Welcome to the Listening Time podcast. I’m Conner from polyglossa.com and you’re listening to Episode 25 of the Listening Time podcast.

If this is your first time listening, welcome! I’m glad you found this podcast. This is designed for English learners who are trying to improve their listening skills. So, the way that the podcast works is that I choose one or two different topics each episode, and I talk about these topics in a natural way, using natural words and expressions. And I don’t read any script. I just speak as the words come to my mind, so I speak very naturally, but I speak a little bit more slowly and a little bit more clearly than the average native speaker speaks. In this way, you’re able to understand me more easily than you can understand the average native speaker. Hopefully, after listening to many episodes of this podcast multiple times, you’ll be able to understand me very well. And then eventually, you’ll be able to move on to podcasts made for English speakers.

And of course, the transcript is available for each episode. You can access it in the Details part of the episode. I recommend that you listen to each episode multiple times. For example, maybe the first time without the transcript, and then the second time with the transcript, to see all those words and phrases you missed the first time, and then maybe one more time without the transcript again to see if you can understand those words the third time around. So, that’s just one type of method you can use when listening to this podcast, but in general, it should be a good resource for you to help you improve your listening comprehension in English.

So today, I’m going to talk about personality. This should be an interesting topic. I hope you like it. Before we start, also, remember to give this podcast a like, a review, or a rating if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, and of course, share this podcast with anyone who might find it useful. Share it with your friends or your family members who are also learning English. Also, remember to sign up for our one dollar Listening Practice Seminars at polyglossa.com if you want more listening practice. Alright, let’s get started.

Okay so first of all, let’s define personality. What is personality? Well, someone’s personality is the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character. Okay? So in other words, it is all the things that make you, you. Right, all of those qualities, all of those characteristics that are particular to you and your character. That is your personality. So of course, we all have unique personalities. No two people are exactly the same, right. We all have differences. They might be minor differences or they might be big differences, but of course, everyone has differences in their personality. And of course, this also means that we might prefer to be around certain people because we like their distinct personality, or we might not like being around certain people because we don’t like their personality.

So, certain personalities go well with each other, and certain personalities clash. In English, when we use the word “clash”, we’re saying that two things don’t combine well. They don’t go well together. For example, I could say to someone, “the color of your shirt and the color of your pants clash”. What I’m saying is, these two colors don’t match well, they don’t combine well. Right. They don’t look good together, they clash. We also like to use the phrase “culture clash” when we’re talking about two different cultures that might not go well together. There might be some conflicts between people because of their cultural differences. This is referred to as “culture clash”.

So, returning back to the topic, certain personalities clash with each other. This means that not everyone will get along well. When we use the phrase “get along”, we’re talking about how people interact with each other in a positive or a negative way. For example, if I get along well with my sister-in- law, this means that we are good together, we have fun, we don’t fight, we agree on a lot of things, we get along well. But if I don’t get along well with someone, this means that we fight or we argue, etc. So, certain personalities go well with other types of personalities and certain personalities clash, or don’t get along well with other personalities.

So, some people think that our personality is shaped by our genetics, is shaped by just natural forces. People might think that a baby already has most of his or her personality in the early stages of their life. Other people might think that personality is something that we develop over the years of our life, and we’re not born 100% with a specific type of personality, but it develops over time. I’m kind of in the middle. I think that personality has a lot to do with our genetics, but it also has a lot to do with how we’re raised. Right. We use the word “raise” in English to talk about parents bringing up their children. So for example, I would say “I grew up in a small family”, but I would say, “my parents raised me well”. Right. So I grow up, but my parents raise me. So, I think that the way that parents raise their children can also play a big role in helping the child’s personality develop.

So, I don’t know exactly what the percentage is, but I think that both nature and nurture play a role in developing a personality. In English we use the phrase “nature and nurture” or “nature vs. nurture” to talk about two different ideas. The idea of nature means that we are born a certain way, right. It is natural for us to have a certain personality because we were born with that personality, that’s just how we were made. And when we say “nurture”, we’re talking about parents raising children. So if I say, “the parent nurtured her young”, I’m talking about a parent raising her child, and giving the child what he needs, and providing for the child, and giving the child love, etc. So, that’s what we mean when we say “nature vs. nurture”.

So, let’s talk about some personality traits. Okay. So, one of the big distinctions between personalities is extroversion versus introversion. So, some people are extroverts, and some people are introverts. An extrovert is someone who loves to socialize and they feed off of social situations. When we say that someone or something “feeds off of” something else, we’re saying that this person or thing gets energy or life from that other thing. So, an extrovert feeds off of social situations. They get energy and life from these situations. They love these types of environments. These types of situations are very natural for extroverts. They like being in social situations. They like talking and interacting a lot.

However, other people are introverts. An introvert is someone who… maybe they like talking, maybe they don’t, but the key is that they don’t feed off of these social situations, these social interactions. They don’t necessarily thrive in these situations. In English, when we use the word “thrive”, we’re saying that someone does really well in a certain situation. So, if I say that I thrive in group settings, this means that I do really well in group settings. I’m really good in this type of scenario. So, introverts don’t thrive in social settings. They might be good speakers, and they might not have trouble talking to other people, and they might actually like socializing, but usually afterwards, they feel like they need to be alone, right. After being in a social setting for a while, they might say, “Okay, I just want to go home and be by myself for a while”. Right. They actually like being alone. They like being in silence or by themselves, but an extrovert on the other hand, always wants to have those types of social situations. Right. They don’t need a ton of alone time. So, this is one of the big differences between people’s personalities.

