Day 55: Grandad on the Canteen Wall
In a restaurant in Gelsenkirchen set in an old colliery canteen, Jakob (A) and his girlfriend Selin (B) ask the owner, Detlef Kaminski (C), about the photos of miners on the walls.
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
Schau mal, Selin, lauter Bergleute an den Wänden. Die haben früher bestimmt hier in der Kantine gegessen.
Look, Selin, all these miners on the walls. They must have eaten here in the canteen back in the day.
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B
Entschuldigung, wissen Sie, ob die Männer auf den Fotos alle auf dieser Zeche gearbeitet haben?
Excuse me, do you know if the men in the photos all worked at this colliery?
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C
Allesamt, in den Sechzigern und Siebzigern, wenngleich ich kaum einen von ihnen beim Namen kenne.
Every one of them, in the sixties and seventies, although I hardly know any of them by name.
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A
Müssten solche Fotos nicht eigentlich in ein Archiv, statt hier neben der Küche zu hängen?
Shouldn't photos like these really be in an archive, rather than hanging here next to the kitchen?
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C
Dringend sogar, zumal die Abzüge schon vergilben. Die müssten erst digitalisiert werden, aber dafür fehlt mir die Zeit.
Urgently, in fact, especially as the prints are already turning yellow. They'd have to be digitised first, but I don't have the time.
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B
Jakob, schau, der Dritte von links mit dem Schnurrbart, das ist mein Opa! Er hat hier fast dreißig Jahre unter Tage gearbeitet.
Jakob, look, the third one from the left with the moustache, that's my grandad! He worked underground here for almost thirty years.
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C
Dann bringen Sie ihn unbedingt mal mit! Mit seiner Hilfe könnten endlich die Namen unter die Fotos geschrieben werden.
Then you must bring him along! With his help, the names could finally be written under the photos.
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B
Das lässt er sich nicht zweimal sagen. Er erzählt sowieso jedem, der zuhört, von seiner Zeit auf der Zeche.
He won't need asking twice. He tells anyone who'll listen about his time at the pit anyway.
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