Welcome to the Listening Time Podcast.
I'm Connor from polyglossa.com, and you're listening to Episode 5 of the Listening Time Podcast.
If this is your first time listening, welcome.
I'm happy to have you here with me.
This podcast is for English learners who want to practice their listening skills.
And, more specifically, this podcast is for English learners who still can't understand real fast, authentic native speech.
If you have trouble understanding regular podcasts, but you can already understand a lot of English, this podcast is perfect for you.
This podcast is designed to help take you to the next level.
So it will help you develop the skills and the vocabulary you need to eventually understand normal native speech.
So in each episode, I talk about different topics and I don't read a script.
So, that's the key here.
I'm not reading anything.
I'm just speaking as the words come to my mind.
So I'm using natural language, natural words phrases, expressions etc.
But I'm speaking a little more slowly and a little more clearly than native speakers normally do.
So this should help you understand me a little bit better, but you'll still learn new words and new phrases and it will be good practice for you.
Also, the transcript is available for each episode so you can access that and read as you listen And you can understand all the words or phrases that might be hard for you to understand when you just listen to me the first time without reading the transcript.
So that should be helpful for you as well.
So, in this episode, we're going to talk about barbecues and fashion.
Two random topics, but who cares?
Let's talk about them.
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All right, let's get started.
Are your ears ready?
You know what time it is.
It's listening time.
Okay, so first we're going to talk about barbecues.
This is a great topic.
I like this topic and I'm sure many of you do too.
So first of all, let's talk about the definition of the word barbecue.
In English, barbecue can mean two things.
It can refer to the event of having a barbecue.
We can say, for example, come over on Saturday.
We're having a barbecue in the backyard.
In that context, the barbecue is the event, really.
The event of having people over at your house and grilling meat and other things on the barbecue, on the grill.
So that's one definition.
The other definition of barbecue in English is the type of food.
So we have a type of food that's called barbecue.
So if you ask an American what their favorite type of food is, it's possible that they might say my favorite type of food is barbecue, especially if they live in the South.
So that's what a barbecue is.
It's an event or it could be a type of food.
So first let's talk about the event.
So in the United States, barbecues are fairly common.
People often have them in their backyards and they often have them on certain holidays.
For example, it's common to have barbecues on the 4th of July, our Independence Day, and it's common to have barbecues on certain minor holidays, such as Labor Day and Memorial Day, where we usually have a three-day weekend to hang out with our family and friends.
So on those occasions, it's common for Americans to have barbecues.
And during each barbecue, we often grill different types of meat.
For example, we might make hamburgers.
That's probably the most common type of meat that we make during barbecues.
And we might have hot dogs.
We might have steak.
When I was younger, I used to have bratwurst sausages at my barbecues.
So we have a variety of different choices of meat that we might barbecue during those events.
The word barbecue can also be used as a verb.
You can say, we're going to barbecue some meat.
It just means we're going to grill that meat.
So we barbecue many types of meat.
And like I said, it's usually in the backyard.
If you don't know what a backyard is, this is the space behind the house, your own private property, where you might have grass or a patio, or maybe even a swimming pool and other things like that.
So in the U.S., all houses have backyards.
So we have more space than houses in other countries usually.
And because we have this space, it provides us the opportunity to have barbecues there.
So it's a great tradition, I think.
So, in terms of barbecue as a type of food, when people talk about barbecue in the US they're usually referring to southern style barbecue.
You might have seen this in movies or TV shows before, or maybe you've actually tried this.
For example, the most emblematic type of food in terms of barbecue is ribs.
I'm sure you've seen these or heard of these before.
If not, look up a picture of them.
Type in r-i-b-s ribs and you'll see exactly what i'm talking about.
This is probably the most important food when it comes to barbecue and it's very, very tasty.
When I was growing up, I considered ribs to be my favorite type of food, actually.
So I really like ribs because of the sauce, the barbecue sauce that people put on top of the ribs.
So they're really tasty.
I also really like things like macaroni and cheese and coleslaw and pulled pork.
These are other food items that are... related to the barbecue style of food, right?
Like that southern barbecue style.
So if you ever have the chance, definitely go to a barbecue restaurant in the US and you'll find all these tasty foods.
And especially if you're in the south of the US.
If you're in the South, you're going to have the chance to eat amazing barbecue there.
I've never been, but any American that has been will tell you just that.
I hope I can try that someday too.
And lastly, talking about barbecues around the world.
Barbecues are an event that takes place in many countries.
For example, in Mexico, barbecues are common and people call them.
A barbecue is called carne asada, for example.
Or in Brazil, a barbecue is called churrasco.
Right.
So each country has its own style of barbecue and maybe a different word to describe that event.
But it's a common event in many different countries.
In certain countries, like in Brazil, I know that barbecues are very, very popular.
For example, I have many students from Brazil who tell me that they have a barbecue every week.
Literally every Sunday they get together with their family and their friends and they have a barbecue right.
So it's very popular there.
They have barbecues much more often than we do in the US And I'm sure in other countries.
There are also a lot of different barbecue traditions that I'm not aware of.
And I'm sure there are many types of meat and other things that people eat during barbecues.
