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 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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