Lingua's 2019 Italian, Sicilian, Latin, German, Portuguese Log

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lingua
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12257
x 2024

Re: Lingua's 2019 Italian CILS DUE B2 or bust

Postby lingua » Mon Apr 15, 2019 1:28 am

Reading:
I don't know if I will continue on with L'ombra del vento. Even though it's easy enough I find myself bored with it so far. This book is 400+ pages so I'm not willing to be bored for that long and I don't think much of the translation. It feels too literal. Someone on Amazon reviewed the Spanish version which they seemed to think was translated from the English version which itself was originally translated from Spanish. I thought the original version was Spanish and that any translation done would be from the original language to the target language. The literalness of the Italian feels like it was taken from English to me but I have no idea whether or not this actually is the case. I'll give it another week or two before I completely give up.

Outside of that i bought the sixth Rocco book and also a compilation of short stories called Un natale in giallo from the Italian publisher Sellerio which includes one story from Antonio Manzini (and presumably is about Rocco). Sellerio started this in 2011 and currently has about a dozen books of short stories from the various mystery writers (including Camilleri, Malvaldi (barLume) and others). Most but not all of the writers are Italian.


Talking/Recording:
I had one 60 minute italki session. I recorded 54 minutes of reading L'ombra del vento over two sessions.

Listening:
Podcast 328 minutes of Veneto & Sapori

Film 97 minutes
MHz Choice: i bastardi di Pizzofalcone s1e6 which is the end of season 1. I hope MHz chioce will get season 2 because I mostly like this series.

Grammar/Vocabulary:
I did a little bit of Decks and Clozemaster this week but no grammar. My interest in taking the B2 exam is dropping lately since I mostly want to read these days. I've still not missed a day of at least 30 minutes for the 365 Challenge.

Completed book #32: 7-7-2007 by Antonio Manzini. I didn't like this one as much. It covers the death of Rocco's wife so most of it takes place in Roma. I am willing to suspend believe about Rocco with his delinquent friends when he's in Aosta (since they're in Roma) but it was harder for me to do when he was in Roma for most of the book. Also his daily joint in the office is a bit much. Realistically, a dope smoking cop would probably need to do that at home.

772017.jpg


128 SC books = 32 actual books
124 SC Film
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Last edited by lingua on Sun May 19, 2019 8:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
2 x
Super Challenge 2022-23:
DE: books: 0 / 2500 film: 1654 / 4500
IT: books: 3065 / 5000 film: 5031 / 9000
PT: books: 2921 / 5000 film: 5010 / 9000

Output Challenge 2023:
IT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 84 / 3000
PT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 0 / 3000

PT: Read 100 books: 28 / 100

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lingua
Blue Belt
Posts: 951
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12257
x 2024

Re: Lingua's 2019 Italian CILS DUE B2 or bust

Postby lingua » Thu Apr 25, 2019 4:21 am

Reading
Completed two more Rocco Schiavone books and just bought the last one in the series Rien ne va plus which seems to be a continuation of Fate il vostro gioco from the reviews I've read which is good because the ending didn't feel complete. I don't expect the next one to be out until next year so I'm thinking about reading Montalbano next. I have read most of them in English at least once and watched most of the shows several times but in the past I didn't feel ready to read Camilleri with his mix of Italian, Sicilian and dialect. The first book is relatively short so I'll probably give it a try.

#33: Pulvis et umbra
pulvisetumbra.jpg


#34: Fate il vostro gioco
fateilvostrogioco.jpg

34 actual books = 144 SC books

Listening:
Film 200 minutes
DVD: Rocco Schiavone: Castore e polluce and Non è stagione
Castore e polluce is based off of one of Manzini's short stories rather than a novel so it was a new story line for me. Non è stagione was a very condensed version of the book.

Writing
I wrote a whole 400 words this past week. I will never hit the 50,000.

