Dialogue

Vocabulary

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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 14 - Apologizing When You Forget Something. John Here.
Jennifer: Guten Tag! I'm Jennifer.
John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to apologize for something you forgot to do. The conversation takes place in the office.
Jennifer: It's between Linda Müller and Stefan Herzog.
John: The speakers are colleagues, therefore, they will speak informal German. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Linda Müller: Hast du das Datenmaterial mitgebracht?
Stefan Herzog: Das Datenmaterial...?
Linda Müller: Ja, die über die Werbekampagne.
Stefan Herzog: ...Oh, Verzeihung! Ich habe es völlig vergessen sie auszudrucken.
Linda Müller: Das ist problematisch...
Stefan Herzog: Ich könnte sie in etwa einer Stunde bereit haben.
John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Linda Müller: Hast du das Datenmaterial mitgebracht?
Stefan Herzog: Das Datenmaterial...?
Linda Müller: Ja, die über die Werbekampagne.
Stefan Herzog: ...Oh, Verzeihung! Ich habe es völlig vergessen sie auszudrucken.
Linda Müller: Das ist problematisch...
Stefan Herzog: Ich könnte sie in etwa einer Stunde bereit haben.
John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Linda Müller: Did you bring the data?
Stefan Herzog: The data...?
Linda Müller: Yes, about the advertising campaign.
Stefan Herzog: ...oh, I'm sorry! I completely forgot to print it out!
Linda Müller: That's a problem...
Stefan Herzog: I can have it ready in an hour!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
John: It sounds like Linda forgot something important!
Jennifer: Yeah, she said that she could have it ready in an hour. I hope that will be good enough!
John: So the data is for an advertising campaign. What’s advertising like in Germany?
Jennifer: I have a question for you, John. Can you guess how much German companies spent on advertising last year?
John: Oh wow, I have no idea. Give me a hint.
Jennifer: Okay, how many billions of Euros did they spend?
John: Billions? Um, 12 billion?
Jennifer: Higher.
John: 20 billion?
Jennifer: Actually, it was 29.2 billion Euros in total. German companies invested 0.3 billion in advertising on mobile devices.
John: I’m sure that number will just keep increasing.
Jennifer: Right!
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: mitbringen [natural native speed]
John: to bring along
Jennifer: mitbringen[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jennifer: mitbringen [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Jennifer: Datenmaterial [natural native speed]
John: data
Jennifer: Datenmaterial[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jennifer: Datenmaterial [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Jennifer: Werbekampagne [natural native speed]
John: advertising campaign
Jennifer: Werbekampagne[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jennifer: Werbekampagne [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Jennifer: Verzeihung [natural native speed]
John: apology
Jennifer: Verzeihung[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jennifer: Verzeihung [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Jennifer: problematisch [natural native speed]
John: problematic
Jennifer: problematisch[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jennifer: problematisch [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Jennifer: etwa [natural native speed]
John: approximately, surely not (in questions)
Jennifer: etwa[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jennifer: etwa [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Jennifer: Stunde [natural native speed]
John: hour
Jennifer: Stunde[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jennifer: Stunde [natural native speed]
John: And last...
Jennifer: bereit haben [natural native speed]
John: to have ready
Jennifer: bereit haben[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jennifer: bereit haben [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
John: Let's have a closer look at one of the words from this lesson. The word is...
Jennifer: problematisch
John: Meaning "problematic." Tell us about this word, Jennifer.
Jennifer: This comes from the noun das Problem.
John: Which means, “the problem.”
Jennifer: There are several adjectives that end with tisch.
John: Can you give us an example or two?
Jennifer: Romantisch and gigantisch.
John: “Romantic” and “gigantic,” respectively. Can you give us an example using “problematic?”
Jennifer: Sure. For example, you can say, Das könnte problematisch werden.
John: ...which means "That can be problematic."
John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

John: In this lesson, you'll learn about apologizing for something you forgot to do. Everybody forgets something eventually, especially if you’re really busy and have several things to take care of.
Jennifer: Yes, the important thing is how you deal with it.
John: What should you do if you forget something while working for a German business?
Jennifer: You may need to excuse yourself. You can use Verzeihung and Entschuldigen Sie in a formal situation. Entschuldigung and Entschuldige are good in an informal situation.
John: Are there any differences between those words?
Jennifer: You must use Entschuldigt if you are talking to more than one person.
John: Okay. So next, let’s look at the verb “to forget.”
Jennifer: Yes, let’s not forget about that!
John: I’d rather forget that joke...
Jennifer: Sorry! In German, “to forget” is vergessen. It’s an irregular verb.
John: We need to say “I have forgotten…” so we will use it in the past perfect tense.
Jennifer: Ich habe vergessen.
John: How do we say “you have forgotten?”
Jennifer: Du hast vergessen.
John: Or “she has forgotten?”
Jennifer: Sie hat vergessen.
John: In the dialogue, after Linda explained what had happened, she said she’d fix the problem in an hour.
Jennifer: If you make a mistake, people will expect you to fix it in a professional way.
John: If you’re lucky, you’ll probably also find that your colleagues will try to help you. What are some phrases we can use to show that we're trying to fix it?
Jennifer: If the situation is not too complicated, you can say Ich werde so schnell wie mögliche eine Lösung finden.
John: “I’ll find a solution right away.” If you also know when you can have the situation fixed, you should add that information as well.
Jennifer: In the dialogue we saw this in Ich könnte sie in etwa einer Stunde bereit haben
John: which means “I can have it ready in an hour.”
Jennifer: If the situation is more complicated, you’d better say: Ich werde mich so schnell wie möglich darum kümmern.
John: “I’ll try to find a solution right away.” Is there anything to avoid?
Jennifer: Try not to be vague, so don’t use vielleicht.
John: That means “maybe.”

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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