English Lesson Analysis – Session 19.6

A. Summary of the Transcript

This English lesson focused on translating and improving German text into natural English, with emphasis on business communication and marketing content. The main activities included:

• Translation Practice: Working on translating German sentences about resilience, crisis management, and digital communication into idiomatic English
• Grammar Review: Discussing subject-verb agreement with collective nouns (police, staff) and singular/plural forms
• Vocabulary Building: Learning alternative expressions and more sophisticated word choices
• Writing Style: Moving from literal German translations to more natural English phrasing
• Business Communication: Translating professional content including job descriptions, interview introductions, and company messaging
• Homework Review: Checking exercises on tenses, spelling, and grammar rules
• Practical Applications: Working on real workplace content like LinkedIn posts and employee profiles

The lesson emphasized the importance of not translating word-for-word but adapting meaning to sound natural in English.

B. New Vocabulary Words

English Word	German Translation	Explanation
resilience	die Widerstandsfähigkeit	The ability to recover quickly from difficulties; mental or emotional strength
emerges	entsteht, taucht auf	To come forth, appear, or develop gradually
arises	entsteht, ergibt sich	To come into being, originate, or come up as an issue
vulnerable	verwundbar, verletzlich	Exposed to harm, attack, or damage; defenseless
dependence	die Abhängigkeit	The state of relying on something or someone else
reimagining	neu überdenken, neu definieren	To think about something in a completely new way
participative	partizipativ, teilnehmend	Involving participation from others; collaborative in style
conduct (an interview)	durchführen	To organize and carry out an interview (not “make” an interview)
collective nouns	Sammelbegriffe	Nouns that refer to groups (police, staff, team) that can be singular or plural
apparent	offensichtlich, klar	Clearly visible or understood; obvious
accompanied	begleitete	To go with someone as a companion
responsibilities	die Verantwortungen	Duties or tasks that one is required to perform
insights	Einblicke, Erkenntnisse	Deep understanding or perception of a situation
overlook	übersehen	To fail to notice something (different from “look over”)
comparative form	Steigerungsform	Grammar term for comparing things (worse, better, more)

C. Grammar Points Discussed

1. Subject-Verb Agreement with Collective Nouns

• Rule: Collective nouns like “police,” “staff,” “team” can take singular OR plural verbs depending on meaning
• Examples:
  • “The police has decided” (as one unit)
  • “The police have arrived” (as individual officers)
• Application: Choose based on whether you see the group as one entity or many individuals

2. Articles: A vs. An

• Rule: Use “an” before vowel SOUNDS (a, e, i, o, u), not just vowel letters
• Examples:
  • “an honest person” (h is silent)
  • “a university” (u sounds like “you”)
• Key: Listen to the sound, not just the spelling

3. Present Simple vs. Present Continuous for Living Situations

• Long-term/permanent: “I live in Potsdam” (present simple)
• Temporary: “This week I am staying in Berlin” (present continuous)
• Rule: Use present simple for stable situations, present continuous for temporary ones

4. Adjectives vs. Adverbs

• Adjective: “additional responsibilities” (describes the noun)
• Adverb: “Additionally, she manages…” (describes the verb/action)
• Structure: “In addition to” (prepositional phrase) vs. “Additionally” (adverb)

5. Prepositions with “Dependent”

• Correct: “dependent ON digital communication”
• Incorrect: “dependent OF digital communication”
• Rule: “Dependent” always takes the preposition “on”

6. “Little” vs. “A Little”

• “Little”: wenig (small amount, somewhat negative)
• “A little”: ein wenig (small but positive amount)
• Examples:
  • “There’s little hope” (not much hope)
  • “There’s a little hope” (some hope)

7. Quantifiers: “Much” vs. “A lot”

• “Much”: Used in negatives, questions, and comparisons
• “A lot”: Used in positive statements
• Examples:
  • “Much worse than before” (comparison)
  • “A lot of people came” (positive)

8. Professional Titles and Capitalization

• Rule: Capitalize job titles when they’re specific positions
• Examples:
  • “Director of Operations” (specific title)
  • “She is a director” (general reference)
• Structure: Use “of” in titles: “Head of Marketing,” “Director of Operations”