Far right performs well in EU election: BBC Learning English from the News

From BBC Learning English,

this is Learning English from the News,

our podcast about the news headlines.

In this programme:

Far right parties perform well in EU elections.

Hello. I'm Neil.

And I'm Beth.

In this podcast

we explain the vocabulary in the news headlines

and how you can use it too.

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines

from this episode, as well as a worksheet, on our website –BBCLearningEnglish.com.

OK, Beth.

Let's talk a bit more about the story.

OK. So people in 27 different countries have voted

for the politicians that they want to represent them

in the European parliament.

Yes. And the results are a little bit complicated.

There's a different picture in different countries

as each country has its own parties which then work with others

from across Europe in the European Parliament.

Now, overall,

the centre-right parties still have the most seats from this election.

Yes, but far right

politicians have done well

in lots of countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Austria.

Now I have a headline here that describes this situation.

This is from BBC News.

Centre-right on course to strengthen majority in EU election, as far-right

makes gains.

So, that's Centre-right

on course to strengthen majority in EU election, as far-right

makes gains.

Now, we are interested in this expression 'makes gains'.

Neil, what can you tell us about it?

Well, 'gain' can be used as a verb and a noun,

and you might know the verb 'gain' means to increase something

or to win something. So you might,

for example, 'gain weight' or you can 'gain someone's respect'.

Yes, but as a noun, 'gain' refers to the thing that you win

or the increase that you make, so going back to 'gaining weight',

the noun would be 'weight gain'.

Yeah. Now, this expression 'makes gains'

is very often seen in politics, but also in the world of sports,

and it's used to talk about who's winning and who's losing.

OK, so, Neil,

imagine a race between you and I.

If I am winning and you are behind me,

but you're getting faster and closer to me,

then you are 'making gains'.

Ah, OK, is this a running race?

It is, yes. And you're beating me? Yeah. OK, so the crucial thing,

the really important thing to note,

is that with this expression,

I am still not winning, but slowly

the gap between us is closing.

Yes. You are 'making gains'.

Now, we often use 'make gains' in political terms, like we have here

in this headline, because big changes in political opinion

and who people vote for can be a slow change – it happens over many years and

even over many different elections.

Yeah. And we can also use this expression

'make gains' to talk about progress against personal

or professional challenges.

So, an example is that a business can 'make gains' in its target markets.

So, 'make gains' means gradually make improvements.

So, for example,

I'm really making gains in my battle against the slugs in my garden.

I've hardly seen any recently.

This is Learning English

from the News, our podcast about the news headlines. Today

we are looking at the European Union election results.

We are. So, there are often quite a lot of consequences

after a big election, and there is a big consequence in this story, isn't there?

Yes, there is Beth.

So, the French President,

Emmanuel Macron, has decided to call a national election.

It's after his party performed poorly in this EU vote.

And there was also financial uncertainty,

so the euro, which is the currency that's used

across many countries in the EU,

that's the European Union, dropped in value by 0.3%

on Monday morning following the results.

Let's look at another headline then.

This one is from Sky News and it is: EU elections

latest: Macron issues message to French voters after calling

shock election; euro slumps at 'uncertainty'.

OK, EU elections latest: Macron issues message to French voters

after calling shock election; euro slumps at 'uncertainty'.

So, from this headline

we are looking at the word 'slumps'.

A strange-sounding word.

It can be used to describe a kind of lazy way of sitting in a chair, can't it, Beth?

It can. I mean, I am kind of slumping now.

If I lean back really far in my chair quite heavily,

I look quite tired.

You do look tired. You look like you're about to fall asleep.

Thanks. So, you might say that I am slumping in the chair,

so it's quite a lazy thing,

maybe when you have not much energy.

I guess it's usually used to describe a negative situation.

It is a bad thing, 'slumping', really.

Well, it is in that kind of instance, but we also use 'slump' metaphorically,

and again here it's still negative,

but it's to talk about a fall in the value of something,

and we saw the value of the euro in the headline.

We did. It said euro slumps at 'uncertainty'.

So, we're talking about the sudden drop in the value of the euro in the same way

that you kind of suddenly dropped in your chair when you 'slumped'.

So, we looked at 'slumps', falls suddenly.

And, for example, we might say I want to sell my old phone,

but the prices have slumped recently, so I won't get much money for it.

You're listening to Learning English from the News from BBC

Learning English, and Neil

and I are talking about the European election results.

So, Neil, as we've heard, far-right parties won a lot of votes

in some countries like France, Austria and Germany.

But, Beth, in some countries

like Sweden, Denmark and Finland, left-wing parties and green parties,

those parties who campaign about climate change,

they increased their number of votes.

Now, here's another headline on this story.

This is from Politico.

As Europe votes, a populist wave surges.

Yep. So again, from Politico –

As Europe votes, a populist wave surges.

I think to understand this headline,

we definitely need to know what populist means.

We do, and populist means someone who wants to be popular with ordinary people,

but being a populist is not

about a particular political viewpoint or belief.

It's from both sides, isn't it?

Yeah. So this is a word that we really very often hear used in politics.

In fact, we almost always hear it in politics

and we hear about politicians being left-wing or right-wing but populists

can be either or neither –

it's just that idea of reflecting the opinions

of everyday people.

Yeah, now, looking back at this headline,

it says a populist wave surges.

Yes. Now, 'surge',

this is a verb and it's all about movement.

So, a crowd can 'surge forward' or it could be about an increase in something so,

for example, a company's profits could 'surge'.

Yes, and with 'surge'

it's all about stressing that the change is strong and very quick.

So, in this headline,

the populist wave surges.

Imagine a wave moving quickly and powerfully

all across the continent of Europe.

Now, obviously, this isn't a literal wave.

It's metaphorical.

But we do often describe ideas and political movements as waves.

So, we've looked at 'surges' which means moves

or increases quickly. And an example:

And an example:

Support for the politician surged when she made her speech.

That's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.

We'll be back next week and we'll have some more news headlines

and vocabulary to teach you.

And if you can't wait then

don't forget to go to our website to check out some

of our other programmes. For example

Office English, which is all about the language that you need at work.

Head to our website,

BBCLearningEnglish.com

Thanks for joining us. Bye for now. Bye!