Are you introverted or extroverted?
Hi everyone, i'm oliver and welcome back to the easy english podcast, the best place to learn and practice your english with slow and clear audio, to learn new vocabulary, phrases and practice overall right.
It is so wonderful to have you with me again.
And if you're new, welcome to the show.
Today we are going to talk about personality and how different people get their energy and prefer to interact with the world exciting topic.
We'll explore two common personality types introverts and extroverts.
Don't worry, I'll explain these words.
And understanding the differences isn't about saying that one is better than the other.
It's about appreciating and understanding why people act the way that they do and how we can all get along better.
So let's learn about these fascinating different types of people today.
But first, as always, we are going to check out our key vocabulary for today's lesson and practice.
I want to remind you that if you are listening to this podcast, Most people are not actually following or subscribed, so make sure that you are following and subscribed to get updates of new episodes.
Okay, let's look at our key vocabulary.
So these are five useful words that you're going to hear during our little chat today.
So I'm going to explain the words and I'll give you the word, its definition and maybe a little example as well.
And I want you to listen for these during the main episode.
I want you to practice some active listening.
So the first word is a very important one because I will probably say it quite a lot.
And that word is personality, personality, personality.
It is a noun and it means the unique qualities and characteristics that make a person who they are.
Everyone has a different personality.
So I would say it's the things about you as a person, not how you look, but how you act, what you believe in and how you respond and do things.
That is your personality.
It's everything about you that's not physical, right?
So it's not to do with your height.
It isn't to do with your weight or your hair or your eye color.
It's all the other stuff. your behavior.
The next phrase, introvert, introvert, introvert.
And this is a noun.
It's a person who feels more comfortable and recharges their energy by spending time alone or in quiet activities.
So I can say my friend is a true introvert.
He loves reading books alone at home.
The next word is an extrovert.
An extrovert.
We're going to hear about extroverts today as well.
An extrovert is a person who gains energy from being around or with other people and enjoys social situations.
Extroverts often love parties and even big groups as well.
Okay, our fourth word, which is a verb and I've already said it, I think twice already and this is recharge recharge, recharge.
And this is to get back energy after a period of activity.
So you've been very busy, you've done a lot of activity and you need to get some energy back.
So after a busy week, I need to recharge.
And finally, our last key vocabulary for this lesson to listen out for is socialize socialize socialize, socialize.
And this means to spend time with other people in a friendly way.
So for example, we socialize with our friends.
When we meet them, we are socializing.
So keep these words in mind as we talk about how different people get their energy.
So remember, as I talk about this, There are so many different types of people and the chances are that you are a mixture of all of these people that we talk about, right?
But let's start with introverts or this idea of being introverted.
An introvert is someone who often feels more comfortable and gets their energy back by spending time alone.
Imagine a battery that gets recharged by being plugged into a wall.
Like your phone, for example.
You need to plug it back in and charge it again to get its energy back.
For introverts, that wall or that plug for the energy is quiet time, maybe reading, thinking or other activities alone, like playing games, watching a movie, even a walk in the park.
Or sometimes calm activities with a small group of friends, either one or two close friends usually.
When an introvert spends a lot of time in big groups or noisy places, their energy starts to go down quite quickly.
And they might feel tired or even drained.
Drained.
It means all their energy is gone.
We drain water.
So whenever it rains, the water flows, flows down into the drain and we can describe it as being drained, and we can use that word when talking about us people.
With our energy, we also drain our energy and become drained.
Hopefully that makes sense.
So introverts still enjoy people and they can be very good at communicating or socializing.
It doesn't mean that you're shy or that you're awkward, but they simply need time to recharge their energy in peace.
And, to be honest, a lot of great famous communicators Comedians actors, people who really have a lot of energy, are also introverts.
They like that time alone to recharge their energy.
I consider myself generally an introvert too.
Although I can get energy from meeting people to a level, I tend to find that I get quite tired, quite sleepy.
I need that time alone after meeting people.
But I love to meet smaller groups of people, one or two.
If I'm in a big group or a noisy place, I also really start to feel quite tired, quite drained, and I need to recharge my batteries alone.
