Lingua's Log: IT, DE, PT, FR (+ dabbling in LAT, SCN, PMS, etc)

[lingua]

German
- Memrise (review vocabulary)
- Reading: Learn German with Stories: Café in Berlin by André Klein (12%)
- Listening: Audiobook of Café in Berlin (4 min)

I returned to this book for beginners that I used a couple of years ago since I've regressed with German reading skills. Trying to get back to where I was before.


Italian:
- Reading: L'eta del malessere by Dacia Maraini (14%)
- one 64 min italki session

I finished two short books. Le cento migliori ricette di Formaggio by Luigi e Olga Tarentini Troiani which is just as the title states: 100 cheese recipes broken into appetizers, salad, side dish, etc. It was somewhat boring and I encountered several spelling errors. This is a series of books I bought a few years ago for only 99 cents each and they make a good choice for recording while reading.

formaggio100.jpg

I found a web site listing the top contemporary Italian writers including Dacia Maraini, Margaret Mazzantni and Domenico Starnone. Only a few of them had ebooks. I ended up getting the Portuguese version for one by Starnone. The second book that I finished was Gita a Viareggio by Dacia Maraini. This is about two married couples who take a trip to Viareggio to meet up with their friend Carmelo (a painter) lives. The story is told by Tina who is driving. Her husband is in the back seat with Pietra while Antonio is up front with here. It becomes apparent that her marriage is in trouble as she realizes there is some chemistry between the two in the back seat. They visit Carmelo and then return to the hotel. At one point she wakes up in the middle of the night and finds her husband gone so she walks to the house of Carmelo which results in a violent episode and in the end she takes the train back to Rome. The writing is descriptive but vague so sometimes I wasn't sure if my interpretation of some details was quite right.

gita.jpg

Latin:
- Cambridge Latin Course - Unit 3 (in progress)

We are working on Unit 3 of the Cambridge course but have slowed down a bit because we're spending more time on grammar. I'm still good with the majority of the vocabulary.

I finished Pompeii by Robert Harris. Overall I thought the book was good. I'm taking a break from English books for a few weeks but will probably go with SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard next.


Portuguese:
- Reading: Negócios para criativos by Kiko Loureiro (47%)
- Grammar: PMP Basic Portuguese by Sue Tyson-Ward: Unit 2

On PTLab the chosen book was too hard for most of the participants so we'll be starting a different one later in the month. Flores by Afonso Cruz.

[StringerBell]

If you're looking for a contemporary Italian novel, one of the authors you mentioned (Margaret Mazzantini) has a book called Venuto al mondo (which is available as an ebook because I bought it - I'm pretty sure I bought it on Amazon but I don't see the kindle version there anymore). It was one of the few Italian novels I found that seemed interesting to me. I haven't read it yet, myself, but I sent it to my Italian friend who read it and said it was fantastic.

[lingua]

I ended up getting Splendore though it might be a while before I get to it. I have a bad habit of buying 20 books at a time.

[lingua]

German
- Memrise (review vocabulary)
- Reading: Learn German with Stories: Café in Berlin by André Klein (53%)
- Listening: Audiobook of Café in Berlin (6 mins)
- MHz Choice: Wilder S1E1-2 (111 mins)

I'm reading Café in Berlin once while listening to the audiobook and then without. The author is the speaker and he speaks too slowly in my view. Maybe if I was a complete beginner I would find it to be OK but since I'm not it's a little annoying but it is helpful for verifying my pronunciation.


Italian:
- MHz Choice: L'alligatore S1E3-4 (104 min)
- MHz Choice: Màkari S1E1 (55 mins)
- one 66 min italki session

I finished two more books. Rachel Carson e la primavera dell’ecologia by Luca Novella. Carson was a marine biologist, writer and an early environmentalist. She was concerned about the dangers of pesticides especially DDT. At first I didn't recognize the name but realized I had tried to read her book Silent Spring a few years ago but never finished it. So after several years I've completed the Lampi di Genio series unless he puts out a new book.

