English Rewind - News Words: Roadmap

Hello! Catherine here from BBC Learning English.

Just so you know, this programme is from the BBC Learning English archive

and was first broadcast in April 2010 on our website.

And now, on with the show.

You're listening to News Words.

BBC journalist Clare Arthurs

talks about words and phrases commonly used in news reports.

Today's word — 'roadmap'.

I enjoy looking at maps of foreign countries, especially their cities.

A 'map' — it's a diagram of a physical area with a street map, or roadmap,

showing the routes to get from one to place to another

by turning right, left, going straight ahead and so on.

In English, we also use 'road' as a metaphor —

there's the 'road to ruin', the 'road ahead', to 'road test' a new product.

But before you feel any road rage, let's turn to a word you'll hear in the news —

the 'Middle East Roadmap'.

This roadmap refers to a specific plan for peace in the Middle East.

It contains a timetable with specific steps for a solution

to the long-running conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

The steps include an end to violence, the creation of a Palestinian state,

elections, and Arab states making peace with Israel.

The Roadmap's been pushed down the news agenda by other stories,

including more recent developments in the Middle East.

But if the Middle East Roadmap is not so much in the news, other roadmaps are.

The term's become popular and there's now a roadmap for democracy in Burma

and another for peace between India and Pakistan.

Roadmaps set out a plan for where to go and how to get there.

But they don't carry a guarantee of success

and I'm sure most of us know what it's like to argue about where we're going

and which way to turn.

That was News Words from BBC Learning English dot com.