Listening at length II
Longer recordings with several speakers, and questions about structure rather than detail.
These recordings run to around 300 words, and two of them contain speakers who agree on the facts and disagree on what follows. That is the listening skill this unit trains: separating the data everyone accepts from the recommendation each speaker draws.
Listen for the sentence where a speaker concedes — das bestreite ich nicht, das ist nicht ganz falsch, ich widerspreche der Begründung, nicht der Maßnahme. It tells you exactly how narrow the disagreement really is.
| You hear | What it means |
|---|---|
| Ich widerspreche der Begründung, nicht … | agreement on the action, dispute about why |
| Das bestreite ich nicht. | a concession — the dispute lies elsewhere |
| Das ist nicht ganz falsch, aber … | partial concession before a redirection |
| Nun wird daraus häufig gefolgert … | a conclusion the speaker is about to reject |
| Das ist kein Argument gegen … | pre-empting a misreading of their own point |
| Und das gehört unmittelbar dazu | a qualification attached to the figure just given |
| Das ist mir wichtiger als die Zahlen | ranking: this is the point to remember |
The panel has three speakers and your device has one voice, so each turn is announced by name in the audio — Reinhardt:, Nowak:, Baumgartner: — exactly as a transcript is read aloud. No question asks you to tell them apart by sound, only by position.
Nowak contradicts Reinhardt, so he is against the recordings.He says outright: "Ich widerspreche der Begründung, nicht der Maßnahme."
In German discussion, the scope of a contradiction is usually stated in the same breath. Missing that clause inverts the speaker’s position.
Words from this topic
- die die Zuordnungsqualitätaccuracy of allocation
- gegenrechnento offset, to set against
- priorisierento prioritise
- der der Sofortvollzugimmediate enforcement
- der der Befolgungsgradthe rate of compliance
- schwankento fluctuate
- die die Studierendenschaftthe student body