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A list of resources for learning Irish | ||
Tags: Gaelic (Irish) | Resources | ||
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| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5556 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 1 of 13 13 February 2011 at 8:30pm | IP Logged |
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For anyone who's interested in learning Irish, I've put together a little list of resources, some of which I'd heartily recommend and others that I've simply accumulated over the years.
And if one of our moderators could arrange for this first post to remain editable, I'll be sure to add other members' recommendations to the list too. :) Irish TV, films and DVDs: TG4 (fantastic programmes - I love this site!) Kings (award-winning recent film, predominantly in Irish with English subtitles) In the Name of the Fada (from the reality TV series, following the Irish-American comedian Des Bishop as he pursues fluency in Irish whilst immersed in the Connemara Gaeltacht) Gearrscannáin (a selection of 9 of the best Irish language short films from the Oscailt series, broadcast on TG4) Turas Teanga (DVDs from the TV series for intermediate learners of Irish) Aifric (a fun series for teenagers on TG4) Cré na Cille (a black comedy set in Connemara, and a well-known literary classic; produced in 2007. The accompanying book and CDs are also available from Litriocht, if you'd like to do a bit of listening and reading in Irish too.) Poitín (a classic Irish film made in 1978) Mise Éire/Saoirse? (2 historical documentaries in 1 box-set about Ireland's struggle for independence and the civil war years) Aisling (A recorded stage play set in mythological Ireland, performed in Irish and narrated in English) *I've also heard rumours about some episodes of Ros na Rún and Seacht (also available on BBC iPlayer in the UK) coming out on DVD at some point, which would be really fantastic. So if you hear anything, please let me know! :) Irish Radio: Raidió Rí-Rá (especially Top 40 Oifigiúil na hÉireann) RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta Radió na Life Podcasts, blogs and online newspapers or magazines in Irish An tlmeall (bright, lively podcasts on contemporary culture and lots of links) An Líonra Sóisialta (another site full of colourful podcasts on interesting topics, and well worth bookmarking) Hilary NY (a great little personal Irish blog, good on you Hilary!) Gaelscéal - an free online Irish language newspaper [recommended by Khublei] Nós (a fresh and stylish modern Irish magazine) Beo! and Gaelport (current news and events in this online Irish magazine, with excellent support for reading new vocabulary!) Forums for learners of Irish Daltaí na Gaeilge (there are probably several forums out there, but this is the one that seems to come up the most and offers lots of useful advice) Irish Translation Forum (this is the second site that pops up the most, and I'm happy to report that its scope is much wider than Irish translations) Teach na nGealt (here's another forum I found recently) Irish study materials with accompanying audio: "Buntús Cainte 1-3" (fun Irish course in 3 parts for beginners, and also available on IPod from TalkIrish now) "Turas Teanga" (an intermediate multimedia course) "Gaeilge agus Fáilte" (I wasn't so keen on this one, as it attempts to address too many intelligences and just ends up all over the place) "Learning Irish" by Mícheál ó Siadhail (a good ol' workhorse and favourite with many, it teaches the Cois Fharraige dialect and seems to still be going strong all these years!) "Irish Linguaphone Starter" course (tapes) - an excellent overall foundation with 30 comprehensive lessons in "standard" Irish (i.e. an artificial mixture of all dialects really). It's been out of print since the 80s, I think, but I was able to find a course in my local library several years ago, and every now and again I see one pop up on eBay too. [recommended by Professor Arguelles] "Irish for Beginners" (just a bit of fun with illustrations and basic vocabulary; the later versions are much improved with online links and an accompanying CD) "Speaking Irish: Take your Language Skills Beyond Basics" by Siuán Ní Mnaonaigh and Antain MacLochlainn (McGraw Hill: 2008) [suggested by ChristopherB and also highly regarded by Professor Arguelles] Learn Irish with Liam O Maonlai (an introductory course in 24 situation-based lessons with PDFs and accomanying MP3s) Reference books and grammars for Irish: "Progress in Irish" (a handy little grammar book with exercises - answer key and MP3s available online) "New Irish Grammar" (this Christian Brothers classic