Welcome to the Listening Time Podcast.
Hey everybody, this is Connor and you're listening to episode 219 of the Listening Time Podcast.
I hope you're doing great and that your English learning is going well.
In today's episode I want to talk about wants versus needs.
The differences between the things that we want and the things that we need.
I'm going to talk about some different areas in which these two things might not be the same.
And I'll talk from personal experience as well, but also just in general, because what we want and what we need are not always the same thing.
I think this will be an interesting topic and I'm sure this episode will be good practice for your listening, as always.
Remember that the transcript is available for all of these free episodes.
Each transcript is in the description below the episode.
The link to sign up is down below.
And you can also check out my U.S.
Conversations podcast in which I talk to different people from all around the country so you can practice listening to native conversations.
Authentic conversations between native English speakers.
So you'll definitely want to check that out.
That link is also down below.
All right, let's get started.
Are your ears ready?
You know what time it is.
It's listening time.
Okay, let's talk about wants and needs.
Let's talk about some different areas in which your desire, your want, the different wants that you have, might not line up with your needs, meaning they might not be the same thing as what you need.
So first, let's talk about cars.
So if you're a young single person living in a city where there's good public transportation, having a car might just be something that you want.
However, if you are a family man with a wife and kids in a city in the US, this is probably going to be more of a need.
So let's talk about this.
A young single person living in a European city where there's a metro system that can get you anywhere you need.
You probably just rely on that in order to get places.
Of course you might want a car, because it's nice to be able to transport yourself and not rely on public transportation.
And I would probably want a car in that situation, even if I'm able to go wherever I want with public transportation.
I would probably still desire to have my own vehicle that I could use to drive to different cities, take road trips or avoid the crowds of people on the subway.
I would probably still want a car, but I probably don't actually need a car.
If I'm in that situation, some of you know what I'm talking about.
You might not need a car, but you still want one.
But let's say you live in the U.S.
Here, most cities do not have a good public transportation system.
There are a couple exceptions.
There are some cities where you can use the subway system and buses pretty efficiently, but in most cities this is not the case.
So a car is seen as a need, not just a want.
I've talked to Europeans before about my car cars, plural and they'll often ask why do you need two cars or why do you need a car with a lot of seats?
Because i might tell them that i need a big car and For them.
They're a young, single person with no kids and they live in a city where they can use public transportation.
And for them, it doesn't make sense that I would need these things.
For them, it just sounds like I want these things, and so that's why I have them.
And, of course, if I want to get really particular about wants versus needs, I could say that I don't absolutely need these exact cars that I have, and I don't exactly need to have a car for my wife, for example.
But in the US, if you don't have a car available to use and you have kids, for example, there's not much you can do.
I would have to walk for 45 minutes with my kids my baby in the cold morning to reach the bus station, and the bus doesn't even come very often and it doesn't take me to where I need to go exactly.
There's no subway system at all here.
We just don't have cities that are built for public transportation.
Again, there are some exceptions, but for the most part a car is seen as a necessity for a lot of people.
Obviously there are some people that don't have cars here.
I've known one or two people in my life, uh, that didn't have a car and their life was really hard.
So, in other words, some people can get by, meaning they can survive without a car, but it's going to be difficult.
So uh, There's a difference between wants and needs when it comes to owning a car, depending on your situation, where you live, if you have kids or not.
I told the story before about my son choking and I didn't have a car to take him to the hospital and it was a disaster in that moment.
So after that, i decided that for me, i needed to have a car in case something like that happened again.
Okay, the next thing that i want to talk about is food.
So what do we want?
What type of food do we want to eat?
Well, a lot of people want junk food.
They want chips and cookies and all that good stuff.
When I say good, I'm talking about good tasting, delicious.
Obviously, it's not healthy.
It's considered junk food.
People want treats.
Things that taste delicious but maybe unhealthy, aren't good for us.
Those things are not necessary things, but we want them.
