Learn how to ask for specification, clarification, and confirmation
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to AfrikaansPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 2 - A Tricky Business Situation in South Africa. Becky here. |
| Chesney: Hallo! I'm Chesney. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn about asking for specification, clarification, and confirmation. We’ll also have some tips about using articles in Afrikaans. The conversation takes place at the office. |
| Chesney: It's between Andre and Daan. |
| Becky: The speakers are co-workers; therefore, they’ll speak informal Afrikaans. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Andre: Sê weer asseblief, ek het nie verstaan nie. |
| Daan: Ek sê ons moet die kontrakte oorskryf, ons verloor geld. |
| Andre: Ek verstaan nogsteeds nie hoekom ons moet nie, dit gaan meer geld kos om dit te verander. |
| Daan: Glad nie, in die lang termyn gaan ons geld spaar. |
| Andre: So wat jy vir my sê is dat ons nou dit moet doen, kan ons nie dit volgende jaar doen nie? |
| Daan: Jy verstaan dit reg maar volgende jaar gaan duurder wees. |
| Andre: Laat ek daaroor dink dan laat ek jou weet teen more. |
| Daan: Geen probleem. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Andre: Say that again, please. I didn't understand that. |
| Daan: I said we have to rewrite the contracts; we are losing money. |
| Andre: I still don't understand why we have to do it. It is going to cost more money to change it. |
| Daan: Not at all, in the long term we are going to save money. |
| Andre: So what you are telling me is that we have to do it now. Can't we do it next year? |
| Daan: You are understanding it correctly, but next year is going to be more expensive. |
| Andre: Let me think about it and I will let you know by tomorrow. |
| Daan: No problem. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: It seems some Afrikaners are very apologetic about their actions when they make a mistake. Do you think that’s common? |
| Chesney: I think so. It’s common to see someone apologizing, even if it’s just a small mistake. And the other will be simply saying Dis okay, meaning “that’s okay,” if it’s not a big mistake. |
| Becky: I see. I think that’s why it’s not common to see someone being very insistent on the request. |
| Chesney: That’s also true. We think it’s rude to keep calling someone to make less urgent requests. We feel it’s a bit too much. |
| Becky: So it’s important to know what is enough or appropriate. |
| Chesney: That’s right. Just try to be polite, maybe even more than you need to be. Then, life will go much easier in South Africa. |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Chesney: nogsteeds [natural native speed] |
| Becky: still |
| Chesney: nogsteeds [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: nogsteeds [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Chesney: kontrak [natural native speed] |
| Becky: contract |
| Chesney: kontrak [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: kontrak [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Chesney: kos [natural native speed] |
| Becky: cost |
| Chesney: kos [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: kos [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Chesney: termyn [natural native speed] |
| Becky: term |
| Chesney: termyn [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: termyn [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Chesney: volgende [natural native speed] |
| Becky: next |
| Chesney: volgende [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: volgende [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Chesney: duur [natural native speed] |
| Becky: expensive |
| Chesney: duur [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: duur [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Chesney: verstaan [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to understand |
| Chesney: verstaan [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: verstaan [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And last... |
| Chesney: dink [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to think |
| Chesney: dink [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: dink [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Chesney: geld kos |
| Becky: meaning "to cost money." |
| Chesney: First, we have the word geld, meaning “money.” Then we have kos, which means “to cost.” |
| Becky: In the dialogue, it was used in the phrase “it is going to cost more money to change it.” |
| Chesney: Right. We heard Dit gaan meer geld kos om dit te verander. You can also say, Die nuwe rekenaars het die besigheid baie geld gekos. |
| Becky: That means "The new computers cost the company lots of money." And I heard that our original phrase can also mean “food money” or “the money for food.” |
| Chesney: Yes, depending on the context, it can mean that. For example, someone can say Ma ek het geld vir kos nodig. |
| Becky: And it means “Mom I need money for food.” |
| Becky: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Chesney: daaroor dink |
| Becky: meaning "think about it." |
| Chesney: daaroor means “about,” and dink is the verb meaning “to think.” |
| Becky: You can use this phrase when you need to take your time about something serious. |
| Chesney: Or, when you don’t want to give an answer, you can use this phrase to make an excuse. |
| Becky: Should it only be used in a formal situation? |
| Chesney: No, it can be used in both situations. |
| Becky: I see. Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Chesney: Sure. For example, you can say, Ek sal daaroor dink en vir jou laat weet. |
| Becky: ...which means "I will think about it and let you know." |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson, first you'll learn how to ask for specification, clarification, and confirmation. Then, we’ll give you some tips about articles. We’re going to introduce some set phrases that you can use for these situations. |
| Chesney: Let’s start with the phrases to ask for specification. Wat bedoel jy met…? |
| Becky: It means “What do you mean with something?” When you’re not sure what the other person means by something, you can use this phrase. Next? |
| Chesney: Kan jy dit in meer details beskryf asseblief? |
| Becky: “Can you please describe it in more detail?” I think it is commonly used when you negotiate with someone else or need to make things clear before making a decision. In some specific situations, like you’re about to set up a contract, you can say... |
| Chesney: Kan jy uitbrei op die kontrak? |
| Becky: It means “Can you talk a bit more about the contract?” By the way, what if everything seems to be okay? |
| Chesney: In that case, you can say, Goed, ek dink ek verstaan nou alles. |
| Becky: Meaning “Good I think I understand everything now.” And Chesney, we mentioned that we’re going to cover some tips about articles in Afrikaans. |
| Chesney: Right. I wanted to talk more about the indefinite small N article and the definite article. |
| Becky: Let’s see the first one. I remember some listeners left a comment about the function of this indefinite article. First, what is it? |
| Chesney: The article ‘n, which is written in lowercase, can mean something like “a” and “an” in English. It’s an abbreviation for the words een and one. |
| Becky: So as many of our listeners know when there’s a single item, we can use this one. But I heard that there’s a common mistake with this article. |
| Chesney: Right, when it’s placed at the very beginning of a sentence, some of our listeners wrote the article uppercase. But no matter where this article is placed, you should write it in lowercase. Always. |
| Becky: So, sentences can start in lowercase. |
| Chesney: Only when it starts with this article. Instead, you need to make the second word, which is placed right after the article, start with an uppercase letter. |
| Becky: I see. What about the definite article? |
| Chesney: Die is the definite article. It means “the” or “this,” depending on the context. So when you listen to a sentence using this article, check to see if it means “the” or “this.” |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Chesney: Baai. |
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