Grammar/Vocabulary:
I again did a small amount of Decks and Clozemaster this week and about three hours of grammar. I've still not missed a day of at least 30 minutes for the 365 Challenge.
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0 x
Super Challenge 2022-23:
DE: books: 0 / 2500 film: 1654 / 4500
IT: books: 3065 / 5000 film: 5031 / 9000
PT: books: 2921 / 5000 film: 5010 / 9000

Output Challenge 2023:
IT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 84 / 3000
PT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 0 / 3000

PT: Read 100 books: 28 / 100

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lingua
Blue Belt
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Languages: English (N)
Maintaining: italiano (B2/C1ish)
Studying: português, Latina
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Abandoned: ไทย, español
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12257
x 2024

Re: Lingua's 2019 Italian CILS DUE B2 or bust

Postby lingua » Tue May 07, 2019 4:20 am

Book #35: Verdure cotte e crude by Annalisa Barbagli and Stefania Barzini. This book was about vegetables and included a few recipes, information about health benefits, historical information, etc. It was an informative and enjoyable read.

verdurecotteecrude.jpg


35 actual books = 148 SC books

At the moment I'm reading five different books and they are in various states of completion. This week I will try to finish some of them.
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0 x
Super Challenge 2022-23:
DE: books: 0 / 2500 film: 1654 / 4500
IT: books: 3065 / 5000 film: 5031 / 9000
PT: books: 2921 / 5000 film: 5010 / 9000

Output Challenge 2023:
IT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 84 / 3000
PT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 0 / 3000

PT: Read 100 books: 28 / 100

User avatar
lingua
Blue Belt
Posts: 951
Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2016 11:23 pm
Languages: English (N)
Maintaining: italiano (B2/C1ish)
Studying: português, Latina
Dabbling: siciliano, Deutsch, français, piemontèis
Abandoned: ไทย, español
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12257
x 2024

Re: Lingua's 2019 Italian CILS DUE B2 or bust

Postby lingua » Mon May 13, 2019 12:40 am

Reading:
After 39 pages I've given up on L'ombra del vento at least for now. I'm probably not giving it a fair chance but I need to move forward with books that hold my interest. I've also put off starting the last Rocco book because I am not ready for it to end even though I assume (hope!) there will be a new book next year.

I'm currently reading:
Un Natale in giallo (short stories) <-- 61%
Venezia in cucina by Carla Coco <-- 26%

Additionally, I've started no less than three new mysteries in recent weeks because I was anxious to begin them but I've only read the first chapter or so and this not a workable plan. I need to limit myself to only two books at a time. Otherwise I find myself rereading because I forgot what was happening.

Writing: :oops:

Talking/Recording:
I had two 60 minute italki sessions and I've had 45 minutes worth of language exchanges. I'm not finding it that easy to find language partners because of time zone differences.

Listening:
Podcast 94 minutes of Veneto & Sapori
Film 47 minutes of un medico in famiglia (il mistero di Cetinka) on YouTube

Grammar/Vocabulary/365 Challenge:
I did a little bit of Decks but not much. With all the reading I've been doing I noticed I increased my daily average in April to just under 3 hours. My goal for May is to pass 3 hours per day.
Last edited by lingua on Sun May 19, 2019 6:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1 x
Super Challenge 2022-23:
DE: books: 0 / 2500 film: 1654 / 4500
IT: books: 3065 / 5000 film: 5031 / 9000
PT: books: 2921 / 5000 film: 5010 / 9000

Output Challenge 2023:
IT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 84 / 3000
PT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 0 / 3000

PT: Read 100 books: 28 / 100

StringerBell
Brown Belt
Posts: 1035
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2018 3:30 am
Languages: English (n)
Italian
x 3289

Re: Lingua's 2019 Italian CILS DUE B2 or bust

Postby StringerBell » Mon May 13, 2019 1:33 am

Do you notice an improvement in your reading at this point? (reading faster, more stamina, improved comprehension) than when you first started the SC (I think you're doing a SC, right?) If so, can you gauge around how much reading you've done to reach this improvement (either # of pages or books or hours, doesn't matter).

