Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RussianPod101.com. This is Business Russian for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 20 - Asking for Directions at an Office Reception. John Here.
Karina: Привет, I'm Karina.
John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask where the office is. The conversation takes place at an office.
Karina: It's between a receptionist and Linda.
John: The speakers are strangers, therefore, they will speak formal Russian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Секретарь: Миссис Бейкер, проходите.
Линда: На каком этаже офис Елены?
Секретарь: Она ждёт Вас на третьем этаже.
Линда: А где лестница?
Секретарь: Вы можете воспользоваться лифтом, прямо по коридору и налево.
John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Секретарь: Миссис Бейкер, проходите.
Линда: На каком этаже офис Елены?
Секретарь: Она ждёт Вас на третьем этаже.
Линда: А где лестница?
Секретарь: Вы можете воспользоваться лифтом, прямо по коридору и налево.
John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Receptionist: Mrs. Baker, you can go ahead.
Linda: What floor is Elena's office?
Receptionist: She's waiting for you on the third floor.
Linda: Where are the stairs?
Receptionist: You can use the elevator, down the hall to the left.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
John: I guess it’s Linda’s first time at this office
Karina: It appears that way! She needed directions to get to Elena’s office at least.
John: And lucky Linda, she doesn’t even have to use the stairs.
Karina: Elevators are common in multi-storey office buildings in Russia.
John: That’s good. How about other places, like shopping malls?
Karina: Yeah, you’ll usually find them there too.
John: How are floors numbered in Russia? Is the floor on the same level as the ground known as the first floor, zero, or the ground floor?
Karina: It’s the first floor.
John: How are basement levels numbered?
Karina: They aren’t very common, but if they exist, they will be B1.
John: Are any floors skipped due to superstition?
Karina: Thirteen is seen as an unlucky number in Russia, but there’s still a thirteenth floor.
John: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is...
Karina: проходить [natural native speed]
John: to come through, to come in
Karina: проходить[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Karina: проходить [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Karina: этаж [natural native speed]
John: floor
Karina: этаж[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Karina: этаж [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Karina: лестница [natural native speed]
John: stairs
Karina: лестница[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Karina: лестница [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Karina: лифт [natural native speed]
John: elevator
Karina: лифт[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Karina: лифт [natural native speed]
John: Next we have...
Karina: прямо [natural native speed]
John: frankly, directly, straight (on)
Karina: прямо[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Karina: прямо [natural native speed]
John: And last...
Karina: налево [natural native speed]
John: to the left
Karina: налево[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Karina: налево [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is...
Karina: воспользоваться лифтом
John: ...meaning "to use the elevator." What can you tell us about this?
Karina: Let’s break down the verb воспользоваться.
John: This means “to use,” in this sentence.
Karina: First is the prefix вос
John: meaning “to complete the action”
Karina: then the verb пользовать
John: “to use” and finally
Karina: the suffix ся, “to do it by yourself.”
John: So this verb is both reflexive and perfective.
Karina: You can use it with other nouns such as туалет and машина.
John: “Toilet” and “car,” respectively. Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Karina: Sure. For example, you can say, Воспользуйтесь лифтом, чтобы подняться на пятый этаж.
John: ...which means "Use the elevator to go to the fifth floor."
John: Okay, what's the next word?
Karina: прямо
John: meaning "straight." What can you tell us about this word?
Karina: This can be used for three different things.
John: The first is the direction “straight.”
Karina: The second means a “true meaning.”
John: So to say something “straight” or “frankly.”
Karina: Its third use is for sarcasm, like прямо герой.
John: “What a hero!” Can you give us an example using this word?
Karina: Sure. For example, you can say, Идите по этой улице прямо.
John: ...which means "Go straight on this street."
John: Okay, what's the next word?
Karina: налево
John: meaning "on or to the left." What can you tell us about this word?
Karina: This also has three meanings.
John: The first is, again, direction.
Karina: The second is to do something illegally.
John: And the third is “to cheat on,” such as “to cheat on one’s wife.”
Karina: Which is сходить налево.
John: Can you give us an example using this word?
Karina: Sure. For example, you can say, Налево - будет больница.
John: ...which means "There will be a hospital on the left." Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

John: In this lesson, you'll learn about asking where the office is. Asking for directions is one of the most important things you can learn in any language, I think.
Karina: I think so too. It comes in handy in many situations, such as trying to find an office.
John: How do we ask a simple question like, “What floor is it?”
Karina: Какой это этаж?
John: How about “What floor is Elena’s office?”
Karina: На каком этаже офис Елены?
John: Of course, you can change the name for anyone there.
Karina: An even easier way of asking where someone or something is is by using где.
John: This is the question word “where.”
Karina: Just follow где with the name, or a noun in dictionary form. Где Елена?
John: “Where is Elena?”
Karina: But be careful, we use Где for location, but not direction.
John: In English, we can use “where” in a sentence like “where did she go?”
Karina: In Russian you would say Куда она пошла, which uses куда.
John: So there are two different “wheres”: one for location and one for direction.
Karina: You also have to use nouns differently depending on whether they’re used for location or direction.
John: How do we use nouns when talking about location?
Karina: It needs to be in prepositional case - в офисе
John: Which means “in the office.” How’s this case formed?
Karina: Add -e to the masculine nouns and change the last letter into -e or -и in the feminine nouns. So all of them end in -e or -и.
John: What about directions?
Karina: With directions, you use accusative case - в офис.
John: “To the office.”
Karina: In the accusative case, only feminine nouns change their endings into -у or -ю.
John: Okay, thanks for the extra information!

Outro

John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Karina: Пока!

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