Putin in North Korea: BBC Learning English from the News

88,810 views ・ 2024-06-19

BBC Learning English


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From BBC Learning English
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this is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.
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In this programme,
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Vladimir Putin visits North Korea.
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- Hello, I'm Neil. - And I'm Beth.
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In this programme, we look at one big news story
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and the vocabulary and the headlines that will help you understand it.
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You can find all the vocabulary and headlines
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from this episode, as well as a worksheet, on our website,
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BBCLearningEnglish.com.
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So, Neil, let's hear more about this story.
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So, the Russian president Vladimir Putin has met
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the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
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Yes. Putin was welcomed in North Korea with waving crowds and a parade.
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Yes, and since Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine,
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Russia has had poor relationships with Western countries like the UK
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and the US, and so Russia has been looking for allies.
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Now allies are countries who support each other.
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Now, I have a headline here that describes Vladimir Putin's relationship
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with Western countries.
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This is from Sky News – Putin's visit to North Korea is very much
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a diplomatic two-fingers to the West.
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OK, so let's listen to that again. From Sky News – Putin's visit
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to North Korea is very much a diplomatic two-fingers to the West.
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Now, this headline is talking about the political impact of the meeting
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between Putin and Kim.
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Yes, and we have this strange expression,
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'two-fingers', which is actually quite rude, isn't it, Beth?
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It is, yeah. 'Two-fingers'
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literally describes a rude hand gesture that we have here in Britain.
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Yes.
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And if you use this two-finger gesture,
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you're basically telling someone to go away very, very rudely
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and that you don't care about their opinion.
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Now, there's an even stronger gesture with one finger
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that you might already know. This two- fingered gesture is particularly British
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and it is a little bit less extreme,
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but it's still very rude, isn't it?
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It is, yes.
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So, going back to this headline, a 'diplomatic two-fingers' means
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that what Putin is doing is considered very rude
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and dismissive to Western countries.
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So, he isn't literally making this hand gesture,
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but his actions could be seen as having a similar intention.
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So, like in the headline,
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we can say that something is 'a two fingers'
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or we can use the verb, which here is 'give two fingers' to something.
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Now, there are other hand gestures that we describe using language
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to mean things in English.
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Here's an example of one which is much nicer than two-fingers.
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It's the thumbs up.
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So, you might know that a thumbs up is a positive
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hand gesture, and we can describe that action to say we approve
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of something. We can give something the thumbs up.
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My partner gave the thumbs up to my plan
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to buy a nice new car.
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So, two-fingers is a rude gesture
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that means 'go away'.
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For example, I decided to give two fingers to my neighbours
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and organise a very loud party.
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I hope my neighbours aren't listening.
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I haven't really organised a party.
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Good!
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This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.
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Today we're talking
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about Vladimir Putin's trip to meet Kim Jong Un in North Korea.
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Now, during this visit,
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Kim Jong Un has said that he fully supports Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
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The US and South Korea have accused North Korea
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of supplying Russia with weapons and other equipment.
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Now, both countries have denied this,
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but they have said that they want to strengthen their military relationship.
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So, let's look now at another headline.
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This one is from The Economist and it is Vladimir Putin's dangerous
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bromance with Kim Jong Un.
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Yes. So again, from The Economist – Vladimir Putin's dangerous bromance
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with Kim Jong Un.
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So this headline is
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from an opinion article. That means that is the opinion of the writer and
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it's about the impact of Putin and Kim's relationship on the rest of the world.
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And we're going to look at this interesting word 'bromance',
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which is actually a mix of two words, isn't it, Beth?
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It is, yeah.
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It's a mix of the word 'romance' which you can see or hear quite easily,
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and then a slang word, 'bro'.
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Yes, and 'bro' is short for 'brother'
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and it can be used to talk about your real brothers,
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but also your friends.
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You can call your friends 'bro'.
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So, Neil, if I call you my bro,
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that would be a very informal way
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of saying that we were friends.
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Yes, because I'm not your brother.
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Exactly!
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OK, so, 'bromance'.
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It's from 'bro' and 'romance' put together,
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but what does it actually mean?
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Well, it's quite a jokey word, and it's used to talk about a relationship
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between two men who understand and admire each other's way
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of thinking.
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Now, it is important to say this is not
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about real romantic relationships between men.
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It's an exaggeration. It's a joke.
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Yes, we do often use
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'bromance' in quite an informal, humorous way.
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So, this is quite a playful headline to suggest that Putin and Kim like
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and respect each other.
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We've had 'bromance' which is a very friendly relationship
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between two men.
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For example,
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I have a bit of a romance with one of my male colleagues at work, Phil.
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We get on really well.
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This is Learning English from the News, from BBC Learning English.
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We're talking about Putin's meetings with Kim Jong Un in North Korea.
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Yes. And as we've heard, since Russia's invasion of Ukraine
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in February 2022,
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Putin has been looking for allies around the world.
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So, the two leaders
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Putin and Kim have met to discuss how they could help each other in the future.
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Yes. And they have signed a deal to help each other in case of "aggression"
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against either country.
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And the Russian president is also planning to visit Vietnam to talk about trade.
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So, here's a headline on the impact of Putin's visit
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elsewhere in the world.
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This is from the French newspaper Le Monde:
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China has mixed feelings about Putin's new cosiness with Kim.
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So, again, this headline – China has mixed feelings
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about Putin's new cosiness with Kim, and that is from Le Monde.
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Yes. And this headline is about China's reaction to the relationship
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between Kim and Putin.
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The cosiness, that means 'the closeness'.
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But we are interested in looking at the phrase 'mixed feelings'.
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Yes, a useful one
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this, Beth, isn't it, because if you have mixed feelings about something,
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it means you don't have
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a completely positive or completely negative reaction to something.
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It's a mix of both.
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So, this headline is saying that China does not know
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if this relationship between Putin and Kim is a good or a bad thing.
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It has mixed feelings.
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So I might have mixed feelings about my birthday.
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I like getting birthday presents,
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but I don't like getting a year older!
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Who does? We almost always 'have mixed feelings',
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so we don't 'feel mixed feelings'.
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Now, we can also use the phrase 'mixed emotions' and that means the same thing.
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So that was mixed feelings –
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having positive and negative emotions
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about something at the same time.
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For example, I have mixed feelings about this book
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I'm reading at the moment.
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I like the characters, but it's a bit too long.
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And that's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.
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We'll be back next week with another news story.
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If you've enjoyed learning this vocabulary,
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try The English We Speak, a programme about everyday phrases.
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You can find it on our website BBC Learning English dot com.
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And don't forget you can follow us on your favourite social media channels.
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Look for BBC Learning English. Goodbye for now.
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Bye!
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