English Listening - Winter
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Before we continue, let me tell you about our sponsor, Rosetta Stone. As you all know, learning a language is challenging. Well, Rosetta Stone is a great tool that can help you with this challenge so you can improve your English or learn any of the other 25 languages that it offers. Rosetta Stone has helped millions of people learn foreign languages over the last 30 years.

The idea behind Rosetta Stone is to provide you with a more natural and intuitive language learning method compared to other types of courses. Instead of focusing on tests, drills, or boring memorization, Rosetta Stone helps you develop your language skills naturally using interesting stories, dialogues, and visuals.

In this way, you'll learn the language a little more like a child learns their first language, not just by memorizing things, but through engaging exposure to the language. Rosetta Stone is also convenient to use because of the flexibility of its lessons. They're full of helpful content, but they're also pretty short, and you can do them whenever you have the time. This will help you work them into your schedule more easily. And one other cool feature that Rosetta Stone has is its speech recognition tool called True Accent.

It can detect the differences between your pronunciation and a native speaker's pronunciation, so it can give you feedback on how you're pronouncing words and help you improve. As you can see, Rosetta Stone is a language learning tool with a ton of value. Don't put off learning that language. There's no better time than right now to get started. For a very limited time, listening time listeners can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off.

That's 50% off unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your life. Redeem your 50% off at rosettastone.com slash listening time today. Summer is finally here. ¿Estás listo para un verano inolvidable?

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Hey everybody, this is Connor and you're listening to episode 78 of the Listening Time podcast. I hope you're all doing well today. Remember that if you want my specialized training, you can become a Listening Time member, super member, family member, or the new tier is Listening Time VIP. I'm

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All right, so in today's episode, we're going to talk about winter. We're going to talk about this season. I've already done an episode on seasons in general, and I think I've done a bonus podcast episode on the season of autumn.

autumn and I can't remember if I already did one on summer or not but I know I did one on autumn but I thought that it would be good for me to talk about winter in this episode and

because we're getting closer to the winter season and it's something that's on my mind. So we'll talk about that today. I'll talk about some of the positives, the negatives, and some of the activities that people do in winter.

So before we start, remember that you have the transcript available for this episode. That's also in the episode description below the episode. So click on that if you need it. And remember that you can listen to this episode as many times as you need until you eventually understand everything that I'm saying without using the transcript. That should be your goal with this podcast.

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You know what time it is. It's listening time. Okay, so let's talk about the winter season. So at the time of recording this, it's still November. And I think when this episode is released, it will still be the end of November, if I'm not mistaken.

but winter is approaching. In English, when we say something is approaching, this means that it's getting closer. So for example, I could say the man approached me and asked me a question. This means that the man came up to me. He got closer to me.

So winter is approaching. So this is something on people's minds now. And here in my city where I live in Mexico, winter is pretty mild. Remember that in English, the word mild is the opposite of extreme.

So when something is mild, that means it's not too strong or too extreme. It's lighter in a way. So winter is pretty mild. So I would say that normally the temperature doesn't get too cold. It doesn't get too low here.

Usually in the afternoon, the temperature is still around 25 degrees or so, maybe a little less. That's pretty typical of the wintertime here. So you can imagine that it's still a pretty nice season here in terms of weather. In the early morning,

the temperature can definitely get pretty low for Mexican standards. It might drop down to eight or seven degrees Fahrenheit,

early in the morning, but this is when almost nobody is outside, like at 4 a.m. for example, but during the normal hours of the day, it stays pretty warm throughout the day. It's a little cold for the people here, but for other people and other countries, it's

They would probably consider this to be pretty warm temperature for the winter time. So the temperature is still pretty warm here during the winter. However, the days are shorter, of course, because the sun sets earlier. In English, when we say that the sun sets, this just means that the sun goes down.

So the sun sets earlier during the winter. So during the shortest days of the year, the sun might go down around 6:00 PM, for example. So after that time, it's dark and it's nighttime. I don't like this. As you probably know by now, I like long days when the sun sets late.

But I can't do anything about this to change it. So I think this year, this winter season, I'm going to try to take advantage of this time period and take more walks at night, take more walks after the sun goes down and enjoy my city in a different way.

because I haven't really walked a lot at night the past couple of years. Uh, I'm usually home, uh, before the sun goes down. Um,

But I think it would be nice to change things up a little bit and start to enjoy the nighttime during this season because there are more hours of nighttime. And I don't want to be sad or depressed about this. And so I want to try to go out and take advantage of this season and enjoy the night a little more.

