¡Hola! ¿Cómo les va todo?

We’re having great and warm weather here in Bebedouro (Brazil) and, as it’s summetime, it rains a lot. I was driving around town on Sunday evening when it started to rain and I saw this car in the middle of the street. It had surely broken down and its owner was kind of desperate trying to fix it (who wouldn’t be, right?). I offered help but he told me his brother was coming to rescue him.

That motivated me to write this post with a little dialog about a guy, Pedro, whose car won’t start. The mechanic, Juan, arrives and takes a look at it. Check it out!

Pedro: ¿Cuál es el problema? [What's the matter?]
Martín: No tengo la más mínima idea. No arranca. [I have no idea. It won't start.]
Pedro: ¿Quieres que le eche un vistazo? [Do you want me to take a look at it?]
Juan: Sí, por favor. [Yes, please.]
Martín: Me parece que es un fallo en la inyección. ¿No habías tenido problemas antes? [It looks like a flaw in the fuel injection. Did you have any problems before?]
Juan: Que yo sepa, no. Todo funcionó bien hasta ahora. [Not that I'm aware of. Everything was working fine so far.]
Martín: Bueno, vamos a llevarlo al taller. [Well, let's take it to the shop.]

OK, let’s take a look at some vocabulary points here.

Arrancar
Arrancar means to tear, pull, rip something out. Here it’s used when the car starts (or doesn’t). Here are some more examples with arrancar:

Hubo un forcejeo y le arrancó la pistola. [There was a struggle and he wrenched the pistol away from her.]
Le arrancó el bolso. [He snatched her bag.]
No hay quien le arranque una palabra. [No one can get a word out of him.]
Consiguió arrancarle una sonrisa. [She managed to get a smile out of him.]
Esta tradición arranca en el siglo XIV. [This tradition dates from the 14th century.]
De allí arrancan todas sus desgracias. [That's where all his misfortunes stem from.]

Echar un vistazo
Echar un vistazo means to take a look. Echar is a very common Spanish verb and has many expressions like echar de menos (to miss), echar a perder (to ruin), echar la culpa (to blame), echar la bronca a uno (to tell someone off), echarse un trago (to have a drink) among others. In the dialog, it’s used in the subjunctive form, eche, because it follows the conjunction que after a verb of desire.

Here are some other useful sentences when your car breaks down!

Se me pinchó un neumático. [I've had a flat tire.]
Tráeme el gato, así levantamos el auto. [Bring the jack so we can lift the car.]
Tráeme el neumático de repuesto / la goma de auxilio. [Bring me the spare tire.]
El coche se rompió / se ha roto. [The car broke down.]
Llama un remolque. [Call a tow truck.]
Hay que remolcar el auto. [The car needs to be towed away.]
El motor se para. [The engine's dying.]
El auto se calienta. [The car's heating up.]
Hay que recargar la batería. [The battery needs to be recharged.]
Está perdiendo aceite. [It's leaking oil.]

Well, I hope you don’t have any car problems soon. Nos vemos prontito.

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Franglais Friday: le look originally appeared on About.com French Language on Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 15:00:08.

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Briefmarke "Die Sendung mit der Maus" 1998-06-10 by Deutsche Post AG (public domain)

Die Sendung mit der Maus started out on German national TV in 1971 under the title Lach- und Sachgeschichten für Fernsehanfänger (stories to laugh at and to learn from for TV beginners), being renamed to Die Sendung mit der Maus one year later, and is still ritually being watched by families once a week. The show, which only lasts for about half an hour, always starts with a quick presentation of its topics, which then repeats in another language or dialect.
Then there are the Sachgeschichten, which explain everyday objects and processes in a very comprehensible language, often showing slow-motion shots of what happens in a factory line or using metaphorical images to explain things that can’t be seen. Things that “the mouse” has explained so far, include how the holes get into Swiss cheese, Archimedes’ principle, and how the Internet works.
Between the amusing and the educational stories, there are short cartoons featuring the mouse and/or her friends the elephant and the duck. Watch the mouse and the elephant play memory!
The Lachgeschichten, the amusing stories, can be anything from a cartoon of Zdeněk Miler’s Little Mole to songs to a puppetoon of Walter Moers’ Käpt’n Blaubär, telling a cock-and-bull story to his grandchildren.

