
Jennifer: Warum hat sie nicht angerufen?
John: “Why did she not call?”
Jennifer: Woher kommt sie?
John: “Where is she from?”
Jennifer: Note how the question words keep the verb as the second idea of the sentence. The subject comes after.
John: It inverts the subject and the verb, as you would in a question that doesn’t include any of these w- question words.
Jennifer: An important verb is sollen.
John: It means "to have to," “should,” or "must." How is it conjugated in a sentence?
Jennifer: It should be conjugated according to the subject. Then, it’s followed by an action in the infinitive form.
John: We saw an example of this in the conversation.
Jennifer: Yes. Wohin soll ich die Rechnung schicken?
John: Meaning “Where should I send the invoice?”
Jennifer: soll ich is “I should,” inverted for a question sentence.
John: Let’s hear some more examples.
Jennifer: Wohin soll ich die Rechnung archivieren?
John: “Where should I file the invoices?”
Jennifer: Wie soll der Kunde die Rechnung beschriften?
John: “How should the customer fill in the invoice?”

Outro

John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Jennifer: Auf Wiedersehen!

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