Beziehungen und Umgang mit anderen Menschen

• Hello / Good morning / Good afternoon
• Pleased / Nice to meet you, I'm...
• Welcome to...
• Good / Nice to see you again.
• Let me help you with your case / coat.
• Please follow me. We're on the ... floor.

• Did you have a good flight / trip?
• How was your flight / trip?
• Did you have any problems finding us?
• Is this your first time in Vienna / Austria / ...?
• Where are you staying?
• Is everything OK with your hotel / accommodation?

• This is ...
• This part of the process is called ...

• Over here/there is ...
• This is where ...

• As you can see, ...
• If you look at ... 

First ... second ... then ... after that ... and finally ...

• OK, let's move to ... 
• I'm now going to show you ...
• And I'm now going to talk a little about ...
• OK, that's everything about ...

• Please follow me.
• Please mind your head.

Replies:

• Can I offer you anything to drink? Coffee, tea, water?
• What would you like? We've got orange juice, sparkling water and champagne.
• Can I top up your drink?
• What are you having?
• Please help yourselves to the buffet.
• You must be hungry after your long trip. Shall we go and get a bite to eat before the presentation?
• We've booked a table at ... for eight o'clock. We'll finish up at about six, so that you'll have plenty of time to freshen up at your hotel beforehand.
• I'll pick you up at 7.30 for dinner, ok?

Personal questions

Everyday questions

Time questions

Short responses

Enthusiastic responses

Disappointed responses

Positive comments

• It was nice meeting you. / Nice to have met you.
• It was good to see you again.
• It was a very useful (first) meeting.
• It's been great working with you.
• Thanks for everything.

Reference to future

• I'll send you an email / a proposal when I get back.
• See you again next...
• Hope to see you soon.
• I look forward to seeing you next month.

Comment on journey

• (Have a) Safe journey.
• Have a good trip home / back.

Final goodbye

• Goodbye.
• Take care!

Actually, it’s 19 (nineTEEN), not 90 (NINEty) (careful ofword stress!)

I’m sorry, but that’s not (quite) right (then say what IS right!)

• Try to speak clearly and don't be afraid to speak more slowly than normal.
• Think about what you want to say before calling.
• Don't be afraid to ask your caller to repeat themselves if you don't understand.

If the worst comes to the worst – Deutsch reden! That will stop the most talkative native speaker.

Organising a meeting

I am writing to arrange our next meeting to discuss … . I would propose 1 – 4 p.m. on 15 January in/at (venue). Please let me know if these times are convenient. 

• What sort of time would suit you?
• Is 3 pm a good time for you?
• If possible, I'd like to meet in the morning.
• How does 2pm sound to you?

Don't confuse marriage (Ehe) and wedding (Hochzeit)! 

If a woman is pregnant, don't say, "She's getting a baby" but "She's having / expecting a baby"!

The greetings "good morning" and "hello" are neutral, whereas "good afternoon" and "good evening" are considered rather formal.

In Anglo-American contexts, people tend to be on first-name terms very quickly. This does not mean, however, that they are close friends!

When talking your qualifications, don't confuse education (=what you get at school/university) and training (more practical, e.g. an apprenticeship)! Of course, sometimes the two overlap as there are various types of vocational schools (Berufsschulen) and Universities of Applied Science (Fachhochschulen) that offer very practical courses.

Asking questions is a good way to get a visitor to open up and start talking. However, asking too many questions might make you come across as a bit pushy. You should concentrate on questions that keep the conversation flowing. There should be a natural balance between questions and statements so don't forget to share some information about yourself!

Just answering with "yes" or "no" is considered impolite in English. The minimum is the so-called short answer, which is, e.g., "Yes, I did." or "No, he isn't." Use the same auxiliary (except sometimes in case of TO BE) as for questions.

Some topics are off limits in some countries or cultures, such as death, illnesses or someone's income - stick to topics that are "safe"!

Please note the difference between these two questions:

How was the party? (= tell me your opinion of it)

What (NOT how!) was the party like? (= describe it to me)

Careful of tense usage! We say how longwehave been staying or how oftenwe’ve been TO a certain place (e.g. I’vebeen to Vienna before); as soon as we talk about a specific situation in the past, we use the past tense (e.g. I first came two years ago and really enjoyed my stay). If you use the wrong tense, you could confuse others!

When you are talking to someone, it is important to show them you are listening. You can do so by using sounds like “mmm” and “uh huh”, or words such as “OK”, “right”, “sure”, or “I see”. Such feedback is slightly more frequent among English than among German speakers.

Don’t use TOO in negative statements when agreeing with someone. E.g. don’t say, “I don’t like veal, too” but “I don’t like veal EITHER”.

In a foreign language, it is very easy to “put one’s foot in one’s mouth” (= ins Fettnäpfchen treten). One such pitfall would be the use of expletives (such as “Sh…” or “F…”), which is common in German but should be avoided at all cost in English – so no four-letter words please!

Moreover, the German word “Rückseite” is translated with the English “back”. You should only use “backside” if you wish to refer to the part of someone’s anatomy they usually sit on – because this is the ONLY meaning of the word! The word “bottom”, on the other hand, is also used in other contexts, e.g. “the bottom of the hill” or “the bottom of the sea.”

NOT “my name is” but always “this is”

NEVER “Bond James” but always “James Bond”

CAREFUL of the pronunciation of Ms [Miz]!

Often, people don’t say their names but just “Hello?”, especially on their mobile phones.

• Say digits singly, except: double (55… double five), triple (555… triple five); 0… zero / oh
• Use the international (NATO) spelling alphabet!
• Saying email addresses on the phone:

@ ... is pronounced 'at'

/  … is "forward slash"

-  … is called a "hyphen" (NOT a “minus”!)

_              …  is an "underscore"

Don’t say, “I don’t understand you”, it’s rude!

To spell e.g. a name, you should say “A AS IN Alpha” or A FOR Alpha” (not “A like Alpha” as you would in German!)

English punctuation rules are quite different from those in German, especially the use of the comma – careful!

If you don't know the person, you'll need to give some background information about yourself or your company.