Day 22 of 35

Day 22: Swabian From the Driver's Seat

In a taxi from the station in Tübingen, Daniel (A), a passenger from out of town, is struggling to follow his chatty driver, Frank (B).

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

    Entschuldigung, aber ich verstehe nur die Hälfte der Wörter. Ist das Schwäbisch?

    Sorry, but I only understand half the words. Is that Swabian?

  2. B

    Ach, Sie kommen aus dem Norden? Dann rede ich halt Hochdeutsch.

    Oh, you're from the north? Then I'll just speak standard German.

  3. A

    Aus Lübeck. Und was genau „schafft“ Ihr Sohn bei Bosch?

    From Lübeck. And what exactly does your son 'create' at Bosch?

  4. B

    „Schaffen“ heißt bei uns einfach „arbeiten“. Das ist das wichtigste Wort der Gegend.

    Round here, 'schaffen' just means 'to work'. It's the most important word in the region.

  5. A

    Ach so! Dann ist Schwäbisch ja halb so wild.

    Oh, I see! So Swabian isn't so bad after all.

  6. B

    Warten Sie ab. Wenn ich richtig Schwäbisch reden würde, würden Sie kein Wort verstehen.

    Just you wait. If I spoke proper Swabian, you wouldn't understand a word.

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