Day 14: The Heating Bill's Missing Page
On the stairs of their block of flats in Dortmund, Kerstin Brandt (A), a tenant who works as a local reporter, stops her landlord, Frank Kowalczyk (B), to ask about her latest service charge statement.
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
Herr Kowalczyk, in der mir zugeschickten Nebenkostenabrechnung fehlt Seite drei. Die Nummerierung springt von zwei auf vier.
Mr Kowalczyk, page three is missing from the service charge statement you sent me. The numbering jumps from two to four.
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B
Ein Druckfehler, Frau Brandt, da steht nichts Wichtiges drauf. Die Heizkosten sind infolge der Energiekrise nun mal gestiegen.
A printing error, Mrs Brandt, there's nothing important on it. The heating costs have simply gone up as a result of the energy crisis.
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A
Seltsam, die Gaspreise sind lÀngst wieder gesunken. Verdreifacht hat sich nur ein Posten: die Wartung der Heizung.
Strange, gas prices came down again ages ago. Only one item has tripled: the servicing of the heating.
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B
Die Anlage ist eben in die Jahre gekommen. Und ein zuverlÀssiger Fachbetrieb hat nun mal seinen Preis.
The system's getting on a bit. And a reliable specialist firm comes at a price, I'm afraid.
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A
ZuverlÀssig und verschwÀgert, wie meine Recherche ergab: Die an die Firma Ihres Schwagers vergebenen AuftrÀge wurden ohne ein einziges Vergleichsangebot erteilt.
Reliable, and related by marriage, as my research showed: the contracts awarded to your brother-in-law's firm were placed without a single competing quote.
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B
Nun werden Sie mal nicht gleich investigativ. BezĂŒglich Ihrer Abrechnung könnte ich Ihnen entgegenkommen, sagen wir zweihundert Euro, ganz diskret.
Now, let's not get all investigative. As regards your statement, I could meet you halfway, say two hundred euros, all very discreet.
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A
Ein Rabatt unter der Hand genĂŒgt mir nicht. Ich möchte Einsicht in sĂ€mtliche Belege, wie es mir als Mieterin zusteht.
An under-the-counter discount isn't enough for me. I'd like to inspect all the receipts, as is my right as a tenant.
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B
Das sind ganze Ordner. Sie wollen daraus doch nicht etwa einen Artikel machen?
That's whole files of them. You're not going to make an article out of this, surely?
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A
Das hÀngt davon ab, was auf Seite drei steht. Ich komme Donnerstag zwecks Belegeinsicht vorbei, dicke Ordner sind mein tÀglich Brot.
That depends on what's on page three. I'll come by on Thursday to inspect the receipts: thick files are my daily bread.
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