One other type of desire when it comes to shopping for food for me is I want the best quality product too.
I want the organic, grass-fed, non-GMO, blah, blah, blah product.
But technically, I don't need that.
Yes, it's better for me.
I'm going to benefit from it.
But people survive without buying the top of the line, best quality products and they can still be healthy in general.
So I don't necessarily need that, but I want it.
So things like that are things that we might buy, that we want, but they're not necessarily essentials.
We don't need junk food.
We don't need cookies, right?
These are just wants.
In terms of just surviving and eating so that we are healthy and keep on living.
We just need food in general, and specifically food that will keep us healthy.
Probably whole foods like the actual meat, the actual food. fruit, etc.
If we're talking about food that we need, food that will keep us surviving and healthy in general, then we might consider these whole foods to be the foods that we need.
Of course, there are many people that eat a bunch of junk food and that's their main food, and they still survive.
So It kind of depends on how you look at this, but I divided food into categories of like food that isn't necessary for us to be generally healthy, and healthy food that is necessary for that.
So when you go to the grocery store, some of your purchases might be needs and some might be wants.
Another category of things is electronic devices.
So there are some electronic devices that we might need because of our work or because it's just a common item that we use every day.
It's just an essential part of our day.
So having a phone for a lot of people might be a need, even though technically, you can live without a phone, of course.
However, if you don't have a phone, your life is gonna be much harder.
There are some things that you can't even do without a phone number, because the government, or whoever it is, requires you to enter a phone number to have that service or whatever.
So for some things it is necessary and just to be able to communicate with people.
If you break down on the side of the road and you don't have a phone to call for help, that's not a good situation.
So a lot of people would view a phone as a need, a necessary item.
For me, for example, I need my computer.
I need this device.
No way that I can do what I need to do without that.
And even some accessories like headphones.
I need headphones because I can't always work and edit things and do things like that.
With the sound just coming out of my computer disrupting everyone around me, I have to be able to do that silently.
So those are necessities.
Those are things that we might need depending on our situation.
The electronic devices that we want however, are devices that are not necessary for our work, for our lives.
Make our lives more convenient but aren't necessary for a good quality of life, maybe.
The devices with extra features, really cool features and accessories.
Those probably aren't necessary, but we want them.
The newest phone, like the newest model of that phone, that's probably not something you need.
It's something you want, right?
I doubt anyone needs the newest iPhone, but they want it and it probably makes their life or their work better.
But it's not necessary.
Or just having the best brand.
Of course, if you buy the cheapest item, the cheapest brand, that item probably won't last you a long time.
So I'm not saying you should do that, but you don't need the most expensive brand, the best brand, right?
That's more of just a desire that you have.
So that's the difference between the things that we want and the things that we need when it comes to electronic devices.
How about in our careers?
How about jobs?
Well, many people want a very specific dream job.
That's the phrase we use in English.
My dream job is blah blah blah.
And this is the job that that person thinks that they should aspire towards, meaning they want to work towards getting that dream job.
And then they're going to be really happy.
But of course most people aren't working in their dream job because most jobs are not super fun and interesting and make you feel satisfied all the time.
If everyone worked in their dream job, we probably wouldn't have basic services, because A lot of the services we need, the employees, the workers who provide these services are not working in their dream jobs.
Right.
Their dream job is not that position.
So a dream job. is something we want, we desire, but it's not something we need.
We simply need a job that will pay the bills, right?
Some people they don't get a job because they're waiting to find that perfect job, but in reality it's probably not going to come and it's You've got to pay the bills.
So you should probably just get a job that's not your dream job and then work your way up and hopefully be able to get a better job that you like more in the future.
And then not all jobs are going to be fun and have the best conditions.
Those are things that we want.
Of course, I want my work to be fun and interesting and I want my work environment to be great.
Who doesn't want that?
However, most jobs aren't fun the whole time.
