Day 111: The School Paper's Crossing Story
At the kitchen table in Karlsruhe, Katrin (A) reads the article her eleven-year-old son Milan (B) has written for his school paper about the new pedestrian lights outside his school.
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
Milan, hier steht, die Ampel vor eurer Schule ist schon bestellt. Woher weißt du das denn?
Milan, it says here that the lights outside your school have already been ordered. How do you know that?
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B
Aus gut informierten Kreisen. So schreiben das echte Journalisten, wenn sie ihre Quelle schützen.
From well-informed sources. That's what real journalists write when they're protecting their source.
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A
Und wer ist dein Informant, wenn ich fragen darf: die Schulleitung oder die Stadt?
And who's your informant, if I may ask: the head or the council?
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B
Na, du! Beim Abendessen letzte Woche hast du gesagt, die Sache ist so gut wie erledigt.
You, of course! At dinner last week you said it was as good as done.
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A
Das war reine Spekulation, mehr nicht. Ich weiß nur, dass der Elternbeirat bei der Stadt einen Antrag gestellt hat.
That was pure speculation, nothing more. All I know is that the parents' committee has put in a request to the council.
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B
Aber die Seite ist doch schon gestaltet, und morgen ist Redaktionsschluss! Soll ich jetzt etwa alles umschreiben?
But the page has already been laid out, and the deadline's tomorrow! Am I supposed to rewrite the whole thing now?
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A
Nur den einen Satz. Frag morgen früh Herrn Roth, euren Hausmeister: Der erfährt immer als Erster, wenn an der Schule gebaut wird.
Just that one sentence. Ask Mr Roth, your caretaker, first thing tomorrow: he's always the first to hear when there's building work at the school.
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B
Und wenn er auch nichts weiß? Dann steht in meinem Artikel nur, dass noch nichts verbindlich entschieden ist.
And what if he doesn't know anything either? Then all my article will say is that nothing's been definitely decided yet.
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A
Dann schreibst du genau das, mit Quelle. Übung macht den Meister, und ein Reporter, der nachfragt, ist mir lieber als einer, der mich zitiert.
Then that's exactly what you write, with a source. Practice makes perfect, and I'd rather have a reporter who asks than one who quotes me.
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