Irish Translation Forum

September 04 2004, 22:20 PM

A nice resource from mhwombat:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Irish

Redwolf

September 05 2004, 11:34 AM

here's another neat pronunciation guide with soundfiles:
http://www.daltai.com/key.htm

September 28 2004, 20:12 PM

Here's a suggestion for the intermediate folks, or beginners who love grammar:

Úrchursa Gaeilge
Úrchursa Gaeilge; Freagraí ar na Cleachtaí (has the answers to exercises)

Both are by Dónall P. Ó Baoill and Éamonn Ó Tuathaill

Úrchúrsa Gaeilge is a grammar book with tons of exercises. It is completely in Irish, but don't let that frighten you; you will soon pick up the basic terminology vocabulary used in grammar. Be sure to get the answer book too. I didn't find an ISBN number. YOu should be able to get these books from Oideas Gael or Litirocht.com.

The first time I used a Grammar book written in Irish, I exoected it to be tough, but I wrote down all the unfamiliar words (e.g. guta=vowel, aidiacht=adjective). For the first chapter, I encountered about ten new words per page, and I thought it would take me years to finish the book.

But in the second chapter, I realised that I had nearly all the vocabulary I needed to discuss Irish grammar as Gaeilge.

October 28 2004, 19:52 PM

http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/~oduibhin/sf/

This site has (very) short stories in Ulster Irish, with both text and audio recordings done by a native speaker. It's very good for learning prononciation I think.

November 01 2004, 2:13 AM

I found a couple of Internet Irish courses...

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I have heard that Lionta Teo are offering Irish lessons on the Internet. Here is the contact information I have. I wasn't able to find anything on the website, so you may want to try the email address:

faisneis@oegcarna.com
http://www.arascarna.nuigalway.ie/

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http://www.gaeltalk.net/
# Gaeltalk is an online Irish language course
# Based in the Gaeltacht areas of Ireland
# Online courses available for all levels of the Irish Language
# Learn Irish online from native speakers
# Access lessons and sound files 24-hours a day
# Talk online with your Gaeltacht-based tutor

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http://www.maths.tcd.ie/gaeilge/gaelic.html
Lessons from 'Learning Irish' by Mícheál ó Siadhail with sound files.

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http://www.travlang.com/languages/cgi-b ... ang2=irish
Short, travel-oriented lessons with sound files from travlang.com.

November 01 2004, 2:35 AM

Foras na Gaeilge have released some more useful booklets. They are available as PDFs for free download. Topics include food and drink terminology, terminology for the retail industry, and radio terminology. These booklets were designed to help businesses use Irish, but they are also ideal for students. These booklets include some modern terms that you won't find in FG or Baldy, so even if you're fluent, I suspect they will come in handy.

http://www.irish.ie/foras/publications/ ... p?catId=20

November 01 2004, 15:49 PM

If you haven't found a class or a conversation group in your area, search this database http://gaeilge.ie/learning/learn_nasc.asp. If you don't find something, place a free ad indicating you're interested. There isn't much for the US in the database at the moment, but it is clearly intended to be a worldwide resource, and it is very well-structured. So if ye start using it, maybe it will inspire more classes.

November 08 2004, 0:36 AM

We are often asked how difficult it is to learn Irish. See ftopic15626.html for an entertaining discussion (with varied opinions) on that subject.

December 06 2004, 14:09 PM

Many of the products mentioned in this thread have been discussed on this forum. To find these discussions, click on the "search" link at the top of the page, enter the product name, and check the "Search for all terms" option.

If you don't find a discussion of the product you're interested, feel free to start a new thread by clicking "new topic", and ask about other people;s experience with the product. Someone on this forum will probably have used the product, and give you some advice in whether or not it would be suitable to you.

Tip: Always buy the tapes or CD with the book. You can't learn the pronunciation of Irish from a book.

March 14 2005, 14:50 PM

chinita96 wrote:OK, one more time. "Irish on Your Own" is absolutely the same as "Now You're Talking". I don't know why "Now You're Talking" is more expensive and you have to buy the cassettes 4 and 5 separate. It's kinda weird... but Irish On Your Own is cheaper. Maybe it has to do with one being an older version and one is the newer printed version. They're still the same either way.

I think it's a great book to get started! Now keep in mind it is for Ulster dialect. It also does not explain comprehensively about grammar but it does have more grammar explanations in the back of the book. This book moves a little quick in teaching Irish phrases. The speakers speak pretty fast sometimes, but that goes with all audio materials in Irish. Almost all of them speak that fast.

If you want an alternative that will teach much more slowly, you can try "Buntús Cainte". This is an inexpensive alternative and also comes with CDs now. It is a set of 3 books with 3 Cds for 25 euros. I also have this book, but I pick up languages pretty quickly and it moved too slow for me. A lot of people have used this book and found it great. It teaches in the standard and Connemara dialect. They do not explain grammar at all in these books, it is strictly words and phrases with dialogues and funny little illustrations that go with them.

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