Day 107: The Wrong Rent Figure
In a Berlin TV studio twenty minutes before a live talk show on housing, Gesine (A), a senior editor, finds Elif (B), the young researcher who prepared the host's cards on the guests, looking worried.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
- Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Point at (or tap) a German word to see what it means.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native German, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day · point at a word to see its meaning
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A
Elif, noch zwanzig Minuten bis zur Sendung, und du bist kreidebleich. Was ist los?
Elif, twenty minutes to air, and you're as white as a sheet. What's wrong?
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B
Karte drei, Herr Reinholz vom Eigentümerverband. Er rühmt sich seiner Studie: Neuvertragsmieten seit 2020 nur vier Prozent höher. Blöd nur, dass in seinen Tabellen Bestandsmieten stecken.
Card three, Mr Reinholz from the property owners' association. He's forever boasting about his study: rents on new tenancies only four per cent higher since 2020. The trouble is, his tables are full of rents on existing tenancies.
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A
Du bist dir sicher? Dann bedarf die Zahl einer Korrektur, keine Frage. Die Frage ist nur, wie.
Are you sure? Then the figure needs correcting, no question. The only question is how.
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B
Todsicher. Die Moderatorin legt ihm live seine eigene Tabelle hin und fragt, ob er seine Studie überhaupt gelesen hat: der Clip des Abends!
Dead sure. The host puts his own table in front of him live on air and asks whether he's even read his study: the clip of the evening!
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A
Genau das nicht. Wir sind eine Talkshow, kein Tribunal, und wer vor laufender Kamera vorgeführt wird, ist hinterher das Opfer, egal wie falsch seine Zahl war.
That's exactly what we're not doing. We're a talk show, not a tribunal, and anyone who's made a fool of in front of the cameras ends up as the victim, however wrong his figure was.
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B
Das Opfer? Seit Wochen zitiert jede Zeitung seine vier Prozent. Wenn wir das neutral wegmoderieren, sind wir die Einzigen, die es wussten und geschwiegen haben.
The victim? Every paper has been quoting his four per cent for weeks. If we smooth it over neutrally on air, we'll be the only ones who knew and kept quiet.
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A
Von Schweigen hat keiner was gesagt. Ich zeige ihm deine Rechnung jetzt in der Maske, dann kann er es live selbst richtigstellen.
Nobody said anything about keeping quiet. I'll show him your calculation in make-up now, and then he can put it right himself, live.
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B
Und wenn er in der Maske alles abstreitet? Dann soll sich die Moderatorin der Sache annehmen, und zwar mit meiner Tabelle, nicht mit Samthandschuhen.
And if he denies everything in make-up? Then the host should take the matter in hand, with my table, not with kid gloves.
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A
Mit einem Satz: „Unsere Redaktion hat nachgerechnet, Ihre Tabellen zeigen Bestandsmieten.“ Und bevor du dich aufregst: Hast du die Zahlen von Frau Aksoy vom Mieterverein genauso gründlich geprüft?
With one sentence: 'Our team has checked the sums, and your tables show rents on existing tenancies.' And before you get worked up: did you check the figures from Ms Aksoy of the tenants' association just as thoroughly?
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B
Die hab ich aus ihrer Pressemitteilung, und ... oh nein. Da zahlt jeder dritte Haushalt über vierzig Prozent seines Einkommens für Miete, in ihrer Studie nur jeder dritte Singlehaushalt.
I took those from her press release, and... oh no. There, one household in three pays over forty per cent of its income in rent; in her study, it's only one single-person household in three.
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A
Tja, das ist Ausgewogenheit. Dann bekommt heute jede Seite ihren neutralen Satz, und keiner kann uns vorwerfen, wir hätten einseitig nachgerechnet.
Well, that's balance for you. Then tonight each side gets its neutral sentence, and nobody can accuse us of checking the sums on one side only.
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B
Ich schreibe beide Karten in acht Minuten neu. Und Frau Aksoy übernehme ich in der Maske: Die Blamage hätte ich ihr um ein Haar live serviert.
I'll rewrite both cards in eight minutes. And I'll see Ms Aksoy in make-up: I very nearly served her that embarrassment live on air.
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