Die Kaffeestube Teil 2 - virtual Kaffeeklatsch in Germany and Austria

[cheaspicks]

Chat for those living in a German-speaking country, or anyone else who is interested.

Thanks linzer - it's already much improved from my first attempt! Still can't think of book cover in German.

Was so proud at the physio, the therapist said do you mind me asking where you come from because I can't even guess from your accent (well the family name gives a good tip)! She said sometimes I pause to search for a word and some endings are wrong but otherwise she would think I'm speaking a German dialect! If only my written German was the same level!

That's great, admylin - you must have been really pleased. I can't believe she wouldn't have guessed from your name though; I always think the way I pronounce my first name must be a giveaway! I also wish my written German was at the same level as my spoken German (I think you can get away with a few more mistakes when you're speaking as people tend to overlook them more, especially if you have a good accent).

Right, this is my suggestion for the first sentence (have hardly changed it): Könnten Sie bitte bestätigen, dass der Zustand dieses Buches später nicht reklamiert wird?
I must admit to cheating and have asked for DH's help with the second sentence as I had to e-mail him about something else and asked him to check my suggestion at the same time. Hopefully he'll get back to me soon; otherwise, you may get something more "German" sounding if world is around.

DH got back to me while I was writing my last post; this is his suggestion for the second sentence:

Es ist in keinem guten Zustand und vorne am Umschlag bereits ziemlich abgenutzt.

I'm not convinced by his use of bereits (he's always changing schon to bereits if I write something and claims it sounds better); maybe world can confirm, but wouldn't Germans tend to use schon instead?

Great Linzer Umschlag is the word I couldn't think of!

Should I maybe put von/vom Außen smewhere in the 2nd sentence? The pages inside the book are all OK but I can still imagine them trying to get a new one out of me at the end of the year.

And thanks to your dh too!

Bereits sounds fine to me

admylin you could of course photograph its current condition as proof...

Hiermit bestätige ich, dass ich den aktuellen Zustand dieses Buches (Umschlag vorne sehr zerknittert) zur Kenntnis genommen habe.

Datum
Unterschrift

Maybe?

substitute abgenutzt for zerknittert

(I knew I should have sat on my hands!)

admylin Maybe if it's just the cover that's not in good condition, you could write "Der Umschlag ist in keinem guten Zustand und ist vorne..."

cheas I was wondering when you were going to appear so that we could continue our arguing. I'd like to say great minds re abgenutzt, but sadly can't take the credit.

I think the only time I'd use bereits is if I'd already used schon and wanted to use repetition, but DH changes my schons every single time...

But am not quite sure why you should have sat on your hands? (It's probably obvious, but my brain isn't used to all this thinking and has switched off.)

To stop myself posting. I mean, you'd already written and rewritten something perfectly good, and then I come along and write my own version and then have to rewrite (just one mind involved there, I just couldn't remember whether zerknittert had been improved or not and didn't bother scrolling).

Erm, wasn't world supposed to be saving us this trouble, anyway?

Ah, I see. Sorry, had my coffee late today (annoying power cut) and I think that might have been affecting my brain too. Much as I would like to huff and puff about how insulted I am that you had to improve on my version, I actually quite like yours. And yes, where is world when you need her?

Hello everyone

just a quick 'Hello' for now. All versions are very good

The friendliest would be something along the lines of:

Hallo Herr/Frau,

wären Sie so freundlich den abgenutzten Zustand des Buches( vor allem des Buchdeckels/Umschlags) zu bestätigen, damit es bei der Rückgabe zu keinen Missverständnissen kommt. Vielen Dank im Voraus.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Your name

Thankyou ladies!
Dd has also read the final version and said it can stay like that!

Off to an appointment at the bank now. Hope you have nice afternoons.

Oooh, just seen your version world , it also sounds great (of course!) and I like the bei der Rückgabe zu keinen Missverständnissen kommt part. I will change it when I get back from the bank.

Thanks again everyone.

world, you don't sound rusty to me, and if you hadn't mentioned that English wasn't your first language, I wouldn't have guessed.

I have nothing to add to the versions of admylin's letter :)

Got a couple more phone calls to make. Had a short coffee break with a friend out in the sun... which was fabulous!!! Everyone else enjoying a bit of the sun today :) and I'm totally worn out after cycling there and back I need to do more exercise!

Thanks so much about the compliment. I am trying to not forget my English and I am glad I am welcome here to join you all.