I would say that I’m an introvert, but I’m an introvert who actually likes talking and socializing. So, I like being around other people, and I like talking to other people, and of course I’m a teacher, so I like teaching other people, but at the end of the day, after socializing for a long time, I tend to feel exhausted. I tend to feel mentally drained. In English, when we say the word “drained”, we’re saying that you feel like you have no more energy left. If I say “I’m drained”, I’m saying that I have no more energy left, right. I used all my energy. I’m drained. So after social situations, I tend to feel drained, and I want to be alone for a little while, but then later on, I like to return and go back to social settings again. So, this is why I would say that I’m an introvert, but I’m an introvert who actually likes talking.

And so, another big distinction between personalities is the type A vs. type B personality. If you’ve never heard of this before, what this refers to is… type A refers to people who are very organized, they’re very manic, right. They stress out about many things. Their brain is constantly running, and they’re constantly planning things for the future. They’re organizing their day really well. They have more anxiety about things, but they’re also very conscientious people… versus type B personalities. If you have a type B personality, this means that you’re more easygoing, you’re more laid back, right. When we say “laid back”, we’re saying that you’re not too stressed out or too anxious about things. You’re more relaxed, right. Type B personalities oftentimes don’t plan things, or just take things day by day without a very concrete plan, and they might not be as goal-oriented as Type A personalities, but they’re more relaxed.

So, each type of personality, type A and type B, has its advantages and its negatives. Right. I’m a type A personality. I am very manic, right. I’m an anxious person. And so this is a negative thing, in my opinion. I don’t like having anxiety. I don’t like that type of feeling, but the positive part about being a type A person is that you accomplish a lot of things and you’re very goal oriented, and you’re very organized, and you can plan things very well. So this is the positive part. And in terms of type B personalities, the positive is that these people are very relaxed. They don’t have as much stress. They’re probably healthier, mentally speaking, but the negative is that they probably have a tougher time achieving goals because they don’t plan out their day or their goals very well. Or they just might not accomplish the things that they would accomplish if they were a type A personality. So, I’m speaking in general terms, of course, but these are some of the advantages and disadvantages of each type of personality.

Another distinction between personalities is that some people are open to new things, and some people are more closed to new things. So, if you’re open to new things, you’re probably excited to try new food and go to different places and do different activities. But if you’re more closed to new things, you might feel more comfortable with your routine, with the same food that you normally eat. You’re more comfortable not trying new hobbies or activities all the time. So, of course, this is another distinction between people’s personalities. And there are positives and negatives associated with each type, of course. I would say that I’m somewhere in the middle. I’m open to a lot of new things, but with some other things, some other aspects of life, I’m very closed. So for me, it just depends on what subject we’re talking about, really. Sometimes I’m very open, sometimes I’m not.

Another difference between personalities is that some people are very independent and some people prefer to be in groups or prefer a more collective community. So, people who are independent, they’re usually the type of people who spend more time alone. They might try new things on their own or try to accomplish things without other people’s help. They might do more difficult tasks that other people might not do because they’re independent, they don’t want to rely on other people. In English, when we say the word “rely”, we’re saying depend. “Rely” and “depend” have the same meaning. So if I say “I rely on my parents”, I’m saying that I depend on my parents. So, people who are independent don’t rely on other people, so they tend to do difficult things alone without other people’s help. Of course, this type of personality has positives and negatives, right. The positives are that these people don’t have to depend on other people and they can probably start things and finish things on their own and accomplish many things, and they can do new things, but the negative is that they might not have the same type of community, or they might not have as many people to depend on.

And then people who are more group-oriented, these people probably don’t want to try a ton of new things or difficult things on their own. Right. They want to stay with the group and do the things that their group is doing. And so, this type of personality also has positives and negatives. The positives are that these people probably have good relationships with other people, they probably have a good circle of friends or family members who they can rely on and who they can work with. So, that’s great. But the negative might be that these types of people always need to rely on other people in order to do things or they might not be able to accomplish certain tasks on their own. So, of course, again, I’m speaking generally, but these are some of the positives and negatives that I can think of when I think about these personality types.

And then one more distinction between personalities is that some people are very analytical and methodical, and they have that type of brain, and some people are more artistic and creative. Of course, some people have a mix of both, but some people fall on one or the other end of this spectrum. So in English, when we say the word “spectrum”, we’re talking about a range of options. So when we’re talking about politics, we usually use the phrase “the left-right spectrum”, right, “He falls in the middle of the spectrum, politically”. This means that he’s not on the left and he’s not on the right. He’s more in the middle of that range. So, some people are on one side or the other side of this spectrum: either analytical or creative.

I think that I’m more analytical. I’m not a super artistic person, as I’ve mentioned in previous episodes, but I have some creativity in me. I would consider myself creative, but not very artistic. But I would definitely consider myself analytical and methodical. So, that’s me. And then lastly, I just wanted to mention the idea that opposites attract. So when we say, “opposites attract”, we’re saying that people who have different personality types, people who have… maybe even opposite personalities, oftentimes are attracted to each other. So, in some cases, people might get married to other people who are very different from them. In my case, I married a woman who’s very different from me. And so, I believe that opposites can definitely attract. She and I have very different personalities, but we go well together. We combine well together as a couple.

Alright, well, I’ll stop there for today. Hopefully this episode was interesting for you, and hopefully it was good practice for your listening comprehension. Remember that you have the transcript available in the Details part of the episode. And, of course, remember to sign up for our one dollar Listening Practice Seminars at polyglossa.com and share this podcast with anyone else who might find it useful, and help this podcast grow. Okay, thank you for listening to this episode and I hope you’ll come back for Episode 26 of the Listening Time podcast.