Day 4 of 20

Day 4: A Guide to Putting Things Off

In a Dresden bookshop, Moritz (A), a master's student, asks Kerstin (B), a bookseller, for advice.

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, ich suche einen Ratgeber gegen Aufschieberitis. Meine Masterarbeit muss in sechs Wochen fertig sein.

    Excuse me, I'm looking for a self-help book to cure my procrastination. My master's thesis has to be finished in six weeks.

  2. B

    Da kann ich Ihnen diesen von einer Dresdner Psychologin geschriebenen Ratgeber empfehlen. Allerdings hat er vierhundert Seiten.

    Then I can recommend this guide written by a psychologist from Dresden. Mind you, it runs to four hundred pages.

  3. A

    Vierhundert Seiten? Ich hatte eher an etwas gedacht, das man in einer Kaffeepause schafft.

    Four hundred pages? I was thinking more of something you can get through in a coffee break.

  4. B

    Keine Sorge: Bis Sie die Hälfte gelesen haben, werden Sie Ihre Arbeit längst abgegeben haben.

    Don't worry: by the time you've read half of it, you'll long since have handed in your thesis.

  5. A

    Oder ich werde die Frist verpasst haben, weil ich übers Aufschieben gelesen habe, statt zu schreiben.

    Or I'll have missed the deadline because I was reading about procrastination instead of writing.

  6. B

    Mir ist übrigens aufgefallen, dass Sie seit gut einer Stunde hier herumstöbern.

    By the way, I've noticed you've been browsing in here for a good hour.

  7. A

    Ertappt. Hier ist es eben gemütlicher als an meinem Schreibtisch, wo seit Tagen dieselbe leere Seite auf mich wartet.

    Caught out. It's just cosier here than at my desk, where the same blank page has been waiting for me for days.

Your progress is saved in this browser only, with no sign-up. The course page and the menu show where you left off. Well done! Next up: Day 5: Front Page of the School Paper 

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