Learn how to make a business deal
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| Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 6 - A Fashionable Dutch Business Deal |
| INTRODUCTION |
| Kellie: Hi everyone, and welcome back to DutchPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 6 - A Fashionable Dutch Business Deal. Kellie Here. |
| Jacob: Hallo, I'm Jacob. |
| Kellie: In this lesson, you'll learn about making business deals. The conversation takes place at a wholesale market. |
| Jacob: It's between Pip and Piet. |
| Kellie: The speakers have a professional relationship, so they will use formal Dutch. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Pip: Goedemorgen Piet, hoe gaan de zaken in deze moeilijke tijden? |
| Piet: Ik heb zeker betere dagen gekend, maar ik klaag niet. |
| Pip: Ik moet een heleboel jeans kopen, maar kan niet alles meteen betalen. Kunnen we wat afspreken? |
| Piet: Tja? Maar ik moet ook huur betalen en rente aan de bank etc... |
| Pip: En als ik nu eens de helft betaal en de andere helft de volgende maand? |
| Piet: Over hoeveel jeans hebben we het? Welk merk, welke maten? |
| Pip: De meest goedkope merken. Zo'n 50 Euro inkoopprijs per stuk. |
| Piet: OK, maar dan wil ik 7% rente over het gedeelte dat je volgende maand betaalt. |
| Pip: Nee, zullen we daar 5% van maken? Zeven krijg je nergens meer tegenwoordig. |
| Piet: OK, afgesproken. |
| Kellie: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Pip: Good morning Piet. How is business in these difficult times? |
| Piet: I've definitely known better times, but I won't complain. |
| Pip: I need to buy a very large amount of jeans, but can only pay you part of it now. Can we make an arrangement? |
| Piet: Ah! But I have to pay the rent and the interest to the bank, and so on... |
| Pip: What if I pay half now and the other half next month? |
| Piet: How many jeans are we talking about? What brand, what sizes? |
| Pip: The cheapest brands. Some 50 Euros a piece, purchase price. |
| Piet: OK, but then I want 7% interest on the bit you pay next month. |
| Pip: No, let's make that 5%! OK? There is no place where you can get seven anymore these days. |
| Piet: OK, deal. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Kellie: It sounds like a business deal for some jeans was taking place in this conversation. |
| Jacob: Yes, Pip was trying to buy some jeans wholesale. |
| Kellie: It seemed to be a pretty relaxed way of doing business - more like a chat between friends. |
| Jacob: For some people doing business is a chore, so they want to be more relaxed about it. |
| Kellie: Right. Some people employ others to take care of that for them. |
| Jacob: Especially artists. They often have agents to take care of the business side so the artist can concentrate on the art. |
| Kellie: You have to pay for agents though, right? |
| Jacob: You sure do, but for a lot of people it’s worth it. It’s less hassle for you, and the agent might find you extra work. |
| Kellie: That’s true. |
| Jacob: Also, Dutch people like to make personal relationships with people they do business with. |
| Kellie: If you’re friends, you’re more likely to do business. |
| Jacob: That’s not always the case in other countries though, and I think that Dutch people sometimes forget that when doing business internationally. |
| Kellie: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Kellie: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Jacob: zaken [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: business |
| Jacob: zaken[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: zaken [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: zeker [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: certainly |
| Jacob: zeker[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: zeker [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: gedeelte [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: part |
| Jacob: gedeelte[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: gedeelte [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: rente [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: interest |
| Jacob: rente[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: rente [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: volgende [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: next |
| Jacob: volgende[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: volgende [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: merk [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: brand |
| Jacob: merk[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: merk [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: inkoopsprijs [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: purchase price |
| Jacob: inkoopsprijs[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: inkoopsprijs [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: tegenwoordig [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: nowadays |
| Jacob: tegenwoordig[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: tegenwoordig [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: nergens [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: nowhere |