And of course there are many tasty cuts of beef and pork and chicken that people cook all over the world.
And I hope to try as many of these different cuisines as possible.
So I've eaten meat from Argentina before and from Brazil and it's amazing.
The quality of the beef is top notch, really.
When we say the phrase top notch, this just means that it's very high quality.
It's a very good quality meat.
It's top-notch meat.
So let's move on to the topic of fashion.
Let's talk about fashion.
This is an important topic.
This is an important element of society, of culture.
It's a way that people can express themselves and it's a way that people can identify with certain groups or certain subcultures or maybe certain religions, etc.
Fashion is definitely important whether or not you like it personally.
I'm not a big fashion guy.
I don't really like fashion, but I have to admit that it's an important element of culture around the world.
So let's talk a little bit about styles and trends and fads and things like this.
First of all, style just refers to the type of clothing that is popular, right?
And sometimes we have styles that are new.
Sometimes styles from the past come back and become popular again.
But regardless of the origins...
We definitely have different styles of clothing, styles of fashion.
So, for example, some people might really like the gothic style of clothing.
Or other people might dress like a skater.
Skater style is also very popular.
Or hip-hop or other types of styles as well.
Formal, classical styles.
There are many types of styles and if you go to any high school or college campus in the US or maybe in other countries, you'll see different styles represented among the people there.
So I also used the word fad before.
This might be a new word for you.
A fad would be some kind of style that becomes very popular in a short time and then it completely disappears later on.
So it's a type of style that doesn't last long.
And later on, people usually look back and think, wow, why did we wear that?
Why did we do this?
That was crazy.
Right?
So you might be able to think of certain fads that were popular when you were in high school, or maybe that are popular now.
And you have no idea why people dress that way or why they think it looks good.
But fads will always exist.
There will always be certain really popular trends that explode and then disappear.
They fizzle out.
It fades away and disappears.
So fads will always exist, I think.
When I think of my style, my fashion of the past, I think it's pretty funny because I didn't dress how I dress now.
When I was 13, 14, around that age...
I was a basketball player, and so I dressed kind of like the other basketball players dressed at school.
So I would wear Nike shoes or Air Jordan shoes.
And I would wear big t-shirts with matching colors, colors that matched my shoes.
So I was very color coordinated.
And I spent a lot of money on expensive Nikes and Jordans and Adidas shoes.
I dressed like that for maybe two years or so.
And then after that, I dressed more like a skater because I kind of liked skating when I was in high school and middle school.
And so I wore more of the skater type clothes and I wore vans, like those types of shoes.
And so that didn't last for very long, but I definitely got into that style for a while.
And then after that, I kind of stopped caring so much about fashion.
And nowadays, I would say that I don't really care at all about fashion, as I mentioned before.
I tend to wear clothes that are comfortable for me.
But I also understand that it's important to try to look decent.
I don't want to look bad or really out of style.
So of course, I try to look okay.
But I really don't pay much attention to the clothes I buy.
I don't go shopping very often.
And so some of my shirts are from a long time ago.
I know that I still wear certain shirts that I've had for maybe seven, eight, even nine years.
I know it's kind of ridiculous, but I still wear the same t-shirts that I wore in my last year of high school or my first year of college.
But my wife doesn't like this.
She wants me to buy new shirts, wear nicer clothes.
And so I'm trying to do this a little more now.
I'm trying to pay a little more attention to the clothes I wear.
But like I said, it's not easy for me to pay much attention to fashion.
I just want to look okay and be comfortable and that's it.
So usually if you see me now, I'm wearing a blank t-shirt.
So a t-shirt with no writing.
If I say a blank t-shirt, it just means blank.
No writing, no logo.
It's just all white or all black or all gray.
So I usually wear a blank t-shirt and pants.
I don't like jeans that much.
I know it's strange.
Most people wear jeans, but I almost never wear jeans.
I wear either black or black. brown or tan pants that are a little different than jeans.
I don't like the blue jeans look.
I don't know why, but it's not me.
So I usually just wear a blank shirt, a blank t-shirt, a pair of pants, and normal shoes.
My wife wants me to buy more shoes, because the few pairs of shoes that I wear are not very new and some of them are ripped.
The word ripped means that the shoes are damaged.
They have holes in them.
So if I say I ripped the paper, this means that I tore the paper in different pieces.
I broke the paper, so to say.
But we don't say break the paper.
We say rip the paper or tear the paper.
So some of my shoes are ripped and have holes in them.
And so I'll probably need to buy new shoes pretty soon.
So we'll stop there.
Hopefully these topics were helpful for you to practice your listening.
And hopefully they were interesting for you.
I enjoyed talking about them.
So, of course, if you need the transcript, go ahead and open that and listen again and try to understand more the words and phrases that you missed the first time.
And, of course, check us out at polyglossacom and sign up for our 1 listening seminars there, so you can continue practicing your listening.
And, of course, share this podcast online with other people who need to practice their listening skills and give this podcast a rating and a review.
Tell the world what you think about this podcast.
So thank you very much for tuning in and listening to Episode 5 of the Listening Time Podcast.
And I hope you'll come back for our next episode, episode six of the Listening Time podcast.