And during the day, I definitely enjoy this season because it's almost always sunny here.

during the winter time. As I mentioned, the temperature isn't that low and the sky is always blue. There are very few clouds and it's sunny and it's very nice in the winter. So I definitely enjoy the daytime and I hope I can enjoy the nighttime a little more this year.

Alright, so let's talk about some of the positives and negatives of this season in my opinion. Let me start with the negatives and then I'll talk about the positives. So of course the biggest negative for most people is the weather. This will definitely vary depending on where you live. Like I said, here where I live, the weather isn't that big of a negative.

But if you live in a cold country, the weather can definitely be something that you struggle with during this time period. I remember that when I was in Paris in 2019, it was November and it was the middle of the day. And I remember being outside and eating a hamburger at a park.

And I had to take my gloves off my hands. Your gloves are the things you put on your hands when it's cold. I had to take my gloves off to eat my hamburger. And I remember that my hands were frozen.

I had never felt something like this in my life before. It was the worst cold that I had ever experienced when I was eating that hamburger. I was shaking. I was shivering. My hands were almost numb.

In English, when we say that something is numb, that means that it has no feeling. It has no sensation. So my hands were so cold that they were almost numb and it was miserable. And I remember thinking, it's only November and it's the middle of the day. I can't imagine that.

what life is like during the real winter time at night or early in the morning, I remember thinking that it would be impossible for me to live in a country like that during that season. And so when I think about the experience that many people have during these months, the really cold weather that they have to deal with,

It makes me feel grateful that I don't live in one of these places. In English, when we say that you're grateful, this means that you're thankful. You feel fortunate. So I feel very grateful that I don't have to endure the winter season in a cold country. And I know that in particular,

the winter this year might be a little harder for some people because of problems with energy and other things. And so I really hope that the winter isn't too cold this year because I know that a lot of people will struggle with this. And I can't imagine going through a real winter because for me,

It's very hard to deal with this type of weather. I don't like it. I'm not used to it. And I'm grateful that I don't have to endure this. So the weather is the big negative when it comes to winter. Of course, shorter days can also be a negative, like I mentioned.

People don't get to see as much sunlight. And because of that, one of the other negatives that comes along with winter is a lot of people feel more stressed. They feel more depressed during this season. And one of the big reasons for that is because of the shorter days. People don't see the sun as much anymore.

They don't get as much vitamin D from the sun. And when they get off work, it's already dark. And it's just a little depressing during the day.

during this season. If you never get to be outside in the sun, this can be hard to deal with. So a lot of people feel stressed because of that. And they also feel stressed because of the holiday season. Um,

because they usually have to buy more things, spend more money. And so this can definitely cause some stress in people's lives if money is tight and they still need to buy things, buy presents. That can definitely be hard for people.

In English, when we say the phrase "money is tight", this means that you don't have a lot of available money at that time. You don't have a lot of money to spend. So, oftentimes, money is tight during this season, but you still need to spend money because it's the holiday season.

That's definitely stressful. And so overall, winter can be a more stressful season for a lot of people because of the shorter days, because of the expenses. And sometimes just the holidays in general can be stressful because some people don't

have problems with their family, maybe they don't get along with their in-laws or whatever it may be. This can also cause them stress because they have to deal with these problems during this season often. So overall, that can be a negative thing about winter.

However, there are definitely some positives when it comes to winter. The biggest one for me is Christmas. I love this holiday. I love this season. In the US during December, you can see evidence of Christmas everywhere. You see the lights, the decorations, you hear the music. Everything looks like Christmas.

This is a really fun time for people. It's a festive time. And in Mexico, where I live, it's not as apparent that it's Christmas time. When you walk outside, you don't see as many decorations. You don't hear the music. It's definitely a little less Christmassy here in Mexico.

But it's still nice during this season. You can still see decorations and you can still feel it a little bit, but it's definitely stronger in the US. So that's something really cool about the winter season is that it's Christmas time, at least for me, that's cool. And there are a lot of festivities like events

and Christmas markets and of course gatherings with your friends or family. You get to see people that you haven't seen in a while. So that's a nice thing as well because of the holiday season. People get together with their loved ones and they spend quality time together. So that's definitely a positive thing.

And I think that another positive regarding winter is that it's a cozy season. In English, the word cozy is a little hard to define. When we say that something feels cozy, we're saying that something feels warm.

