# 43 - Can you hear me? Are you listening to me? 👂 - What is the difference?

Can you hear me?  Are you listening to me?

In Podcast #39 we talked about the difference between “see” “look” and “watch”.  We use “see” when we are talking about our sense of sight. We “see” things without trying.  I can see Mt. Rainier today.”  We use “look” + “at” when we are focusing our eyes on something. “I am looking at the yellow and orange leaves on the trees.” We use look + “for” when we are searching for something – often something that we have lost. “I am looking for my glasses.”

We use “watch” when we are focusing our eyes on something that is moving over time. “We are watching a good movie on TV.”  So.. we talked about see, look watch in episode #39.  What are going to talk about today?

Well.. how about the difference between hear and listen? The difference between hear and listen is like the difference between see and look, isn’t it?

It sure is!  When do we use “hear”? We use “hear” when we are talking about the sense of hearing.  We hear sounds without trying. I hear the birds singing in the morning. I am not trying to hear the birds singing. I am not focusing on the birds singing. I just hear the birds singing.

If I am talking to you on the phone, I might say “Can you hear me?” Or “I can’t hear you.”

 Sometimes we hear sounds that are not pleasant. We call sounds that we don’t want to hear “noise”.  “Her apartment is close to a busy street, so she hears a lot of traffic noise.” 

OK, we hear sounds without trying to or focusing on them, so when do we use “listen”? Just like we use “look” when we focus our eyes,  -  our sight -  on something, we use “listen” when we focus our sense of hearing on a sound. I listen to music. I focus on the sounds that make up the music. I listen to the radio. I focus on what the people are saying on the radio program. If I want another person to focus on what I am saying, I say “Listen to me!”. If I want someone to focus on a song on the radio, I say:” Listen to that beautiful song!”…focus on it!

Sometimes people say “Listen up!” when they want other people to pay attention to what they are going to say.

So, dear listener, please listen up and listen as we use  “listen” and “hear” in this cell phone conversation between two friends.  We’ll first have the conversation in slow English, then a little faster.

A:  Hello?  Hello? Can you hear me?

B: Yes, I can hear you, but I can’t hear you very well. I hear a lot of noise on your end of the line.

A: Oh, yeah. I’m listening to my favorite song on the radio.

B: Song?? I can’t hear any music!  I hear noise that sounds like chickens fighting.

A: You think that my music sounds like chickens fighting?  Well, the music you listen to makes me want to go to sleep.

B: Well, hey!  I don’t have to listen to you insult my music. Why did you call me, anyway?

A: I can’t remember why I called you anymore. I’m going to hang up and listen to the rest of that song.

B:  That sounds like a great idea to me!!

We hope you heard all those times we used listen and hear when you listened to our conversation, dear listener! See,  you re a listener because you focus on what we are saying in the podcast….and you can always listen again if you like.

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