Do you ever look up new words, or do you just figure them out from context and move on?
1 x
Season 4 Lucifer Italian transcripts I created: https://learnanylanguage.fandom.com/wik ... ranscripts

User avatar
lingua
Blue Belt
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Languages: English (N)
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Studying: português, Latina
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12257
x 2024

Re: Lingua's 2019 Italian CILS DUE B2 or bust

Postby lingua » Tue May 14, 2019 3:27 am

I am noticing a lot of improvement in my reading comprehension and speed since I started reading the BarLume series last fall and now the Rocco Schiavone series. For one I'm reading a lot more every week than before and for another authors have a certain style of writing which includes their preferred words so I get a lot of repetition.

I first try to figure things out in context before looking up words. Sometimes a word that I look up ends up being some obscure English word that I've never heard before. I don't bother looking those up in English because I don't expect to see them again and don't recall ever having done so which makes me wonder how common they are in Italian. Sometimes I can't find the word in any of my dictionaries so I move on. There are times when a sentence makes no sense in spite of knowing the meaning of every word so I will look up the primary verb (or sometimes the primary noun) and find it as a phrase with a different meaning. I have five Italian-English dictionaries on my Kindle plus one Italian only dictionary so I can usually find the phrase in one of them. I don't think I ever realized how many phrases there were in Italian before reading so much.

Another problem is dialect. BarLume uses a form of Pisan dialect of old people (per the Pisan author) while Schivaone (and the author) are from Rome so there is sometimes Roman dialect. The Schiavone character is usually in Aosta with it's local dialect which luckily is usually explained by the other characters in the book. Dialect is sometimes found in my Italian only dictionary but not the others. I do my best to guess based on my time spent with Sicilian, Latin, Napolitano and Piemontese last year. Sometimes the reference type books I read will throw in some very old style of Italian when quoting (which often seems latin like). Here again I have to do my best to guess since it typically isn't found in my dictionaries.

Yes, I'm doing a double SC. Since May 1st of last year I've read 148 SC books of 50 pages for a total of 7400 pages so at completion I should have 10,000+ pages. I've spent far more hours than I'd like. My Italian reading pace is about half of my English pace though I am getting faster when reading series and some food related books. Some day I hope to be much closer to my English reading speed.
3 x
Super Challenge 2022-23:
DE: books: 0 / 2500 film: 1654 / 4500
IT: books: 3065 / 5000 film: 5031 / 9000
PT: books: 2921 / 5000 film: 5010 / 9000

Output Challenge 2023:
IT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 84 / 3000
PT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 0 / 3000

PT: Read 100 books: 28 / 100

Cavesa
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Posts: 4960
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Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
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Re: Lingua's 2019 Italian CILS DUE B2 or bust

Postby Cavesa » Tue May 14, 2019 8:25 pm

lingua wrote:Yes, I'm doing a double SC. Since May 1st of last year I've read 148 SC books of 50 pages for a total of 7400 pages so at completion I should have 10,000+ pages. I've spent far more hours than I'd like. My Italian reading pace is about half of my English pace though I am getting faster when reading series and some food related books. Some day I hope to be much closer to my English reading speed.

I am sure you will.
I'd say the treshold lies somewhere between 10000 and 15000 pages.
The bad news: it takes a lot of time to get there
The good news: you are doing really well and you will get there. And you've got many more fun books to look forward to!

I am looking forward to having more time for my Italian, your log is an awesome source of inspiration!
1 x

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lingua
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12257
x 2024

Re: Lingua's 2019 Italian CILS DUE B2 or bust

Postby lingua » Sun May 19, 2019 6:31 pm

Book #36: Un Natale in giallo is a compilation of short stories by mystery writers. The book contains an intro by each author at the beginning of the story. There are seven stories:

Natale nella casa di ringhiera by Francesco Recami
Un Natale di Petra by Alicia Giménez-Bartlett (Spanish author)
Come fu che cambiai marca di whisky by Santo Piazzese
A Natale con chi vuoi by Carlo Flamigni
La mossa del geco by Gian Mauro Costa
L'esperinza fa la differenza by Marco Malvaldi (BarLume author)
Il giaciglio d'acciaio by Ben Pastor (pen name of Maria Verbena Volpi)

I liked all but the last one to varying degrees. I probably won't read the series by the Spanish author because my preference is to read native Italian authors but I thought the translation was good and since I will continue with the series of short stories (there are 14 books) it's likely that I'll come across her again. The story by Malvaldi was in the Sei casi al BarLume book that I read back in March. However, I didn't remember the story until the end when it finally came back to me.

