Day 156: The Illustrator's Harshest Critic
At the Frankfurt Book Fair, near the children's books hall, Amina (A), a young illustrator, notices Alva (B), a girl who has lost her school class.
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
Hallo, suchst du jemanden? Du schaust dich schon eine ganze Weile so ratlos um.
Hello, are you looking for someone? You've been looking around helplessly for quite a while.
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B
Meine Klasse ist weitergegangen, während ich in dem Buch hier geblättert habe. Wir treffen uns um zwölf an der großen Rolltreppe, aber wo ist die?
My class went on while I was looking through this book. We're meeting at twelve by the big escalator, but where is it?
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A
Die kenne ich, ich bringe dich hin. Und wie findest du das Bilderbuch, das du da so festhältst?
I know it, I'll take you there. And what do you think of that picture book you're holding on to so tightly?
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B
Die Bilder sind echt schön, vor allem der Igel mit dem roten Schal. Aber auf Seite zwölf fehlt plötzlich der Schal, das muss korrigiert werden!
The pictures are really nice, especially the hedgehog with the red scarf. But on page twelve the scarf's suddenly missing, and that has to be corrected!
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A
Gut aufgepasst, das ist bisher niemandem aufgefallen. Und wie gefällt dir die Geschichte?
Well spotted: nobody's noticed that so far. And how do you like the story?
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B
Und das Ende muss auch geändert werden: Der Igel hält Winterschlaf, und der Fuchs sitzt allein im Schnee. So was Trauriges sollte verboten werden!
And the ending has to be changed too: the hedgehog hibernates, and the fox sits alone in the snow. Something that sad should be banned!
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A
So gesehen, hast du recht, der Fuchs hätte Besseres verdient. Von so einer strengen Kritikerin ertappt, muss ich was gestehen: Die Bilder habe ich gezeichnet.
Put like that, you're right: the fox deserved better. Caught out by such a strict critic, I have to confess something: I drew the pictures.
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B
Echt jetzt, die sind von Ihnen? Kann das denn noch geändert werden, wenn das Buch schon gedruckt ist?
Seriously, they're yours? Can it still be changed if the book's already printed?
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A
Für die nächste Auflage schon: Den Schal zeichne ich wieder ein, und über das Ende rede ich mit der Autorin. Aber schau mal, da vorne winkt schon deine Lehrerin.
For the next edition, yes: I'll draw the scarf back in, and I'll talk to the author about the ending. But look, your teacher's already waving over there.
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