Briefmarke "Käpt'n Blaubär" 1998-06-10 by Deutsche Post AG (public domain)

Although the program was primarily aimed at young children, it is very popular with people of all ages. As Christoph Biemann, one of the moderators of the show, points out in an interview: Children like watching the show until they’re 10 or 12, then feel they are “too old” for it, then start watching it again when they’re 18.

The Sachgeschichten are especially full of charm. I know of no other show that explains things, most of which even we grown-ups don’t really understand, so well and in such an entertaining fashion. Go and have a look for yourself!

• Die Sendung mit der Maus: Sachgeschichten (flash player required)
• Die Sendung mit der Maus: Lachgeschichten (flash player required)
• Diverse snippets from the Maus (flash player required)
• The same diverse snippets in MP4-format

When asked about the huge success “the mouse” is having in countries other than Germany, Christoph Biemann explains this by the German honesty and straightforwardness it displays, and also by the diligence and love he and his colleagues put into the production. Have you watched Die Sendung mit der Maus before? How do you like it? Was it easy to understand?

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Back in those days Italian vegetarians where very rare however, and we used to consider them as being linked to some kind of weird religious sect!

Today, according to the latest Rapporto Eurispes 2011 (a national survey), roughly 5 millions Italians, or about 9% of the population, are vegetariani. According to some studies this makes Italy the  leading vegetarian country in Europe, closely followed by Germany. However, this is a bit of a difficult and confusing subject which has many  possible variations.

Leonardo Pinelli, vice-president of the Società Scientifica di Nutrizione Vegetariana (Scientific Society of Vegetarian Nutrition), says that around half of vegetarians choose a vegetarian diet based on the belief that eating mainly fruit and vegetables benefits their health. A very high proportion (44%) of those that become vegetarian do so because they are opposed to the maltreatment of animals. It is also becoming more common for people to choose to become vegetarians per ragioni ambientaliste (for environmental reasons). The theory is that a vegetarian diet is less wasteful in terms of resources and causes less damage to the environment.

In general more women than men choose to be vegetarian, and the majority of non meat eaters fall within two main age bands: 13.5 % of those aged 18 to 24, and 9.3% of the over 65’s are vegetarian.

Personally, I used to think that I could never give up the pleasure of eating una fiorentina (a Florentine steak). However, I became a vegetarian 15 years ago when I met my husband Geoff, who has not eaten meat for nearly 35 years (for moral reasons, having spent a summer in his youth working on an industrialised pig farm). In the beginning I ate vegetarian meals just to keep Geoff company, but gradually I became a ‘full-time’ vegetarian because I realised that I felt healthier with this type of diet.

So, what do us Italian Vegetarians eat? Well, eating out in Italy when you’re vegetarian isn’t very difficult because Italian cuisine, unlike traditional English cuisine where everything is lumped together on one plate, is served as separate dishes. As a vegetarian therefore, you can stick to the primi piatti (first courses), which consist mainly of carbohydrates such as pasta and risotto, and the contorni (vegetable side dishes). These dishes are normally served separately from the meat. In particular, the old Italian “poor peasant’s food” is wonderful for vegetarians: pasta e fagioli, pasta e ceci, riso e lenticchie and so on. In the past, meat was a luxury for most people and carbohydrates and pulses, such as fagioli (beans), ceci (chick peas), and lenticchie (lentils), were the main staple diet.

When we go out to our favourite restaurant here in Pontremoli we like to eat either tagliatelle ai funghi porcini (egg pasta with porcini mushrooms), or tortelli di erbe ai funghi porcini (egg pasta stuffed with wild spinach and dressed with porcini mushrooms). You have to be wary of risotto, because it’s normally made with brodo di carne o di pollo (meat or chicken stock), and it’s always best to enquire about the ingredients of stuffed pasta. But nowadays if you say sono vegetariano (I’m vegetarian), waiters will be able to direct you to the ‘safe’ dishes, or even offer to make something especially for you.

Of course, if all else fails you can always have a nice pizza margherita.