Jean Galea

Health, Wealth, Relationships, Wisdom

How to Improve Your English Pronunciation

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These are my top tips, based on my experience, on how you can improve your English pronunciation.

Decide which flavour of English you want to concentrate on

The three big ones are American English, British English and Australian English when it comes to pronunciation. Most people will want to learn American English as it is the most widely used, and frankly, for business use, that’s the best one to learn. In the future, we might need to learn Mandarin, but for now, the US is the world leader in business and innovation. So go with American English pronunciation unless you have some specific reason to learn one of the other two. A typical reason might be acting in a movie where your character is supposed to have a British English accent.

 

 

Methodologies. Books, Courses, One-to-One Training?

There are several resources available to you for helping you improve your English pronunciation. An important factor is your budget. There is no doubt in my mind that the most effective strategy is to go for personal one-to-one training, which can be done online using Skype. It is unfortunately also the most expensive option. Refer to the recommended tutors list below.

Recommended Books & Audio CDs

Recommended Online Video Courses

Recommended Tutors for Private Lessons

Should you opt for the personalized route, here are a few expert tutors to consider:

Padel Points FAQ – Was it a Valid Point or Not?

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Many times while playing padel, we encounter situations where we have a doubt: was that ball a fault or not?

The official rules of padel can be found here, but the situations described below tend to cause confusion and debate even in professional tournaments, so it’s worth revising them and knowing how to act if the situation arises.

Let’s have a look and attempt to clarify some of the most common doubts that padel players face.

Case 1 – The ball bounces right in the angle between the back wall and the ground. Was it out or in?

This is known as huevo in Spanish, which means egg. I’m not sure why that is so, but that’s what it’s called. In order to understand whether it was in or out, we need to consider the angle of the trajectory taken by the ball after its bounce. If the ball’s trajectory forms a 45 degree angle or bigger with the ground, then it is considered in, while if it bounces off closer to the ground then it was out. It’s quite logical really, just applying the laws of physics.

Case 2 – We serve and the ball bounces on the ground and then rebounds off the part between the mesh and the side wall, called pico in Spanish, and border in English.

If the ball rebounds in the direction of the receiver, then it’s a valid serve, if not it is a bad serve. This is a rule that is very often confused at beginner level, and it is commonly given as a let. This is incorrect, and the rule just described should apply instead. It has to be either a good or bad serve, and never a let.

Case 3 – We run up to the net to return a ball, and we don’t manage to break fast enough and touch the net by mistake. 

The net cannot come into contact with our bodies or rackets at any point during the match, hence we automatically lose the point in this case.

Case 4 – In the attacking position, close to the net, we hit the ball while our racket is in our opponents’ side of the court. 

Whether it’s a valid point or not depends on the situation:

  1. If the ball hasn’t yet crossed to our side of the court, then it’s not a valid point and play is stopped as this is an infraction of the rules.
  2. If the ball has crossed to our side, rebounded against the walls and is heading back towards our opponents’ side, then we are free to invade our opponents’ court with our racket to return the ball. It is important not to touch the net while doing so.

Case 5 – In our attacking position, we hit the ball on our side of the court but subsequently our racket invades the opponents’ side of the court due to swing inertia.

It’s valid, keeping in mind that we can at no point in time touch the net with our racket or any part of our body or clothing.

Case 6 – We serve and the ball bounces more than one time in the receiver’s box. 

It’s a valid point for the server as the receiver cannot let the ball bounce twice in his side of the court.

Case 7 – We serve while stepping on the imaginary central line that there is from the center of the court till the end of our side of the court. 

It’s a bad serve as we cannot invade the other side of the court while serving, nor step on the imaginary line.

Unfortunately many amateur players do this and even insist that it’s allowed. No doubt, seeing professionals do it and not being sanctioned encourages this kind of nonsensical behavior.

Here’s an example from a tournament in 2019, a quarter final no less. Agustin Silingo, a top player, repeatedly serves illegally in a very clear way, and has the audacity to pretend that he didn’t know what the problem was when the referee faults him on one of his illegal serves.

Case 8 – When serving, we bounce the ball inside the box. 

This is a bad serve, since we should bounce and hit the ball outside of the box. Keep in mind that you cannot step on the box’s back line either.

Case 9 – We serve and the ball bounces on the serving line or the center line of the receiver’s box. 

