Learn how to make simple complaints
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dana: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RomanianPod101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 17 - Why Isn't Your Romanian TV Working? Dana Here. |
| Mihai: Bună. I'm Mihai. |
| Dana: In this lesson, you’ll learn some expressions used to make simple complaints. The conversation takes place over the phone. |
| Mihai: It's between Mihai and a salesperson. |
| Dana: The speakers are strangers in a customer service context; therefore, they will speak formal Romanian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Vânzătoare: Bună ziua, cu ce vă pot ajuta? |
| Mihai: Am o problemă. Am cumpărat acest televizor de aici, dar imaginea este neclară. |
| Vânzătoare: Aveți antenă? |
| Mihai: Nu, este 2017. Puteți să îl reparați? |
| Vânzătoare: Ați încercat să reglați antena? |
| Mihai: V-am spus că nu am antenă. |
| Vânzătoare: Înțeleg... atunci vom trimite un inginer să îl verifice. |
| Mihai: Mulțumesc. Voi aștepta. |
| Dana: Listen to the conversation one more time slowly. |
| Vânzătoare: Bună ziua, cu ce vă pot ajuta? |
| Mihai: Am o problemă. Am cumpărat acest televizor de aici, dar imaginea este neclară. |
| Vânzătoare: Aveți antenă? |
| Mihai: Nu, este 2017. Puteți să îl reparați? |
| Vânzătoare: Ați încercat să reglați antena? |
| Mihai: V-am spus că nu am antenă. |
| Vânzătoare: Înțeleg... atunci vom trimite un inginer să îl verifice. |
| Mihai: Mulțumesc. Voi aștepta. |
| Dana: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Salesperson: Hello, how can I help you? |
| Mihai: I have a problem. I bought this TV set from here, but the image is blurry. |
| Salesperson: Do you have an antenna? |
| Mihai: No, it's 2017. Can you fix it? |
| Salesperson: Have you tried adjusting the antenna? |
| Mihai: I told you I don't have an antenna. |
| Salesperson: I see... Then we'll send an engineer to check it. |
| Mihai: Thank you. I will wait. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Dana: That salesperson was pretty fixed on that antenna. |
| Mihai: Right? Despite that, Romania has a history of contributing to the world’s development. |
| Dana: Can you give us a couple of examples? |
| Mihai: Traian Vuia was one of the first people to make an airplane run on its own power engine. |
| Dana: I heard that the properties of insulin were discovered by a Romanian scientist. |
| Mihai: That’s right, Nicolae Paulescu. |
| Dana: What about more recent times? Is Romania still contributing to the world in such a big way? |
| Mihai: There aren’t many opportunities in Romania for educated and talented people, so many move abroad. |
| Dana: That’s a big loss for Romania. |
| Mihai: It is. IT is a big field for Romanians, as 100,000 IT specialists work for Romanian and international companies. |
| Dana: Finally, how do we say “cutting-edge technology” in Romanian? |
| Mihai: Tehnologie ultimul răcnet |
| Dana: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Dana: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Mihai: problemă [natural native speed] |
| Dana: problem |
| Mihai: problemă[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: problemă [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have.. |
| Mihai: televizor [natural native speed] |
| Dana: TV set |
| Mihai: televizor[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: televizor [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have.. |
| Mihai: imagine [natural native speed] |
| Dana: image |
| Mihai: imagine[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: imagine [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have.. |
| Mihai: neclar [natural native speed] |
| Dana: blurry |
| Mihai: neclar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: neclar [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have.. |
| Mihai: antenă [natural native speed] |
| Dana: antenna |
| Mihai: antenă[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: antenă [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have.. |
| Mihai: a repara [natural native speed] |
| Dana: to repair |
| Mihai: a repara[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: a repara [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have.. |
| Mihai: atunci [natural native speed] |
| Dana: then |
| Mihai: atunci[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: atunci [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have.. |
| Mihai: inginer [natural native speed] |
| Dana: engineer |
| Mihai: inginer[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: inginer [natural native speed] |
| Dana: And lastly.. |
| Mihai: a aștepta [natural native speed] |
| Dana: to wait |
| Mihai: a aștepta[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: a aștepta [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Dana: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Mihai: Am o problemă |
| Dana: Meaning "I have a problem" |
| Dana: Can you tell us more about this phrase, Mihai? |
| Mihai: First is Am, which is the present tense form, first person singular of the verb a avea. |
| Dana: Meaning “to have.” |
| Mihai: Next is the indefinite article o, and finally problemă. |
| Dana: This is a feminine singular noun meaning “problem.” |
| Mihai: You can use this phrase to introduce that you have a problem. |
| Dana: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say.. Am o problemă cu cablul de internet. |
| Dana: ..which means "I have a problem with the internet cable." |
| Dana: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Mihai: Atunci. |
| Dana: Meaning "Then,” or “In that case," |
| Dana: This is an adverb. |
| Mihai: You can use it to show that an action happens because of a previous action. |
| Dana: This previous action will have already been raised in the conversation. |
| Mihai: Yes, that’s right. |
| Dana: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say.. Atunci, veniți dumneavoastră la noi. |
| Dana: .. which means "Then, you come to us." |
| Dana: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Dana: In this lesson, you'll learn some expressions used to make simple complaints. |
| Dana: First, let’s look at how to use the word “unacceptable.” |
| Mihai: In Romanian, this is Inacceptabil. The antonym is acceptabil. |
| Dana: “Acceptable.” How do we use “unacceptable” in a sentence? |
| Mihai: We can say este inacceptabil să.... |
| Dana: “It’s unacceptable to…” |
| Mihai: We use this only in third person singular, and it’s then usually followed by a verb in conjunctive. |
| Dana: It’s often used to complain about bad service or behaviour, so let’s hear it in some sentences. |
| Mihai: Este inacceptabil să îmi aduceți supa rece. |
| Dana: “It is unacceptable to bring me the soup cold.” |
| Mihai: Este inacceptabil să plătesc dublu pentru un serviciu care nici nu merge. |
| Dana: “It is unacceptable to pay twice for a service that does not even work.” How can we politely ask for an issue to be fixed? |
| Mihai: First, you should remember to use polite personal pronouns. |
| Dana: There are a table of these in the lesson notes. |
| Mihai: Also, use the introductory verb a ruga. |
| Dana: “To ask…” |
| Mihai: You can use Vă rog, meaning “please.” For example Vă rog respectuos să ne rezolvați cererea în cel mult 3 zile. |
| Dana: “I ask you politely to solve our request in no more than 3 days.” |
| Mihai: To complain, we use the verb a se plânge. |
| Dana: “To complain.” There is a full conjugation chart for this verb in the lesson notes. For now, though, let’s hear how we can use it to say “I complained…” |
| Mihai: eu m-am plâns |
| Dana: How about, “I will be complaining…?” |
| Mihai: (eu) mă voi plânge |
| Dana: Finally, how about a sentence? |
| Mihai: Ne plângem de mult de faptul că nu merge căldura în apartament. |
| Dana: “We complained for a long time about the fact that the heating system in our apartment does not work.” |
Outro |
| Dana: 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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