Vous soutenez quelle équipe cet Euro 2016 ?

Cette année 2016 est bien remplie d’évènements sportifs on dirait ! Il y a les Jeux Olympiques de Rio de Janeiro qui seront très excitants et on aura en plus le Championnat d’Europe de football UEFA.

Lisons ce texte à continuation en anglais et pratiquez votre compréhension écrite.

Where is it going to be held?

This year’s Euro football tournament will be thrilling indeed! The host country, France, was chosen back in 2010 after being up against fellow host contenders Turkey and Italy. A lot of preparation has gone into ensuring all of the stadiums the length and breadth of the country are ready for what promises to be a grippingtournament. France’s main stadium- the Stade de France will be the epicentre of all of the football action as some of football’s biggest names look to take their country to victory.

With 24 teams split up into and competing in 6 groups to begin with, spectators the globe over are bound to be promised an action packed tournament full of goals. Starting more than half a century ago when the then Soviet Union beat Yugoslavia in Paris, we have returned to where it all started and since then there have been many changes as the tournament grew in size.

Communication is vital

Nowadays there are four official languages of UEFA: French, English, Spanish and German. This aims to make communication smoother since everyone should be able to understand one of the four, but what happens when someone has to communicate in a language which isn’t their mother tongue?

A recent surveycarried out by ABA English, found that 45% of 600 people who took part in Spain thought that the Spanish football team only had a beginner level of English. This is perhaps something (learning another European language) that players from all over could work on to ensure that European football comes together.

The tournament’s results

Like most tournaments, there are definitely favourites among the teams participating like Spain and Germany who is recent years have been very successful. This, however, is not to say that one of them will win as we simply do not know. What is important however is that we enjoy the tournament and accept the outcome like true winners or runners up. Additionally, this tournament could and should be used as the stepping stone we need to ensure language learning in the sporting world is put at the forefront to create a good example for future sportspeople, highlighting that communication can take you as far as you want to go.

May your team win 😀

Vocabulaire

Thrilling (excitant, palpitant): very exciting

host country (pays qui acceuille) :  A place or organization that plays host to an event (such as a meeting or convention) provides the things that are needed for that event.

Contenders (concurrents, participants): a person who tries to win something in a contest

ensuring (assurer, garantir): to make (something) sure, certain, or safe

length (longueur): the distance from one end of something to the other end : a measurement of how long something is

breadth (largeur): the distance from one side to the other side of something

gripping (captivant, passionant): very interesting and exciting

tournament (tournoi):  a sports competition or series of contests that involves many players or teams and that usually continues for at least several days

split up (se séparer, diviser):  to separate or divide into parts or groups

bound to (forcément, obligé): very likely or certain to do or to besomething

action packed (riche en événements): filled with action, danger, and excitement

grew (grandir): to become larger : to increase in size, amount, etc

aims (viser à): to have a specified goal or purpose

smoother (plus fluide): happening or done without any problems

mother tongue (langue maternelle):  the language that a person learns to speak first

survey (enquête, sondage): an activity in which many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to gather information about what most people do or think about something

carried out (accompli, effectué): to do and complete (something)

successful (réussi, victorieux): having the correct or desired result : ending in success

outcome (résultat): something that happens as a result of an activity or process

runners up (seconds): a person or team that does not win first place in a competition but that does well enough to get a prize

stepping stone (fig. tremplin): something that helps you get or achieve something

forefront (première ligne, avant-garde): the most important part or position

highlighting (mise en avant):  something (such as an event or a detail) that is very interesting, exciting, or important : the best part of something