It’s a valid serve, the lines are included in the receiving box area.

Case 10 – The ball bounces on our side and rebounds off the fence at the back of the court, above the glass wall.

The ball remains in play, there are no issues. However you cannot bounce the ball off this part off the fence yourself, as you would when bouncing the ball off the back wall to return it.

Case 11 – We hit a high ball, or globo, and the ball hits the ceiling.

Play stops and a point is awarded to your opponents. The same thing happens if the ball hits the floodlight or any other external object.

Case 12 – While returning the ball I carry it. Instead of the usual hitting the ball, there is that extra moment or two of contact between the racket and the ball, as I accompany the ball instead of hitting it. This is typical of balls that end up very close to the back wall after a lob, or during the execution of a chiquita, or during a dropshot.

The point is valid. Check this video of Bela doing an incredible dropshot:

This is the excerpt from the official rules in Spanish:
Regla 14, Punto g), Reglamento FIP: Devolución correcta.
Si se “acuchara” o se empuja la pelota se considerarà correcta la devoluciòn siempre que el jugador no la haya golpeado dos veces, el impacto se efectùe durante un mismo movimiento y no varìe sustancialmente la salida natural de la pelota.

Do you have any other questions or doubts about padel points? Let me know and I’ll add more Q & As.

How I Found the Best Web Hosting for WordPress Blogs and Sites

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Searching for a web hosting company to host your blog or site can be a really time-consuming, frustrating, and draining task. That’s a fact. I know people who have been publishing sites for years and who have still not found a hosting solution that they are completely satisfied with.

Today I am sharing my experience to help you find a perfect host for your needs.

Yes, we need to focus on your needs in order to find the best web hosting solution for you. The biggest mistake you can make is to read page upon page of reviews on web hosting forums, without first carefully analysing your particular use-case. Sure, some web hosts are more reliable than others, some of them have great customer service and others seem hell bent on making their customers lives miserable, but that is not the most important thing to start from.

I started my adventure with web hosting many years back, and my first web hosting experience was far from positive. In fact, the first company I had chosen suddenly disappeared, taking with it all its clients’ data. Can you believe that? That cost me much grief as in those times I used to rely on backups provided by the hosting company itself. Which means that I had no access to my data and neither to the backups.

After that traumatic experience, I decided that I was going to change my strategy with hosting completely.

Here’s what I did.

First of all at that time I switched over to WordPress, and have been using this CMS for any website I build since then. If you’re building sites and haven’t used WordPress, you’re really missing out, go check it out immediately!

Anyway, the first step of my strategy was to take responsibility for my own backups. After much research, I decided to use BlogVault.

With backups taken care of, I proceeded to take a good look at the websites I needed to host. I had a whole range of sites, some of them my own, and others of friends of mine. Not all of them had the same requirements, a few would do with basic hosting while others like WP Mayor needed specialized hosting to handle a large number of visitors.

By now I’m sure you’re realising that you cannot go searching for the cheapest web hosting, the fastest web host, etc. because there ain’t no such thing.

There is no best web hosting provider.

But…

There is a best hosting solution for each of your sites.

What are we saying here? We’re simply saying that your search for web hosting needs to start from the needs of each and every website you want to host, and once you know what you want, it’s relatively easy to find a good web host.

I told you that for a site like WP Mayor I needed specialised hosting. Why is that? Well, that particular site has a global audience, so the site must be loading fast from any corner of the world. That suggests the need for a Content Delivery Network (CDN) so anyone can get the page elements loaded from a location closest to him.

What about server power? That site receives thousands of monthly visitors, and so I needed a server which packed a punch in its setup, and was able to handle sudden spikes of traffic. Caching was definitely on the cards here, together with raw computing power. Besides, I don’t have the time or knowledge to tweak a hosting setup for these specialised requirements.

A quick look around and it was fairly evident what the solution for WPMayor’s hosting was: a WordPress managed-hosting solution. I needed someone to host my site, someone who I could rely on and who had experience working with WordPress and tweaking the hosting environment to be perfectly optimised for this CMS. Turns out there is a hosting company which provides just that, and everyone who works there is knowledgeable at WordPress + Hosting. Just perfect!

Specialized Managed WordPress Hosting: WP Engine or Kinsta

WP Engine and Kinsta are in my opinion the most reliable WordPress hosting solutions out there, with an equally reliable support staff who are always ready to help you out with any issue you might have.

