Das Arbeitsamt

July 2, 2008 By 2 Comments

Das Arbeitsamt is a name given to the Bundesagentur für Arbeit – the German unemployment agency.

It is responsible for helping unemployed people find jobs and processing their claims for unemployment benefit (Arbeitslosengeld).  It is also possible to go there for career advice.

A separate part of the agency deals with employers, for example when they apply for an employer number in order to take on employees.

Finally, the agency also carries out research into the job market.

The head office is situated in Nuremberg but there are branches in most larger towns.  It is the largest Government agency in Germany, and is mainly funded by social security contributions (Arbeitslosenversicherung).

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

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Filed Under: German Words Explained, Podcasts Tagged With: , , ,

Das Fräulein vom Amt

June 25, 2008 By 2 Comments

Das Fräulein vom Amt was the name given to the telephone operators at the beginning of the last century.

Young women were employed to connect phone calls in the days before direct dialling as their high voices carried better on the early telephone wires than the lower men’s voices. They did this by connecting sockets on a so-called Klappenschrank.

Whilst the need for this service reduced with the introduction of direct dialling, many calls to other countries were still connected manually and it was possible to reserve a time for a particular call in advance.

The job services in the form of the Telefonistin in emergency call centres and on the switchboard of large companies.

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

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Download the MP3 file | Subscribe to the podcast

Filed Under: German Words Explained, Podcasts Tagged With: , , ,

ISDN

June 18, 2008 By 1 Comment

ISDN is an abbreviation for Integrated Services Digital Network and is a type of telephone line.

ISDN offers advantages over the standard type of telephone line, as it is possible to make two phone calls at once and to have up to 10 numbers, although normally only 3 are assigned.

In the days before internet telephones and cheap mobile phones, this meant that a family could have a number for each person and even if someone made a long phone call the other line would remain available. Small businesses often use ISDN lines to separate telephone and fax calls.

ISDN also offers additional services such as conference calls and call re-direction (“follow me”).

Normal telephones require an adapter to work on an ISDN line, known as an “A/B-Wandler”. The line itself is a digital connection to the telephone exchange and the numbers dialled are transferred digitally as opposed to using DTMF tones or pulses.

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)

Download the MP3 file | Subscribe to the podcast

Filed Under: German Words Explained, Podcasts

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