Can i learn irish in about 7months??

cartman

right here it is,
i cant or never have been able to speak irish, i am irish lived here all my life just never liked it and was always crap at it.but it comes to the time i need to learn it..just pass, i look at the paper now and all i can do is matching the little boxes on page 1, iv never passed an irish test in my life but i know i need to pass this one,
where do i go and wat do i do..please dont suggest grinds or irish colleges/courses i still wouldnt learn..
where can i start on learning myself??
any help appreciated
thanks,
Cart

Yoda

The courses offered by Conradh na Gaeilge are quite good. If you want to do it all on your own, with no talking to others, it's going to be tougher. Noel McGonagle's Irish Grammar: A Basic Handbook is the only decent reference grammar. Watch a lot of TG4. Beyond that I'm not sure how else to respond to your posting.

pertinax

You could look out for a book and tape set. linguaphone stuff is expensive but i got a book and tapes called buntus ( or something like that ) in a fit of nationalistic fervour.

They were only 10 quid but there as dry as a desert in a heatwave. And they still use pounds shilling and pence. they werent updated since the 60s but i should of known. it had a woman with a beehive on the cover.

zynaps

Heh, I remember Buntus Cainte from somewhere...

Anyway, you should probably check out your library, Cartman, if you really wanna learn Irish without going on a course.

Also, you'll obviously have a much greater advantage if you find someone you can try to talk to in irish or at least bits of irish.
When you start learning, try to build up a strong vocabulary, and make sentences from them, even if you feel you know the words and it's a waste of time... the more you use them as you're learning them, the more easily they'll just slip out in conversation, and the more confident you'll be with em.
What I'm going to do with french this year is make a quota of probably 60 words a day, and having printed them all out, learn them on the bus in/out of school or something, then revise them the next day before that day's set... then at the end of the week quickly test meself on that week's words.
I can do it

You can do anything in 7 months.
Well... except have a baby I guess.. especially if you're male :P

Just go one step at a time, and keep at it

Yoda

Another resource is the online discussion group GAEILGE-B (for Beginners). More info at http://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?S1=gaeilge-b

Dun

The "Now You're Talking" book and tapes are quite good. They're in Donegal Irish, and were made sometime round 1994-95. The author is Ó Dónaill (I think he was Niall..).

cartman

thanks alot lads im gonna have a gook in the library on monday, and i can try talkin to my gf in irish i spose, she rocks at it...
well thanks,
cart