10 years ago – April 1996

BBC Learning EnglishRio LifeOcean RaceCallum: Hello I'm Callum Robertson and this is London Lifeor rather Rio life. Lastweek while in Brazil on business for BBC Learning Englishwe caught up with organisers and crew of an internationalevent that goes around the world and uses English as theuniversal language of communication, the Volvo Ocean Race.
　　Interview Andy HindleyCallum: Well it's a gorgeously 1 hot sunny day the sky isblue there's little white fluffy 2 clouds in the sky and I'mstanding at a marina in Rio de Janeiro. Now a marina islike, I suppose, it's like a car park but for yachts 4 andboats. Now we're here because Rio de Janeiro is one of thestopping points for the Volvo Ocean Race. This is a racewhich takes boats around the world and we're going to findout a little bit more about the race and about how Englishis used by the crews in the race and the organisation 5. It'sa multi-national competition, but English is the mainlanguage and to tell us a little bit more about this racewe've been joined by, well tell us who we are and what yourrole is.
　　Andy: Andy Hindley, racing 6 director for the Volvo Oceanrace.
　　Callum: And tell us a little bit about the race. What is itand what does it involve?
　　Andy: It's the pinnacle 7 of round the world yacht 3 racing.
　　Fully 8 crewed, flat-out So we start from Northern Europe andwe go round the world via Cape 9 Town, to Melbourne inAustralia to Wellington in New Zealand, to Rio to Baltimorein New York and back to England to Portsmouth and thenRotterdam andfinishing in Gothenburg. Takes about 7 months.
　　Callum: That was Andy Hindley. He says the race is thepinnacle of world yacht racing,which means it's the most important, the most respectedrace of its kind. The people who work on a boat are calledthe crew and he said they sail flat-out,flat-out. This phrase means they go as fast as they can andwork as hard as they can the whole time. It's a verychallenging thing to do.
　　Have another listen to Andy, this time listen out for theplaces that the yachts go to and how long the race lasts.
　　Andy: It's the pinnacle of round the world yacht racing.
　　Fully crewed, flat-out. So we start from Northern Europeand we go round the world via Cape Town, to Melbourne inAustralia to Wellington in New Zealand, to Rio to Baltimorein New York and back to England to Portsmouth and thenRotterdam and finishing in Gothenburg. Takes about 7months.
　　Callum: So the race takes about 7 months and travels fromNorthern Europe, to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand,Brazil, USA, England, Holland and Sweden! Andy also told usthat that there are many different nationalities in thecrews and that English is the official language. So we thenwent to speak to some crew members who do not have Englishas their first language about how they and their multi-national crews get on with English.
　　Interview - Maria VeltranCallum: We've been joined by, well tells us who you are andwhat you do.
　　Maria: I'm Maria Veltran, I'm Spanish and I'm actuallyworking on the Movistar sailing team on the Volvo OceanRace which is a Spanish team .
　　Callum: Are all the members of the crew Spanish?
　　Maria: In the race crew we've just got two Spanish sailorsand the rest of them theyare from all over the world. Starting from the skipper heis from the Netherlands and we have New Zealanders,Australians, Americans, South Africans, a little bit ofeverything.
　　Callum: It's a Spanish team, what language do they use onthe boat?
　　Maria: English, so the Spaniards and skipper they speakreally good English, they just communicate in EnglishCallum: How did you learn English?
　　Maria: In school, well after school I used to go toclasses to learn English then spent time abroad in England,in the states and then lived one year in the States thenstudied translation for English.
　　Callum: What would be your best tip for how to learnEnglish?
　　Maria: Try to spend a couple of months minimum at anEnglish speaking country and try not to have much contactwith people who speak your own language because if you goto England and you just keep hanging with Spaniards, ifyou're Spanish, then you do learn English but you keepspeaking Spanish and you don't learn that much.
　　Interview – Gerd Jan PoortmanCallum: We've been joined by, well tell us what your nameis and what you do.
　　Gerd Jan: My name is Gerd Jan Poortman and I'm abowman on the ABN Amro 2 in theVolvo Ocean Race.
　　Callum: And what country do you come from, what's yournative language. Gerd Jan: I'm from Holland, so yea,born and raised in Holland, Netherlands. Callum: Onthe boat your crew members are they mostly Englishspeakers?
　　Gerd Jan: Yea I mean, we have one language on theboat, and that's English, but we have seven nationalities.
　　Callum: Does it ever cause a problem having the onelanguage or are all the guys pretty good in English?
　　Gerd Jan: Some are better than others but generallyyou know it's going alright, the longer we sail togetherthe better it is. It's really hard for our skipper becausehe hardly spoke 10 any word of English so he would point tosomeone's nose andsay there's 'something on your arm' and we tell him it's anose and not arm., So you get the funny stuff.
　　Callum: Your English is very very good, I believe peopleactually call you Johnny, is that right?
　　Gerd Jan: Yes, because Gerd Jan no one can say.
　　Actually when I was 18 I moved to America my English wasreally bad so I went to America to learn my English there,that's how I picked it up and then the last nine years Ihaven't lived in Holland 'cos just been sailing around. Allday every day you speak English. Actually English is easierfor me right now than Dutch.
　　Callum: If you had a tip to pass on to people who arelearning English, what is your best, your top tip forlearning English?
　　Gerd Jan: For me it worked going abroad and going tothe places and just speak and always try and basically it'sall about confidence. For a lot of people know anotherlanguage and they don't have the confidence to talk andyou've just got to go out there and get amongst people andchat. I guess that's the tip.
　　Callum: Some good advice there from Gerd Jan.
　　That's all from this special edition of Rio life!