Learn how to make a doctor's appointment over the phone using a formal conversation as an example =
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to ItalianPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate Season 3, Lesson 20 - Making an Appointment with an Italian Doctor. Becky here. |
| Ofelia: Ciao. I'm Ofelia. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use Type II “if” clauses. The conversation takes place over the phone. |
| Ofelia: It's between Maria and the secretary. |
| Becky: The speakers don't know each other, so they’ll be using formal Italian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Segretaria: Studio Rossi. |
| Maria: Pronto, mi chiamo Maria Smith, vorrei prendere un appuntamento. |
| Segretaria: Salve. Quando vorrebbe venire? |
| Maria: Se fosse possibile, verrei anche oggi. |
| Segretaria: Possiamo farLe una visita a domicilio, oppure la prima disponibilità per i casi urgenti è domattina alle 8. |
| Maria: Vengo io domattina, le serve il numero della tessera sanitaria? |
| Segretaria: No, non è necessario. Abbiamo già i suoi dati. |
| Becky: Now listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Secretary: Rossi's (medical) office. |
| Maria: Hello, my name is Maria Smith. I’d like to make an appointment. |
| Secretary: Hello. When would you like to come in? |
| Maria: If it’s possible, I’d like to come in today. |
| Secretary: We can make a visit at home, or the first availability for urgent cases is tomorrow morning at eight o’clock. |
| Maria: I’ll come tomorrow morning. Do you need the number of my health care card? |
| Secretary: No, it's not necessary. We already have your information. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Ofelia, can you tell us a bit about the healthcare system in Italy? |
| Ofelia: Yes, you should know that every person in Italy is authorized by law to receive medical care from a general practitioner. |
| Becky: That seems generous. How does that work? |
| Ofelia: Well, people are supposed to choose a doctor, and then they can go to that doctor or be visited any time they need and get prescriptions. |
| Becky: What’s the Italian word for “general practitioner?” |
| Ofelia: It’s medico generico or medico di base. This doctor usually has no particular specialization but can look after any disease or illness, and, if necessary, suggest a specialized doctor. This doctor can also be called medico di famiglia. |
| Becky: Literally, a “family’s doctor.” Is this because every family chooses one doctor for all of the family members? |
| Ofelia: Yes, it is! If you live in Italy, you may also want to know that when you go to a general practitioner's office, you’ll usually have to wait a long time, since most doctors don't have a secretary who can manage their patients. |
| Becky: That’s a good tip. Okay, now on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Ofelia: appuntamento [natural native speed] |
| Becky: appointment, date |
| Ofelia: appuntamento [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: appuntamento [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Ofelia: possibile [natural native speed] |
| Becky: possible |
| Ofelia: possibile [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: possibile [natural native speed] |
| Becky: The next word is... |
| Ofelia: disponibilità [natural native speed] |
| Becky: availability |
| Ofelia: disponibilità [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: disponibilità [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next... |
| Ofelia: visita [natural native speed] |
| Becky: checkup, visit |
| Ofelia: visita [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: visita [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Ofelia: a domicilio [natural native speed] |
| Becky: at home |
| Ofelia: a domicilio [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: a domicilio [natural native speed] |
| Becky: The next one is... |
| Ofelia: caso [natural native speed] |
| Becky: case |
| Ofelia: caso [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: caso [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next... |
| Ofelia: urgente [natural native speed] |
| Becky: urgent |
| Ofelia: urgente [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: urgente [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And the last word is... |
| Ofelia: sanitario [natural native speed] |
| Becky: healthcare |
| Ofelia: sanitario [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: sanitario [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Ofelia: ...disponibilità. |
| Becky: Meaning "availability." |
| Ofelia: Disponibilità is a noun related to the adjective disponibile. It refers to the condition of being available or accessible. |
| Becky: So can you use it to check if a hotel has any available rooms or a flight has any available seats? |
| Ofelia: You can - it’s useful in those situations. Also know that you can use this term with some irony when you’re talking about an unmarried or single person. |
| Becky: Okay! Can you give us an example using this word with the primary meaning? |
| Ofelia: Sure. For example, you can say, Stiamo verificando la disponibilità del volo. |
| Becky: This means, "We’re checking the availability of the flight." |
| Becky: Okay, what's the next key phrase? |
| Ofelia: Tessera sanitaria. |
| Becky: Meaning "healthcare card." |
| Ofelia: This word refers to the document that gives you access to the Italian healthcare system. In fact, as soon as you obtain a fiscal code, you’re able to receive a healthcare card. |
| Becky: So tourists don’t have it? |
| Ofelia: That’s right. |
| Becky: Let’s hear a sample sentence with this phrase. |
| Ofelia: Sure. For example, you can say, Signora, la tessera sanitaria le verrà recapitata a casa. |
| Becky: Meaning, "Ma’am, the healthcare card will be delivered to your house." Okay, now on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson you’ll learn how to use Type II “if” clauses. This hypothetical period is similar to the Type I clause we studied in Lesson 15. |
| Ofelia: The main difference is that the condition we express in the subordinate clause is less likely to happen, though we deem it to be possible. |
| Becky: So in both types of "if" clauses, the main sentence refers to the future. That means that if the condition is satisfied, the result will take place in the future. |
| Ofelia: A good way to introduce Type II is considering the same sentence in both forms, Type I and Type II. |
| Becky: Okay, let’s start with Type I. |
| Ofelia: An example is Se Mario ha la macchina, possiamo andare in montagna. |
| Becky: "If Mario has the car, we can go to the mountains." |
| Ofelia: In this case, Mario is likely to have a car, but for some reason he can or can’t use it. |
| Becky: Ok, so how does it change in a Type II hypothetical? |
| Ofelia: For example, Se Mario avesse la macchina, potremmo andare in montagna. |
| Becky: "If Mario had the car, we could go to the mountains." |
| Ofelia: In this case, Mario is not likely to have a car. Maybe he has never had one. |
| Becky: Can you tell us about the grammar in a Type II hypothetical? |
| Ofelia: The periodo ipotetico della possibilità, or Type II, tense agreement requires the congiuntivo imperfetto, meaning the "imperfect subjunctive," in the subordinate clause, and the condizionale presente, "present conditional," in the main clause. |
| Becky: Don’t be fooled by the name of the tenses. As we mentioned earlier, the action in the main clause points to a future occurrence. |
| Ofelia: Right. For example, Se avessimo tempo, andremmo a fare shopping. |
| Becky: "If we had time, we would go shopping." |
| Ofelia: Se venissi con me, il viaggio sarebbe più piacevole. |
| Becky: "If you came with me, the journey would be nicer." Listeners, don’t forget to check the lesson notes for more examples! |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Ofelia: A presto. |
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