Of course there are fun parts and maybe overall we consider them fun jobs, but it's not fun the entire time.
You have to do things that are boring, tedious, annoying.
You have to do those things.
And so we don't want to do those things.
We want a job that's just always fun and rewarding, but we don't need that.
Like I said, we need to pay the bills.
That's the main need here.
So we can't confuse those two.
Some people want to work fewer hours, but that's not a necessity.
It's not like if they keep working the same number of hours, they're not going to survive.
Maybe some people, yes, maybe they're overworked and they need to work less.
But the average person who wants to work fewer hours probably doesn't need to do this in order to survive.
In fact, they might need to continue working those hours to earn more money to pay their bills right.
And most people want to A nice boss, a boss who is compassionate and empathetic and understanding.
Unfortunately, many bosses are not like that.
And so many of us have to work for bosses that are not great.
And it's just something we have to do.
We don't need a nice boss, but we want a nice boss.
And one thing that in the US, people might view as a necessity in terms of the job that they get is they might need that job to pay for their health insurance and their family's health insurance.
So in other countries, this probably isn't a necessity.
But in the US, for many people, it is necessary.
Like they literally wouldn't be able to afford health insurance if their employer doesn't subsidize it, meaning help pay for it.
So this is literally a need problem for a lot of people here, especially if they're married with kids.
They literally wouldn't have enough money to pay for health insurance on their own.
So this might be a necessity.
People might get a job here specifically because it pays for their health insurance, so that's a necessity, something some people need, depending on the person, of course and then you could also say that we need to get a job that doesn't go against our values, Right.
If we are completely conscience stricken, like my conscience is telling me that I'm doing wrong at this work, then you need to leave.
So that's maybe another need in terms of jobs.
Lastly, how about language learning?
What are our wants and needs when it comes to language learning?
Well, many people want a special method that will make language learning easy, that will make it go really fast.
And that's something that doesn't really exist for the most part.
Of course, there are some methods that will be much better for you and will make it much easier and faster.
But we can't say that the whole process will be easy and fast and simple.
That's just not the case.
We don't need some special method.
We want that secret recipe, that secret method to learn fast.
Many people search for that, thinking they need it, but really what they need is to just find the method that works for them in particular and stick with it and have fun with it, right.
Another thing that people want is to stay in their comfort zone, right?
Maybe some of you feel like this.
You only want to listen to this podcast, or you only want to listen to me because you can understand me only?
But you need to branch out, as we say, do different things.
You need to listen to different people.
Maybe start with my U.S.
Conversations podcast, because I'm still part of that, and then I have a guest.
Each time.
You need to move past your comfort zone and challenge yourself in order to improve.
That's something you need to do, but people want to stay in their comfort zone and do what is easy, what is comfortable for them, and And another thing people want is to treat language learning like math or science or another subject.
But in reality, it's not like those subjects.
You need to treat language learning as a different type of process.
It's not like math.
If you treat it like math, you're probably going to end up disappointed and frustrated because it just doesn't operate.
It doesn't function like math or science.
So that's another one.
And lastly, people want to speak like a native speaker.
Many people tell me this.
I want to speak like a native speaker.
However, if we're being realistic very very, very few people who learn English as an adult will end up speaking like native speakers.
This is not a realistic expectation.
So we need to have realistic expectations, not unrealistic expectations.
If you have unrealistic expectations, you're going to be very disappointed and get discouraged and it's going to be hard for you.
If you have realistic expectations, then you can enjoy the process more.
So that's what we need.
Okay.
All right, that's it for today.
I hope that you enjoyed this episode and that it was good practice for your listening.
Remember to check out my advanced podcast episodes in which I speak at normal speed.
That link is down below.
And check out my U.S.
Conversations podcast as well in which I talk to different people from around the U.S.
It's a lot of fun and it's great practice for your listening.
That link is also down below.
All right, thank you all so much for listening to this episode and I'll talk to you on the next episode of Listening Time.
