travel_buzzing

Hello all, its my first trip to Berlin next week and my German is basic and limited.
I can say my name, ask for directions, but I have a feeling that the more commonly used stuff and conversational phrases will be beyond me.

My catchphrase is going to be "Ich bin fast eintausend meilen weit gereist um eine currywurst zu essen".

Nevertheless, can you please help me with phrases that you found useful and used over and over while you were there.
I can pronounce German ok, no phonetics necessary.

Thanks in advance.

traveller1959

Hallo! (hi)
Tschüss (bye)
Danke
Ein Bier, bitte.
Ein großes Bier, bitte.
Ich habe Bush nicht gewählt.

I think that's enough. Many Berliners understand English.

Dukey

In some cases, "Do you speak German?" will also be appropriate.

traveller1959

Sorry, I see you are British.

Then replace the last line by this one:

Wollt Ihr nicht wieder einmal in Wembley spielen?

bdjtbenson

I haven't been in a couple of years and my language skills are waning. If you can eat, drink, sleep and use a toilet, you should be good to go!

Ein Bier, bitte - A beer, please.
Ein Mas, bitte - A giant beer, please (if in Munich).

Helles - Light (colored) beer, Dunkles - Dark beer,
Weissen, Hefeweissen - Wheat beer,
Pils - Pilsner
Kolsch - local beer in Cologne.

Ein Bratwurst bitte - A Bratwurst please.

Noch ein mal, bitte. - one more, please.

Entschuldigung - excuse me

Es tut mir leid - I'm sorry

Wo ist? Wie finde ich? - Where is, how do I find?

Wie Sagt mann ...? - how do you say ...?

Konnen Sie langsammer sprechen bitte? - Can you speak slower, please?

Haben Sie ein zimmer frei heute? -Do you have a room available today?

bdjtbenson

Forgot:

Prost! - Cheers!

logos999

>Ein Mas, bitte
Eine Mass, bitte

"The Mass" is female, how can something so big and beautiful be male???

travel_buzzing

"do you speak german" is a bit can of worms but i get your point.
im not so sure about everyone speaking english tho.
general touristy phrases i can handle.
what about the other way around, what sort of stuff have you been asked in german?

logos999

- Fährt der Zug nach...?
- Wie geht's?
- Scheiss Wetter heute.
- Vorsicht heiß und fettig!
- .....

travel_buzzing

>> Wollt Ihr nicht wieder einmal in Wembley spielen?

British (by default) but not an english bloke

travel_buzzing

thanks logos, interesting, can u provide a brief translation purlease

logos999

-Does the train go to...
-What's up
-Shitty weather today
-Attention, hot and greasy
(Use it when you want people to get out of your way)

travel_buzzing

cheers, that first one came up wonky on bab.fish.

i also have down

"ich hette gerne den besten und günstigsten weis wein"

logos999

"ich hätte gerne den besten und günstigsten Weißwein"

Perfect.

"Der ist aber viel zu teuer!". Gibt's nichts billigeres? Ich darf zollfrei bis zu 140 Liter mit nach Hause nehmen"

traveller1959

Never order "eine Maß Bier" in Berlin. You will be whipped out of town.

Der "beste und günstigste Weißwein" is a contradiction in terms.

Simply say

"Einen trockenen Weißwein"

or (since you are from Britain)

"Einen lieblichen Weißwein" or

"so ein klebrig süßes synthetisches Zeug aus Industriealkohol, das in England unter dem Namen Liebfraumilch verkauft wird".

If you are a connaisseur say

"die Weinkarte bitte".

logos999

"Der beste und günstigste Weißwein" is quite o.k. Should he answer
"That's the cheapest we've got", you say,
"but it's not good, is it??"
Should he answer
"That's be best we've got", you say
"why the ... is this so expensive?"

Keeps the pressure up.

RufusTFirefly

If you hail a cab along the street and you're travelling 2 kms. or less, ask for the "Kurzstrecke" fare. It was 3 euros when we were there last year, but it might be a bit more now with the increased gasoline prices. It was a great deal split 4 ways when someone's feet were very sore after a day of walking around the city.

traveller1959

Watch this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyU-sOx-_hM

travel_buzzing

haha i like the duty free one.
cant take any booze back tho as its ryanair online check-in, unless its a load of miniatures.
cheaper here in spain anyway.

i heard about the Kurzstrecke, im going to have that word memorised by thurs.

>>beste und günstigste Weißwein" is a contradiction in terms.

maybe so, i was going for "your best house wine, on the house"

traveller1959

re wines:

There is no "house wine".

In Berlin, they will offer "offene Weine" (wines by the glass, usually fairly inexpensive) and "Flascheinweine" (wines per bottle, starting from inexpensive and going up).

When a bar, say, 4 "offene Weißweine" offers they do not differ in quality but in character (dry or sweet) and grape variety (Riesling and Chardonnay are the antipodes, with other varities in between).

Most bars have winelists with descriptions on the tables.

A good phrase would be:

"Welche offenen Weißweine bieten Sie an?"