Learn how to apologize to a client
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to GermanPod101.com. This is Business German for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 18 - Apologies in a Business Setting. John Here. |
| Jennifer: Guten Tag! I'm Jennifer. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to apologize to a client. The conversation takes place on the phone. |
| Jennifer: It's between Paul Schmitt and Linda Müller. |
| John: The speakers are colleagues, therefore, they will speak informal German. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Paul Schmitt: Hallo? |
| Linda Müller: Herr Schmitt, hier ist Linda Müller von der Firma ABC. Ich bedauere, dass ich mich etwas verspäten werde, da ich im Stau stehe. |
| Linda Müller: Es tut mir leid. Ich hoffe, dies bereitet Ihnen keine Umstände. |
| Paul Schmitt: Bitte machen Sie sich keine Gedanken. Ich habe keine weiteren Termine, daher warte ich gerne auf Sie. |
| Linda Müller: Vielen Dank für Ihr Verständnis, ich werde versuchen so schnell wie möglich da zu sein. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Paul Schmitt: Hallo? |
| Linda Müller: Herr Schmitt, hier ist Linda Müller von der Firma ABC. Ich bedauere, dass ich mich etwas verspäten werde, da ich im Stau stehe. |
| Linda Müller: Es tut mir leid. Ich hoffe, dies bereitet Ihnen keine Umstände. |
| Paul Schmitt: Bitte machen Sie sich keine Gedanken. Ich habe keine weiteren Termine, daher warte ich gerne auf Sie. |
| Linda Müller: Vielen Dank für Ihr Verständnis, ich werde versuchen so schnell wie möglich da zu sein. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Paul Schmitt: Hello? |
| Linda Müller: Mr. Smith, this is Linda Müller from ABC. Unfortunately I will arrive late, because I'm stuck in traffic. |
| Linda Müller: I'm sorry. I hope this doesn't cause problems. |
| Paul Schmitt: Please don't worry. Today I don't have other appointments, I'll wait for you. |
| Linda Müller: Thank you very much for your understanding, I'll try to get there as soon as possible. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: Poor Linda, stuck in traffic when she has a business meeting to attend. |
| Jennifer: Paul was very understanding though, wasn’t he? |
| John: He was! How are delays treated in the German business world? |
| Jennifer: Usually they aren’t tolerated at all. It can turn a business relationship sour, or if you’re late for a job interview it could result in you not getting the job. |
| John: I think that people have this image of Germans being punctual and well organized. |
| Jennifer: I think that’s true, in general we take die Pünktlichkeit, “the punctuality,” very seriously. You should always be five to ten minutes early for any appointment. |
| John: What if it’s an emergency though? Surely that would be okay? |
| Jennifer: If it’s a real emergency and unavoidable, then people will cut you some slack. But not for anything else. |
| John: If we’re late, how can we apologize for it? |
| Jennifer: You can say Entschuldigen Sie für die Verspätung. |
| John: This means “sorry for the delay.” |
| Jennifer: It’s the most common way to apologize for lateness. |
| 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: Hallo [natural native speed] |
| John: hello |
| Jennifer: Hallo[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Hallo [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: verspäten [natural native speed] |
| John: to delay |
| Jennifer: verspäten[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: verspäten [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: hoffen [natural native speed] |
| John: to hope |
| Jennifer: hoffen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: hoffen [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: Umstände [natural native speed] |
| John: circumstances |
| Jennifer: Umstände[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Umstände [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: Termine [natural native speed] |
| John: appointments |
| Jennifer: Termine[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Termine [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: herkommen [natural native speed] |
| John: to come from, to come here |
| Jennifer: herkommen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: herkommen [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: Verständnis [natural native speed] |
| John: understanding |
| Jennifer: Verständnis[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Verständnis [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Jennifer: so schnell wie möglich [natural native speed] |
| John: as soon as possible |
| Jennifer: so schnell wie möglich[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: so schnell wie möglich [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of one of the phrases from this lesson. The phrase is... |
| Jennifer: sich Gedanken machen |
| John: meaning "to be concerned about." What can you tell us about this expression? |
| Jennifer: You can use this when you are concerned about an issue. |
| John: Concerned in a negative way? |
| Jennifer: Not just that. It can be used when you’re considering a solution, positive or negative. |
| John: Are there any related phrases? |
| Jennifer: There is the colloquial expression in Gedanken versunken sein |
| John: which means “to be in deep thought.” Can you give us another example using “to be concerned about?” |
| Jennifer: Sure. For example, you can say, Ich mache mir Gedanken über das Projekt. |
| John: ...which means "I am concerned about the project." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn how to apologize to a client. Eventually, no matter how hard you try, something will happen that you’ll need to apologize for. |
| Jennifer: Right. We can’t control traffic and accidents, after all. |
| John: What did Linda say in the conversation to apologize? |
| Jennifer: Ich bedauere, dass ich mich etwas verspäten werde, da ich im Stau stehe. Es tut mir leid. Ich hoffe, dies bereitet Ihnen keine Umstände. |
| John: “Unfortunately I will arrive late, because I'm stuck in traffic. I'm sorry. I hope this doesn't cause problems.” This apology uses two tenses. |
| Jennifer: First, Linda apologized using Ich bedauere in the present tense. |
| John: Then, she changed to the future tense to say that she’ll be late. How do we make the future tense in German? |
| Jennifer: The future tense is formed using a conjugated form of the auxiliary werden and the infinitive of the verb that you meant to use. |
| John: How is that auxiliary verb conjugated? |
| Jennifer: It’s conjugated in the same way as a vowel-changing verb. |
| John: How do we say “I will?” |
| Jennifer: Ich werde |
| John: How about “you will?” |
| Jennifer: For singular, du wirst. For plural ihr werdet. |
| John: There are more examples for other pronouns in the lesson notes. Remember, after the auxiliary verb, we need to use a verb in infinitive form. Let’s hear an example sentence. |
| Jennifer: Ich werde heute pünktlich zur Arbeit kommen. |
| John: “I will come to work on time today.” |
| Jennifer: Er wird später nach Hause fahren. |
| John: “He will drive home later.” Let’s consider again the situation in which you’re late to an appointment. Is there a useful sentence you can say in case your client doesn’t have time to wait for you? |
| Jennifer: In such a case, you could say Ich werde mich an Ihre Assistentin wenden, um einen erneuten Termin zu finden. |
| John: Which means “I’ll contact your assistant to reschedule.” |
| Jennifer: Or you can say Ich werde Ihnen eine Email mit meiner Verfügbarkeit senden. |
| John: “I’ll send you an email with my availability.” |
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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