📕 Part 1: Talents

Rory, do you have a talent or something you're good at?

Well, I'm not sure if they could be considered talents in the traditional sense. But I'm reasonably good at organizing things and writing or storytelling, whenever the inspiration takes me. I like putting together plans and lists, and then I do a lot of free writing in my spare time. And of course, I've been telling a lot of stories to young people of late.

Is it the same talent in your family?

Well, my parents are rather good at organizing things and are notorious for their tick lists. So perhaps that's an inherited trait. They were also both journalists. And perhaps that's where the talent for storytelling comes from. Now that I think about it, my brothers are quite similar in that way too actually.

Do you think your talent can be helpful for your future work?

Well, I would certainly say so. It's already come in quite handy for teaching and writing books and articles. And I imagine it will do in the future when I have to put together plans and lessons and teach writing.

Do you think people in your family have the same talent?

In terms of the amount of contributes to work? You'd have to ask them, but I doubt there's ever been a time when being reasonably organized and articulate hasn't been useful for them.

Do you want to work on your talent, and why?

I think they're both reasonably secure. And there are other things that I need to work on in life like I don't know, building up my sporting ability, or learning how to effectively assess materials and situations. They aren't entirely unrelated, of course, but the shift and focus is clear.

Thank you, Rory, for your talented answers! So gifted, genius, genius. Flowers. -

So talents, do we have any synonyms to paraphrase talents? So I'm talented. I'm gifted. I'm a genius like Mozart.

You could say that you're adept at something. It just means that you're very good at doing something.

So I'm adept at eating. I'm adept at doing nothing.

Do people have talents for eating?

Oh, yes, eating is an art. So you cook, I eat nicely and what? Effectively, I can eat beautifully.

Effective eater.

Effective eater. I a an effective eater. No, no I'm joking, of course. But can I say like I'm adept at in something in doing something.

Adept at.

So I'm adept at cooking. Yeah, I'm adept at flying a plane. Okay. Also, you can say I'm talented in something, right?

You can, but usually it's talented at. Or to have a talent for something.

I have a talent for cooking. Or I'm talented in cooking, for example, right? Sweet. or I'm good at. I'm not good at. I'm good at cooking, for example. And Rory, you told us that you are really good at organizing things. And dear listener, if you saw that nice photo with me and Rory, on our social media, you saw this nice book where Rory writes all his life. So yeah, he also told us that I like putting together plans and lists. So Rory is really talented at writing plans and lists. Yeah. And also, like you say, I do a lot of free writing, you mean writing for free or you just like write whatever pops into your head like, free.

So the the second one, I often just sit with them. I have a... I've moved it because we're recording but I have like a notebook that sits on my desk and I just sit and write things.

Oh, nice. Okay, do you write things about me?

No, I tell you things. I write things on our Telegram chat about you. I don't keep them to myself. I just tell you.

Oh, good. Good. Yeah. And also, you said that I've been telling stories to young people, right? So I'm good at storytelling, or I have a talent for storytelling. What are you good at, dear listener? Could you please write in the comments that I'm good at blah, I have a talent for blah. Can I say for example, I have a talent for, I don't know, books? I have a talent for paintings. I have a talent for lies.

Well, I have a talent for telling lies perhaps.

So for doing something, yeah?

Although I guess it would be I'm adept at telling lies, talents are usually quite positive things. So you'd be using it with a negative thing to like highlight the contrast, I suppose.

I'm joking, you know?

No, you're not.

I'm a genius sleeper, you know, I sleep really well.

Oh, that's another one. I'm a genius at something.

At, yeah? I'm a genius at.

Yep.

Okay. I'm a genius at doing nothing. No, but really like so many people are workaholics, they work, work, work all the time. And then they have no idea how to take a rest, have a holiday. So you can say like, oh, I'm pretty good at doing nothing. That's my major talent. Like, it could be some kind of a joke, you know, you can talk about doing nothing or sleeping. If you don't think that you have a talent for something I don't know. Or you can imagine, dear listener, so Rory, tell us, some if you could have any talent in the world, what would you choose? So would you be a talented composer? Or musician? Or what? Blogger?

That's a good one actually. I suppose, probably, no, I can't think of anything else. I'm really quite happy with the talents that I have. I'm just starting to think maybe it would be good if I could be a talented musician. But that would require knowing how to play an instrument. And I don't know how to play any instruments, though.

No, but you kind you would have an inborn talents, inborn innate talents, like Mozart, for example.