But I certainly don't consider myself to be shy or to be poor at communicating, like to present, I like talking and I like socializing.
But I still need that time alone to read a book and to relax.
So on the opposite end, what are extroverts?
What are extroverts?
An extrovert is someone who gains energy from being with other people in social situations.
So for them, spending time with others is like plugging that charger in.
So plugging your phone in to recharge.
It gets the energy levels up.
Extroverts often love bigger parties, group activities and being around many people.
So meeting lots of new people.
They enjoy talking, sharing ideas and being quite active in social settings.
If an extrovert spends too much time alone, they might start to feel bored or low on energy.
So these people recharge by interacting with the world and others.
Although I guess when I say with the world, I mean with people out there, right?
With people and noise and lots of stuff going on.
They often can think out loud as well, and maybe they love to talk through their ideas and thoughts with others.
So my wife is definitely an extrovert and I see the opposite in her as to me.
She does not like time alone as much as I do.
And she likes to spend time with other people to get energy.
So to meet her friends and to have larger gatherings with multiple girls.
Whereas when I meet my friends, I prefer if it's a small group of friends.
But not always.
I think over the last few years she has changed where she started to like her own time alone a little bit more as well.
So that's why I think it's quite complicated, because most of us are a balance of these two to some level.
But I feel like we can identify ourselves with one more than the other.
We can feel more like one than the other, right?
But it's important to understand that being an extrovert or an introvert is not about being good or bad, even though one sounds maybe better to you than the other.
But first...
A little reminder.
So a number of weeks ago, I released a new book.
So if you haven't checked it out yet, my book Phrasal Verbs Are Easy is available now.
The link is in the description below.
We've already had so many people, so many of you wonderful listeners support by buying this book.
It teaches you English phrasal verbs with short stories as well to show you those verbs in context.
Learning verbs and words in general from context is very important for creating those memories and that understanding in your mind.
So if you would like to support the show and you can get a copy of that ebook, the link is in the description below.
So do check that out and support if you're interested.
Okay, back to our main episode.
So both personality types are very valuable.
They're both good, in my opinion.
However, there are some common misunderstandings.
The first I mentioned already, and that is that some people think that introverts can be shy.
I think I'm an example of an introvert that is certainly not shy.
I may not be the most outspoken person, so I don't talk loudly and I'm not the first to always talk.
I am not shy and when I do speak, I don't think I'm very shy about it, right?
In general, introverts simply usually prefer a quieter environment. and maybe some sort of quieter one-on-one conversations rather than big, loud group discussions with lots of people.
But on the other side, extroverts are also not loud necessarily.
Not all extroverts are loud or talking all the time.
In fact, you can be the opposite.
You can be shy, you can be quiet, but also extroverted.
You can get energy from those social situations, even if you don't consider yourself to be very talkative.
So I hope this makes sense.
The fact that you can be one or the other and not be the stereotype, how you would imagine it.
So it's not black and white.
It's not one or the other.
You're probably a mix of the two.
I would put myself as like 60 or 70% introverted with that last 30% as extroverted.
And to be honest, your personality can change depending on the situation and who you're with.
I notice this all the time, how I act differently at times depending on who I am with.
When I'm with my old friends from university, I start to act much more like I was at university, so joking around a lot.
And maybe some more guy humor acting a little bit different from, of course, how I would act when I'm at work, when I'm speaking professionally.
These are different personalities.
And one gives me energy, so with my friends, joking around.
The other makes me feel tired over time.
That professional talking, that professional Oliver, rather than the relaxed, having fun Oliver.
I hope that makes sense as well.
So how we can be introverted or extroverted, depending on the personality and the social situation that we're in.
But I guess that understanding these different personality types can really help us with our work, with socializing and getting along together.
For example, if you're feeling introverted, don't feel bad if you need that quiet time to recharge.
And it's okay to say no to some social situations or invitations to try and recharge your energy.
Don't feel bad about it.
And in meetings you probably want to prepare your thoughts before speaking, and if you don't speak much, people might think you're quiet.
But your ideas are also important.
But maybe you're talkative and great at speaking.
Anyway,
For extroverts.
