Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

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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