listening to PODCASTS

#1
The first podcast I was listening to was very pleasant and quite easy. It included some information about a jazz performer and the story was sometimes interposed by some music that he played. It was interesting to hear that because it was not very typical. Despite that the two speakers had no strange accent, they spoke American English and the speed of their speeches was average. Their voices seemed relaxed, maybe this had some influence to my listening and understanding. I didn’t look to the reading of a transcript when I listened to these speakers because they were clear enough for me. Also I listened to this podcast once.

#2
This podcast was more difficult than the first one. It was a little bit scientific (had some medical terminology that was not all known to me). The podcast itself was about the same length as the first one but it had no pauses breaking the speeches of the speakers. There were two of them: the woman was a reporter speaking in pure American English and her speech was quite fast, but alright to understand. The other speaker was Chinese or Japanese but spoke English very well, only with a little accent. His speech was a little slower. Although this podcast was not difficult I listened to it twice to make sure I didn’t miss anything important. The second time I was listening to it I was glancing at the reading of the transcript. It made the listening easier and clearer.

People whose native language is English speak differently. The understanding of them depends on the topic they are talking about, the speed of speaking, the sequence of the story and so on. To conclude, it is clear that I can’t be sure whether my listening task in the exam will be surmountable easily or not really. Generalizing these two podcasts I should say that I still need some practice to be more confident in this case.

GRAPHOLOGY

There are a lot of studies, as we know, which may help while analyzing the character and personality. One of the most interesting of them is graphology. It’s the study of handwriting and the connection between handwriting and behavior. Researchers examine handwriting to detect authenticity or forgery. Graphologists examine loops, the spaces between letters, heights, slants, ending strokes, dotted “i’s” crossed “t’s” and so on. They believe that these researches can tell about the person nearly the same like astrology, palm reading and other similar things.

Some say that a very important detail is the content of the message that a person is writing. But many graphologists deny it. They say that the content should be irrelevant when assessing the research.

Basically there are 3 types of graphology:
1 – holistic (a profile of the person is formed from the movement, space and form)
2 – integrative (strokes are mostly related to personality traits)
3 – symbolic (analyses the symbols which are seen in handwriting)

Space between words. We write the words like they go in our speech. When a person speaks with pauses between words it may be because he wants to consider before acting. Or he is willing for the information to be better remembered by the audience. If the spaces between words are really small or there are none of them we can say that this person is impulsive and a person of action.

Pressure. 1 – the pressure against the paper (primary). This characterizes vitality and strength. 2 – the pressure against the penholder (secondary). Tells about our aims and inner convictions. Criminals often add extra pressure in their handwriting. Women have the handwriting without pressure more.

Slant. The left direction of writing shows a connection to the mother and also to the past. More women than men have the left writing direction. The upright slant reveals that a person is very independent in life and has no inclination nor to father nor to mother. The right slant is considered to be a normal one because it’s the most common and natural. These people are in a hurry, impatient and active.