Day 74: Solar Panels or the Mortgage
At home in Bayreuth, Sonja (A) and her husband Gregor (B) argue about what to do with their savings.
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
Gregor, ich bin dafür, dass wir unsere Ersparnisse endlich in eine Solaranlage stecken. Unser Süddach schreit doch danach.
Gregor, I think we should finally put our savings into solar panels. Our south-facing roof is crying out for them.
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B
Oder wir zahlen den Kredit schneller ab. Ob sich die Anlage lohnt, hängt doch vom Strompreis ab.
Or we pay off the mortgage faster. Whether the panels pay off depends on the price of electricity, doesn't it?
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A
Wir zahlen bis 2031 nur 1,1 Prozent Zinsen, da bringt eine Sondertilgung so gut wie nichts.
We're only paying 1.1 per cent interest until 2031, so overpaying the mortgage gets us next to nothing.
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B
Trotzdem, die Module werden ständig billiger. Lass uns in Ruhe vergleichen, bevor wir zwanzigtausend Euro aufs Dach schrauben.
Even so, the panels keep getting cheaper. Let's compare properly before we bolt twenty thousand euros onto the roof.
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A
Je länger wir warten, desto mehr zahlen wir dem Stromanbieter. Das frisst jede Preissenkung bei den Modulen auf.
The longer we wait, the more we pay the electricity company. That eats up any drop in the price of panels.
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B
Mag sein, aber ich bestehe darauf, dass wir vorher mindestens drei Angebote von verschiedenen Firmen einholen.
Maybe, but I insist that we get at least three quotes from different firms first.
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A
Wunderbar, dann sind wir uns einig: Die drei Angebote liegen nämlich seit Dienstag in der Schublade.
Wonderful, then we agree: the three quotes have been sitting in the drawer since Tuesday.
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