If you have specialised requirements for your blog, or run a high-traffic blog, look no further because both WP Engine and Kinsta will give you all you need.

The cheapest plan at WP Engine, which caters for 1 site and up to 25,000 visits/month, is available at $35/month with a CDN included. This is especially great if your target audience is a global one.

If you want to host more than one site at WP Engine you can step up to the next package which will set you back $115/month but includes a CDN and hosting for up to 5 websites, with a maximum of 100,000 visits/month.

Since I have many websites that I manage or am involved with in some way, I get to use several good WordPress managed hosts. Several of my bigger sites are hosted on either Kinsta or WP Engine, so I took some notes that I will update as I go along on the experience with both of these highly ranked hosts.

Support

Ease of connecting to support is a hands-down win for Kinsta. With WP Engine, you have to select what’s the issue, then wait to get connected. It’s an older and cumbersome chat system when compared to Kinsta, which uses Intercom.

WP Engine staff are excellent at handling the basic questions, but might need to ask a higher-tier support person for more complicated questions. The chat system for Kinsta feels a bit more personal and the first level staff feels more knowledgeable to me. Nevertheless, both offer great support and this shouldn’t be something that sways you one way or the other.

Transactional emails

WP Engine – Password reset emails can be sent from our servers but these other emails would be considered bulk email use that you would need to setup a 3rd party email service for.

Backups

With Kinsta backups are taken every 6 hours or every hour.

Analytics

Kinsta has some cool analytics that WP Engine doesn’t provide. Not a deal-breaker but it’s cool to have that extra tool to play with.

Blog and Knowledgeable Base

Another clear win for Kinsta. They have an excellent blog and publish lots of performance-related content that’s not easily found on other WordPress blogs. The knowledge base seems to anticipate what I need. WP Engine’s is good, but Kinsta just seems to know exactly what I need, I guess I just prefer their style of content production.

Content Delivery Networks (CDN)

WP Engine allows custom URLs and Kinsta does not. WP Engine uses MaxCDN and Kinsta integrates with KeyCDN.

After testing jeangalea.com with both the Kinsta CDN and the Cloudflare CDN activated, I found that the combination doesn’t work very well. I tried using just the Kinsta CDN, and then switched to the Cloudflare CDN, with the latter proving to be clearly superior, perhaps also due to the other goodies that come with Cloudflare such as image optimization and file minimization.

I can highly recommend both WP Engine and Kinsta. They are very well managed companies who have been involved with WordPress for years, and your website will be safe with any one of them. Right now I would give the edge to Kinsta, unless you have low traffic, simple sites, in which case WP Engine will work out to be cheaper for you.

Over to You, Go Get Your Perfect Hosting Solution!

That’s my web hosting story with a happy ending. Nowadays I have my mind at rest hosting all my sites between WP Engine and Kinsta, and having them backed up via BlogVault. I’ve found this to be an absolutely fantastic setup that can be adopted by many of you out there, which prompted me to share my experience. Hope you can benefit from my experience.

Do you have any questions about hosting which I haven’t answered in this post? Please leave a comment and I’ll do my best to help you out.

The Best Restaurants in Barcelona

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Barcelona is a fantastic place for food lovers. There is a wide variety of cuisines available to cater for all tastes and price points. Here are my favorites:

