Sweden to join Nato: BBC News Review

Sweden, traditionally neutral, joins Nato.

This is News Review from BBC

Learning English where we help you understand news headlines in English.

I'm Neil. and I'm Phil.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn the vocabulary

that you need to talk about this story.

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so you can learn more English from news headlines. Now, the story.

Sweden is to join NATO

after two hundred years of neutrality.

The nation applied to join the defence alliance

after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

All Nato members are expected to help an ally

if attacked. Hungary was the final Nato member to approve the invitation.

You've been looking at the headlines

Phil. What's the vocabulary

people need to understand this news story in English?

We have clears path, final hurdle and farewell.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This is from the BBC. Hungary's parliament

clears path for Sweden's Nato membership.

So, Hungary was the last member of Nato to approve

Sweden's membership.

It clears a path for Sweden.

That's the expression that we're looking at. It contains that word path. Now

a path is another word for a route a way from one place to another,

often in a park or in the countryside.

Yes, it is. And clear - it's often an adjective, but in this case,

it's a verb and it means to physically remove the obstacles

that are stopping you from walking on the path.

OK. Now let's use our imaginations, Phil.

Here we have Sweden and here we have NATO and there is a path between the two.

But imagine that path is covered with trees and bushes. Hungary

comes along and clears the path is a useful way of thinking about it. It's

a very literal way of looking at it. Here

the obstacles are political.

They are to do with votes and decisions

and Hungary's decision has cleared the path for Sweden to join Nato. Now,

I think there's another way we could use this to talk about the world

of work, isn't there, Neil?

Yes so imagine at work,

you want to get a promotion.

There's an opportunity for a promotion.

But there is somebody else who has more experience and qualifications than you.

However, that person decides to leave the organisation and that act

clears the path for you to get the promotion.

Let's look at that again.

Let's have a look at our next headline.

This is from the Financial Times.

Sweden overcomes final hurdle to join Nato in historic shift.

OK, so it says that Sweden overcomes something.

It means they have solved a problem. And in this case,

it's a hurdle. But what's a hurdle?

We need to know what a hurdle is to understand this headline.

Yes, well, a hurdle is one of those frames that athletes jump over

  when they are in a hurdle race

and actually, I can already see a link between this headline

and the last one because that was all about removing obstacles. And a hurdle

is an obstacle, yes.

So, Sweden's final hurdle or final obstacle

to joining NATO was Hungary's vote to approve them and they overcame it.

Can you give us another example?

Well, the reason that we make News Review

is to help you overcome any hurdles in understanding the news in English.

The words and phrases that we teach you

will help you overcome those hurdles.

Let's look at that again.

Let's have our next headline.

This is from the Guardian.

Sweden will complete its long farewell to neutrality

with Nato accession. So here in this headline neutrality

means that Sweden hasn't taken sides in any war or conflict

for two hundred years. But now,

they are abandoning that neutrality.

The word, though, that we're looking at is farewell.

What can you tell us about farewell Phil?

OK, well this is quite an old formal English word.

Historically, it meant go well or travel well.

But, really, it's just another way of saying goodbye,

but Phil is it the same as saying goodbye?

I've never heard you say at the end of a working day

"farewell!" Well, you can say farewell

at the end of the working day, but it would sound a bit strange.

We tend to use farewell for something

that's kind of an emotional goodbye an important

goodbye, or something that's very final. Yeah.

So if I was going to move to a different country,

I might have a farewell party and I might make a farewell speech

at that party, but I wouldn't do those things

If I was just going home.

No. It has this kind of poetic and romantic sense.

So we could talk about a fond farewell, an emotional farewell.

And if you want a really old fashioned formal English way of saying goodbye,

you could say I bid you farewell.

Now it's nearly time

for us to say goodbye.

Not farewell because we will be back next week. Let's look at that again.

We've had clears path

makes something easier to achieve. Final hurdle

The last thing stopping you from doing something

and farewell

another way of saying goodbye.

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Thank you for joining us and goodbye!

Goodbye!