You want to obviously try to give introverts space and quiet time too, because again they need that to recharge.
So if your partner or your friend is an introvert, it's good to understand that and to see that they need that time.
And in discussions, particularly in large groups.
You might do well in large groups, but if you notice someone who is a bit more introverted, they maybe are not so comfortable in large groups as well.
Make sure you give them that chance to speak up and involve them in the conversation.
And if you know that someone's an introvert, you might want to, for example, go for a one-on-one or a smaller group meeting with them if you know that that is what they prefer.
And by respecting one another's needs for social interaction and how we behave, both introverts and extroverts, we can work together effectively and build strong friendships, relationships and social connections.
So we're going to go to my favorite part of the show, the listener spotlight, the section of the show where I ask you questions and you write in to me and give me your answers.
So First, I want to tell you the question for next episode.
I usually do it at the end, but I want to tell you the beginning and then I'll say it again at the end.
But first, if you want to get more involved maybe you want to ask me questions, message me.
You want some bonus episodes, ad-free episodes, some additional series content posts, full transcripts of episodes with the vocab lists then why not consider signing up for the easy english patreon?
The link is in the description below, and if you want to support the show, support me and get access to all that great content, then the link is below.
And thank you to all my patreons and people who support the show.
So today's question for the next episode that i would like you to answer is what is something that you do to recharge, so something that helps you to get energy back?
I want you to tell me an activity, something that you like to do, anything what helps you to get your energy back again.
Okay, But what we're going to look at now is a question that I asked before.
So I asked about a challenge that you've had with learning English and how you beat that challenge.
What did you do to get past it?
So we had someone, I think David, from Germany wrote in and he said my biggest challenge was listening to fast native speakers.
I used to feel so lost.
But then I started watching English TV shows with English subtitles and your podcast.
And slowly my ear is becoming much better.
Practice is definitely the key.
That's fantastic, David.
That consistent practice, we say exposure as well.
So listening lots really does help with fast native speaker speech.
It helps you to, your brain to get better at separating and understanding that Very quick speech.
So great, great comment.
Thank you for writing in.
Next we had, let me see, it was Sarah, I believe, or Sarah, Sarah, Sarah from Brazil.
And she said that her biggest challenge was speaking without worrying about mistakes.
I used to be so nervous, but what helped me was joining an online conversation club where everyone was learning, so it felt safe to make errors, to make mistakes.
Now I have much more confidence.
Wow, great solution, Sarah.
I commend you.
That was amazing choice to take that step and to practice speaking with others.
It's really hard to get past that point of, you know, feeling scared to make mistakes, feeling nervous to speak.
And it's amazing that you have beaten that fear.
You've gotten over that care and worry about speaking in English.
Finally, we have another listener from Japan.
There's no name here, but they have written in and said I struggle with English pronunciation for a long time, especially the R and L sounds.
What has helped me was finding YouTube videos and podcasts and practicing the tongue positions, as well as like copying what people are saying.
It has been slow, but it is working and my pronunciation is improving.
Wow, thank you so much for sharing that.
That's a big challenge.
Pronunciation is difficult for so many learners.
So you're not alone, but you're doing the right thing and you're making progress.
So you should be very proud.
In fact, all of you should be proud.
You're listening, you're practicing, and you're making an effort.
And that's the best that we can really always do.
So fantastic.
Well done.
So today we have talked about and explored the fascinating, interesting world of personality types, specifically looking at introverts and extroverts.
Remember, introverts recharge with quiet time, whereas extroverts recharge by being with others and socializing, particularly in large groups.
And you can be not only one or the other, but somewhere in between.
Or maybe both, depending on the situation, who you're with and what you're doing.
Thank you so much for joining me on Easy English today.
Every week i make these episodes two per week, usually at the moment.
In the future it may be one per week, because it is a lot to do on top of my extra job.
So if you would like to support this project, make sure to buy a copy of the book.
The link is in the description and you can join the patreon page as well if you would like bonus content, transcripts and all that good stuff i talked about before.
But the most important thing that you can do is listen and support.
Thank you so much for listening and have a wonderful rest of your day.
I will see you soon.
