In this bilingual podcast we read a Standard Arabic text, translate it and comment on some vocabulary and  grammar points as well as some cultural insights. 

Arabic zone - Esma'ni

Maya的同义词Synonyms

¿Es normal darnos besos para saludar? ¿Es normal en tu país? ¿Uno o dos besos? ¿Te sientes incómodo?

Curiosidades sobre el español y su cultura

¿Besos para saludar?

Lettura livello A2: i ricordi di Firenze
preposizioni semplici e articolate
condizionale
futuro semplice
imperfetto e passato prossimo
pronomi diretti 
pronomi indiretti

I ricordi di Firenze 

Mario e Lucia vivono ormai da cinque anni a Bologna.  Si sono conosciuti a Firenze quando tutti e due studiavano lì all’università. A Mario piacevano le opere d’arte al museo degli Uffizi e a Lucia invece piaceva passeggiare con gli amici a piazza della Signoria e sul Ponte Vecchio. Dopo la laurea in storia dell’arte, Mario ha trovato lavoro a Bologna in un museo di arte moderna; invece Lucia, che studiava lingue, ha trovato lavoro come insegnante di inglese alle scuole superiori. Mario dice che vorrebbe tornare a vivere a Firenze però anche a Bologna si trova molto bene. Anche a Lucia piacerebbe molto tornare a Firenze, però soltanto per fare una vacanza. Da casa di Mario a casa di Lucia ci vogliono 20 minuti con l’autobus e un quarto d’ora con l’auto. Mario e Lucia hanno deciso che a Giugno cambieranno casa e andranno a vivere in un appartamento più grande. Infatti adesso aspettano un bambino che nascerà a Luglio. Il ricordo più forte che ha Lucia di Firenze è il giorno in cui si è laureata e i suoi genitori e la sua famiglia sono venuti da Lecce per partecipare alla cerimonia di laurea. Racconta che si è così tanto emozionata che le sono uscite anche alcune lacrime. 


museo degli Uffizi = museo celebre di Firenze
piazza della Signoria = piazza famosa di Firenze


Italiano espresso

Lettura livello A2: I ricordi di Firenze

Vi siete mai chiesti come rifiutare gentilmente un invito in Italiano?

In questo episodio, io e Pilar parliamo proprio di questo. Se siete curiosi di sapere come fare e dire "no", senza sembrare maleducati, ascoltate questa puntata del nostro podcast, e fateci sapere nei commenti come dite "no" ad un invito nella vostra cultura.



Vi ricordiamo che se volete imparare l'Italiano con me potete farlo qui : https://www.italki.com/pt/teacher/8823086

e se volete imparare il Portoghese con Pilar basta seguire questo link: https://www.italki.com/pt/teacher/7217043




Spiaggia e Dolce Vita

Prendiamo un caffè?

Jag pratar om Skandinaviens alkoholkultur och erfarenheter jag haft med alkohol och Sverige. Jag pratar om dokumentären "Jävla Pappa" som sänds på svt nu. 

Niklas, en deprimerad ung man, och hans alkoholiserade far, Leif, står vilsna inför livet och sin relation. De gör som män alltid gör när de inte kan prata om sina känslor. De försöker bygga något. Ganska snart går det åt helvete, både med relationen och den husbil de försöker bygga, och de tvingas konfrontera sina känslor. Niklas skildrar en komplicerad familjerelation med både ömhet och humor.

Jag rekommenderar att ni tittar på den:
https://www.svtplay.se/video/eb7Mkro/javla-pappa

Tankar på svenska

Tankar På Svenska : Skandinavisk alkoholkultur

Fewer young people in the US are vaping this year than at any point in the last decade, government officials have reported.

The latest survey numbers show the teen vaping rate fell to under 6% this year, down from 7.7% in 2023. More than 1.6 million students aged between 11 and 18 reported vaping in the previous month — about one-third the number in 2019, when underage vaping peaked.

Brian King from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the decline was good news but added: "There's clearly more work to do to further reduce youth use."

