Learn how to reject things
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RomanianPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner Season 1 Lesson 21 - Taking a Day Trip in Romania. Becky here. |
| Mihai: Bună. I'm Mihai. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn expressions of rejection. The conversation takes place in a living room. |
| Mihai: It's between Mihai and Masanobu. |
| Becky: The speakers are friends; therefore, they’ll speak informal Romanian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Mihai: Mă gândesc să mergem într-o excursie cu mașina la mare. |
| Masanobu: Îmi place ideea. Când? |
| Mihai: Sâmbata asta. Vine și Andreea și plecăm dimineața la prima oră. |
| Masanobu: Scuze, sâmbăta asta nu pot, am cursuri de pilotaj. |
| Masanobu: Nu putem să mergem sâmbăta viitoare? |
| Mihai: Săptămâna viitoare, da? Ba da. |
| Masanobu: Ok, atunci așa rămâne. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Mihai: Mă gândesc să mergem într-o excursie cu mașina la mare. |
| Masanobu: Îmi place ideea. Când? |
| Mihai: Sâmbata asta. Vine și Andreea și plecăm dimineața la prima oră. |
| Masanobu: Scuze, sâmbăta asta nu pot, am cursuri de pilotaj. |
| Masanobu: Nu putem să mergem sâmbăta viitoare? |
| Mihai: Săptămâna viitoare, da? Ba da. |
| Masanobu: Ok, atunci așa rămâne. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Mihai: I'm thinking of going on a trip by car to the seaside. |
| Masanobu: I like the idea. When? |
| Mihai: This Saturday. Andreea is coming too, and we're leaving first thing in the morning. |
| Masanobu: Sorry, I can't this Saturday; I have flying lessons. |
| Masanobu: Can't we go next Saturday? |
| Mihai: Next week, right? Yes we can. |
| Masanobu: Ok, then it's settled. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: A trip to the seaside sounds good. |
| Mihai: Right? It sounds nice and relaxing. |
| Becky: It was nice of them to invite Masanobu, even though he’s busy. |
| Mihai: Although Romanians separate work and their personal lives, sometimes the two mix and work colleagues can become personal friends. |
| Becky: And if you’re friends, maybe you’ll get invited to gatherings like this? |
| Mihai: That’s right. It’s not unusual for colleagues who become friends to go out on weekends together. |
| Becky: Masanobu couldn’t make the date he was asked about, but he seemed to have a good reason. |
| Mihai: It can be taken as an insult if you reject without a good reason. |
| Becky: So you should always give a reason if you say no? |
| Mihai: Yes, you should. Romanians value honesty, so if you can’t go, just say why. |
| Becky: It sounds like Romanians really consider who they invite and expect people to say yes. |
| Mihai: Yes, you don’t get invites out of courtesy or just to be polite in Romania, other than in really formal situations. |
| Becky: So if someone invites you, you know that they really want you there. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Mihai: excursie [natural native speed] |
| Becky: trip |
| Mihai: excursie [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: excursie [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: mașină [natural native speed] |
| Becky: car; machine |
| Mihai: mașină [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: mașină [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: mare [natural native speed] |
| Becky: sea, seaside |
| Mihai: mare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: mare [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: oră [natural native speed] |
| Becky: hour |
| Mihai: oră [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: oră [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: ba da [natural native speed] |
| Becky: yes (as an answer to a negative clause) |
| Mihai: ba da [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: ba da [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And last... |
| Mihai: așa [natural native speed] |
| Becky: so, like that |
| Mihai: așa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: așa [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 phrase is... |
| Mihai: la mare |
| Becky: meaning "to the seaside." What can you tell us about this phrase? |
| Mihai: La is an adverb of place. It means “at.” |
| Becky: And the second word means “sea.” |
| Mihai: Yes, that’s mare. |
| Becky: You can use this phrase to say that your destination is the seaside. |
| Mihai: Yes, it’s used to describe a destination or travel. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say, Ei merg la mare în fiecare an. |
| Becky: ...which means "They go to the seaside every year." |
| Becky: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Mihai: la prima oră |
| Becky: meaning "first thing in the morning." We just heard the first word in the last example, but can you explain the others? |
| Mihai: Sure. Prima is “first” in feminine, and the second word, oră, means “hours.” |
| Becky: Altogether, it literally means “at the first hour.” |
| Mihai: It can be used to talk about something that you do just after waking up. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say, Mă ocup de aceasta mâine la prima oră. |
| Becky: ...which means "I'll take care of this first thing tomorrow." |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn about expressions of rejection. |
| Becky: We said earlier that you shouldn’t really reject invitations, but if you do, you should do it in the right way. |
| Mihai: One helpful phrase is îmi cer scuze. This is one of the most polite expressions used in formal speech. |
| Becky: It’s literally “I ask for apologies,” but can be translated to “I’m sorry.” |
| Mihai: It’s common to follow îmi cer scuze with dar, meaning “but,” before giving your reason. |
| Becky: But, you don’t have to use “but.” Let’s hear an example sentence. |
| Mihai: Îmi cer scuze, dar am rău de înalțime. |
| Becky: “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid of heights.” |
| Mihai: Îmi cer scuze, nu am carnet de conducere. |
| Becky: “I’m sorry, I don’t have a driving licence.” How do we say “sorry” in informal speech? |
| Mihai: You still use scuze, but leave out the îmi cer. |
| Becky: It’s similar to just saying “sorry” instead of “I’m sorry.” |
| Mihai: Again, you can use this with or without dar. |
| Becky: Some more examples please, Mihai! |
| Mihai: Scuze, dar nu pot veni săptămâna viitoare. |
| Becky: “Sorry, but I can’t come next week.” |
| Mihai: Scuze, nu știu cum se face. |
| Becky: “Sorry, I don’t know how it’s done.” Okay, so we’ve rejected the invitation because we’re busy. How do we suggest a new time when we aren’t busy? |
| Mihai: The most useful phrase in such scenarios is nu putem să? |
| Becky: This means “can’t we?” |
| Mihai: You then follow nu putem să with a verb and an adverb of time. |
| Becky: Let’s finish the lesson with some examples. |
| Mihai: Nu putem să mergem peste trei zile? |
| Becky: “Can’t we go in three days?” |
| Mihai: Nu putem să plecăm mai devreme? |
| Becky: “Can’t we leave earlier?” |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Mihai: La revedere. |
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