Hover a line for its translation; hover a word for its meaning. Tap 🔊 to hear it.
Generate a brand-new dialog on any topic, using this lesson's 0 vocab words — plus any words you add below.
Sign in to generate dialogues. It needs a pass — the first ten lessons of every course are free either way.
They will tell you that you look tired
German conversation is direct in a way that can land oddly on an English-speaking ear. Du siehst müde aus — you look tired — is a normal thing to say to a colleague, meant as concern rather than criticism. Someone will tell you your idea will not work, in those words, and consider it a contribution rather than an attack. Commenting that a friend has lost weight is ordinary and usually meant as a compliment. None of this is rudeness; the underlying assumption is that saying what you think is a form of respect, and that hedging wastes the other person's time. The mirror image catches Germans out abroad, where "that's interesting" or "we should get coffee sometime" is taken literally. Two things help. First, criticism of an idea is genuinely not criticism of you. Second, if you soften everything the way English does — "I was maybe wondering if possibly" — the point may simply not arrive. Say the thing.