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

[StringerBell]

Wow! That's a huge milestone. I finding reading books in Italian particularly draining; I read at a very slow pace and it takes me ages to get through a book - I can't imagine reading as many as you have!

[lingua]

Book #51: NutriMenti by Adele Vieri Castellano. This was a short book about how to care for your body with proper food and diet but also your mental/spiritual needs with relaxation techniques and pampering. It was a bit simplistic. Quick and easy read.

nutrimenti.jpg

[lingua]

Listening
Un Coach in cucina - Salute & Benessere podcast: 100 minutes
The host of this podcast interviews various people in the health field although sometimes they feel like infomercials. When listening to podcasts I generally understand most of what they are saying but sometimes miss a few things when there are unknown words or the speaker continually changes in the middle of a sentence with a new thought. That can even be a problem with English. With the topics of these podcasts being similar to some of the health related books I've recently been reading I found that I was having 100% comprehension.

Film 667 minutes
MHZ Choice: Montalbano: La piramide di fango
dplay: Camionisti in trattoria s2 ep1-8, L'Italia a morsi s1 e1-4

While I enjoy Camionisti in trattoria for the concept and seeing the different eating establishments, I don't much like the host Rubio. He behaves like a child at times. I don't need to see close-ups of huge forkfuls of food shoved in the mouth. It's not that appealing. The amount of food these truckers eat is crazy. They have appetizers, oversized plates of pasta followed by a second course entree and dessert. One course and an appetizer would be plenty. I plan to wrap up the third season next weekend.

L'Italia a morsi is hosted by Chiara Maci a food blogger. Part of the show she visits a food related business and learns about different things. One time it was making some dough although I can't remember now what they were making with it. Another time it was about a type of salami. She then goes into the home of a different person each episode and cooks with them. At the end there are a few guests to eat the meal. I like the show. It's low key so it goes at a relaxed pace.

Speaking/Recording
I recorded another 100 minutes or so reading a book but otherwise no speaking this week.

Grammar/Vocabulary/365 Challenge:
I'm doing about 10 minutes per day of Decks. Still no missed days of the 365 challenge.

Reading:
I nuovi omnivori by Roberta Schira <-- 64%
Vivere bene e a lungo by Gianfranco Trapani <-- 6%

I wanted to start a different book that was similar to the one I just finished but they used some weird layout that doesn't render on the Kindle or iPad nor can the font size be changed so I'm forced to read it on the iMac which isn't ideal.

I've decided this is the year of reading so I will continue to focus the majority of my time on that. Starting in January I'll switch gears and make a push for writing until the next SC begins.

[lingua]

MHz Choice is making The Snack Thief and Montalbano and Me available for anyone to watch for free. The Snack Thief is the first of the 34 TV adaptations starring Luca Zingaretti and Montalbano and Me: Andrea Camilleri is a documentary about his life, writing and the irascible detective who captured the hearts of readers and viewers around the world.

I know it says "anyone" but it's likely only available in the US and Canada for a limited time. Information available on their blog:
https://mhzchoiceblog.com/tributes-to-andrea-camilleri-the-maestro-1925-2019/

[dampingwire]

I know it says "anyone" but it's likely only available in the US and Canada for a limited time. Information available on their blog:
https://mhzchoiceblog.com/tributes-to-andrea-camilleri-the-maestro-1925-2019/

"Anyone" seems to include me in the UK. I can't turn off the subtitles, so it's exactly like watching it on BBC2

Montalbano and Me seems to be episode 37. I'll try that one later (I don't think I've seen that ... although I suspect that I caught the last 10 minutes on RAI a while ago ...).

Thanks!

[lingua]

Unfortunately, the subtitles are a term of their contract since it's for US/Canada audiences generally. Good to know that you can get it outside of the US.

[lingua]

Book #52: I nuovi onnivori by Roberta Schira. The author is a journalist and has written quite a few books. The author seems a little fed up with all the various modes of eating (paleo, pescatarian, vegan, etc). She has ongoing discussions with her American friend who is more or less vegetarian though he doesn't eat some things due to ethical considerations and yet will try ethically produced meat products. Their discussions are regarding pros and cons of why we should or should not eat meat and/or fish. Ultimately, the author makes the argument that we should eat everything (unless we have a serious allergy to something) since we are omnivores but that we should strive to buy food that is raised or grown in a sustainable manner. I thought the book was well balanced with differing points of view and enjoyed the read to the point I am seeking out more books by this author.

nuovionnivori.jpg

[lingua]

Listening
Un Coach in cucina - Salute & Benessere podcast: 109 minutes

Film 274 minutes
dplay: Camionisti in trattoria s3 ep1-6

I was just starting the 7th episode and my VPN disconnected. After I reconnected, I wasn't able to get dplay to work. I'll try again next weekend.

Speaking/Recording
I recorded 33 minutes of reading the book I just finished. Surprisingly, I managed to have an LE with about 45 minutes of Italian out of nearly two hours of speaking.

Grammar/Vocabulary/365 Challenge:
Continue with 10-15 minutes a day of Decks. This week I did a lot of ClozeMaster because I had over 5000 words to review a couple of weeks ago and have been slowly working through them. I think I'm closer to 3500 now. Still no missed days of the 365 challenge.

Reading:
Vivere bene e a lungo by Gianfranco Trapani <-- 38%
Yoga (Posizioni facili ed efficaci per l'equilibrio del corpo e della mente) by Vittoria Frua <-- 8%

Book #53: Stretching (Esercizi facili ed efficaci per un corpo più flessibile, una postura migliore e zero dolori) by Ornella Ciarcià & Marina Finozzi. This was a short little book about various aspects of stretching and included stretching exercises that were basic, advanced, for expectant mothers and desk bound workers. The one chapter that was anatomy heavy was a little hard because even though I knew many of the words due to their close proximity to English there were also quite few new ones. Thankfully pictures of the various stretching exercises were included so I could double check my understanding because sometimes I wasn't sure if I had it right or not. I'm sure I'd have the same issue in English.

stretching.jpg

[lingua]

Book #54: Yoga: Posizioni facili ed efficaci per l'equilibrio del corpo e della mente by Vittoria Frua. This is another short little book that covered what yoga is, the benefits of yoga, the practice of yoga with the different movements. It was laid out similar to the stretching book with a step by step explanation, variations to try and 2-3 photos to show different aspects of the position. While I've taken the occasional yoga class when belonging to a gym in the past I knew very little about it so this was a nice introduction to the terminology.

yoga.jpg

[lingua]

Sadly, three weeks after Camilleri died, Alberto Sironi died. Sironi directed the first 34 episodes of Montalbano. I'm not sure how many episodes are left nor how it will impact the quality of future episodes. The series episodes don't completely line up with the book titles but there seems to be at least two more books written that haven't yet been made into an episode. And, the last book in the series was wrote about 13 years ago to be published after the death of Cmailleri.