LESSON TRANSCRIPT

Beginner #1
Are you Michaela Wucher?

CONTENTS
2 INTRODUCTION
2 LESSON CONVERSATION
4 KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
4 LESSON FOCUS
9 OUTRO

# 1
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INTRODUCTION

Judith: Hello, ich heiße Judith.

Chuck: Hi, I’m Chuck. T his is Beginner series Lesson 1.

Judith: Sie hören GermanPod101.com.

Chuck: You are listening to GermanPod101.com.

Judith: Willkommen.

Chuck: Welcome.

Judith: T his is the very first lesson of our new beginner series.

Chuck: T he beginner series is for you if you have little prior knowledge of German. If
you just want to brush up on what you’ve learned or if you’re looking for a
comprehensive introduction to the German language.

Judith: If you don’t know any German and haven’t studied any other foreign language
before, you may want to start with the newbie series instead, because we’re going to
take a closer look at grammar here.

Chuck: Grammar? We’re going to do grammar. I think I got to get out of here.

Judith: Don’t run away. T his is not going to be a high school class. It’s all going to be
interesting and fun.

Chuck: GermanPod101.com’s programs are based on the latest scientific findings in

order to make learning as effortless as possible.

Judith: Apart from the free podcasts, there’s also a wealth of materials at
GermanPod101.com that can help you with your studies. For example, transcripts,
summaries, different types of exercises and reference materials. Check it out.

Chuck: Now, let’s get started with our first dialog. T his dialog takes place at
Dusseldorf Airport, one of the largest German international airports. I will play the role of
John Williams, an American man who has just arrived with the plane from New York.

Judith: And I will play his German pen friend, Michaela Wucher, who came to pick him
up at the airport.

LESSON CONVERSATION

GERMANPOD101.COM BEGI NNER #1 - ARE YOU MI CHAELA WUCHER? 2

John: Entschuldigung! Sind Sie “Michaela Wucher”?

Michaela: Nein, ich bin nicht “Michaela Wucher”. Wer sind Sie?

John: Ich bin John Williams. Ich bin aus Pennsylvania.

Michaela: Ahhh! Sie sind John Williams! Ich bin “Michaela Wucher”, but it is
pronounced Michaela Wucher.

John: Oh, Entschuldigung!

English Host: Now, the dialect will be read slowly.

John: Entschuldigung! Sind Sie “Michaela Wucher”?

Michaela: Nein, ich bin nicht “Michaela Wucher”. Wer sind Sie?

John: Ich bin John Williams. Ich bin aus Pennsylvania.

Michaela: Ahhh! Sie sind John Williams! Ich bin “Michaela Wucher”, but it is
pronounced Michaela Wucher.

John: Oh, Entschuldigung!

English Host: Now I’m going to read the dialog alone and Chuck is going to give you
the translations.

John: Entschuldigung! Sind Sie “Michaela Wucher”?

Chuck: Excuse me! Are you Michaela Wucher?

Michaela: Nein, ich bin nicht “Michaela Wucher”. Wer sind Sie?

Chuck: No, I am not “Michaela Wucher”. Who are you?

John: Ich bin John Williams. Ich bin aus Pennsylvania...

Chuck: I am John Williams. I am from Pennsylvania...

Michaela: Ahhh! Sie sind John Williams! Ich bin “Michaela Wucher”, but it is
pronounced Michaela Wucher.

Chuck: Ahhh! You are John Williams! I am “Michaela Wucher”, but it is pronounced
Michaela Wucher.

GERMANPOD101.COM BEGI NNER #1 - ARE YOU MI CHAELA WUCHER? 3

John: Oh, Entschuldigung!

Chuck: Oh, sorry!

KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES

Chuck: We have heard the word “Entschuldigung” twice in this dialog. Judith, could
you summarize when it is appropriate to say?

