An argument in front of the TV in Slovenian
The living room, evening, two people switching channels in Slovenian. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Daj mi daljinec, na drugem programu so novice.» — Give me the remote, the news is on channel two.; «Spet? Vse novice so iste govorice, samo drugače povedane.» — Again? All the news is the same rumors, just said differently. Every line can be played right on the page. The conversation is predictable: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: the living room, evening, two people switching channels. The conversation is short and predictable — which is exactly what makes it good for a first try: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
- Daj mi daljinec, na drugem programu so novice.Give me the remote, the news is on channel two.
- Spet? Vse novice so iste govorice, samo drugače povedane.Again? All the news is the same rumors, just said differently.
- Nasprotno, ta voditelj vedno navede vir.On the contrary, this anchor always names the source.
- Po mojem pretiravajo. Včeraj so iz enega incidenta naredili škandal.I think they exaggerate. Yesterday they made a scandal out of one incident.
- Deloma se strinjam, vendar je bila reportaža dobra.I partly agree, but the report was good.
- Skratka, glavno je, da ne verjameš vsemu, kar slišiš.In short, the main thing is not to believe everything you hear.
- Preveril sem pri dveh virih. Zato mislim, da je res.I checked it against two sources. That’s why I think it’s true.
- Prav, poglejva. Samo preklopi, ko se začnejo reklame.Fine, let’s watch it together. Just switch when the ads start.
Lines one by one
| Slovenian | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Daj mi daljinec, na drugem programu so novice. | — | Give me the remote, the news is on channel two. |
| Spet? Vse novice so iste govorice, samo drugače povedane. | — | Again? All the news is the same rumors, just said differently. |
| Nasprotno, ta voditelj vedno navede vir. | — | On the contrary, this anchor always names the source. |
| Po mojem pretiravajo. Včeraj so iz enega incidenta naredili škandal. | — | I think they exaggerate. Yesterday they made a scandal out of one incident. |
| Deloma se strinjam, vendar je bila reportaža dobra. | — | I partly agree, but the report was good. |
| Skratka, glavno je, da ne verjameš vsemu, kar slišiš. | — | In short, the main thing is not to believe everything you hear. |
| Preveril sem pri dveh virih. Zato mislim, da je res. | — | I checked it against two sources. That’s why I think it’s true. |
| Prav, poglejva. Samo preklopi, ko se začnejo reklame. | — | Fine, let’s watch it together. Just switch when the ads start. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and it gets in the way badly. It is one of the most reliably measured findings in the entire field.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Slovenian in this situation?
“Daj mi daljinec, na drugem programu so novice.” — Give me the remote, the news is on channel two.. The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.