is not what I'd call new really, but it's still a stalwart grammar reference used by many all the same) "Collins Irish Dictionary" (available in most large bookshops) Novels, stories and transcripts: "Harry Potter agus an Órchloch" by J.K. Rowling (author), Máire Nic Mhaoláin (translator) "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer (author), Máire Nic Mhaoláin (translator) "Úlla" by Seán Mac Mathúna (a collection of award-winning stories) "Caint Ros Muc" (transcripts for over 10 hours of authentic Irish conversation made in the 60s, mostly over a drink or two ;) ) A list of books translated into Irish (available from Litriocht) A selection of novels for adult learners of Irish, as well as stories in Irish for teenagers (available from An Siopa Geailge) A collection of Irish/English dual-language books (again from Litriocht) Some more bi-lingual books (from An Siopa Geailge) A nice diskful of contemporary Irish e-books, available from Coislife. You can find various other multilingual anthologies on both the Litriocht and Coislife websites, including 1000 years of Irish love poetry, Irish proverbs translated into English, Spanish and Polish, and even a fine collection of Irish prayers. Irish audiobooks and audio courses "Niall Tóíbín ag léamh Gearrscéalta le Seán Mac Mathúna" (to accompany the stories in Úlla) "Gaothán" (an adventure story published by Coislife, includes 2 CDs and the full text narrated by the author Liam Ó Muirthile) "Cré na Cille" (a classic literary text, which is also available as a DVD or book from Litriocht) "Labharfad le Cách / I will speak to you all" (2 hours of the famous story-teller Peig Sayers, recorded in 1947 and 1954. I'm not sure if the accompanying book, which contains the transcripts and translations for these CDs, is included with the package, or if you'll need to buy the book separately. Last time I checked the New Island and Amazon websites, you could buy the CD but the book was unfortunately already unavailable.) "Basic Pimsleur Irish" (8 lessons, just a spoonful of Irish really; nothing substantial. You can get a full transcript of the lessons here) Free downloadable Irish audio "Caint Ros Muc" recordings (you can download these for free from the School of Celtic Studies) Some more recordings of conversation in Irish kindly offered by the School of Celtic Studies, and taken from Brian Ó Curnáin's book "The Irish of Iorras Aithneach" Irish music CDs "Ceol 07", "Ceol 08", "Ceol 09" and "Ceol 10" from Seachtain na Gaeilge (well over 100 artists performing in Irish, and all available from HMV) :D *You'll also find occasional tracks in Irish on albums by members or ex-members of Clannad, as well as other Irish artists like Sinéad O'Connor. Irish music and videos clips on YouTube An Grá faoi Ghlas (first episode of a Big Brother spoof in Irish, links to the other episodes on the webpage) A nice collection of Irish music by YouTube user 96cambridge The Coronas - Heroes and Ghosts Gemma Hayes - Ran for miles Des Bishop - Jump around The Walls - To the Bright and Shining Mundy - Gallway Girl Declan O'Rourke - Big bad Beautiful World Padraig Rushe - Seachracht This is just a tiny sample of what's out there. When I bookmarked these last year, there really weren't that many Irish tracks available on YouTube; but when I checked these today and looked at some of the related links that come up on the right-hand side, it seems that there are absolutely loads now, which is great news! :) Online shopping for Irish resources I've tried out several different companies over the last few years, but the only one that I found consistently helpful was Litriocht. They were very friendly and well-stocked, and I even got 6 free Irish ebooks thrown in with my last purchase - wahey! :) Useful online applications for Irish Irish speech synthesiser from Trinity College Dublin, which includes a Firefox add-on for synthesising highlighted text whilst reading websites in Irish [suggested by Iversen] Irish spell-checker (another handy Firefox add-on) Other lists of Irish resources and useful links Irish Gaelic learners' material on the Internet (an excellent list of Irish language resources, only eclipsed perhaps by my own (lol) ;) ) Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge / European Certificate in Irish (you can even certify your language proficiency level and obtain preparatory materials, officially recognised and aligned to CEFR standards) Listening and reading materials for learning Irish And I've left the very best till last...you can now buy 8 short books by well-known contemporary Irish authors as part of the "Open Doors" collection. And the best part: there are corresponding audiobooks too! 
