A talk about work in Slovenian
An office of a small firm, a manager talking to a person who answered the ad in Slovenian. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Povejte, kaj ste po poklicu?» — Tell me, what are you by profession?; «Sem računovodkinja, delala pa sem tudi kot tajnica.» — I’m an accountant, and I also worked as a secretary. 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: an office of a small firm, a manager talking to a person who answered the ad. 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.
- Povejte, kaj ste po poklicu?Tell me, what are you by profession?
- Sem računovodkinja, delala pa sem tudi kot tajnica.I’m an accountant, and I also worked as a secretary.
- Koga ste imeli za nadrejenega v prejšnji službi?Who was your boss at your previous job?
- Direktorja. Vsak petek sem mu poročala o delu.The director. Every Friday I reported my work to him.
- Bi znali voditi majhno ekipo?Could you lead a small team?
- Da, tri leta sem imela dva podrejena.Yes, for three years I had two subordinates.
- Delovni prostor bi imeli tu, ob oknu.Your workplace would be here, by the window.
- Kdaj lahko pričakujem odgovor?When can I expect an answer?
Lines one by one
| Slovenian | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Povejte, kaj ste po poklicu? | — | Tell me, what are you by profession? |
| Sem računovodkinja, delala pa sem tudi kot tajnica. | — | I’m an accountant, and I also worked as a secretary. |
| Koga ste imeli za nadrejenega v prejšnji službi? | — | Who was your boss at your previous job? |
| Direktorja. Vsak petek sem mu poročala o delu. | — | The director. Every Friday I reported my work to him. |
| Bi znali voditi majhno ekipo? | — | Could you lead a small team? |
| Da, tri leta sem imela dva podrejena. | — | Yes, for three years I had two subordinates. |
| Delovni prostor bi imeli tu, ob oknu. | — | Your workplace would be here, by the window. |
| Kdaj lahko pričakujem odgovor? | — | When can I expect an answer? |
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?
“Povejte, kaj ste po poklicu?” — Tell me, what are you by profession?. 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.