Japanese

  • Sato i Tanaka – A highly-regarded Japanese restaurant offering an intimate dining experience, with a focus on fresh sushi and creative fusion dishes, prepared by chefs Sato and Tanaka.
  • Suto – An intimate restaurant where the chef cooks and interacts with you.
  • Shunka – Renowned for its authentic Japanese cuisine and exceptional sushi, Shunka provides a cozy atmosphere and has earned a reputation as one of Barcelona’s best Japanese restaurants.
  • Aiueno – A trendy Japanese eatery known for its modern, minimalist decor and innovative menu, featuring a variety of beautifully-presented dishes, including sushi, sashimi, and tempura.
  • Minamo – Offering a unique dining experience, Minamo combines traditional Japanese flavors with Mediterranean influences, served in a serene, zen-like atmosphere with a stunning water-covered ceiling.
  • Usagui – Super tasty desserts and authentic Japanese food: As the name suggests, Usagui is famous for its delicious desserts and authentic Japanese dishes, including ramen, curry, and donburi, served in a warm, inviting setting.
  • Mutenroshi – Themed around the popular Dragon Ball anime, Mutenroshi offers a fun dining experience with creative Japanese dishes, including ramen and fusion tapas, perfect for fans and newcomers alike.
  • Hitsumabushi – Specializing in eel dishes, Hitsumabushi serves up a variety of unagi-based meals in a stylish, contemporary setting, allowing diners to savor this traditional Japanese delicacy.
  • Sensato – Known for its high-quality sushi and sashimi, Sensato offers an authentic Japanese dining experience, complete with a sushi bar, where guests can watch the skilled chefs at work.
  • 富士鷹 Fujitaka Teppan Okonomiyaki – A cozy, family-run restaurant offering a taste of Osaka with its delicious teppan okonomiyaki, Fujitaka also serves other Japanese favorites, like takoyaki and yakisoba, in a casual and friendly atmosphere.
  • Ekubo
  • Kurai

Healthy

  • Les Tres a la Cuina – Healthy homemade food lunch set menu at 9 Euro.
  • The Green Spot – Excellent cocktails and the best vegan pizza ever. Might be overpriced, but the ingredients are top quality.

Indian

Fusion

Arabic

  • Iakni – Best Lebanese food in Barcelona.
  • Lazeez – Great lebanese.
  • Mazah – Great Lebanese food, so and so service.
  • Karakala – Our go-to lunch set menu during the weekend. Lebanese food.

Italian

  • Il Cuore di Napoli – Hands down the best Napoletan pizza in Barcelona: This authentic Italian pizzeria prides itself on serving the finest Neapolitan pizza in the city, featuring a wood-fired oven and traditional ingredients imported directly from Naples.
  • Don Kilo – A trendy Italian restaurant with a focus on high-quality, fresh ingredients, Don Kilo offers a variety of homemade pasta, risotto, and pizza dishes, as well as an extensive wine list in a modern, stylish setting.
  • Sartoria Panattieri – With a reputation for crafting some of the best pizzas in the country, Sartoria Panattieri combines traditional Italian techniques with a contemporary twist, offering an extensive menu of gourmet pizza options.
  • La Macchina Pasta Bar – Quick and tasty pasta at decent prices: A casual, laid-back eatery, La Macchina Pasta Bar serves up a wide selection of freshly-made pasta dishes, prepared quickly and at affordable prices, perfect for a satisfying Italian meal on the go.
  • Nonna Maria – Authentic Italian food: Inspired by the flavors of home-cooked Italian meals, Nonna Maria offers a warm, inviting atmosphere and a menu filled with classic dishes like lasagna, osso buco, and tiramisu, all made with love and care.
  • La Balmesina – Check out the menu del dia too: A charming Italian restaurant featuring a daily rotating menu, La Balmesina offers delicious, seasonal dishes made from fresh, local ingredients in a cozy, rustic setting. Also try sister restaurant Gina Balmesina.
  • Acqua & Farina – A welcoming Italian eatery known for its homemade pasta and wood-fired pizzas, Acqua & Farina focuses on using high-quality ingredients to create authentic Italian dishes, served in a warm and friendly environment.
  • Mitoa – Great pizza place.

Mediterranean

Catalan

Argentinian

  • La Parrillada
  • Av. Corrientes

Asian

Greek

Polish

Russian

Chinese

  • Oso Panda – A popular Chinese eatery known for its wide variety of delicious dishes, Oso Panda offers a cozy atmosphere and a menu featuring both classic Chinese favorites and unique fusion creations.
  • Wenzhou – Specializing in cuisine from the Wenzhou region of China, this restaurant offers a diverse and authentic menu, featuring dishes like dumplings, noodle soups, and an array of seafood options, all served in a welcoming, traditional setting.
  • Chengducheng – Focusing on the flavors of Sichuan cuisine, Chengducheng provides guests with a spicy and tantalizing culinary experience. The menu showcases the region’s bold and complex flavors, with dishes like mapo tofu, kung pao chicken, and hot pot, all served in a vibrant, contemporary atmosphere.

Peruvian

  • Toma Ya
  • Cevicheria La Barraca
  • Sr Ceviche

Vegetarian

Tapas

  • Viana – My candidate for best tapas in Barcelona.
  • Tosca – Really awesome tapas.
  • La Mundana

Burgers

  • Da Paola – Best burgers in BCN.
  • Bacoa – Epic burgers. Many branches around town.