I'm hoping reading these short stories will help me find other series to read. I've already bought the first book in the "ringhiera" series. Otherwise I liked the story by Santo Piazzese the most. I liked his writing style but he's only written a few books and they aren't a series.

unnataleingiallo.jpg
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2 x
Super Challenge 2022-23:
DE: books: 0 / 2500 film: 1654 / 4500
IT: books: 3065 / 5000 film: 5031 / 9000
PT: books: 2921 / 5000 film: 5010 / 9000

Output Challenge 2023:
IT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 84 / 3000
PT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 0 / 3000

PT: Read 100 books: 28 / 100

User avatar
lingua
Blue Belt
Posts: 951
Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2016 11:23 pm
Languages: English (N)
Maintaining: italiano (B2/C1ish)
Studying: português, Latina
Dabbling: siciliano, Deutsch, français, piemontèis
Abandoned: ไทย, español
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12257
x 2024

Re: Lingua's 2019 Italian CILS DUE B2 or bust

Postby lingua » Sun May 19, 2019 8:28 pm

Reading:
Venezia in cucina by Carla Coco <-- 28%
La verità dell'alligatore by Massimo Carlotto <-- 0%

Eventually I'll finish Venezia in cucina. I like it OK but the writing is too wordy and it has become a slog. La verità dell'alligatore is one of the books I started a couple weeks ago to get a feel for it but I need to start over because I remember nothing. The writer has an unusual history which you can read about here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massimo_Carlotto. Evidently he's written a fictionalized book about his time as a fugitive.

Writing:
I wrote the recipe for Week 1 of the writing challenge I created and went over it with my italki teacher. She didn't correct it but rather had me read it aloud and explain my minor grammatical errors. I am pleased that I recognized them. I am writing in Italian during some Skype chats as well but I don't include it in my tracking because it's sporadic. It's still good for practice and helps with fluidity or at least that's what I tell myself.

Talking/Recording:
I had one 60 minute italki session and a 30 minute language exchange. I need to get back to the recording too.

Listening:
Podcast: 353 minutes
Finished up the last of the Veneto & Sapori episodes
Started Tre generazioni in cucina which I like a lot. There is a website https://www.tregencucina.it/ with additional information on the episodes. You can listen on the site directly as well. I will probably mine the site for unknown words.

Grammar/Vocabulary/365 Challenge:
I again did very little Decks and no grammar at all. Still managing at least 30 minutes a day. When I look at my bars I see how unbalanced my studying is. Output is lagging.
0 x
Super Challenge 2022-23:
DE: books: 0 / 2500 film: 1654 / 4500
IT: books: 3065 / 5000 film: 5031 / 9000
PT: books: 2921 / 5000 film: 5010 / 9000

Output Challenge 2023:
IT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 84 / 3000
PT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 0 / 3000

PT: Read 100 books: 28 / 100

StringerBell
Brown Belt
Posts: 1035
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2018 3:30 am
Languages: English (n)
Italian
x 3289

Re: Lingua's 2019 Italian CILS DUE B2 or bust

Postby StringerBell » Wed May 22, 2019 10:13 pm

Could you explain a little about MHz Choice? I gave up finding Italian shows awhile ago and have really only been watching dubbed stuff, but it occurred to me that this might be a good source for Italian shows. When I went to the website, I didn't see any way to filter by language, so I'm not sure what kind of selection they have. My questions are:

-How is the selection for Italian shows?
-Do you still use MHz Choice? Do you think it's worth the membership?

*Sorry if you wrote about this already, I tried to scan through to see if I could find where you'd described it, but I couldn't find much.
0 x
Season 4 Lucifer Italian transcripts I created: https://learnanylanguage.fandom.com/wik ... ranscripts


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