· 23 lists · 1150 words

Society and politics

What gets said when more than yourself is at stake.

What holds these lists together

The words a society uses to talk about itself: in the news and on social networks, in the debate about migration, in parliament and over who may stay. They are learnt less in conversation than from what is broadcast and printed. An English reader meets a gap straight away: Spanish has one word, la política, for both politics and policy, and tells them apart by context or by the plural, as in las políticas públicas. Other words carry a political sense beside the literal one. La comunidad in Spain is also an autonomous region with its own parliament, and el pueblo is a village as well as a people. Knowing one meaning, you read half a headline.

The 23 lists

B1The news and the mediaReading a news item without a dictionary every third word.50 words B2Politics and societyVoting, governing, arguing — the words in every news bulletin.50 words B2Environmental policyLimits, conditions, transition periods — the environment as a bargain.50 words B2The media and journalismHow a story is made — and how to spot a bad one.50 words B2Migration and belongingResidence, citizenship, language — and what « being from here » means.50 words B2Social networksWhat you do there, how people talk, and what goes wrong.50 words B2Belief and its vocabularyWords for something you can only discuss precisely if you have them.50 words B2Civil protection and emergenciesWarning level, evacuation, deployment — the language of a big emergency.50 words B2International relationsUnion, treaty, mediation — how states talk to one another.50 words B2Population and family lifeBirth rate, ageing, households — and the words people use for them.50 words C1Parties and electionsLocal branch, list of candidates, threshold, confidence vote — how Spain votes and is governed.50 words C1Social workIntake, care plan, benefit, network — the language between the office, the service and the living room.50 words C2AnthropologyFieldwork, kinship, ritual, exchange — how societies, foreign and own, are written about.50 words C2Sociological theoryStructure, agency, institution, inequality — the terms society is described with.50 words C2GeopoliticsSphere, alliance, deterrence, mediation — the language between states.50 words C2TheologyDoctrine, interpretation and church order — the technical terms in which belief is argued about.50 words C2DemographyFertility, mortality, migration and age structure — the words a population is described with.50 words C2Investigative journalismSources, documents, verification and the legal limits — the work behind a revelation.50 words C2CriminologyExplanations, statistics, prevention and reoffending — how crime is researched rather than argued about.50 words C2Policy analysisAgenda, instruments, implementation and effect — how a measure comes about and how it is checked afterwards.50 words C2Power and influenceWho really decides, and how you can tell.50 words C2Civil protectionFrom the plan through the alarm to the return.50 words C2Radio and podcastingBuilding a programme, recording it, putting it out.50 words

Spread across the levels

The category runs across the levels — it is an area, not a difficulty. If you practise it, you can also choose a level at the top of the practice page and then get only the part that sits there.

Level	Words	Share
B1	50	4 %
B2	450	39 %
C1	100	9 %
C2	550	48 %

Practise this category

Multiple choice and gaps, across all 23 lists and all 1150 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.