Welcome to the Listening Time podcast.
Hey everybody, this is Connor and you're listening to episode 110 of the Listening Time podcast.
Thank you all for listening.
I hope your English learning is going great.
Remember that if you're a Spanish or a Portuguese speaker and you want to start reading fiction in English, you can purchase my e-book, which is a collection of three short mystery stories written in English and translated into Spanish and Portuguese.
So you can find those links in the episode description below this episode.
So go check that out if you'd like.
Thank you so much.
If you're interested in my advanced podcast episodes where I speak fast at normal speed, then make sure to become a Listening Time family member and you'll get two new advanced podcast episodes every month.
So the link to sign up is in the episode description.
That's patreon.com slash listening time.
All right.
In today's episode, we're going to talk about American culture.
This is a topic that almost everyone is interested in.
People like learning about other cultures and Since you're learning English, I imagine you're somewhat interested in this topic.
So I'll talk about a few elements regarding American culture in this episode.
And I think that I'll probably do a part two, because I'll want to talk about some other elements as well, because there are many things to talk about when it comes to American culture.
So I don't know for sure, but I might make a part two episode if I need to.
So that should be a good topic for today's episode.
And remember that you have the transcript available so you can use it to follow along and help you understand everything that I'm saying.
So go down and click on that if you need it.
And if you like this podcast, please give it a five-star rating and write a review, and share it with your friends or family members who are learning English.
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 American culture.
First of all, why is American culture so influential around the world?
I'm sure that most of you, regardless of where you're from, where you live right now, you've probably had some influence from American culture or you know a little bit about American culture.
And I think there are several reasons for this.
One reason is, of course, the US is where we produce a lot of the really popular TV shows movies, music and entertainment.
And so this gets transmitted all around the world and people see American culture through this entertainment.
So that's one reason why American culture is influential around the world.
And I think the fact that in the US we have a very important economy and we have very important companies and things like that, that's also something that makes our culture influential, because a lot of people want to buy things from American companies or they want to invest in the US economy in different ways.
And so there are plenty of other reasons as well, but I think that those are a couple of the reasons why our culture is well-known and influential.
And so let's talk about a few different elements of American culture.
I picked four elements for this episode, so we'll talk about those today.
The first element I want to talk about is competition.
So in American culture, competition is a very important element.
It's something that influences a lot here.
So for example, let's talk about our economy.
Traditionally speaking, the U.S. has had a free market.
This just means that there is very limited government interference in our markets.
Nowadays, that's not exactly the case.
We have a lot more government influence in our markets, and this is something that many people are not happy about, because our economy is no longer what it used to be.
It doesn't have the exact same elements and structure that allowed the country to succeed in the past.
We still have relatively free markets compared to some other countries, of course, but not quite as free as the past.
But in a free market, In this system of capitalism, competition is everything.
In all honesty, competition is absolutely necessary.
It's required in order for a free market capitalist system to run correctly, because we need to have competition among companies that want to get more customers, more clients.
And so they have to compete with one another to make better products or offer a better service in order to offer something better overall, and to compete with each other to innovate as well.
This is something that is produced by competition.
Here is that companies or individuals or entrepreneurs are are always trying to discover the next solution to some problem, or they're trying to invent something that will solve a problem or help push technology into the future.
All of this depends on having competition.
And in general, I would say that the US has an achievement culture, I'll call it.
What do I mean by this?
Well, I think that in the US, people really want to achieve great things.
They want to leave their mark on this country or this world.
In English, when we say that you leave your mark somewhere, this means that you do something significant and so you contributed to something greater, and people remember you for this.
People want to leave their mark before they die.
They want to achieve great things.
This is a very natural desire in a lot of people here.
That can cause people to work really hard and compete with other people.
We have that natural tendency.
So we're always looking to do great things, to achieve things.
Not everyone, of course, but a lot of people want to do this.
And that leads to healthy competition.
Sometimes this level of competitiveness can get a little bit out of hand.
In English, when we say that something gets out of hand, this means that it gets out of control.
So of course there can be a downside to having this level of competition in a culture, because it might make people more stressed or compare themselves with other people a lot.
So that can definitely have some negative effects if you can't handle this in the right way.
But I think if you can handle this cultural element well, if you embrace competition, then it can be a very good thing for the country and for you and your achievements personally.
By the way, the word embrace means that you accept and welcome something.
Okay.
So if you embrace competition, you accept this and you welcome this into your life.
Okay.
All right.
The next element that I wanna talk about is that, in a lot of ways, the US can be an indirect culture.
There are definitely some ways in which the US has a lot of directness, that's for sure.
But in some other ways, the US is more indirect than most other countries.
And the number one way in which the US is an indirect culture is in its communication.
So, for example, it's much more common for people to ask questions in order to request something rather than give commands.
So, for example, instead of saying, please do that for me.
What most people would say is, could you do that for me?
Or could you please do that for me?
So asking the question instead of commanding this is a way to sound more polite.
So there are many times when students of mine say, Give me commands.
They'll say things like, please send that to me.
Please do this.
Please do that.
And they add the word please, thinking that this makes the command sound polite.
However, that's not always the case.
In the US, we don't really like to hear commands that much.
