Day 87: An Apprenticeship Among Bicycles
In a bike workshop in Münster, Stella (A), seventeen, who is thinking about an apprenticeship, asks Jannik (B), a young bicycle mechanic, what the job is really like.
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
Entschuldigung, darf ich kurz stören? Ich überlege, mich hier um eine Ausbildung zur Zweiradmechatronikerin zu bewerben.
Excuse me, can I bother you for a moment? I'm thinking of applying for an apprenticeship here as a bicycle mechatronics technician.
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B
Gern, ich habe meine Ausbildung ja selbst erst letztes Jahr hier abgeschlossen. Was haben Sie denn bisher darüber gehört?
Of course, I only finished my own apprenticeship here last year. So what have you heard about it so far?
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A
Dass man im ersten Lehrjahr nur fegt und Schläuche flickt, während die Gesellen die spannenden Aufträge kriegen.
That in your first year you do nothing but sweep and patch inner tubes, while the qualified mechanics get the interesting jobs.
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B
Bei uns nicht: Freitags ist der Chef nur mit dem Besen anzutreffen. Und die vom Team selbst geplanten Schichten hängen da drüben an der Pinnwand.
Not here: on Fridays you'll only find the boss with a broom. And the shifts, which the team plans itself, are up on the noticeboard over there.
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A
Der Chef fegt selbst? Dann bleibt nur noch meine größte Sorge: Von Elektronik verstehe ich so gut wie nichts.
The boss does the sweeping himself? Then that just leaves my biggest worry: I know next to nothing about electronics.
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B
Das lässt sich alles lernen. Die meisten der hier reparierten Räder sind ohnehin E-Bikes, da gehört das Auslesen von Fehlercodes einfach dazu.
You can learn all that. Most of the bikes repaired here are e-bikes anyway, so reading fault codes is just part of the job.
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A
Und warum fegt ausgerechnet der Chef? Anderswo dürfte das der Job des jüngsten Azubis sein.
And why does the boss, of all people, do the sweeping? Anywhere else it would be the youngest apprentice's job.
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B
Beim Fegen sieht er, wer schlampig arbeitet, sagt er. Da kommt er übrigens, heute ist ja Freitag.
He says sweeping shows him who's doing sloppy work. Here he comes, by the way, it's Friday, after all.
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A
Dann frage ich ihn gleich nach einem Praktikum. Und Sie räumen besser noch schnell Ihre Werkbank auf.
Then I'll ask him about a work placement right away. And you'd better tidy your workbench quickly.
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