Judith: Well, “Entschuldigung” is the equivalent of either “excuse me” or “I’m sorry”.
For example, when you want to get somebody’s attention, as John did in this dialog.
He said, “Entschuldigung” to get the person’s attention when he was trying to talk to
her to find out if she was his pen friend. And of course, you can also use
“Entschuldigung” when you’re trying to move through a crowd. And then if you use
“Entschuldigung” in the sense of I’m sorry, you could use it when you’re stepping on
somebody’s foot or even when you’re really screwing up. Well, when you’re really
screwing up, you’d probably use further expressions in addition to just
“Entschuldigung”, you could say “es tut mir leid” or other words.

Chuck: But you shouldn’t say it when someone just tells you bad news. German’s
don’t apologize for things that aren’t their fault, such as a friend not getting a job.
Rather, you’d express encouragement there. In severe cases however, such as a
death in the family, you can say, “es tut mir leid” which means, “It pains me.” as a
way of commiserating.

Judith: T hat’s exactly right. So be sure not to use “Entschuldigung” when somebody
tells you a sad news, a main point you need to remember.

LESSON FOCUS

Now the main grammar point in this lesson is the irregular verb “sein” “to be”.

Chuck: T he most important forms, the ones spread all over today’s dialogs are “ich
bin” “I am” and “Sie sind” “You are” formal.

Judith: For example, “Ich bin Judith” or “Sie sind aus New York.”

Chuck: Here are the complete present tense forms of this verb.

Judith: ich bin

Chuck: I am.

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Judith: du bist

Chuck: You are. But informal.

Judith: er ist

Chuck: He is.

Judith: And there’s also the forms “sie ist” and “es ist” that work just the same way.

Chuck: She is; it is.

Judith: wir sind

Chuck: We are.

Judith: ihr seid

Chuck: You are. But notice the “ihr” in this case is the plural “you”, as in you might in
here in the south US “y’all”.

Judith: Yes. When you’re talking to several people, that’s when you use “ihr” in
German. And lastly there is “sie sind”.

Chuck: “T hey are” or “You are” formal.

Judith: Yes. You will use “Sie” when referring to somebody and you want to be polite
to him. About the same time as when you would address him by the last name. And
it’s a little more common in Germany than in the US. So, you can say that the polite
forms are exactly the same ones as the ones for third person plural for “they”, “they
are” is the same as the polite “you are”. “Sie sind” in both cases.

Chuck: Use the transcript or the grammar bank to see a neat table with these forms. In
fact, you can press the center button on your iPod right now in order to look at the
transcript.

Judith: Let’s have some example sentences with these forms right now.

Judith: Ich bin Michael.

Chuck: I am Michael.

Judith: Du bist schön.

Chuck: You are pretty.

GERMANPOD101.COM BEGI NNER #1 - ARE YOU MI CHAELA WUCHER? 5

Judith: Er ist student.

Chuck: He is a student.

Judith: Sie ist aus England.

Chuck: She is from England.

Judith: Es ist nicht gut.

Chuck: It is not good.

Judith: Wir sind Freunde.

Chuck: We are friends.

Judith: Seid ihr bereit?

Chuck: “Are you ready?” Note that that the verb, most at the beginning of the
sentence when you make a question, just like in English.

Judith: Seid ihr bereit?

Chuck: Are you ready?

Judith: Wer sind Sie?

Chuck: T his can be either “who are they?” or “who are you” formally. Notice that in
written German, you could tell which it is by whether the “S” and “Z” is capitalized or
not.

Judith: “Z” with a capital “S” is the formal address for “you”. Make it capital to be
polite. In letters, you might even find a “du” capitalized.

Chuck: Now, what’s up with this formality stuff? I heard John call Michaela Sie even
though they were pen pals.

Judith: Yes, this is right. He did address her formally. John, wasn’t’ absolutely sure he
was talking to Michaela. And so he had to make sure he was being polite to the
stranger. Using impolite language on this occasion already would have been like
saying, “Hey you, are you Michaela?” and would probably have provoked an annoyed
reaction, especially older people who are very sensitive about this. Using “Z” is like
saying I respect you. T hat is why sometimes, even people who have known each
other for a long time use formal language with each other.

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Chuck: Generally, you should only use informal language with a new acquaintance if;
you were talking to someone under 18, you and the person, you’re talking with are
both around student age, or you and the person you’re talking with are family members.