RachelCarson.jpg

L'età del malessere by Dacia Maraini. Enrica is a 17 year old girl living in poverty with her parents. She's having a purely physical relationship with Cesare a much older man who is engaged to a rich woman. The only person who treats her well is her classmate Carlo. He wants to marry her but she's not interested. At one point she ends up pregnant and has an illegal abortion. Later her mother dies of cancer which eventually throws them into a dire situation as her father hasn't paid the rent in months. She ends up living with a Countess as her secretary and her father rents a room in a house. She often lets things happen to her without protest even though it's not what she necessarily wants. In the end she decides she needs to find a job and leave the house of the Countess. Not a happy book but the writing is good.

malessere.jpg

Latin:
- Memrise (CLC vocabulary)
- Cambridge Latin Course - Unit 4 (in progress)

We have moved on to Unit 4. I decided to do some SRS as I was starting to encounter new words. There are a lot of user created courses from CLC so I'm not bothering with my own like I usually do.


Portuguese:
- Reading: Negócios para criativos by Kiko Loureiro (69%)
- Grammar: PMP Basic Portuguese by Sue Tyson-Ward: Unit 3-4

[lingua]

German
- MHz Choice: Wilder S1E3-6, S2E1-2 (341 mins)


Italian:
- Reading: Voci by Dacia Maraini (6%)

I finished another short book. This one was one I read aloud and recorded. Il Professor Varietà by Luca Novelli. This is one of his many other books that aren't part of the Lampi de Genio series. This was geared to 9-12 year olds and was a little oddly structured in a way that didn't work for someone of my age. It was obviously for youngsters. It was about how our planet is in danger because we aren't taking care of it and some things we could do to help it along. He talked a lot about sustainability and climate. There was a mini dictionary of related terminology and an eco-test where I could determine where I fall in regards to living sustainably. I read all the questions but didn't score myself. In spite of it being a little silly for adults I think it would be fine for the targeted age group or even an Italian beginner.

profvareita.jpg

Latin:
- Memrise (CLC vocabulary)
- Cambridge Latin Course - Unit 5 complete

We've completed the first five units as of today. I think the pace is rather slow but I don't mind because I wouldn't want to devote all of my studying time to only one language.


Portuguese:
- Reading: Flores by Afonso Cruz (4%)

Book #24: Negócios para criativos by Kiko Loureiro. This is a business/marketing 101 book for creatives such as musicians, artists, writers, etc. Kiko currently plays guitar for Megadeth, does solos (not all in metal), played with a Brazilian band Angra for many years, has an online guitar academy, does youtube videos and now has written a book. While much of it was pretty basic he also stresses creating multiple income streams. So you could say he practices what he preaches in the book. It is also a little bit autobiographical about how he got his start, the problems he encountered along the way and how he overcame them. When giving examples he usually uses music but sometimes other fields. Nothing earth shattering here but a decent read for what is a dry subject. Outside of that I learned some tidbits about the music business that I didn't know anything about.

kiko.jpg

[lingua]

German
- MHz Choice: Wilder S2E3-5 (172 mins)

MHz Choice has three seasons of Wilder and each season is one complete story line in a different place in Switzerland. I thought the first season was pretty good but the second one feels a little more convoluted and too slow at times. It is a crime/mystery type series.


Italian:
- Reading: Voci by Dacia Maraini (56%)
- Reading/Recording: Il buono che fa bene by Carlo Cracco (76%)
- two italki sessions (one 65 mins and the other 64 mins)

I've been with the same italki teacher for nearly four years and unfortunately she can't do our time slot anymore after the end of the year because of family obligations. It was a good time for me as her other hours would be way too early for me or too late if I tried to stay up late. Besides I probably wouldn't be in good form in either case. I am finding that recording my reading aloud is helping my fluency/flow as I've sped up the speed of speaking as well as making sure I correct myself when I know I've not had perfect pronunciation so I may use that for a substitute for the next few months. I don't look forward to finding a new teacher as I've found this one to be the best one ever but I'll re-evaluate in the spring.