Steak

Cafes

  • Federal Cafe – Good food and coffee and excellent spot for working.
  • Coffee Hackers
  • Abyss

Masias

  • Can Jane
  • Can Carbonell
  • Can Borrell
  • Can Travi Nou
  • Can Cortada

Take Away

Brunch

  • Enkel – Great brunch selection including sandwiches, eggs in different styles, shakshuka and arepas. Nice juices too.
  • La Esquina
  • Check this site for more brunch options

Fine Dining

  • 130 Restaurant – Wagyu meat and fantastic service in La Bonanova
  • Ekubo – Authentic Japanese in Eixample
  • Mae
  • Disfrutar
  • Hofmann
  • Quirat

Paella

In La Barceloneta:

  • Can Ros
  • La mar salada
  • Ca la Nuri

In Montjuic (good views if u get a nice table)

  • Terraza Martinez
  • Arrosseria Xàtiva (for a more authentic paella)

Other options

Sweets

Calçots

The best calçots are found in Valls, where they make a popular fiesta every year in honor of this delicacy.

If you want to try them out in places closer to Barcelona, you will have to be careful when choosing, as there are many places that are rip-offs with low-quality products.

Here are the places I recommend based on my own experience or that of trusted local friends.

Do you know any other awesome places for eating calçots?

How I Find a New Restaurant to Try

There’s something special about eating out beyond not having to cook and do the dishes. Whether you’re eating alone or with someone close to you, there’s a certain quality to eating at a restaurant that can’t be replicated at home. Unfortunately, going to the same restaurant time after time can get a little stale.

Finding a new restaurant can often be a challenge, as you won’t know what kind of food to expect, what their best dishes are, and what the interior is like. Here are some strategies I recommend.

Take a Walk

By far the most proven method for finding a new restaurant is going out and taking a walk until you find one that you like. Physically exploring each restaurant allows you to get a feel for the atmosphere, and you can take the time to talk to the staff about their menu and what dish they think is best.

Nobody will know what you like better than you do, so experiencing the various options for yourself can help ensure that you make the right choice. If you’re going out to dinner with someone else, you can always make this a fun part of the night as you explore for the perfect place.

Ask Friends and Acquaintances

If walking around sounds a little too tedious, you can instead ring up some foodie acquaintances who’ll be sure to give you the scoop about any great places in town. Since your friends know you and your preferences, they will also be more qualified than a stranger on the internet.

You can even ask your friend if they’d like to come along to the restaurant with you, considering they recommended it. This technique obviously won’t work if you’re on vacation or if you’ve recently moved to a new place and haven’t gotten a chance to get to know people yet.

Use a Restaurant Finder App

These apps can help you find new restaurants regardless of where you are, and they will usually have a taste profile that can help find the best places for you.

While a restaurant finder app won’t know you as well as your friends, it will have a repertoire of all of the restaurants in your immediate area, which can be even more helpful. You can then go through the various options and check out images, menus, and reviews to help you find the best one.

Conclusion

Finding a new restaurant doesn’t always have to feel impossible, and these three methods make it far simpler.

When I’m looking for something new in Barcelona I also look at the Plateselector or Barcelona Food Experience websites to find new ones. Traveler also has a great list of menus del dia in Gracia, my favorite barrio in Barcelona.

If you’d like to learn what are the most typical dishes in Catalonia and other regions of the world, I recommend Taste Atlas.

What are your favorite restaurants in Barcelona?

📁 How to do Time Machine Backups with a Synology Diskstation NAS

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backup synology time machine

It’s important that before you start you understand the concept of volumes on Synology Diskstations, because that’s the first thing you will need to set up before you set up Time Machine backups.

Volumes on the Synology Diskstation

You can use the Synology RAID calculator to help determine how you want to set up volumes. That being said, in this case you want to just make one, and then create shares to logically organize things.

The advantage to creating multiple volumes comes when you are using different size drives, want different levels of redundancy, or have significantly different uses .Let’s take an example a NAS with 4 x 6TBb drives. The only advantage you would gain would be less loss of data if an array fails, but at the cost of a higher risk of array failure.

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Jean Galea

Investor | Dad | Global Citizen | Athlete