Judith: In all other cases, you should wait ‘til you are asked to switch to informal
language. It is up to the older person or the one higher in rank to do so or not.

Chuck: Your teacher or boss probably won’t ever do so as it would diminish his
authority. But even regular acquaintances don’t switch to using first names nearly as
quickly in Germany as they do in the USA.

Judith: Good observation. But we talk informally to each other in German, don’t we?

Chuck: Yes.”Wir sind Freunde.” “We are friends.” And you listeners can right to us
informally, because you’re our friends too.

Judith: We would love to hear feedback from you. Please leave us a quick comment
right under this lesson. Write us an email or use the forms.

Chuck: T hat would be nice. Now, however, let’s have a quick look at the words used
in this dialog.

Judith: We have already talked about the use of “Entschuldigung”, literally meaning
“apology”. T he next word is: Sie.

Chuck: “You” formal, also notice that when this is written, “Sie” is always capitalized.

Judith: Exactly. T o distinguish it from the word for “they” which is also “sie”.

Chuck: Of course, if this is the first word of the sentence, then you’re just out of luck.

Judith: Usually, it’s obvious. Now, the next word is “nein”.

Chuck: No.

Judith: “nein”.

Chuck: No.

Judith: T hen we have “ich “.

Chuck: I.

Judith: Be careful with the “ch” sound which you will have to practice a lot. It’s a
sound special to German. “ich”

GERMANPOD101.COM BEGI NNER #1 - ARE YOU MI CHAELA WUCHER? 7

Chuck: I.

Judith: T he next word also contains the sound. It is “nicht “

Chuck: Not.

Judith: Nicht.

Chuck: Not.

Judith: Say that after me, “nicht”, “nicht”. Now we have “wer”.

Chuck: Who.

Judith: “wer”

Chuck: Who. “Wer sind Sie?” “who are you?”

Judith: Or “Wer ist Michaela?” “who is Michaela?” “aus” is the next word. “aus“

Chuck: From.

Judith: “aus“

Chuck: From.

Judith: For example, Ich bin aus Deutschland” “I am from Germany.”

Chuck: “Ich bin aus England.”

Judith: You’re not actually from England are you?

Chuck: No. “Ich bin aus America.”

Judith: Where exactly?

Chuck: “Ich bin aus Pennsylvania.”

Judith: Yet, more exactly?

Chuck: “Ich bin aus Harrisburg.”

Judith: Finally. T ook me a long while to get that out of you. “Ich bin aus Kamp-Lintfort.”
Kamp-Lintfort is a small city. If you want to learn about it, well, you better learn some
German because I’m going to present it in the Advanced Audio blog. T he first Advance

GERMANPOD101.COM BEGI NNER #1 - ARE YOU MI CHAELA WUCHER? 8

Audio blog will be about my home town, Kamp-Lintfort. So I can say, “Ich bin aus
Kamp-Lintfort.”

Chuck: “Sind Sie aus Kamp-Lintfort?”

Judith: Ja, ich bin aus Kamp-Lintfort.

Chuck: “Bin ich aus Kamp-Lintfort?”

Judith: “Nein, du bist nicht aus Kamp-Lintfort.”

Chuck: Now, listen to the dialog again. You now know everything you need to
understand it or to take part in a similar conversation yourself somewhere in Germany.

John: Entschuldigung! Sind Sie “Michaela Wucher”?

Michaela: Nein, ich bin nicht “Michaela Wucher”. Wer sind Sie?

John: Ich bin John Williams. Ich bin aus Pennsylvania.

Michaela: Ahhh! Sie sind John Williams! Ich bin “Michaela Wucher”, but it is
pronounced Michaela Wucher.

John: Oh, Entschuldigung!

OUTRO

Judith: T hat was a fun, a very fun, first lesson.

Chuck: In the next lesson, we will continue to follow John and Michaela, Michaela I
mean, of course.

Judith: T hank you for listening. Be sure to check out all the learning tools at
GermanPod101.com

Chuck: See you soon.

GERMANPOD101.COM BEGI NNER #1 - ARE YOU MI CHAELA WUCHER? 9