Learn how to tell a receptionist that you are late for your appointment
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to GermanPod101.com. This is Business German for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 19 - Arriving Late at an Appointment and Notifying the Receptionist. John Here. |
| Jennifer: Guten Tag! I'm Jennifer. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to inform a receptionist about an appointment. The conversation takes place in the lobby. |
| Jennifer: It's between a receptionist and Linda Müller. |
| John: The speakers are strangers, therefore, they will speak formal German. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Rezeptionist: Guten Abend. |
| Linda Müller: Guten Abend. Ich bin Linda Müller von der firma ABC. Ich habe einen Termin mit Herrn Paul Schmitt um fünf Uhr. Ich habe heute Morgen angerufen. |
| Rezeptionist: Lassen Sie mich kurz nachsehen. Bitte nehmen Sie Platz in der Lobby. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Rezeptionist: Guten Abend. |
| Linda Müller: Guten Abend. Ich bin Linda Müller von der firma ABC. Ich habe einen Termin mit Herrn Paul Schmitt um fünf Uhr. Ich habe heute Morgen angerufen. |
| Rezeptionist: Lassen Sie mich kurz nachsehen. Bitte nehmen Sie Platz in der Lobby. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Receptionist: Good evening. |
| Linda Müller: Good evening, I'm Linda Müller from ABC. I have an appointment with Mr. Smith at five o'clock. I called this morning. |
| Receptionist: Let me quickly check. Please take a seat in the hall. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: Linda seems to be having a lot of business meetings lately. |
| Jennifer: Yes, she’s very busy! I hope that means her company is doing well. |
| John: I hope so too. This time she had to speak to a receptionist to say she had arrived, ready for her meeting. |
| Jennifer: Yeah, it’s quite common for big companies to have receptionists. |
| John: I think that they’re needed in big companies and places like hotels. |
| Jennifer: Definitely. That’s where you’ll usually find them in Germany. |
| John: What are the typical duties of a receptionist in Germany? |
| Jennifer: As we saw in the conversation, they greet visitors and give them directions. |
| John: Not just directions to places, but things like asking visitors to wait or to do certain actions. |
| Jennifer: Yes, there might be check-in procedures or different departments might have different policies. A receptionist can help visitors with this. |
| John: Keeping up with procedures and rules is important. |
| Jennifer: Yes. Receptionists are also there to help the visitors and have things ready for them too. |
| 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: Guten Abend [natural native speed] |
| John: good evening |
| Jennifer: Guten Abend[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Guten Abend [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: fünf Uhr [natural native speed] |
| John: five o'clock |
| Jennifer: fünf Uhr[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: fünf Uhr [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: heute Morgen [natural native speed] |
| John: this morning |
| Jennifer: heute Morgen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: heute Morgen [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: kurz [natural native speed] |
| John: short, brief; briefly |
| Jennifer: kurz[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: kurz [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: nachsehen [natural native speed] |
| John: to check |
| Jennifer: nachsehen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: nachsehen [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: Platz nehmen [natural native speed] |
| John: to take a seat |
| Jennifer: Platz nehmen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Platz nehmen [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Jennifer: Termin [natural native speed] |
| John: appointment |
| Jennifer: Termin[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Termin [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: der Termin |
| John: meaning "the appointment." What can you tell us about this word? |
| Jennifer: This is a masculine noun. |
| John: And it means “an appointment?” |
| Jennifer: Literally, it means “a fixed time.” |
| John: Is it only used for business appointments? |
| Jennifer: No, it can be used for medical appointments and dates too. |
| John: Can you give it to us in a sentence? |
| Jennifer: Sure. For example, you can say, Am besten legen wir einen Termin fest. |
| John: ...which means "The best is to fix a date." |
| John: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Jennifer: Platz nehmen |
| John: meaning "to take a seat." Can you break this down for us? |
| Jennifer: Der Platz means "the seat." And nehmen means "to take." |
| John: Literally, “to take a seat.” |
| Jennifer: You can also say sich setzen, meaning "to sit." |
| John: Is there anything special about this phrase? |
| Jennifer: Nehmen usually means "to give." Its meaning only changes in this phrase. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Jennifer: Sure. For example, you can say, Bitte nehmen Sie Platz. |
| John: ...which means "Please take a seat." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about informing a receptionist of an appointment. First, I think you need to introduce yourself to the receptionist. |
| Jennifer: Yes, you do. Linda said Guten Abend. Ich bin Linda Müller von der Firma ABC. |
| John: “Good evening, I'm Linda Müller from ABC.” So she started with a greeting. |
| Jennifer: Then she gave her name, using Ich bin. Finally, she introduced her company with von der Firma. |
| John: Are there other ways to introduce your firm? |
| Jennifer: You can also say Ich arbeite für die Firma ABC. This makes your relationship to your company seem more distant though. |
| John: Oh, so the first one shows a closer relationship with your company and your identity with it. |
| Jennifer: Yes. You can use either in a business situation. |
| John: Okay. Next, how do we say that we have an appointment? |
| Jennifer: Linda said, Ich habe einen Termin mit Herrn Paul Schmitt um fünf Uhr. |
| John: “I have an appointment with Mr. Smith at five o'clock.” |
| Jennifer: First is “I have,” which is Ich habe. |
| John: Next was “an appointment.” |
| Jennifer: einen Termin. Then was mit and the dative object, in this case a name. Finally, was um and the time. |
| John: Let’s hear another example. How can we say “I have a meeting with Mr Schulze.” |
| Jennifer: Ich habe eine Besprechung mit Herrn Schulze. |
| John: After we’ve introduced ourselves and our appointment, the receptionist will probably give us some instructions. |
| Jennifer: Yes, it’s likely that the receptionist will use the polite imperative. |
| John: This is used to give commands or make polite requests. |
| Jennifer: Yes, you can make it into a polite request by adding bitte. There is also a formal imperative for people that you would address with Sie. |
| John: How does the formal imperative work? |
| Jennifer: It’s the same as the formal present tense: The verb comes first and next, Sie. For example, Gehen Sie! |
| John: Which means “go!” |
| Jennifer: Another example is Kommen Sie! |
| John: Which means “come!” |
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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