Irish Listening

A97

This is really difficult and I still have trouble with it. Does anybody have any last-minute tips? I generally can't answer the questions because of the pace they talk at and that fact we only hear it twice.

DublinArnie

Quickly read the questions and write english above any words you understand. Underline key words in the questions and keep a look out for them during the listening .. I suck at listening too so yea.

CathalRyano

A friend of mine gave me these tips for fellow bad at Listening-ers.
First of all you have to understand you're going to understand extremely little of what they are saying. Learn off the basic question words so you know what they're sort of asking for. If you know that a question means "who" then you know to look for people. Or if it says "Where" then you'll know that if they say "sa etc." you'll know that could be it because it's a place. You also don't need to know what the words in the question mean, just be looking at the words in the question and if they say those words, try and quickly jot down what they said before or after the words, using abbreviations so you can write the full answer during the breaks.(This is especially easy when they say "why" and in the listening they say the words in the question and then "mar", just write down what's after "mar") You don't have to know if what you're writing is an irish word or not, just make up an irish spelling of whatever sounds you heard. Also do as many past papers of listenings as possible to get used to doing all of the other stuff.

Anyway, that's just what he's told me and it's helped for me, so maybe it will for you.

greenpyjamas

Do you have the sample CD's? Practice loads of them. I'm doing a few today

LawdyLad

Read the questions as soon as you get the paper and try translate them the best you can and make sure the first word is correctly translated as that is the basis of the question e.g What, Why, Who etc. Then once it has begun try not to spend a lot of time writing your answer because that will cause you to not listen for the other questions. Listen carefully and answer fast if you can. Make sure you have sufficient information in your answer but not too much that you answer it incorrectly. If it doesnt go very well for you, just remember that it's not worth a whole lot of the paper!

A97

Thanks for the advice.:) I've been practising them since I made this thread and I can see what you mean about the question words. Cuid A isn't ródheacair (:pac:) but Cuid B and C are harder. I often get caught up in answering the question by copying down what they said , particularly changing things like "orm" to "air" or applying Irish spelling. Would it be better just to scribble down exactly what I hear and amend it after?

That's my problem Lawdy. How do I condense my answers?

examstress

Do u have to spell out the actual no. Like ? Cause i get mixed up with mbliana etcc.

A97

Leathan le leathan, caol le caol is really important. (Broad with broad vowels, slender with slender) I think they like it when you don't spell the vocabulary we're meant to know incorrectly though. (bliana, mbliana etc)

LawdyLad

examstress wrote: »

Do u have to spell out the actual no. Like ? Cause i get mixed up with mbliana etcc.

Yes you do unfortunately.

greenpyjamas

A97 wrote: »

Leathan le leathan, caol le caol is really important. (Broad with broad vowels, slender with slender) I think they like it when you don't spell the vocabulary we're meant to know incorrectly though. (bliana, mbliana etc)

yeah, but they do accept slight mispellings (e.g you put in an e instead of an i etc)

CathalRyano

LawdyLad wrote: »

Yes you do unfortunately.

My teacher said you don't have to write out the number

LawdyLad

Then my teacher is lying to me! Haha

A97

8 is fine instead of ocht mbliana and BÁC is fine for Baile Átha Cliath etc. Replacing an "i" with an "e" is okay.

LawdyLad

A97 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice.:) I've been practising them since I made this thread and I can see what you mean about the question words. Cuid A isn't ródheacair (:pac:) but Cuid B and C are harder. I often get caught up in answering the question by copying down what they said , particularly changing things like "orm" to "air" or applying Irish spelling. Would it be better just to scribble down exactly what I hear and amend it after?

That's my problem Lawdy. How do I condense my answers?

Try to just give a one word answer if that's all it asks. Usually they talk very little amounts very fast so everything they say is most likely relevant to each question so just try give short concise answers.

KatieG6

Sometimes they have the answer to the first question in the second or third question. Once it asked a question about something new that was coming to the town and then in the second question it said what do people think of the new factory so even if you didn't know the answer to the first question you might be lucky and see it in the next question.

Some people don't even notice the answer in the next question. It doesn't always happen so watch out and hope that the answer is in one of the next questions

A97

That would be nice. That also happened in one of the Spanish aurals before. I'd be contempt with 28/40, but that's a reasonably tall order for Irish. I've only aced the listening in one summer test so I'm not feeling lucky. What will be, will be.

Jijsaw

I remember in our mock paper, they had a person with a lisp speaking on the tape, I mean really.... do you want students to do well in Irish or not???

Pwee2029

Jijsaw wrote: »

I remember in our mock paper, they had a person with a lisp speaking on the tape, I mean really.... do you want students to do well in Irish or not???

that was just the mock, it'll be more clear in the actual exam