| Jacob: nergens[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: nergens [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: And last.. |
| Jacob: afspreken [natural native speed] |
| Kellie: to arrange, to agree |
| Jacob: afspreken[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: afspreken [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Kellie: Let's take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is... |
| Jacob: Hoe gaan de zaken? |
| Kellie: meaning "How is business?" |
| Kellie: What can you tell us about this? |
| Jacob: It’s an informal question and means something similar to “How are things?” |
| Kellie: Okay. Can you tell us a little about the keywords in this phrase? |
| Jacob: Hoe means “how”, gaan is “to go” and finally, zaken means “business”. It’s also the plural form of zaak, which means “thing”. |
| Kellie: And it’s used in casual speech? |
| Jacob: Yes. It can be used to talk about someone’s life. |
| Kellie: Can you use it in a different sentence? |
| Jacob: Sure. For example, you can say... Sinds de bankcrash zijn de zaken erg achteruit gegaan. |
| Kellie: ..which means "Ever since the bank crash, business has gone sour." Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Jacob: wat afspreken |
| Kellie: meaning "to agree to something" |
| Kellie: Can you give us more detail about this one? |
| Jacob: “To agree to something” is the most literal translation. Afspreken means “to agree”, as in the noun form afspraak means “agreement” and in the diminutive form afspraakje, it means “date”. |
| Kellie: So we can talk about agreements or dates, depending on which form we use. |
| Jacob: That’s right. There is also the past participle afgesproken, and if you say this on its own, it means “OK” or “we have a deal” |
| Kellie: Can you show us how you might use it? |
| Jacob: Sure. For example, you can say... Nee, de afspraak was 8% en niet 7%! |
| Kellie: ... which means "No, the deal was 7% and not 8%." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Jacob: zullen we |
| Kellie: meaning "shall we" |
| Kellie: Do you have any more info on this expression? |
| Jacob: This phrase has a few different meanings. It usually means either “shall we” or “will we”, and is used to make a proposition or an invitation. |
| Kellie: Is it formal? |
| Jacob: It’s polite, but the use of we makes it informal as it shows that both people are on the same level. |
| Kellie: Is there a more formal way of asking the same thing? |
| Jacob: If you want to offer someone a drink in a formal way, for example, you can say Mag ik u een glaasje aanbieden? |
| Kellie: How about an example using this word? |
| Jacob: Sure. For example, you can say... Zullen we afspreken dat ik 3% rente betaal? |
| Kellie: .. which means "Shall we agree on me paying 3% interest?" Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Kellie: In this lesson, you'll learn how to make business deals. |
| Kellie: We’re going back to the topic of the conversation here. |
| Jacob: Right. First, let’s look at how to ask for favors and deals without making it obvious and blunt. |
| Kellie: It’s quite a skill to drop a request into normal conversation and not make it obvious. |
| Jacob: It is. It’s more polite to be subtle, and more traditional. |
| Kellie: Are there some key expressions to help with this? |
| Jacob: I can think of a few! First up is En als ik nu eens de helft betaal? |
| Kellie: This means “What if I pay half?” |
| Jacob: Zullen we daar 5% van maken? |
| Kellie: “Shall we make that 5%?” |
| Jacob: Kunnen we wat afspreken? |
| Kellie: “Can we make an arrangement?” |
| Jacob: Another important thing is being able to make a good argument. |
| Kellie: This is especially important in sales, I think. You need to sell your product with a convincing argument. |
| Jacob: It’s the same with negotiations. Take Omgerekend naar een uurloon verdien ik dan niet meer dan een cassiere! |
| Kellie: This means “If you calculate this back to an hourly rate, I won’t make more than a check-out girl.” You might be able to use this to increase your wage in wage negotiations. |
| Jacob: Nee, de tarieven zijn overal omlaag gegaan. Tegenwoordig gebruiken mensen Google voor vertalingen. |
| Kellie: This means “No, the rates have gone down everywhere. These days people use Google for their translations!” There’s a sentence that explains why the wage won’t be increased. |
| Jacob: Als we het verschil nu eens delen? |
| Kellie: “What if we share the difference?” |
| Jacob: Laten we afspreken dat ik iedere maand voor minimaal 1.000 euro bij je koop! Dan kan de prijs omlaag. |
| Kellie: “Let’s agree that I’ll buy for at least 1,000 Euro from you every month! Then the price could go down.” |
| Jacob: Hopefully those phrases will come in handy. |
| Kellie: Yes, if you’re after a job or negotiating business in the Netherlands, remember the examples from this lesson! |
Outro |
| Kellie: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Jacob: Tot ziens! |
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