Learn how to complain about public transport
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to DutchPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 20 - Do the Trains Run on Time in the Netherlands? Eric here. |
| Jacob: Hallo. I'm Jacob. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to make a complaint and demand an explanation. The conversation takes place on a train. |
| Jacob: It’s between Burt, a passenger, and Harry, the ticket-collector. |
| Eric: The speakers are both angry and have switched to informal Dutch. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Burt: Hé! Waarom is de trein opeens gestopt? |
| Harry: Dat weet ik niet! |
| Burt: Dat is al de derde keer deze week. Kunnen jullie daar niets aan doen? |
| Harry: Ik niet nee, ik knip alleen maar kaartjes. |
| Burt: Ja, maar ik kom weer te laat op mijn werk! |
| Harry: Kan ik niets tegen doen. Als je een klacht hebt, moet je naar het klachtenbureau. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Burt: Hey! Why has the train suddenly stopped? |
| Harry: I don't know! |
| Burt: That's already the third time this week! Can't you do anything about it? |
| Harry: Not me, no. I just punch holes in the tickets. |
| Burt: Yes, but I'll be late for work again. |
| Harry: I can't do anything about that. If you have a complaint, go to the complaints department. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Jacob, how can people travel between big cities in Holland? |
| Jacob: It's really easy. There are good train connections and the timetables are easy to read, though the trains don’t always run on time. |
| Eric: And what about travelling within big cities? |
| Jacob: Within the cities there are trams, buses, and in some places subways. |
| Eric: And in rural areas? |
| Jacob: Not all rural areas have trains, but they do all have buses. You can ask a local which line or bus to take to get to a certain destination. That shouldn’t be a problem, since most Dutch people speak reasonable English. |
| Eric: Good to know. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Jacob: waarom [natural native speed] |
| Eric: why |
| Jacob: waar-om [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: waarom [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: trein [natural native speed] |
| Eric: train |
| Jacob: trein [slowly] |
| Jacob: trein [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: opeens [natural native speed] |
| Eric: suddenly |
| Jacob: op-eens [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: opeens [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: stoppen [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to stop |
| Jacob: stop-pen [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: stoppen [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: klacht [natural native speed] |
| Eric: complaint |
| Jacob: klacht [slowly] |
| Jacob: klacht [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: derde [natural native speed] |
| Eric: third |
| Jacob: der-de [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: derde [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: keer [natural native speed] |
| Eric: time |
| Jacob: keer [slowly] |
| Jacob: keer [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: niets [natural native speed] |
| Eric: nothing |
| Jacob: niets [slowly] |
| Jacob: niets [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: klachtenbureau [natural native speed] |
| Eric: complaints department |
| Jacob: klacht-en-bu-reau [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: klachtenbureau [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Jacob: laat [natural native speed] |
| Eric: late |
| Jacob: laat [slowly] |
| Jacob: laat [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Jacob: Ik vind het vervelend om te laat te zijn. |
| Eric: which means “I hate being late.” Let's break down this phrase to see the meaning of each word. |
| Jacob: Sure. You can use the word vervelend when you think that something or someone is unpleasant, or when something makes you feel uncomfortable. |
| Eric: In our phrase, it’s translated as “to hate.” |
| Jacob: Right. It may sound a bit strong, but in this case it’s completely appropriate. Te laat zijn means “to be late,” and the word om is used to make the sentence grammatically correct, but it can’t be translated. Ik vind het vervelend om te laat te zijn. |
| Eric: “I hate being late.” Can you give us an example using the word for “unpleasant”? |
| Jacob: Dit is een heel vervelende situatie. |
| Eric: ..which means “This is a very unpleasant situation.” Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Jacob: Ik krijg opeens heel veel honger. |
| Eric: which means “I'm suddenly getting very hungry.” |
| Jacob: Krijgen means “to receive,” so literally ik krijg honger means “I receive hunger.” And opeens means “suddenly,” “unexpectedly,” or “all of a sudden.” For example, you can say.. Hij stond opeens op en ging weg. |
| Eric: .. which means “All of a sudden he got up and left.” Okay, what's the last phrase? |
| Jacob: Ik heb rugklachten. |
| Eric: which means “I've got problems with my back.” |
| Jacob: A klacht is a complaint, but this word is often used to express a medical condition. Therefore, Ik heb rugklachten means “I have back problems.” |
| Eric: This doesn't mean you have a backache at that moment, just that you have problems with your back, or that you have a weak back. Jacob, can you use this word to talk about a heart condition? |
| Jacob: Yes. You can say...ik heb hartklachten. You can also use klacht to complain about something that went wrong, like a train stopping at the wrong place. |
| Eric: For example..? |
| Jacob: Soms heet het klachtenbureau 'servicebalie'. |
| Eric: .. which means “Sometimes the complaints department is called the “service desk.” Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to make a complaint and demand an explanation. In our dialogue, Burt said… |
| Jacob: Hé! Waarom is de trein opeens gestopt? |
| Eric: “Hey! Why has the train suddenly stopped?”Jacob, let's break down this phrase to see the meaning of each word. |
| Jacob: Sure. First we have hé! You can use it to express your surprise, joy, irritation, or even anger. |
| Eric: The way you say it and the words that follow it will make it clear how you feel. |
| Jacob: For example..Hé! Wat leuk je te zien. |
| Eric: “Hey! It’s nice to see you” |
| Jacob: Hé! Mijn fiets is weg. |
| Eric: “Hey! My bike is gone.” |
| Jacob: Hé! Wil je daar mee stoppen. |
| Eric: “Hey! Can you stop that?” As you can see from the examples, this word can be used in a variety of circumstances. |
| Jacob: Then we have De trein is gestopt, |
| Eric: which means “The train has stopped.” |
| Jacob: The infinitive of this verb is stoppen, meaning “to stop.” For a lot of verbs in Dutch, you make the past participle with the prefix ge-. gestopt |
| Eric: So, listeners, please compare... |
| Jacob: De trein stopt, “the train stops” and De trein is gestopt, “the train has stopped.” |
| Eric: Okay, and last word is… |
| Jacob: Opeens. It can mean “suddenly” or “unexpectedly” or “all of sudden.” |
| Eric: Next, in the dialogue we heard the phrase… |
| Jacob: Dat is al de derde keer deze week. Kunnen jullie daar niets aan doen? |
| Eric: “That's already the third time this week! Can't you do anything about it?” |
| Jacob: Here we have the word al, which means “already.” |
| Eric: Here, it’s used to express that three unexpected stops in a week is a bit too much. |
| Jacob: Right. So, basically, you can use al to show your irritation towards something. However, it doesn’t always express irritation. |
| Eric: For example, you can say… |
| Jacob: Ik ben al klaar! |
| Eric: “I am already finished!” |
| Jacob: Hè? Nu al? |
| Eric: “Huh? Already?” Great! And our last phrase for this lesson is... |
| Jacob: Kan ik niets tegen doen. Als je een klacht hebt, moet je naar het klachtenbureau. |
| Eric: which means “I can't do anything about that. If you have a complaint, go to the complaints department.” |
| Jacob: Kan ik niets tegen doen, “Can’t do anything about that.” |
| Eric: It’s a fairly informal phrase, so you can't use it in formal situations. |
| Jacob: The same goes for the verb moet, “to have to,” which is used in moet je naar het klachtenbureau. |
| Eric: Is there a more formal and polite way of saying this phrase? |
| Jacob: Yes. You can say... neemt u dan alstublieft contact op met het klachtenbureau, which translates in English as “please contact the complaints department.” |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Jacob: Tot ziens! |
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