Indíritheach Senior Member United States Joined 3987 days ago 108 posts - 146 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Irish, French
| Message 17 of 72 10 November 2013 at 6:23pm | IP Logged |
Well, I had some fun with Irish today. After an hour of study with texts, I watched en episode of Aifric with my daughter and realized I understood parts of the theme song! Very exciting for me. I'm also keeping a diary and trying to speak to my daughter in Irish as much as possible.
I've been trying to not let Spanish dominate during the 6 Week Challenge, but it's difficult because I'm addicted to Águila roja and also because there are just more resources and more chances for me to speak it. Also, I can´t really read anything in Irish yet, so when I'm in the mood to curl up with a book, it's in Spanish.
Edited by Indíritheach on 10 November 2013 at 6:25pm
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Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4786 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian
| Message 18 of 72 10 November 2013 at 6:51pm | IP Logged |
Indíritheach wrote:
I'd recommend Buntús Cainte as a supplement (you can get it at litriocht.com), mainly because I don't know anything about the Teach Yourself book. The audio is crystal clear and all in Irish, and if you do just one lesson a day (I was doing two, but I've had to slow down a bit) I think you'll find yourself speaking Irish more fluidly than trying to learn only from Ó Siadhail's text. |
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Thanks for your recommendation!
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Indíritheach Senior Member United States Joined 3987 days ago 108 posts - 146 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Irish, French
| Message 19 of 72 10 November 2013 at 7:32pm | IP Logged |
Josquin wrote:
Indíritheach wrote:
I'd recommend Buntús Cainte as a supplement (you can get it at litriocht.com), mainly because I don't know anything about the Teach Yourself book. The audio is crystal clear and all in Irish, and if you do just one lesson a day (I was doing two, but I've had to slow down a bit) I think you'll find yourself speaking Irish more fluidly than trying to learn only from Ó Siadhail's text. |
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Thanks for your recommendation! |
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Tá fáilte romhat, a Josquin!
By the way, I'm curious...I was watching Nuacht TG4 and they had a report from the Scottish Gaelic BBC channel, in Scottish Gaelic with Irish subtitles, which made me curious about Irish's sister language. How have you found learning Scottish Gaelic and Irish? Do they compliment each other well or is there a lot of interference?
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Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4786 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian
| Message 20 of 72 10 November 2013 at 8:41pm | IP Logged |
Well, I'm only a beginner in Irish and at an intemediate level in Gaelic, so I can't give a definitive answer. But as far as I can tell, there is both complementation and interference. The grammar is very similar although Gaelic is more like a simplified version of Irish. I didn't find it too difficult to learn the differences and keep them apart.
However, the real problem is the vocabulary and pronunciation. It's rather difficult not to mix up Irish and Gaelic words and to observe the subtle differences in pronunciation. Broad and slender consonants in Gaelic work a bit differently from Irish, so it's difficult not to confuse the two systems. Gaelic doesn't really have the on- and off-glides between vowels and consonants and some slender consonants sound a bit different from Irish.
Maybe, liammcg can shed some more light on this as his command of Irish and Scottish Gaelic is much superior to mine.
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Indíritheach Senior Member United States Joined 3987 days ago 108 posts - 146 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Irish, French
| Message 21 of 72 13 November 2013 at 1:30am | IP Logged |
So it's been a crazy couple of days...if you include all of the Irish TV I've been watching (Aifric, Ros na Rún, Fíor Sceál), I've been getting in about 2 to 3 hours a day of Irish study for the 6 Week Challenge. I'm on Lesson 15 of Learning Irish and something has happened...either I've crossed some kind of milestone or something, but I've noticed that 1.) When I'm reviewing the pronunciation tape, I only need to run through it once (as opposed to 2 or 3 times) in order to nail the sounds of the vocabulary words) and 2.) I'm understanding the texts with much more ease than I was previously. I credit this to lots and lots of input, because to be honest I'm not sure what else I could have done right! I'm a long way from the goal of fluency, but I see a light at the end of the tunnel...I could really see myself becoming conversational in Irish some day. I'm understanding more and more of what I hear, and I'm able to express more thoughts in Irish.
Spanish is going well...I'm on Unit 22 of FSI and this Friday I will have finished the active wave of Assimil. I'm not ready to say goodbye to Assimil just yet...I think I'll be refering back to that wonderful little book for a long time to come. But in order to celebrate, I'm thinking of ordering a copy of Assimil El Francés. I really want to have at least a solid footing in French before I turn 30 next August.
That's all for now!
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sctroyenne Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5333 days ago 739 posts - 1312 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Irish
| Message 22 of 72 13 November 2013 at 5:50am | IP Logged |
After just doing (and bombing) the translation exercises of Lesson 6 and having to look
up everything in the text in order to understand it, this is really good to hear!
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Indíritheach Senior Member United States Joined 3987 days ago 108 posts - 146 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Irish, French
| Message 23 of 72 13 November 2013 at 12:47pm | IP Logged |
sctroyenne wrote:
After just doing (and bombing) the translation exercises of Lesson 6 and having to look
up everything in the text in order to understand it, this is really good to hear! |
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Oh yeah, the one about Baile Átha Cliath. Well, all I can say is at least it's a dialogue. Because if I remember correctly, Lesson 7 starts talking about farms. And sheep. And cows. So yeah.
But it'll get better...this is a tough book! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one slogging through it.
Edited by Indíritheach on 13 November 2013 at 12:48pm
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liammcg Senior Member Ireland Joined 4546 days ago 269 posts - 397 votes Speaks: English*
| Message 24 of 72 14 November 2013 at 12:45am | IP Logged |
Indíritheach wrote:
Josquin wrote:
Indíritheach wrote:
I'd recommend Buntús
Cainte as a supplement (you can get it at litriocht.com), mainly because I don't
know anything about the Teach Yourself book. The audio is crystal clear and all in
Irish, and if you do just one lesson a day (I was doing two, but I've had to slow down
a bit) I think you'll find yourself speaking Irish more fluidly than trying to learn
only from Ó Siadhail's text. |
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Thanks for your recommendation! |
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Tá fáilte romhat, a Josquin!
By the way, I'm curious...I was watching Nuacht TG4 and they had a report from the
Scottish Gaelic BBC channel, in Scottish Gaelic with Irish subtitles, which made me
curious about Irish's sister language. How have you found learning Scottish Gaelic and
Irish? Do they compliment each other well or is there a lot of interference?
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Well, I haven't experienced too much interference thus far, but Irish is solidly rooted
in brain from years of learning. I'd expect much greater interference if learning
simultaneously.
The two are much closer in writing than pronunciation, especially when you consider how
Irish was written before the spelling reform of the 1940's. E.g.
Mod Irish: saol
Pre-reform: saoghal
Scottish Gaelic: saoghal
Edited by liammcg on 14 November 2013 at 12:46am
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