Irish language

fitzypatrick11

Hi. I'm going into sixth year in September. I did ordinary Irish for Junior Cert but am doing honours for the LC. I'm ok at Irish but not great and I really need to improve as I want to do primary teaching. The problem is there's about 15 in my class and they are all higher standard so my teacher doesn't cover basics. I really need to learn basic Irish grammar and am going to get grinds. In the meantime I'm wondering if anyone knows a really good free Irish online course?

dpat1l

Hi, for the real basics I'd recommend Duolingo... It's an app for Apple or android and it offers an Irish course which starts with very basic stuff but at least that gives you a confidence boost and then as it progresses, the repetition kind of reinforces the ideas in your head and personally I found it very useful when i started studying Irish... Go n-éiri leat

gaiscioch

fitzypatrick11 wrote: »

Hi. I'm going into sixth year in September. I did ordinary Irish for Junior Cert but am doing honours for the LC. I'm ok at Irish but not great and I really need to improve as I want to do primary teaching. The problem is there's about 15 in my class and they are all higher standard so my teacher doesn't cover basics. I really need to learn basic Irish grammar and am going to get grinds. In the meantime I'm wondering if anyone knows a really good free Irish online course?

Several things. First, I'd actually read over all my Irish books for JC if it's the basics you're after. Second, I'd buy this Leon Mac Aogáin glance card for basic verbs. Learn every bit of it and pay attention to the pattern. Word of advice: always look for the patterns (e.g. 'caol le caol' rule, d before vowel or f in past tense, etc) while you're learning; you'll pick up the language much faster by noting patterns. After this, you should have the basic grammar.

In addition, although unnecessary, I'd be inclined to get either Éamonn Ó Dónaill, Gramadach gan Stró or Ciarán mac Murchaidh Cruinnscríobh na Gaeilge as supporting grammar books. They are both very clearly explained, and Ó Dónaill's book is linked to the course on www.ranganna.com (Ó Dónaill set up Gaelchultúr/Ranganna), which will give you excellent practice. Mac Murchaidh, on the other hand, has a very useful cd-rom in Cruinnscríobh na Gaeilge.

The above two books are not necessary to buy as a lot of your grammar will be learned on online websites. There are some excellent Irish websites dealing with grammar set up by LC teachers across Ireland. In addition, the following websites will be very, very helpful:

1. All the Irish-English-Irish dictionaries and pronunciation guide

2. An Fócloir Beag guide to all the forms of a verb (e.g. type in "Cuir" and scroll down)

3. Pota Focal: see the context of how particular words are used

4. Téarma.ie: if you need new words or terms in Irish

5. Scríobh.ie: an excellent source for everything to do with writing as Gaeilge. (download, especially, the free spellchecker and you can download the pdf of An Caighdeán Oifigiúil/The Standard Grammar here)

6. Nua Leargais: a really useful website full of fascinating information relating to Irish grammar

7. Drop over to Gaeilge Boards or other discussion fora to ask questions when you're stuck.

I'm sure others can add excellent sites I've overlooked.

Bayberry

I'd suggest the DuoLingo website rather than the app, or as well as the app. There's a bit more explanation of what to expect in each section on the website, though I understand the Android version of the App is a bit better in that respect.

I found that DuoLingo was useful in firming up my understanding of how the grammar works, and it improved my vocabulary. Having the app on my phone helped me to do the exercises when I had a spare 10 minutes, and the discussion on the website helped me pick out things that I knew, but didn't really understand.

After 6 months, I completed the "tree". I still make plenty of mistakes when I do an exercise, but most of the time I now understand why I got it wrong, which is progress in my book