grammar skills.
0000018147 00000 n 0000020343 00000 n 0000034265 00000 n I spent almost the entire year going from absolutely zero knowledge of the language to fluency (with a lot of frustrating hours of poor resources and not having anyone to practice with), and then I finally After all the hard work I put into learning Irish and documenting my progress here on this blog, it was the perfect climax for me to travel all the way to Ireland from Australia and be surrounded by the language for several weeks.Since the end of 2012, I’ve been distracted with other languages (living in lots of different countries) but If you’re just starting out with Irish, it can be a little difficult to know where to start and what the best resources out there are so the list below will be helpful to you.These are some of the best quality resources currently available for Irish (Gaeilge).I’ve tried to highlight the dialects where possible because one really frustrating thing you’ll face when learning Irish is not being able to work out which dialect a resource is teaching if it isn’t stated clearly.All Irish dialects are, for the most part, very similar and mutually intelligible (speakers can understand each other) but for us learners it can be challenging at first – especially if you’ve only used a book that focuses on one specific dialect.You’ll still find that even though people may be using standard Irish, their own dialect’s accent is still there.My advice is to not get too hung up on the differences early on and to use whatever’s at your disposal for now.In my opinion, it’s one of the most innovative and unique methods on the market today – probably unlike anything else you’ve come across (you can read my Glossika review and interview with the founder To sum it up in a nutshell: it focuses on high-repetition of sentence patterns in Irish using their own spaced-repetition algorithm.I have to list this first as I think it’s great, it’s completely The Irish version was released not too long ago and I’ve been using it as a fun way to refresh my Irish since.My only issue with Duolingo in general is that it’s For speaking practice I would ordinarily recommend a service like I’ve already reviewed this in detail before (read it here or watch the video below) along with the web version of the book called The books cover all dialects of Irish and are some of the best quality language books (including the audio) I’ve ever used.It’s a purely audio-based course that emphasizes speaking and periodic, timed recall of what you learned earlier.The Irish edition is a “compact” edition which means its shorter than many of their other titles but it’s great as a foundation builder for learning Irish.A brilliant web resource for learning Munster Irish that breaks the language down into small, very simplified lessons.I hung out with Eoin a while back in Ireland and made use of Bitesize Irish myself when I started learning. 0000009830 00000 n 0000033402 00000 n
Now I see why! The best part is, they all speak different dialects (so you get to hear a range of different accents) and the actors speak at an Elementary – Lower Intermediate level so it’s very easy to keep up with after you’ve covered the basics of Irish.I was a little bit reluctant to post this one admittedly due to it being a fairly dense coursework book (more of a typical grammar + exercise book) but it’s good quality and quite comprehensive so it may suit some learners.The book itself is very popular (and the content is excellent) but I personally find coursework material like this to be too tedious when starting out with a new language.If you enjoy detailed grammar study then I recommend it.Buntus Cainte’s a three-volume series that’s as old as the hills and yet still considered by many as one of the best book series ever made for learning Irish.I’m not sure exactly what their affiliation with Buntus Cainte is but there’s a site called For anyone who’s already done some Irish and past the easy stuff already, It’s jam-packed full of very high quality listening material with transcripts in all dialects and covers a range of interesting topics.
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Both books are by Anna Heussaff and available from Amazon in hard copy and on Kindle.
0000019217 00000 n 0000018240 00000 n 0000024712 00000 n It’s a very handy resource for new Ulster dialect learners.Turas Teanga is perfect for anyone with a bit of a foundation in Irish already.Like Gaeilge Gan Stró and An Ghaeilge Bheo (see below) this is one of the best resources around in my opinion – high quality material, full of engaging activities and best of all, An Grá Faoi Ghlas is like a Big Brother spoof where a bunch of a random people are put in a house and interact with each other. 0000029840 00000 n I've found it really helpful for learning and also a great opportunity to read books in the Irish. 0000021756 00000 n 0000009397 00000 n 0000018620 00000 n 0000018690 00000 n 0000018302 00000 n 0000013582 00000 n 0000019434 00000 n Although he moved to Wales long before I was born, he taught me some Irish when I was a young child, but I forgot most of it, sadly. 0000017713 00000 n 0000027977 00000 n
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Go n-éirí go geal leat!I stumbled on this article and because you have been more helpful than any other site, I feel obliged to leave a comment telling you how grateful I am!
Every year in the run-up to St. Patrick’s Day there’s a festival that runs in Ireland and in many other pockets of the globe from the 1st to the 17th of March which is aimed at celebrating and raising awareness of the Irish language and culture.As far as I’m aware, Irish is the only language in the world that gets This is one of a few reasons why this is my absolute favourite time of the year. 0000017341 00000 n