Learn how to make a reservation at a restaurant
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to DutchPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 9 - Booking a Table at a Dutch Restaurant. Eric here. |
| Jacob: Hallo. I'm Jacob. |
| Eric: In this lesson you'll learn how to make a reservation at a restaurant. The conversation takes place over the telephone. |
| Jacob: It's between Mark and Mario. |
| Eric: The speakers are a client and receptionist, so they’ll use formal Dutch. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Mario: Goedemiddag Restaurant PicoBello, wat kan ik voor u doen? |
| Mark: Goedemiddag, mijn naam is Mark, ik wil graag reserveren voor vanavond. |
| Mario: Geen probleem meneer. Voor hoeveel personen? |
| Mark: We zijn met zes personen. |
| Mario: Wilt u roken of niet-roken? |
| Mark: Niet-roken graag, en er zijn twee vegetariërs bij. |
| Mario: Hoe laat wilt u komen? |
| Mark: Om acht uur graag. |
| Mario: Geen probleem, tot vanavond meneer! |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Mario: Good afternoon, this is restaurant PicoBello. How can I help you? |
| Mark: Good afternoon, my name is Mark. I'd like to make a reservation for tonight. |
| Mario: No problem sir. How many people will there be in your party? |
| Mark: There'll be six of us. |
| Mario: Would you like smoking or non-smoking? |
| Mark: Non-smoking please, and there will be two vegetarians. |
| Mario: Very well, and at what time would you like to come? |
| Mark: Eight o'clock, please. |
| Mario: No problem, sir. See you tonight. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Jacob, what’s a common way of celebrating in Holland? |
| Jacob: I’d say having dinner together is the typical way to celebrate. Going out to dinner is also generally what you do to get to know other people better when you meet them for the first time. |
| Eric: And once people get to know each other a little better, asking someone over for dinner becomes common, right? |
| Jacob: Yes, that’s right; plus there's always time for a few drinks of course. |
| Eric: I see. Is there anything that we need to know if we're invited to dinner? |
| Jacob: When you’re invited to someone's home, always bring something, like a bottle of wine, some flowers, or both. Coming empty-handed would be considered rude. |
| 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: reserveren [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to reserve |
| Jacob: re-ser-ver-en [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: reserveren [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: vanavond [natural native speed] |
| Eric: tonight |
| Jacob: van-a-vond [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: vanavond [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: probleem [natural native speed] |
| Eric: problem |
| Jacob: pro-bleem [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: probleem [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: persoon [natural native speed] |
| Eric: person |
| Jacob: per-soon [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: persoon [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: roken [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to smoke |
| Jacob: ro-ken [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: roken [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: vegetariër [natural native speed] |
| Eric: vegetarian |
| Jacob: ve-ge-ta-riër [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: vegetariër [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Jacob: kan [natural native speed] |
| Eric: can, to be able to |
| Jacob: kan [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: kan [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: Wat kan ik voor u doen? |
| Eric: meaning "What can I do for you?" This is a polite and formal way to ask how one can be of service. In the dialogue, the waiter uses very formal Dutch, right? |
| Jacob: Yes. He used a lot of meneer, which means “sir.” When you’re in a formal restaurant, you’ll also hear the phrase Wat kan ik voor u doen? quite often. |
| Eric: Again, it means "What can I do for you?" This expression can also be used in other situations, right? |
| Jacob: That’s right. This is a common phrase that you’ll hear in the service industry, so make sure you know what it means. You can also use this phrase when you want to politely offer to do a favor for someone else. |
| Eric: For example, when your supervisor looks sick, you can say... |
| Jacob: Je bent ziek? Wat kan ik voor je doen? |
| Eric: Which means "You're ill? What can I do for you?" Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Jacob: Wilt u roken of niet-roken? |
| Eric: meaning "Would you like smoking or non-smoking?" |
| Jacob: Here we have two words, roken for “smoking” and niet-roken for “non-smoking.” |
| Eric: This is a very common line that can be used in both formal and informal situations, but it seems like you’ll hear it less and less these days. |
| Jacob: That’s right. The phrase is disappearing because smoking sections are also disappearing. |
| Eric: But still, if you’re staying at a hotel or taking a train with a smoking area and the staff want to check your preferences, you’ll hear this phrase. For example.. |
| Jacob: Wilt u in de trein roken of niet-roken? |
| Eric: "Would you like a smoking or non-smoking section in the train?" Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson you’ll learn how to make a reservation at a restaurant. |
| Jacob: First, let’s start with making a reservation over the phone. Although nowadays most things can be reserved on the Internet, there are still some restaurants that only accept reservations by phone. |
| Eric: So let’s say I call a restaurant and a staff member answers the phone. What should I say? |
| Jacob: Your name is Eric, so you can say.. Goedemiddag, mijn naam is Eric. Ik wil graag reserveren. |
| Eric: “Good afternoon, my name is Eric. I’d like to make a reservation.” You should know that in Holland it's considered rude not to mention your name when calling or when picking up the phone, so always start by introducing yourself. In most cases, once the phone has been answered, the first thing you say is.. |
| Jacob: Mijn naam is |
| Eric: ...which means “My name is …” and then state your name. |
| Jacob: You can also use the phrase U spreekt met ... which literally means “You’re talking to…” and then your name. |
| Eric: Then we have.. |
| Jacob: ik wil graag reserveren. |
| Eric: which means “I’d like to make a reservation.” |
| Jacob: If you want to make it more specific, for example, you want to make a reservation for tonight, you can say.. Ik wil graag reserveren voor vanavond. |
| Eric: “I’d like to make a reservation for tonight.” |
| Jacob: voor vanavond means “for tonight.” You can add it to the end of the sentence. |
| Eric: After that, what can we say in Dutch? |
| Jacob: The staff will respond and ask for all the details. Hoeveel personen? |
| Eric: “How many people?” |
| Jacob: or Hoe laat wilt u eten? |
| Eric: “What time would you like to eat?” |
| Jacob: These require only a simple answer, for example, twee personen, |
| Eric: “two people,” |
| Jacob: or 7 uur, |
| Eric: “7 o’clock.” Jacob, can you say the questions once again to make sure our listeners understand? |
| Jacob: Sure. Once again, Hoeveel personen? |
| Eric: “How many people?” |
| Jacob: and Hoe laat wilt u eten? |
| Eric: “What time would you like to eat?” |
| Jacob: After you’ve said how many people you have in your group, you can also provide some extra information by saying.. Er zijn twee vegetariërs bij. |
| Eric: “There will be two vegetarians.” |
| Jacob: Here, we have Er zijn and bij. It means “there will be someone, or something, in the group.” |
| Eric: This is a current Dutch expression that expresses that within a group or set of goods, there will be something of a certain type. |
| Jacob: Right. So if you have two vegetarians in your group it’s better to say Er zijn and bij. |
| Eric: This way, you’re making sure the restaurant knows that they're a part of the group, not that all the members in the group are vegetarians. |
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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