The books are available separately in the original English and Irish translation from New Island Books (and you'll probably need this link too). Here's the full list with ISBN codes in case you'd like to look them up or place an order: Irish: "An Seomra Tobac" by Julie Parsons (ISBN: 9781905494682) English: "The Smoking Room" (ISBN: 9781904301462) Irish: "Cailleacha Underbury" by John Connolly (ISBN: 9781905494675) English: "The Underbury Witches" (ISBN: 9781905494019) Irish: "Deireadh Seachtaine Craiceáilte" by Roddy Doyle (ISBN: 9781905494637) English: "Mad Weekend" (ISBN: 9781905494040) Irish: "Is Gearr..." by Marian Keyes (ISBN: 9781905494644) English: "No Dress Rehearsal" (ISBN: 9781902602325) Irish: "Na Tógálaithe" by Maeve Binchy (ISBN: 9781905494651) English: "The Builders" (ISBN: 9781902602684) Irish: "Rúin" by Patricia Scanlan (ISBN: 9781905494620) English: "Secrets" (ISBN: 9781905494026) Irish: "Tá Jesus agus Billy ag Imeacht go Barcelona" by Deirdre Purcell (ISBN: 9781905494699) English: "Jesus and Billy are off to Barcelona" (ISBN: 9781902602165) Irish: "Timpiste Réidh le Tarlú" by Vincent Banville (ISBN: 9781905494668) English: "An Accident Waiting to Happen" (ISBN: 9781902602721) And the 8 corresponding Irish audiobooks can be purchased from W F Howes as part of a special project with the "Open Doors" collection to help promote the Irish language. And if anyone would like to recommend and add to this list (as it's just what's sitting on my shelf right now), please feel welcome. It's only a small fraction of what's available out there, and I've read lots of reviews for other excellent courses and books that would be great to get your input on. I'm particularly interested in getting my hands on more audiobooks in Irish, if you know of any. Enjoy, and I wish any learners of Irish all the best in their studies! :) Edited by Teango on 19 February 2011 at 9:46pm 17 persons have voted this message useful | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6703 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 13 14 February 2011 at 9:47am | IP Logged |
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Excellent collection, but I would like to add the Abair speech synthesizer.
4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5556 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 3 of 13 16 March 2011 at 6:21pm | IP Logged |
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As it seems I'm unable to edit this list anymore, I'll add any new resources I find or recommendations members make to the original list of Irish resources on my blogsite. You can check this anytime you like here. :) Edited by Teango on 16 March 2011 at 6:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5967 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 13 17 March 2011 at 12:42pm | IP Logged |
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I can edit the list if you want - it is such an excellent collection of resources it would be unfortunate not to keep everything together.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5556 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 5 of 13 17 March 2011 at 3:34pm | IP Logged |
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Go raibh maith agat (thanks), meramarina - that would be great. I haven't got anything new to add just now, but I'll let you know when I do.
I think this little lot sitting in my bookcase will keep me going for quite a while... ;) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Emily232 Newbie Ireland Joined 5051 days ago 19 posts - 29 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 6 of 13 27 April 2011 at 2:02pm | IP Logged |
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TG4 has a great new Irish series out at the moment called O tholg go tholg it's a documentary series about couch surfing.
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| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5556 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 7 of 13 27 April 2011 at 6:34pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks Emily232 - I've added this to the list! :) Edited by Teango on 27 April 2011 at 6:34pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5056 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 8 of 13 02 May 2011 at 5:03am | IP Logged |
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The biggest problem is to find a resourse with normal Irish pronunciation, without
English accent. No retroflex rs and so on. There are a lot of lessons on Youtube with terrible English accent. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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