The Lernen to Talk Show: Episode 34 – Attac!

Episode 34 completes the second trilogy in Lernen to Talk Show history. As you remember, the holiday season was celebrated in these parts with a series on Weihnachtsmarkts. Spring 2012 will always be remembered for its Roche & Böhmerman arc*. Episode 31 took you behind the scenes, to the building of the set. Episode 33 featured R&B’s famous deadpan speaker, and now Episode 34 brings you to the beloved table itself, to speak with an esteemed guest from the show: Attac’s one and only Jutta Sunderman! She graciously agreed to talk to me about her life as a political activist, and her current quest to chase shady business tactics out of the German finance system. I also get a chance to ask for her opinion of my good ol’ arch-nemesis: Sparkasse.

0:46 – Yeeaaaahhh

1:01 – See for yourself how bund it was by following this link! It was a special April Fool’s Day episode, filled with all sorts of spectacular surprises. Definitely my favorite episode.

1:30 – Typical. Using accusative when it should have been dative. Whenever you use the word geben (give), the person receiving whatever it is that’s being given should be referred to in the dative case. Here I should have said dir, not dich. This is sort of like the difference between “I” and “me” in English, were there to be a distinction in the second person (you).

1:38 – I used the word daraus very incorrectly here… and I’m not sure how exactly you’re supposed to use it. I just wanted to say “outside”, and daraus means something more like “without” or “out of which” or something like that… Draußen would have been the correct word for me, I think.

1:43 – No! “gezeicht” was correct! There I go doubting myself again… didn’t I learn this word in Episode 3?

1:52 – The Wachsfabrik is one of the coolest places I’ve seen in Köln. It’s an old candle factory that’s been converted into a space for artists to live and work. R&B was actually filmed in a dance hall there.

2:33 – I think you can see in her face there that she knows I didn’t quite understand what she said…

3:19 – Let me explain! The only reason I bank with Deutsche Bank is because they were willing to give me an account that did not charge fees for each deposit I made! I didn’t realize they were evil!

3:27 – I’m missing an es! Wir mussen es bald zum Abschluss bringen. If I want to say bringen, I need to say whatever it is I’m bringing. Es serves that purpose. But an even more elegant way to say it would be, Wir mussen bald zum Abschluss kommen.

3:33 – I have something of a love/hate relationship with Sparkasse, except without the love.

3:43 – “…das man den Sparkassen auf den Zahn fühlt.” Here she uses an interesting idiom, translated literally to mean “feel them on the teeth.” It means to take an uncomfortably close look at something.

4:11 – http://www.attac.de

*But just because it’s a trilogy, doesn’t mean there can’t be a cash-in fourth installment…