Michel Thomas German questions

[Cainntear]

Thanks!
How about "Because I don't understand you":
1) Weil ich dich nicht verstehe.
2) Denn ich verstehe dich nicht.

It's a long while since I listened, but didn't he present "denn" as being often wrong (in the sense that a native wouldn't use it in most situations) but always likely to understood, i.e. a "cheat" for the learner...?

[Doitsujin]

So, what people actually say in the streets is this:
"Weil ich verstehe dich nicht."

This syntax is still considered non-standard German and should be avoided by language learners, because using it will probably rub some overly picky native German speakers the wrong way.

When another word, like ob, triggers an inversion, he calls it a "weil situation". Are all of these inversions less common in colloquial speech these days, or just weil?

I haven't noticed this with ''ob" or "wann."

For example, I'd say:

Ich weiß nicht, ob/wann er Zeit hat.

I have heard the following version only from non-native speakers:

*Ich weiß nicht, ob/wann er hat Zeit.

[leosmith]

didn't he present "denn" as being often wrong (in the sense that a native wouldn't use it in most situations) but always likely to understood, i.e. a "cheat" for the learner...?

I'm on track 68 of 155 in the foundation course, and no such distinction has been made yet.

[leosmith]

Is Ausgang (exit) pronounced like "Ausgangk"? I noticed he pronounces bringen like "bringgen" too.

[tastyonions]

Is Ausgang (exit) pronounced like "Ausgangk"?

No. Must be his poor pronunciation playing tricks on you.

[german2k01]

How about "Because I don't understand you":
1) Weil ich dich nicht verstehe.
2) Denn ich verstehe dich nicht.

On the streets and shops people dont say such long sentences. If they dont understand you, they will simply say in German "Wie Bitte" or simply say "Bitte"? It simply means " I do not understand you".

or in the case of whatever you said, "Das verstehe Ich nicht". It is the same thing " I dont understand you or whatever you said I did not get it".

or if my memory serves me right, more colloquially I heard "verstehe dich nicht".

Never heard above mentioned sentences with those conjunctions.

[Doitsujin]

Is Ausgang (exit) pronounced like "Ausgangk"? I noticed he pronounces bringen like "bringgen" too.

In most German words,"ng" is usually pronounced as /ŋ/.
For example:
Ausgang /'a͜ʊsgaŋ/
Achtung /'axtʊŋ/
Ring /rɪŋ/
Finger /'fɪŋər/
bringen /'brɪŋən/

Of course, if the n is part of a prefix, g is pronounced as /g/:
Angeber /'anɡeː:bɐ/

[Cainntear]

Is Ausgang (exit) pronounced like "Ausgangk"? I noticed he pronounces bringen like "bringgen" too.

Wiktionary has that as one of the two sound files for Ausgang and thus an acceptable dialectal variation, but there's no matching soundfile for bringen. That said, the speaker who recorded Ausgang that way hasn't provided a pronunciation for bringen.

[leosmith]

How common is the use of Die? For example Sie bleiben hier vs Die bleiben hier (They are staying here)? I know that it can distinguish They from You, but he reminds us of this option every single time he uses Zie for They. Do you use it even if it isn't necessary to distinguish?

[Doitsujin]

How common is the use of Die? For example Sie bleiben hier vs Die bleiben hier (They are staying here)? I know that it can distinguish They from You, but he reminds us of this option every single time he uses Zie for They. Do you use it even if it isn't necessary to distinguish?

IMHO, they is usually translated as sie. In some cases, they can also be translated as die with little or no change in meaning, but since die is sometimes also used for emphasis, to indicate disapproval or to refer to persons or objects further removed from the speaker, language learners might want to stick with sie.
For example, if I notice a group of people that stand out of a crowd, because of their appearance, behavior etc. I might say to my friends:
Hast Du die [da] gesehen? = Have you seen those guys [over there]?