This week, we will learn adjectives we can use to describe personality. We have new additions to Vocabulary Builder. We have Ben and Joe to help and we have translations into French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Arabic within the episode and the translation into 57 more languages in the description below. 

Or use this link to see the description in a better format and the full transcript of the episode:

http://perfectenglishwithdanny.com/episode-133-vocabulary-builder-describign-personality-1-3

Our words for today are: 

• jealous
• determined
• economical
• confident

Full Transcript

Danny

Welcome to another episode from Perfect English with Danny. Today, we will continue with our theme of the week, describing personality. We will have four new adjectives to learn today. The adjectives we are going to learn today are jealous, determined, economical and confident. We have our friends Joe and Ben to help us out with the words and the translations into 5 languages.

Let me remind you that you can find the translations for these four adjectives in 62 different languages in the description of the episode, and also don’t forget that at the end of the week, you will have a link that will take you to a webpage with interactive and downloadable activities you can use to practice the 20 words of this week, retain them and add them to your active vocabulary bank.

Now without further ado, let’s get cracking.

So, what do you think of today’s adjectives, Joe? Are you familiar with them?

Joe

Well, I have to say that I am quite sure about jealous and confident, but I think I need to learn more about determined and economical.

Danny

That’s good. There’s always something new to learn, right?

Joe

Absolutely!

Danny

So let’s start with our first word for today and that is jealous. Jealous is spelled … Jealous. Now since you are familiar with the word, why don’t you give us an example from your own experience, Joe. Have you ever been jealous?

Joe

Well, I guess I have. It happened a while back when I had that beautiful girlfriend, Maria, oh my god, she was so beautiful. I couldn’t help myself not to get angry when people looked at her, especially men. Whenever she talked to a man, I would get crazy and that showed. I kind of felt that because she was so beautiful, everyone tried to take her away from me. I felt I should not let anyone talk to her or let her talk to anyone. I admit I was a little young and crazy back then. I failed to notice because I was jealous all the time, I was not doing anything to help our relationship grow.

Danny

What happened?

Joe

Well, after some time, she got tired of me following her around and scrutinizing every single detail of her life, so she broke up with me. I got mad back then and I thought I was right to be jealous, but now I know that I lost her because of my jealousy. If I’d had enough confidence in myself and of course in her, we might have made it together. We were a great couple.

Danny

I’m sorry to hear that, Joe. It must have hurt, but it’s good that you are looking back and learning something from what happened. So do you think it is always bad to be jealous?

Joe

Not really. To be jealous is natural, and sometimes healthy to a relationship, but not when it becomes stronger than the trust between the couple, especially when it shows lack of self-confidence in a man, like what happened with me.

Danny

Thank you for sharing your story, Joe. I really appreciate your openness. I believe now we have a very good idea of what jealous means.

If someone is jealous, they feel angry or bitter because they think that another person is trying to take a lover or friend, or a possession, away from them.

For example, Jason has several female friends and says his wife has never been jealous.

But notice how jealous changes a little when we add the preposition of to it.

If you are jealous of another person's possessions or qualities, you feel angry or bitter because you do not have them.

So just to make sure we know the difference between jealous and jealous of, let’s ask Joe. Joe were you jealous of Maria?

Joe

No, not at all. I was proud of everything she did. I wanted her to be the best she could be. I was just jealous, but I think she might have thought that I was jealous of her, and to be honest. I might have given her reasons to believe so. But no I was just jealous; I was never jealous of her.

Danny

Well, you see there is a difference and before we move to Ben and the translations of jealous into the five languages Ben is helping us with. I would like to compare jealous of with envious, which is a synonym of jealous but while jealous can be both a positive and negative word depending on the intentions of the jealous person, envious is always negative.

Joe

Why? I thought envious is the same as jealous.

Danny Ballan

Well, it has a similar meaning of jealous of not jealous. But if you are envious of someone, you want something they have, and sometimes, you would do terrible things to get what these people have.

Joe

Oh, I see. So, it is more like jealous of. But don’t we say, for example, he/she is so envious without using of?

Danny

Yes, you can say that. That is to say that this person wants what other people have. It’s like his or her nature, which is really bad, of course.

Joe

I see

Danny

So now let’s see what Ben has for us. Hi Ben.

Ben

Hi guys. So, our word is jealous

In French it is jaloux

In Spanish it is celoso

In Italian it is geloso

In Portuguese it is ciumento

And in Arabic it is غيور

Danny

Thank you, Ben. Now we will move to our second word for today, determined. It is spelled … determined. If you are determined to do something, you have made a firm decision to do it and will not let anything stop you.

Joe

So, this is a positive adjective. It is a good thing to be determined, is it not?

Danny

Of course, it is. We say, for example, the team was determined to win the match, or he was determined to finish the project by the end of the week, and so on. Actually, it’s very difficult to get anything done without a level of determination.

Joe

Yes, it’s like stubborn, right?

Danny

Well, not exactly. Determined is a positive thing to be, but stubborn is negative. You see, stubborn people are inflexible; they want to do what they want no matter what others say, and they are unwilling to change their mind no matter what.

Joe

But sometimes, this is a good thing, isn’t it? I mean take Steve jobs for example or Edison or any of these creative people. They were stubborn, weren’t they?

Danny

I would use the word determined here because Steve Jobs, Edison or all the other great people that changed life as we know it today never gave up and followed their vision, but they knew they were right, deep inside, they always had that feeling. Calling them stubborn would be a little unfair because they did change their mind when they realized some of their ideas were not working. They were not inflexible, you see.

Joe

All right. Now I understand. Stubborn is like determined but it is bad because stubborn people are inflexible.

Danny

That’s right. Now let’s see what Ben has for us.

Ben

So our word in English is determined. It is kind of the same in other European languages

In French it is déterminé

In Spanish it is decidido

In Italian it is determinato

In Portuguese it is determinado

And in Arabic it is مصرّ

Danny

Thank you, Ben. Now let’s move to our third word for today economical. It is spelled … economical. Well, what do you think economical means, Joe?

Joe

Well, I think it is related to economics. Someone who loves or studies economics.

Danny

Actually, this is a common mistake when people confuse economical with economic. Economic is what you said, something related to the study or the field of economics, like economic growth, economic theory, economic development, but economical is different and remember we are talking about adjectives that describe people’s personality, so economic is not related here, but economical is a personality adjective.

Someone who is economical spends money sensibly and does not want to waste it on things that are unnecessary.

Joe

Well, you’re talking about it as if it were a good thing. I hate it when people are like that.

Danny

Why are saying this? To be economical is a good thing.

Joe

What are you talking about? Nobody likes cheap people.

Danny

Oh no you’re confusing economical with stingy or mean.

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