Latin:
- Memrise (CLC vocabulary)
- Cambridge Latin Course - Unit Stage 5 in progress

I think I said we completed Stage 5 a couple of weeks ago but that should have been 4. Currently we're working on Stage 5. Not much to say about Latin. I do what is required for class and nothing more.


Portuguese:
- Reading: Flores by Afonso Cruz (7%)
- Reading: Prescrição e Periodização do Treinamento de Força em Academias by vários autores (34%)
- Grammar: PMP Basic Portuguese by Sue Tyson-Ward: Unit 5-8
- rtp.pt: O Sábio E40-43 (161 mins)

As far as PMP the first 15 units are on verbs so pretty easy.

I'm reading Flores as part of a book club on PTLab so we're at a fairly slow pace and I'm a little behind because I was out of town for a few days. After we read the weeks assigned chapter we then do a one sentence summary of the chapter which isn't that easy in spite of the fact the chapters are short being only 1-5 pages. There are 99 of them! The writing style is rather different and somewhat poetic to my mind. I would say it's not easy for me. In any case this will force me to do a little writing each week which I've neglected.

[lingua]

German
- MHz Choice: Wilder S2E6 (57 mins)

I finished up S2 and will start S3 sometime next month though I'm going to binge watch it. I waited too long between some episodes of S2 and lost the flow a bit.


Italian:
- Reading/Recording: Divorzio all'islamica a viale Marconi by Amara Lakhous (6%)
- MHz Choice: Màkari S1E2-3 (222 mins)
- MHz Choice: Petra S1E1 (83mins)
- one italki sessions (only 43mins as I had some internet trouble during this one)

I finished two more books.
Voci by Dacia Maraini. This is a crime novel about a journalist for a private radio station who finds her next door neighbor stabbed (multiple times). Her station director wants her to conduct an investigation into unsolved murders of women (there are many of them) so she spends her time interviewing people but also investigating the murder of her neighbor unintentionally compromising the police investigation at times.

voci.jpg

Il buono che fa bene by Carlo Cracco. Cracco has a Michelan starred restaurant in Milano and was a judge on MasterChef Italia. He has several cookbooks (I've already read a couple of them) but this is more about superfoods. Not everyone agrees on what foods are included but in this book there are 12 of them (some are more of a category, for example fermented). Each chapter is broken into intro of the superfood, nutritional makeup and recipes (usually 5-6 and nearly all have one juicing type recipe). The nutritional section is done by Antonio Moschetta a Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Bari. I read this one aloud while recording. My only complaint is that there was not one picture in the book and I prefer to see pictures of completed recipes because it's not always obvious what it should look like.

ilbuono.jpg

Latin:
- Memrise (CLC vocabulary)
- Cambridge Latin Course - Stage 5 completed

Not much happening at the moment since we're on Thanksgiving break this week.


Portuguese:
- Reading: Flores by Afonso Cruz (27%)

Book #25: Prescrição e Periodização do Treinamento de Força em Academias by vários autores. This book had five authors, three contributors and several interviews with various trainers or other people. There were six chapters and each one was authored by some combo of those eight author/contributors. It is written in textbook format in that each chapter included objectives, key words, intro followed by the information it was presenting. It was technical, very dry and boring and I thought about quitting multiple times but stuck with it. Vocabulary wise it wasn't particularly difficult. However, I wouldn't recommend it.

Treinamentodeforça.jpg

I've dropped out of the 6WC as my hearts not in it.

[marcuspezzaioli]

Thanks for listing all these books. Plenty for me to add to my Italian to-read list

[lingua]

German
- MHz Choice: Tatort: Lindholm S2E1-2 (177 mins)


Italian:
- MHz Choice: Masantonio S1E1-3 (158 mins)

I finished two more books which puts me just over 50% on both books and film which was my goal for the end of December.