We prefer to hear the other person ask us a question to request that we do something.
So it's usually better to say something like could you plus the verb rather than please plus the verb.
In all honesty, the please doesn't always make it feel really polite.
It still sounds like a command and that can be a little bit direct in some situations.
There are other situations in which we do give commands, but we definitely give fewer commands than a lot of other countries.
So you need to get into this habit of asking questions to request things.
If you live in the US or if you interact with Americans, this will really help your communication.
And the US is also indirect in its communication, in its questions as well, because we tend to ask a lot of indirect questions instead of direct questions.
For example, instead of saying, where is the bathroom?
I might say, could you tell me where the bathroom is?
Right.
The question is indirect.
I'm asking them, could you tell me?
I'm not asking them where is.
So we don't always do this, but we do this really often. more so than in a lot of other countries.
So, as you can see, we tend to be pretty indirect in the way that we ask for things, in the way that we request things, etc.
The next element that I want to talk about is that the US is time-oriented.
So, what does this mean?
Well, for example, you might have heard the phrase, time is money.
Well, in the US, many people believe this to some extent.
We don't actually think that time is the same thing as money.
But time is a very valuable resource.
And some people would say that time is even more valuable than money.
So they don't want to waste their time because that's like wasting money or even worse.
So a lot of people have this attitude when it comes to time.
And so this pushes them to try to use their time very wisely, make the best of their time, and to do as many things as they can with this resource.
So of course this can have a negative effect sometimes because it can cause more anxiety or stress, because people feel like they don't have enough time or they can't waste any time.
That can cause some stress, because people are more conscious of how much time they have left And that can maybe draw their attention away from just enjoying the moment.
So that can sometimes have a negative effect.
But it can be positive in the sense that people manage their time well.
They do a lot with their time.
And people are usually... pretty punctual compared to other countries.
This just means that they arrive on time to events or to appointments, things like that.
There are some things that don't require you to arrive exactly on time.
And I'm not saying that Americans always arrive on time to every event, but when it comes to important appointments and things like that, people tend to arrive on time, or sometimes a little bit early even.
So if you go to some other countries where people aren't as time-oriented, this is much rarer.
People don't show up early to appointments or things like that.
So this is something that can be a positive in that sense that people show up on time or they finish things on time.
But for some people, they might not like this so much.
They might prefer to have less strictness when it comes to arriving on time.
So I think it depends on your personality and And, of course, because we're time oriented, it's considered disrespectful to waste another person's time.
It's like you're wasting their resources or even wasting their money.
This is disrespectful in the U.S.
By the way, we can use the phrase call ahead.
This just means that you call in advance.
You call before the time.
So you should call ahead and tell the person you're going to be late.
If you don't do this, it's a little bit disrespectful, because you're wasting the other person's time.
So this all shows. how time-oriented the US is.
And one other element I wanted to mention is that the US is very individualistic.
You probably already know this.
In the US, people tend to take care of themselves and rely less on other people.
By the way, the word rely just means depend.
So people depend less on other people in general.
This might mean that they depend less on their family once they're an adult, for example.
So I know in some countries it's common for adults to still rely on their parents and they might still live at home at a later age, or they might still need their parents for many reasons.
In the US, traditionally, you don't do that once you're an adult.
However, nowadays, this is changing a lot.
So nowadays, it's much more common for adults to still need some help from their parents.
That's much more common than it was 30, 40, 50 years ago, for example.
So that has changed a little bit.
But in general, people still try to take care of themselves and people really want to make their own decisions about So that's.
Another element of this individualism is that people want to decide things for themselves, to forge their own path and to choose what they want to do.
In English, if we say you forge your own path, this just means that you create your own way.
So that's what people like to do in general here.
And it's common for people to, for example, live far from their extended family.
Once they become an adult and once they start their own family, that becomes their new family.
I'm not saying that their parents and siblings aren't their family anymore.
Of course not.
But their priority is definitely their own family, their wife, their husband, their kids.
So that is definitely the priority.
And most people spend less time with their extended family when they're an adult than And that's something that I've noticed that is different in other countries, where people still see their cousins and aunts and uncles and all these people a lot when they're an adult.
In the US it's less common and it's common to move far away from your parents or your siblings.
That's really common for people to have family members in different parts of the country, for example.
So people are more individualistic.
And this goes with the idea of being free, right?
Making your own decisions. deciding your own future, things like that.
Of course, there are some positives and there can be some negatives to this, as with all of these elements.
All right.
Why don't we stop there for today?
I might make another part to this so I can talk about some more cultural elements in the U.S.
Hopefully you learned something from this episode and hopefully it was interesting for you.
Remember that if you're a Spanish or a Portuguese speaker, you can purchase my e-book, my collection of three short mystery stories to practice your reading in English.
And you have the translation to help you with that.
So the links are in the episode description.
And you can also join my membership if you want to support this podcast.
Uh, and if you want my exclusive training and specifically, if you want the advanced podcast episodes, then become a listening time family member.
The link is in the episode description below the episode.
And of course you have the transcript there as well.
And if you like this podcast, please share it with any friends or family members who are learning English, and please give it a five-star rating and write a review.
All right, thank you for listening to this episode and I'll talk to you on the next episode of Listening Time.