It is illegal for a retailer to sell any tobacco product to anyone aged under 21.

King and other officials noted that the drop in vaping hasn't led to an increase in the use of other tobacco industry products, such as nicotine pouches.

Sales of small, flavored pouches like Zyn have increased among adults. The pouches come in flavors like mint and cinnamon and slowly release nicotine when placed behind the lips. This year's US survey shows 1.8% of teens are using them, which is about the same percentage as last year.

The survey involved more than 29,000 students, who completed an online questionnaire in the spring.

Officials from the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributed the big drop in vaping to recent age restrictions and more aggressive enforcement against retailers and manufacturers, including Chinese vaping companies who have sold their e-cigarettes illegally in the US for years.

Use of the most popular e-cigarette among teens, Elf Bar, fell 36% in the wake of FDA warning letters to stores and distributors selling the brightly colored vapes, which come in flavors like watermelon ice and peach mango.

Nearly 90% of the students who vape used flavored products, with fruit flavors the most popular.

In 2020, FDA regulators banned fruit and candy flavors from reusable e-cigarettes like Juul. 

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Number of US Teens Vaping at 10-Year Low

Covered with pins and adornments, Vivianne Robinson is hard to miss in the streets of Paris.

The Olympics superfan has attended seven Summer Games over 40 years. But this trip to Paris came at a cost of $10,000.

Robinson, 66 and from Los Angeles, maxed out her credit cards and worked two jobs to afford the trip and the 38 event tickets she bought. And she has to work two more years to make up the money she spent.

"It was hard to save up and it's a big budget, but it's a thousand times worth it," she says.

Robinson's fascination with the Olympics started when her mother worked as a translator for athletes during the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Her mother would come home after work with pins from athletes that she gave to her daughter.

Her hobby of collecting pins led her to Atlanta 1996, where she made rice necklaces for athletes in exchange for their pins.

"I got all the pins and I got to meet all the athletes. And in those days, it wasn't high security like now," she said. "Now you can't even get near the athletes' village."

From there: Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, London 2012 and Rio 2016. She got a visa for Beijing 2008, but couldn't afford the trip. It was similar for Tokyo: she bought tickets, but got refunded as COVID-19 soared and the Games were held without spectators.

Robinson's outfits started simply but have become more complex over time. She spent a year working on her Paris outfit, which has hundreds of adornments. People often stop her in the street, asking for a photo.

As soon as these Olympics end, she will start working on the next Summer Games — which will be in her hometown in Los Angeles.

"I'm going to do it forever," she said. "I'm going to save all my money and just concentrate on Olympics."

'Worth It': Olympics Superfan Spent $10,000 to Get to Paris

Borders between countries sometimes change after wars or international agreements, but part of the border between Italy and Switzerland is changing because of melting glaciers.

Large sections of the border are defined by different parts of the glacier, for example the lines of ridges in the ice.

But climate change has caused glaciers across Europe to melt and this has changed the positions of the glaciers' ridges and the natural boundaries between the countries.

The two countries have been talking about the new borders for a number of months. Switzerland signed the new border agreement at the end of September and it's waiting for Italy to do the same.

Part of the border is close to the popular Swiss ski resort of Zermatt. Some of the slopes will be affected by the border change, although skiers shouldn't need to worry about carrying their passports up the mountain!

In fact, both countries are in the Schengen area, so anyone with a visa to visit one of them will usually be able to visit the other without any problems.

The changes have been made so that it is clear which of the two countries is responsible for maintaining certain areas.

But both countries' economic interests were also considered when the new borders were agreed, Bloomberg said.

According to 2023 data, Switzerland's glaciers lost 4% of their volume in 2023, after losing a record 6% of their volume in 2022.

The region has had less snow and warmer summers in recent years.

Some glaciers have no ice left, and the situation will only get worse if nothing is done about climate change, experts say.

According to a 2023 study, up to half of the world's glaciers could disappear by 2100, even if we make progress with targets limiting climate change.