Divorzio all'islamica a viale Marconi by Amara Lakhous. In this book Italian authorities get report of a group of Muslin immigrants in Rome are planning an attack. Christian Mazzari is a Sicilian who speaks Arabic so he goes undercover as Issa. Sofia (Safia) is an Egyptian immigrant married to a traditional man who is a bit of a jerk. She thought she'd be able to live freer in Italy but instead her husband insists she wear a veil and attempts to restrict her activities (not very successfully). Issa & Sofia keep running into each other and you can guess how this eventually goes. There's a subplot as well regarding the bosses of Issa. Overall I liked the book but wasn't a fan of the ending which I won't give away.

divorzio.jpg

Treno di Panna by Andrea De Carlo. Giovanni moves to LA and stays with his friends Ron and Tracy who he had met in his travels. Giovanni is illegal so ends up in a series of low paying jobs. He ends up waiting tables at an Italian restaurant and meets Jill whom he moves in with. He also does Italian tutoring and meets a much older Hollywood actress whom he falls for (she's married). I've already forgotten the ending though I recall it not being very satisfying.

trenodipanna.jpg

Latin:
- Memrise (CLC vocabulary)
- Cambridge Latin Course - Stage 6 completed

We've been on holiday break since the 19th and won't start up again until the 5th so other than completing Stage 6 a few weeks ago we learned two new verb tenses. I've not even looked at the book during this break in spite of my intention of doing so.


Portuguese:
- Reading: Flores by Afonso Cruz (36%)
- Reading: Culinária básica (22%)

Nothing but reading here and not nearly enough of it. The cookbook Culinária básica that I bought turned out to be a Weight Watcher book. It's long and the recipes are mostly boring but I'm going to read it anyway as it is providing some new cooking and food related vocabulary. At the rate I'm going it might take all year as it's more than 800 pages long and I only manage a few pages in the evening before it puts me to sleep.

I had hoped to get to 50% on books and film for Portuguese but I'm still behind in my Portuguese reading so will try to get that caught up this month. December was incredibly busy and my time was limited. This will continue for another month or two (as soon as I complete my current project) at which time I'm going to retire. While I'd like to think that will give me more time for languages it probably won't since I have some other hobbies that I've neglected and would like to spend time on.

[lingua]

German
- MHz Choice: Die Toten vom Bodensee S3E1-2 (178 mins)


Italian:
- Reading/Recording: La mia vita, le mie battaglie by Dacia Maraini (4%)


Latin:
- Memrise (CLC vocabulary)
- Cambridge Latin Course - Stage 7 completed & Stage 8 started


Portuguese:
- Reading: Um Cérebro à prova de Cansaço by Sandra de Carvalho Martins (11%)

Book #26: Flores by Afonso Cruz. This was a difficult book for me to read as the writing style is poetic and a bit disorganized in my opinon. If it weren't for wanting to see how the story ended I probably would have given up on it as it caused me endless frustration. The main character Kevin learns his neighbor Ulme had something happen that caused him to lose his memory of the past. Kevin makes it his mission to help Ulme get his memory back which entails visiting his hometown and talking to various people from his past. There's a side story with Kevin, his daughter Beatriz and his wife Clarisse and their marital issues that didn't add much to the book. I imagine I would have enjoyed this a lot more if it had been easier to read. This has nothing to do with language as I still knew the majority of the vocabulary. It was strictly writing style. I don't like this style in English either.

flores.jpg

Book #27: Culinária básica by Vigilantes do Peso (Weight Watchers). Translated by Gabriella Gachet & Matheus Motta. As mentioned in an earlier post this was a translated Weight Watchers book which I didn't realize when I bought it or I wouldn't have bothered. It's not particularly good but it was overall easy to read and I found that I regularly learned new culinary/food related words so I decided to finish it. The first few chapters went over things like utensils & kitchen paraphanelia, organizing yourself in the kitchen, culinary techniques, cuts of meat (by animal), types of flour, how to cut fruits & vegetables, etc. Then at a certain point the recipes began. Those chapters were organized by type (salads/soups, main dish, vegetables, etc). Unless you're a fan of WW I wouldn't recommend this book.

culinaria.jpg

It is obvious I've done very little except read these two books for the last month. I wanted to get to the 50% mark for the SC and I have done that for both PT & IT in reading and watching. I'm doing only 1/2 SC for German so now I have 11 months to complete these three which feels doable.

I have only a couple more weeks of work and am back to normal hours so I should be able to accomplish a lot more in the coming months.