Day 83: Grandad's Book Club Pick
In his flat in Göttingen, Wilfried (A), a retired teacher, tells his grandson Till (B), who has just graduated in literature, what he thinks of the novel his reading circle has sent him.
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
Setz dich, Till. Diesen Roman habe ich von meinem Lesekreis geschickt bekommen, und ehrlich gesagt ist er maßlos überschätzt.
Sit down, Till. My reading circle sent me this novel, and frankly it's wildly overrated.
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B
„Das Haus am Deich“ von Hellwig? Der steht doch seit Monaten auf der Bestsellerliste, und die Kritik ist begeistert.
'The House on the Dyke' by Hellwig? But it's been on the bestseller list for months, and the critics love it.
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A
Die Kritiker lassen sich eben blenden. Der Mann soll ganze Kapitel aus den Tagebüchern seiner Großmutter abgeschrieben haben.
Critics are easily dazzled. The man is supposed to have copied whole chapters from his grandmother's diaries.
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B
Abgeschrieben, das ist ja ein schwerer Vorwurf. Woher stammt denn die Geschichte?
Copied, that's a serious accusation. Where does that story come from?
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A
Eine Dame aus dem Lesekreis hat es irgendwo schwarz auf weiß gelesen. Ganz aus der Luft gegriffen dürfte es also nicht sein.
A lady from the reading circle read it somewhere in black and white. So it's unlikely to be entirely made up.
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B
Opa, ich habe meine Bachelorarbeit über Hellwig geschrieben. Das Gerücht kommt von einem Satireblog und geistert seitdem durchs Netz.
Grandad, I wrote my bachelor's thesis on Hellwig. The rumour comes from a satirical blog and has been doing the rounds online ever since.
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A
Ein Satireblog? Und ich wollte beim nächsten Treffen eine flammende Rede über geistigen Diebstahl halten.
A satirical blog? And I was going to give a passionate speech about intellectual theft at the next meeting.
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B
Die Tagebücher liegen übrigens in einem Archiv, ich habe sie für meine Arbeit gelesen: fast nur Wetter und Butterpreise.
The diaries are in an archive, by the way, and I read them for my thesis: almost nothing but the weather and the price of butter.
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A
Na schön, dann fällt die Rede aus. Aber deine Bachelorarbeit bekomme ich bis zum nächsten Treffen zugeschickt, damit ich wenigstens fundiert widersprechen kann.
Oh well, the speech is off, then. But I'm getting your thesis sent to me before the next meeting, so at least I can disagree on solid ground.
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