Learn what to say when you leave the office before the Christmas break
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to GermanPod101.com. This is Business German for Beginners, Season 1 Lesson 9 - The Last Day Before the Christmas Break in a German Office. John Here. |
| Jennifer: Guten Tag! I'm Jennifer. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn what To Say When you Leave the Office Before the Christmas break. The conversation takes place in the office. |
| Jennifer: It's between Linda Müller and Stefan Herzog. |
| John: The speakers are co-workers, so they will use informal German. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Stefan Herzog: Ich wünsche dir schöne Feiertage! |
| Linda Müller: Vielen Dank! Dir ebenfalls Frohe Weihnachten! |
| Stefan Herzog: Danke sehr. |
| Linda Müller: Hab' eine tolle Zeit. |
| Stefan Herzog: Du auch! |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Stefan Herzog: Ich wünsche dir schöne Feiertage! |
| Linda Müller: Vielen Dank! Dir ebenfalls Frohe Weihnachten! |
| Stefan Herzog: Danke sehr. |
| Linda Müller: Hab' eine tolle Zeit. |
| Stefan Herzog: Du auch! |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Stefan Herzog: I wish you a happy holiday. |
| Linda Müller: Thank you! Merry Christmas to you too! |
| Stefan Herzog: Thank you! |
| Linda Müller: Have a good time. |
| Stefan Herzog: You too! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: What’s the most important celebration and holiday in Germany? |
| Jennifer: It’s definitely Christmas holiday. |
| John: Can you tell us something about it? |
| Jennifer: Adventszeit, or "Advent season." is a big part of the German Christmas holidays. It starts on the 1st of December. There are various types of Advent calendars used in German homes. They have 24 boxes or bags with little presents in them or just a piece of chocolate. Another type is called a Adventskranz or "Advent wreath" and it is a ring of fir branches that has four candles on it. |
| John: Does this big holiday affect the business world? |
| Jennifer: Depending on the company, December can be a very busy season, but most of the companies are already in Christmas mode. There is usually a Year End's party held in a restaurant. Then in the office, employees might listen to Christmas songs, write Christmas Cards to business partners, and send out New Year's cards. |
| John: Which are the official public holidays? |
| Jennifer: December 24, 25, and 26 as well as January 1. The 24th and 31st of December are not public holidays, but usually working hours are limited to 4-5 hours depending on the company. |
| John: Good to know. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Jennifer: Feiertag [natural native speed] |
| John: national holiday |
| Jennifer: Feiertag[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Feiertag [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Jennifer: ebenfalls [natural native speed] |
| John: as well |
| Jennifer: ebenfalls[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: ebenfalls [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Jennifer: Danke sehr. [natural native speed] |
| John: Thanks a lot. |
| Jennifer: Danke sehr.[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Danke sehr. [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Jennifer: toll [natural native speed] |
| John: great, excellent |
| Jennifer: toll[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: toll [natural native speed] |
| John: And last. |
| Jennifer: auch [natural native speed] |
| John: also, too |
| Jennifer: auch[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: auch [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 phrase is.. |
| Jennifer: Danke sehr |
| John: meaning "Thanks a lot" |
| Jennifer: This is a similar expression to Herzlichen Dank, Vielen Dank, and so on, and shows deep gratitude. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Jennifer: Sure. For example, you can say.. Ich danke dir sehr. |
| John: ..which means "I thank you a lot." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Jennifer: der Feiertag |
| John: meaning "public holiday" |
| Jennifer: Die Feier means "party" or "celebration" in English. Combined with Der Tag meaning "day," it becomes Der Feiertag, "public holiday." |
| John: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Jennifer: Sure. For example, you can say.. Morgen ist ein Feiertag. |
| John: .. which means "Tomorrow is a public holiday." |
| Jennifer: You can also combine Feiertag with other words, as in Feiertagsstimmung |
| John: which means “holiday mood” |
| Jennifer: Feiertagsruhe |
| John: "holiday rest" |
| Jennifer: Feiertagsarbeit |
| John: "holiday work". Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn What To Say When you Leave the Office Before the Christmas break. When you leave the office on the last business day before a long holiday related to some specific celebration, you might want to greet your boss and co-workers in a special way. |
| Jennifer: In Germany this might be the case before the Christmas or Easter holidays. For example you could say, Ich wünsche dir schöne Feiertage! |
| John: “I wish you a happy holiday.” |
| Jennifer: Ich wünsche meaning “I wish” is from the verb wünschen, then we have dir which is the dative of du - meaning "you," and finally the accusative object schöne Feiertage. This sentence is based on the basic German grammar rule: Subject + conjugated verb+ object. |
| John: Also if you wish somebody something, in German you always need to add a dative clause after the verb meaning “to wish,” |
| Jennifer: Right, for example Ich wünsche dir... |
| John: “I wish you…” |
| Jennifer: or Wir wünschen ihnen… |
| John: “We wish them…” |
| Jennifer: You can use the same expression on different occasions, such as a specific celebration or a birthday. For example, Ich wünsche Ihnen Frohe Ostern. |
| John: “I give you my best wishes for Easter!” (polite) |
| Jennifer: Ich wünsche dir einen schönen Geburtstag. |
| John: “I give you my best wishes for a nice birthday!” (informal) How can you react to such a greeting? |
| Jennifer: Obviously the most natural answer to “best wishes,” which is Alles Gute, is “Thank you.” On the other hand, don’t forget to return the greeting with a similar wish followed by “you too,” |
| John: “you too” has an informal and a formal version right? |
| Jennifer: Right, the informal version is dir auch or dir ebenfalls or dir ebenso and the formal version is Ihnen auch or Ihnen ebenfalls. |
| John: Okay, let’s wrap up this lesson with some sample sentences, |
| Jennifer: Angenehmen Feiertag! |
| John: "Have a great holiday!" |
| Jennifer: Ich wünsche euch ruhige Ferien. |
| John: "I wish you a relaxed holiday." |
| Jennifer: Eine schöne Weihnachtszeit und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr! |
| John: "Have a great Christmas and a healthy start to the New year!" |
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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