But nobody just comes out of the womb knowing how to play the piano.

Yeah, Mozart did. Mozart. Yes, he was born. And he knew how to play the violin. So he kind of composed music at three.

I don't believe, I can, I can see why people would say that. But I don't believe that's true for a second. These are all things that exist independently of being human being. You wouldn't just be naturally talented at something external to that. I could believe in natural sports person, like a naturally talented sports person. But again, that's not particularly difficult.

Yeah, sports is just like, a walk in the park.

Well, no, like to achieve something in sport isn't very difficult in the sense of the steps that you have to take to do that, you just have to get progressively better at doing something. And you can do that by exercising more. And by tracking your progress. And you set up systems to do that. That's not hard to do.

If you say so, okay, we believe you, Rory.

You don't think most people could do that if they wanted to, or if they had the time?

I don't think so about sports. No. For example, some people's bodies may not be, you know, suitable for certain types of sports. But then again, if you're really into it, and they really want to do something, like, as you say, like with training with motivation. So pretty much anything is possible. So maybe.

Come on, let's try and be optimistic. Most people can do things, if they put their minds to it.

Nothing is impossible. Yeah. Okay. And then, is it the same talent in your family? So dear listener, you should know, what talents are there in your family. So for example, Rory said that, yeah, my parents are rather good at organizing things. So I'm good at organizing things, maybe because my parents are good at organizing things. And they are notorious for their tick lists. So what's a tick list?

It's a list of things that you tick off. It's like a to do list.

Yeah, did they put those lists on the fridge and then they made sure that you kind of you did all the tasks on the list?

Not for me, it's more for them, to be honest with you. They didn't have much luck in organizing me, I came to that conclusion by myself. But they didn't do that. My dad had one that he carried around with them. And then there was one in the kitchen and you just always see it there. And you'd know where they were based on that.

Then about the future, do you think this talent will help you in the future? You can say I imagine it will. Like I imagined it will? Or perhaps no?

Well, again, I've done it again. We've talked about this before the using do for emphasis, like I imagine it will do in the future. You could say that about any time though, couldn't you? I mean, you wouldn't practice or have this talent if it wasn't useful in some way at some point and it would continue to do so. Are there any talents that make your life worse?

Hmm. Talents for procrastination.

That's not a talent that's just being lazy. Being lazy isn't a talent.

Yeah. I don't know. Talents, which could make your life worse. Hmm. Maybe you know, like, if you are super good at, I don't know, speaking in public or drawing, people might be jealous and they might like children for example at school, oh, like, he's so good, and they can, you know, make fun of you, for example, I know bully you, because you're so good. How about that?

But that's their problem.

It's their problem. But it could happen. And then a person could feel sad and upset because of those silly bullies. So maybe kind of like a genius person could be an outcast, because most people can't do this. Well, they're not talented. And then when not talented people see a talented person, they might kind of be like, now, we don't want to be with you. You just go there. I don't know. You know...

Well, that's just sad.

Could, could happen. It's sad. Yeah.

But that's not the talent was doing that to you. That's other people and they're insanity.

So yeah, people might be jealous. And then your family. So make sure that you do know the talents, which are there in your family, or you can make them up, right? So for example, your father is talented painter, or your grandfather, you can make up your grandmother or grandfather, who used to be, I don't know, a gifted musician, for example. So just just say something, right? Make it up. And when the examiner asks you if you want to work on your talent, so work on your talent - like to improve it. Rory, you said like, not really, I need to work on other things like building up my sporting ability, learning how to effectively assess certain materials for work.

So that's a good point, as well, we talked about talents or improving anything than building something up as good and then doing anything effectively is helpful as well. Any good grammar, or any grammar structures that might be worth talking?

Um, I think you've used the present perfect continuous, like, I've been telling a lot of stories, for example, if you have been doing something, so I've been, I don't know, painting or I've been cooking, so I'm pretty good at that. You can also say, if you don't have any talents, right? Or you think you don't have any talent, you can use this structure. I wish I were really good at cooking. Or I wish I could have a talent for doing something. I wish I was genius, like Mozart. Why do you have this Mozart in my head?

I have no idea either. But it's like one of the no main examples of how genius and talent works or looks.

Sweets. Thank you so much for listening! I'm sure we're all talented! And maybe if your talent is not like outside, like deep inside you, you have this talent in you. So sending lots of love and talented kisses! Bye!

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