Day 38: Replicating the Marshmallow Test
After a seminar at the University of Konstanz, psychology students Linus (A) and Franziska (B) stay behind to put an idea for their lab course to their professor, Professor Herbst (C).
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
Frau Herbst, wir würden im Experimentalpraktikum gern den Marshmallow-Test wiederholen, mit Kita-Kindern.
Professor Herbst, for our lab course we'd like to replicate the marshmallow test, with nursery children.
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B
Zwei Kitas haben uns ihre Räume schon zur Verfügung gestellt, die Marshmallows zahlen wir selbst.
Two nurseries have already offered us their rooms, and we'll pay for the marshmallows ourselves.
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C
Dafür brauchen Sie eine Genehmigung der Ethikkommission. Bis die vorliegt, werden die Kinder in die Schule gekommen sein.
For that you need approval from the ethics committee. By the time you have it, the children will have started school.
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A
Hörst du, Franzi? Unser akribisch geplantes Experiment können wir wohl in die Tonne treten.
Hear that, Franzi? We might as well bin our meticulously planned experiment.
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C
Nicht unbedingt. Testen Sie doch Erwachsene: Wer widersteht eine Viertelstunde lang der Versuchung, aufs Handy zu schauen?
Not necessarily. Why not test adults: who can resist the temptation to look at their phone for a quarter of an hour?
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B
Und die erste Versuchsperson steht schon zur Verfügung: Linus schaut seit zehn Minuten ständig aufs Handy.
And the first test subject is already at your disposal: Linus has been checking his phone non-stop for ten minutes.
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A
Verräterin! Ich hab doch nur nachgesehen, wann das Gremium das nächste Mal tagt.
Traitor! I was only checking when the committee next meets.
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