Day 138 of 159

Day 138: The Headline He Didn't Read Past

In the tea kitchen of a Hamburg shipping company, Piet (A) shows his colleague Sören (B) a headline in the morning paper.

How to study this lesson 3 steps
  1. Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
  2. 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.
  3. 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

  1. A

    Sören, hast du heute schon Zeitung gelesen? „Hafen schließt Terminal: Hunderte Jobs in Gefahr“, steht hier.

    Sören, have you read the paper today? 'Port closes terminal: hundreds of jobs at risk', it says here.

  2. B

    Hab ich, sogar bis zum Ende. Obwohl die Überschrift so dramatisch klingt, geht's nur um ein altes Terminal.

    I have, right to the end. Even though the headline sounds so dramatic, it's only about one old terminal.

  3. A

    Nur um eins? Und die vielen Arbeitsplätze, die angeblich in Gefahr sind?

    Just one? And all the jobs that are supposedly at risk?

  4. B

    Die Leute werden auf die anderen Terminals verteilt, entlassen wird keiner. Sag mal, wie weit liest du eigentlich so?

    The staff are being moved to the other terminals, nobody's being laid off. Tell me, how far do you usually read?

  5. A

    Wie weit? Keine Ahnung, worauf du hinauswillst.

    How far? No idea what you're getting at.

  6. B

    Du stehst echt auf dem Schlauch. Das steht alles im dritten Absatz, und so weit kommst du nie.

    You're really being slow on the uptake. It's all in the third paragraph, and you never get that far.

  7. A

    Okay, erwischt. Aber lass mal die Kirche im Dorf: Den Sportteil lese ich immer komplett.

    OK, you've got me. But let's not get carried away: I always read the sports pages all the way through.

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