German- Memrise (verb conjugations)
- Speechling
Not much German going on at the moment in spite of my intentions since the last update.
Italian:- Reading:
Il mondo secondo Garp by John Irving / translated by Pier Francesco Paolini (51%)
- MHz Choice: Don Matteo S9E5-14 (557 mins)
- Podcast: Mangia come parli (47 mins)
- Speechling
- One 65 minute italki session
I listened to one episode of
Mangia come parli about potatoes. It's been a while since I've listened to it and will be adding it back into the rotation as part of the SC since I'll probably run out of other things to watch before I get to the goal.
I've completed my reading/recording of
Tesla e la macchina a energia cosmica by Luca Novelli. Tesla was a strange duck. The book was structured similar to the other books in the series with an overview of his life and primary accomplishments followed by a little mini-dictionary of related terminology. Tesla the car company made it into the dictionary. Totally enjoyable read. I feel like I'm reading aloud a lot faster now which is good since I want to complete the Italian output goal this year after not managing to with my prior attempts.
tesla.jpg
I'm pretty sure I've said this before but I'll make another plug for the
Lampi di genio series of books by Luca Novelli. They're not difficult to read. If you're weak in science like I am then you'll learn something about important people and their contributions as well as build your science vocabulary. If you are already knowledgeable with science they could still serve as a review. The drawings are a nice addition. They all have a little dictionary of terminology at the end and a couple of them have had an activity for kids included. Also they're only 128 pages with illustrations so it would be a good choice for intensive reading.
Portuguese:- Memrise (verb conjugations)
- rtp.pt: O Sábio E32-33 (80 mins)
- Podcast: Assim Assado: E1 (66 mins)
- Textbook:
Gramática Ativa 1 - unit 30-31
- wrote: 683 words
Since there isn't a lot of European Portuguese shows available to me I'll be listening to the Assim Assado podcast for a portion of the SC. There are about 65 episodes and they are around an hour each so it should give me a good chunk of time. The host of the podcast interviews Portuguese speaking chefs. The first episode was about Manuel Liebaut a Lisbon chef. I got the gist of the podcast but didn't understand 100%. I think my listening comprehension will improve after listening to a few more episodes as I get used to the host and his relaxed conversational style. At least in this episode they both were speaking clearly.
I finally returned to
Gramática Ativa 1 and did two units. I actually had already done unit 30 on
haver; haver de + infinitive but didn't realize it at first. It was pretty straight forward. Unit 31 covered
poder, conseguir, saber, conhecer, dever, ter de / que and precisar de. The idea being that one needs to know when to use each of them. In some cases it's obvious but in others not so much. I missed a few of these and will need to review it again in the future.
I even managed to write a few paragraphs. It wasn't very easy for me. I have forgotten some things during my unintended break when I was concentrating on German.
Book #20: I finished reading
Só para um by Rita Lobo. This cookbook was focused on cooking for one. It included recipes for only 1-2 portions, a section with recipes for four portions with instructions for freezing, thawing and reheating. It got a little boring since the latter instructions were in every four portion recipe with minimal variation. At the end there was a section about furnishing your kitchen. The book was geared towards a beginner cook. I did think it was useful for someone living alone since cooking for one can be difficult so the smaller recipes and pointers were good.
soparaum.jpg
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