Full transcript
0:00hey everybody welcome to this b1
0:03english listening practice video you can
0:05use this video to practice your
0:07listening and comprehension
0:09as i speak before we start remember to
0:12sign up for our one dollar listening
0:13practice seminars at polyglossa.com
0:16and download my free listening time
0:19podcast
0:20so you can practice your listening
0:22skills
0:23[Music]
0:27so today i'm going to talk about
0:29stereotypes
0:31a stereotype is an idea or image about a
0:33group of people
0:34that might be true but it might also be
0:37a little oversimplified
0:39this is a topic that a lot of us might
0:41find pretty funny
0:42but some people might also get offended
0:44when this topic comes up
0:46my intention with this video is
0:47definitely not to offend any of you
0:49so i think it'd be better if i focused
0:51on stereotypes about americans
0:53rather than stereotypes about people
0:55from other countries
0:56i'll go through some of the most common
0:58ones and then i'll give my opinion about
1:00how accurate they actually are
1:02so without further ado here's the first
1:04stereotype
1:06americans are rich this is a stereotype
1:08that practically every american will
1:10face at some point if they spend a
1:12significant time abroad
1:14as an american who's lived abroad for
1:16years i can tell you firsthand that this
1:18stereotype is strong
1:20no doubt it usually isn't a big issue
1:22but sometimes you get the feeling that
1:24people are looking at you with
1:26dollar signs in their eyes to me it's
1:28kind of funny because
1:29i'm not rich not even close yet i get
1:32treated like this all the time
1:34to an extent though this stereotype has
1:37some general truth to it
1:38the average american is definitely
1:40better off than the average person from
1:42most other countries
1:44so this stereotype's complicated the
1:46next one
1:47is that americans don't know much about
1:49the rest of the world
1:50some might even use the word ignorant
1:53when describing the average american's
1:54knowledge
1:55about things like names and languages of
1:58other countries
1:59this stereotype definitely has some
2:01truth to it obviously there are many
2:03americans who
2:04are knowledgeable about other countries
2:06but by and large the average american
2:08doesn't know a whole lot about foreign
2:10countries
2:11for example many americans probably
2:13think that brazilians speak spanish
2:16and many americans have probably never
2:17heard of countries like uzbekistan
2:20or azerbaijan but let me just say this
2:22in my experience talking to people from
2:24all over the world
2:25i found that most people don't really
2:27know a whole lot about countries that
2:29are far away from their own
2:31it's not only americans that don't know
2:32much about far away countries
2:34people from other countries don't know
2:36much either and that's natural
2:38because we normally just pay attention
2:40to what's relevant to our lives
2:42for most people knowing about world
2:44geography simply isn't that important
2:46so yes this second stereotype is
2:48somewhat true but i think it's also true
2:51for people from other countries
2:52alright here's another stereotype
2:55americans are workaholics
2:57a workaholic for those of you who don't
2:59know is someone who's addicted to
3:00working
3:01this stereotype is an interesting one
3:03because i can definitely see a lot of
3:04truth to it
3:05compared with other countries americans
3:07work a lot and we work pretty hard
3:10i actually like this tradition i think
3:12that being hard working is a great trait
3:14to have
3:15we can obviously see the fruit of all
3:17this labor as america has produced and
3:19invented a lot over the years
3:21however the negative side to this is
3:23that some americans
3:25are obsessed with their work their work
3:27consumes their whole life
3:29and they don't have time for anything
3:30else when people take it to that extreme
3:33it's definitely a bad thing
3:35overall i think the stereotype of
3:37americans being workaholics is fairly
3:39accurate
3:40but i also think that the work ethic is
3:42slowly dropping over time
3:44i think that in general our grandparents
3:46generation probably worked a little
3:48longer
3:49and harder than my generation here's one
3:51last stereotype
3:53americans are very patriotic overall
3:56if you compare america to other
3:57countries this one's definitely true
4:00obviously not everybody's patriotic but
4:03if we consider the nation as a whole
4:05in my opinion america is definitely the
4:07most patriotic country
4:09okay now i'm going to ask you three
4:10questions about today's video
4:12write your answers in a comment down
4:14below number one
4:16name three stereotypes about americans
4:19number two
4:19what's a workaholic and number three
4:23in your opinion do you think americans
4:25are very patriotic
4:26all right before we go remember to sign
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4:31seminars
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4:42us on instagram i'll see you next time
4:57you