Day 102: Fifty Cents for a Paper Cup
At a café counter in Tübingen, Rebecca (A), a visitor to the town, queries an item on her receipt with Eleni (B), the barista.
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
Entschuldigung, auf dem Bon stehen fünfzig Cent Aufpreis für den Becher. Ist das ein Versehen, oder zahlt man hier für Pappe?
Excuse me, there's a fifty-cent surcharge on the receipt for the cup. Is that a mistake, or do you pay for cardboard here?
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B
Nein, das ist die Tübinger Verpackungssteuer. Die wird seit 2022 auf jeden Einwegbecher fällig, der über die Theke geht.
No, that's Tübingen's packaging tax. Since 2022 it's been charged on every disposable cup sold over the counter.
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A
Ach, davon habe ich gelesen, darüber musste sogar Karlsruhe entscheiden. Aber ändert das denn wirklich etwas?
Oh, I've read about that, even the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe had to rule on it. But does it really change anything?
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B
Bei uns schon: Früher gingen zweihundert Pappbecher am Tag raus, heute vielleicht dreißig. Und die Steuer lässt sich ja leicht vermeiden.
It does here: we used to get through two hundred paper cups a day, now it's maybe thirty. And the tax is easy enough to avoid.
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A
Sie tun ja gerade so, als ob fünfzig Cent die Welt retten würden. Das ist doch reine Symbolpolitik.
You're acting as if fifty cents could save the world. It's pure tokenism.
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B
Die Welt nicht, aber vielleicht die Altstadt. Nehmen Sie doch einen Mehrwegbecher: ein Euro Pfand, Hunderte Male wiederverwendbar.
Not the world, but maybe the old town. Why not take a reusable cup? A one-euro deposit, and it can be used hundreds of times.
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A
Einen Euro für einen Becher, den ich morgen in Stuttgart nicht mehr loswerde? Dann zahle ich ja noch mehr drauf.
A euro for a cup I won't be able to get rid of in Stuttgart tomorrow? Then I'm even more out of pocket.
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B
Das Pfandsystem gibt es bundesweit, der Becher lässt sich auch in Stuttgart in vielen Cafés zurückgeben.
The deposit scheme is nationwide, you can return the cup at plenty of cafés in Stuttgart too.
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A
Na schön, dann eben den Mehrwegbecher. Aber dass die fünfzig Cent Symbolpolitik sind, lasse ich mir nicht ausreden.
Oh, all right, the reusable cup, then. But nobody's going to talk me out of thinking the fifty cents are just tokenism.
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