It feels friendly. It feels nice. It makes us feel protected. It's kind of all of those things together. And so, for example, when you stay in a cabin in the wintertime and you're in front of the fireplace and you light a fire and you're there and it's warm inside,

That's a cozy feeling that could be considered a cozy cabin, for example. So I say that wintertime is a cozy season because in a lot of places it's cold outside. And so people try to escape that by staying indoors and being under the blankets and lying

lighting a fire and drinking warm drinks like hot chocolate and things like that. It's a very cozy feeling. It's a very nice feeling to be

with your family inside in that atmosphere while it's cold outside. That feeling is very nice for a lot of people. It's a cozy feeling. So that's definitely another positive when it comes to winter. And one more positive is all the activities that you can do during the winter. So for example, skiing and snowboarding are

are really fun activities that you can try when it's snowing. So if you go to a mountain, you can ski or snowboard or do other things as well in the snow.

I skied a little bit when I was a kid, but I didn't like it that much. Uh, however, I tried snowboarding a few times as an adult, and I think I've talked about this on a couple different episodes and I really like snowboarding. Uh, I've only been a few times and I hope to go again in the future. Uh, but it's a really fun sport. Uh, I,

I really enjoy it. So that's something that you can only do in the winter in most places because you need the snow. You need that type of weather. So that's a fun one. And a lot of people like ice skating. I've been ice skating a handful of times.

In English, when we say a handful of something, it's like saying several or maybe a little more than several. So maybe five or six times or something like that.

So I've been ice skating a handful of times and even though it's enjoyable for me, it's very hard. So I'm not good at it. It's a little bit difficult for me to keep my balance. So I've fallen numerous times while ice skating and it hurts when you fall because the ground is hard and

And it's not a pleasant experience when that happens. But overall, it's still a fun activity if you can keep your balance and stay on your feet. And there are many places where you can ice skate in the U.S., in the middle of the city even. In many places, they set up ice skating rinks downtown or elsewhere.

other places in the city during the winter time and you can go there with your friends and family and have a really nice time and that's something that people usually do in the winter and only in the winter

And in general, if you have the opportunity to see the snow in the winter to go to a snowy area, you can do all kinds of fun things. You can have snowball fights. Uh, this is where you make balls with the snow and you throw them at each other. This is always a fun activity for kids. Uh, you can build snowmen, uh,

This is where you build a little man with big balls of snow. You've probably seen this in the movies. So it's fun to build a snowman. And there are plenty of other things that you can do if you're in the snow. So there are a lot of activities that you can only do in the winter because you have access to the snow.

All right. Well, why don't we stop there for today? I hope this episode was interesting for you and I hope it was good practice for your listening. Remember that you can become a Listening Time VIP now if you want to ask me your questions about English, about language learning, about...

grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, whatever you want, you can ask me questions and I'm going to answer them every week in a Q&A session, a question and answer session where I record a video of myself answering the questions that I get from my listening time VIPs.

So you'll have that every single week if you become a Listening Time VIP. And you'll also have all the other benefits that a Listening Time family member has, right? You'll have my advanced episodes, the bonus episodes, all of my training, etc. So make sure to click on the link in the episode description below this episode. That's patreon.com slash listeningtime.com.

And if you sign up, you'll get all of those benefits. And of course, you also have the transcript available for this episode in the episode description as well. So click on that if you need it. And if you like this podcast, please give it a five star rating and share it with anyone else who might find it useful. All right. Well, thank you for listening to this episode. And I'll talk to you on the next episode of Listening Time.

Before we continue, let me tell you about our sponsor, Rosetta Stone. As you all know, learning a language is challenging. Well, Rosetta Stone is a great tool that can help you with this challenge so you can improve your English or learn any of the other 25 languages that it offers. Rosetta Stone has helped millions of people learn foreign languages over the last 30 years.

The idea behind Rosetta Stone is to provide you with a more natural and intuitive language learning method compared to other types of courses. Instead of focusing on tests, drills, or boring memorization, Rosetta Stone helps you develop your language skills naturally using interesting stories, dialogues, and visuals.

In this way, you'll learn the language a little more like a child learns their first language, not just by memorizing things, but through engaging exposure to the language. Rosetta Stone is also convenient to use because of the flexibility of its lessons. They're full of helpful content, but they're also pretty short, and you can do them whenever you have the time. This will help you work them into your schedule more easily. And one other cool feature that Rosetta Stone has is its speech recognition tool called True Accent.

It can detect the differences between your pronunciation and a native speaker's pronunciation, so it can give you feedback on how you're pronouncing words and help you improve. As you can see, Rosetta Stone is a language learning tool with a ton of value. Don't put off learning that language. There's no better time than right now to get started. For a very limited time, listening time listeners can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off.

That's 50% off unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your life. Redeem your 50% off at rosettastone.com slash listening time today.