Learn how to ask someone to switch to another language
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to GermanPod101.com. This is Business German for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 15 - Saying You Can't Speak the Language. John Here. |
| Jennifer: Guten Tag! I'm Jennifer. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask someone to speak another language. The conversation takes place on the phone. |
| Jennifer: It's between Linda Müller and a receptionist. |
| John: The speakers are colleagues, therefore, they will speak informal German. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Rezeptionist: Guten Morgen, sie sprechen mit der Euro Bank. |
| Linda Müller: Hallo, ich bin Linda Müller von der Firma ABC. |
| Rezeptionist: Wie kann ich Ihnen helfen? |
| Linda Müller: Ah...Verzeihung, ich spreche kaum Deutsch, können wir auf Englisch weitersprechen? |
| Rezeptionist: Natürlich, kein Problem. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Rezeptionist: Guten Morgen, sie sprechen mit der Euro Bank. |
| Linda Müller: Hallo, ich bin Linda Müller von der Firma ABC. |
| Rezeptionist: Wie kann ich Ihnen helfen? |
| Linda Müller: Ah...Verzeihung, ich spreche kaum Deutsch, können wir auf Englisch weitersprechen? |
| Rezeptionist: Natürlich, kein Problem. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Receptionist: Good morning, this is Euro Bank. |
| Linda Müller: Hello, this is Linda Müller from ABC. |
| Receptionist: How can I help you? |
| Linda Müller: Ah ... I'm sorry, I don't know German very well, can we speak in English? |
| Receptionist: Of course, no problem. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: That was very kind of the receptionist to be willing to switch to English for Linda. |
| Jennifer: It was, wasn’t it? |
| John: I guess the receptionist can speak pretty good English. |
| Jennifer: I guess so! |
| John: Is that typical? Can the average German speak English well? |
| Jennifer: We study English from elementary school. And at university level, some literature will be given in English. |
| John: Oh, so I suppose that most German people can speak English? |
| Jennifer: It all depends on the level of education. The average German can at least speak basic English, though. |
| John: Does that change in the big cities? |
| Jennifer: I think that in places like Berlin or Frankfurt, most people can understand English well. |
| John: I heard that English is the second most spoken language in Berlin. |
| Jennifer: That’s right. You might even find some restaurants where only English is spoken. |
| 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: kann [natural native speed] |
| John: can |
| Jennifer: kann[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: kann [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: sprechen [natural native speed] |
| John: to speak |
| Jennifer: sprechen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: sprechen [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: helfen [natural native speed] |
| John: to help |
| Jennifer: helfen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: helfen [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: Verzeihung [natural native speed] |
| John: the apology |
| Jennifer: Verzeihung[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Verzeihung [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: kaum [natural native speed] |
| John: hardly |
| Jennifer: kaum[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: kaum [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: weitersprechen [natural native speed] |
| John: to keep talking |
| Jennifer: weitersprechen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: weitersprechen [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: natürlich [natural native speed] |
| John: of course, natural, naturally |
| Jennifer: natürlich[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: natürlich [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Jennifer: Kein Problem. [natural native speed] |
| John: No problem. |
| Jennifer: Kein Problem.[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Kein Problem. [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: Verzeihung |
| John: meaning "Pardon me." What can you tell us about this word? |
| Jennifer: This is related to the feminine noun die Verzeihung, meaning "the apology." |
| John: It’s used to ask someone to forgive your mistake or misbehavior. |
| Jennifer: There is also das Verzeihen, which literally means “the forgive.” |
| John: This is for the act of forgiving someone. Can you give us another example using “Pardon me?” |
| Jennifer: Sure. For example, you can say, Ich bitte um Verzeihung. |
| John: ...which means "I beg your pardon." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Jennifer: Natürlich, kein Problem. |
| John: meaning "Of course, no problem." What can you tell us about this phrase? |
| Jennifer: This is a friendly expression. |
| John: Can you break it down for us? |
| Jennifer: First is natürlich. |
| John: This means “naturally.” Next is... |
| Jennifer: kein Problem, meaning "no problem." |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Jennifer: Sure. I’ll give you a short dialogue. Kann ich das ausleihen? Natürlich, kein Problem. |
| John: "Can I borrow this? Of course, no problem." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about how to ask someone to speak another language. First, how do we say that we don’t speak German very well? |
| Jennifer: Ich spreche nicht so gut Deutsch. |
| John: Are there other ways to say this? |
| Jennifer: You can also say Mein Deutsch ist schlecht. |
| John: “My German is bad.” How about if your German is actually good and you want to say that? |
| Jennifer: The expression you should use is Mein Deutsch ist sehr gut. |
| John: “My German is very good.” |
| Jennifer: There are other ways to say it, but you should use sehr gut so that it doesn’t sound like bragging. |
| John: Are there more modest ways of saying that your German is good? |
| Jennifer: You could say how long you’ve been studying, and let people guess from there. If it’s a business setting, it’s best to be modest. |
| John: How do I say “I've been studying German for a long time now.” |
| Jennifer: Ich lerne Deutsch schon seit vielen Jahren. |
| John: So we’ve explained that we don’t speak German well. How do we ask the other person to speak in English? |
| Jennifer: Können wir auf Englisch weitersprechen? |
| John: “Can we speak in English?” If you want to say that you’d like to switch from English to German, use the verb meaning “to keep talking.” |
| Jennifer: This is weitersprechen. |
| John: This makes the transition nice and smooth. |
| Jennifer: weitersprechen is an irregular verb. |
| John: The conjugation table is in the lesson notes. |
| Jennifer: Weitersprechen has a prefix, weiter, which means “again.” The other part of the word, sprechen, means “to speak.” |
| John: Does the order of the words ever change? |
| Jennifer: When written in a sentence, the word weiter is placed after the verb sprechen, as in Ich spreche jetzt weiter. |
| John: That literally means “I keep on talking now.” |
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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