I am leaving the office and will try to make the best of the fantastic weather. Sunny, blue sky, not too hot and not too cold, and no wind. Herrlich!!!!!

So won't even go home and rather enjoy staying outside.

Chat to you all later this evening. Bye

Thanks for saying our versions were alse good, world . I'm a bit for not making any attempt to make it friendly, but more words means more chances of making mistakes! I feel the same as Linzer in that I could never post on a German forum - for one thing it would just take me far too long and I would never do any work , so I'm also impressed at you posting on here. (I did realise very quickly that you were German, though, a few Germanic commas creep in occasionally .)

cheaspicks I sent the note off with dd this morning so we shall see if the teacher agrees to sign it. Guess it depends on his mood.

I try to read German forums (Eltern is a good one) now and then if I have a question but don't dare write on them. Some of it is hard to understand especially the abbreviations they use!

Yesterday I got the dc their savings books set up at the bank. They have far too much cash hidden in their rooms. I was surprised at the interest rate (1%) and the bank did try to get them to sign up for Bauspar or other types of saving plans but it was all too complicated for me. If I knew we were staying for sure maybe I would try and inderstand it.

Just back from the doctor's with DH (I drove him there as it's in the next town and I wanted to do some shopping while he was there), who has some kind of virus that won't go away. Luckily he's decided to go back to bed now; otherwise, I don't think he'd take my complaints about how quickly the morning goes and how little time I have to do anything very seriously if he discovered me drinking coffee and MNing.

admylin Hope the teacher signs the note after all our hard work!

cheas I'm just too much of a perfectionist to even contemplate posting on a German forum; I would be agonising over each sentence for hours.

Lovely sunny day here today, so ideal for DD1's minigolf outing. DH was of moderate help with her school list, although doesn't know what 3/4-Hefte are either. It all seems very vague to me; she needs a Mappe for physics, for example, which to me could be anything from a cardboard folder to a lever arch file, but DH knew straight away that it would be a ring binder. All the nibs (am now assuming they're nibs rather than feathers) sound rather specialised, so I'm hoping we'll be able to get them from our normal stationery store.

Our babysitter is still MIA. The neighbours have said that the DC can go over tomorrow, but not on Friday as they have parents' evening then too - and they've already pinched the teenage neighbour we were thinking of asking otherwise. Maybe we could ask one of her younger sisters...

Linzer I don't envy you that stationery buying - would also think that Mappe was quite a vague term. I've got it all to come in 3 years, though, I suppose.

I ended up buying that Schulanfänger a science set after all (I think ploom asked), since I couldn't find the jigsaw. I wouldn't have thought of it on my own, so thanks again for the tip. It was a smallish box, Discover Optical Illusions, from age 6. There was a reasonable range of similar things and all priced at around 9?.

admylin our bank manager/neighbour/friend wants to talk us into some sort of saving account for dd. She has tried to explain it to me before and it sounded like there were some good offers - 10% interest on whatever is paid in up to a yearly limit, or something. I think DH has made an appt with her tomorrow evening, so I can report back if it might be useful. Are you with the Sparkasse?

cheaspicks yes Sparkasse is the bank I chose for the dc as they seem to be more branches around to use the cash machines etc. Would be interesting to hear what your dh learns about the different accounts.

I think it'll be hard to talk the dc into putting most of it away where it can't be touched for several years for example and as they are at an age where they are going to be involved in the decision, they have to understand the concept of it all.

linzer hope your dh is feeling better soon. Also hope you manage to get a babysitter sorte dout. Our first invitation to a parents' evening has come from ds's class now I just hope they don't put dd's meeting on the same day like last year. Even if it's just after the other I can't cope with 2 meetings in one night!

admylin We had the same problem with the DDs' parents' evenings being on the same day a couple of years ago so had to get a babysitter then too. I suppose we could use her again if we were desperate but tbh I wasn't very impressed with her (she was the 13 year old incapable of putting the DC to bed).

cheas The primary school lists always seemed to be fairly specific, although I was equally confused by them when DD1 started school! Having said that, apparently I bought the wrong kind of Flügelmappe for DS as his teacher couldn't stick a picture of Felix on the front. I'll have to check with her tomorrow.

Continuing on the school stationery theme, does anyone have any idea what kind of A4 exercise book (i.e. plain or lined) DD1 would need for music? I assume it's more likely to be lined unless they're going to be drawing pictures of musical instruments, for example. I should probably check at the parents' evening; DH doesn't know either and thinks we should buy both.