German far right wins state 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 wins German state election

for the first time since World War Two.

Hello, I'm Phil.

And I'm Beth.

In this programme, we look at one big news story

and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode,

as well as a worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

So let's hear more about this story.

So the AfD, that is Alternative fur Deutschland,

which has been classified as a far-right organisation

by German authorities,

won the Thuringia state election in Germany.

Now Thuringia is a small state that was part of East Germany.

AfD won the highest number of seats in the election,

but could struggle to form a state government

as other parties are refusing to work with them.

AfD voters have raised concerns about asylum

and immigration, and green policies.

They also want to stop German military aid to Ukraine.

And we have a headline here that describes the reaction to this election.

Europe reels from far-right victory in eastern Germany elections.

And that's from Euronews.

Again, that headline Europe reels from far-right victory

in eastern Germany elections.

And that is from Euronews.

So this headline is talking about

how political figures around Europe have reacted to this result.

And we have this expression reel from which is what we're looking at. Now

reel from physically means to walk, stumbling from side to side,

looking like you're about to fall.

Yeah. If you can imagine boxers in a fight,

if they've been hit really hard, they might be reeling from the blow.

Yeah, and that is where the metaphorical usage comes from.

So if you are reeling from something, then it has shocked you

and maybe left you confused.

Yeah. We often talk about people reeling from bad news

if it has affected them a lot.

So here in this headline, reeling from means political figures

from around Europe have reacted to news from the German election.

They are shocked.

OK, so we had reel

from, which is to be left shocked and confused by something.

For example, Workers were left reeling from the news

that the factory would be closing.

This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

Today we're talking about the recent victory for the far right AfD

in the German state election.

Now, one of the reasons why people are taking notice of

or even reeling from in some cases, this news, is

that it's the first time a far-right party has won a German state election

since the Nazis in the 1930s.

Now, the next story we're looking at is about how the AfD have become popular

among young people.

The story talks about the party's use of social media,

focus on migration and asylum issues, opposition to green policies,

and opposition to involvement in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Now here's the headline.

The AfD is winning over Germany's youth,

and that is from The Spectator, which is a British magazine.

Yes. That headline again, The AfD is winning over Germany's youth.

And that's from The Spectator here in the UK.

Now here we're looking at the phrasal verb win over.

You can see that it has the word win,

but we don't use it in quite the same way, do we, Phil?

No. Win over means to persuade someone,

particularly to get them to support you or agree with you.

And win over is often used when we don't think

that people will be easy to persuade.

We think that they will be hard to win over.

So an example of this could be, Beth,

you said you could make me the best cup of coffee I'd ever tasted.

Now, I didn't believe you,

but that cup you made this morning, it was amazing.

It completely won me over. Yay! That's good.

I will make you a coffee again then. Ah, amazing.

So that was win over – to persuade someone to support you.

OK, so an example.

He knew they would be a difficult class,

so the teacher worked hard to win them over.

This is Learning English from the News from BBC Learning English.

We're talking about the success of the AfD

in the recent German state elections.

Now, while the AfD have become the largest party

in the Thuringia state government,

all the major parties have said that they aren't prepared to work with them.

The next story is about how they are more likely to use influence

behind the scenes.

The headline is Germany's far right will govern from the sidelines.

And that's from Prospect, which is a British magazine.

So, that headline, again, Germany's far right will govern from the sidelines.

And that's from Prospect magazine here in the UK.

Now we're looking at the phrase from the sidelines.

Literally sidelines are the lines that are at the side of a sports pitch.

So if you think of a match or a game,

the manager, the substitutes and the crowd are not on the pitch,

so they can't have a direct impact on the game,

but they can have some influence from the sidelines. Yeah.

So we can use from the sidelines as a metaphor.

If you're trying to do something from the sidelines,

then you're not directly involved.

Yes. And perhaps an example of that could be here

and Beth and I are here in the studio.

But there's also a producer who is controlling things from the sidelines.

So, in this headline, going back to that, from the sidelines here means

that although the AfD might find it hard to formally enter

into the state government,

they will still have a strong influence on German politics.

So we had from the sidelines, which means without being directly involved.

For example, my friend is trying to get a job.

I've been practising interview skills with her,

so I've been helping her from the sidelines.

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

We'll be back next week with another news story.

And if you've enjoyed this programme, then try our new Learning English

for Work podcast all about job applications.

You can also find us on social media by searching for BBC Learning English.

That's all from us. Bye. Bye!