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Bitesize Irish helps you to make the Irish language part of your every day life. Online courses to take in your own time, a community to help each other, and live conversations to get you to speaking it.
It’s not your fault. The Irish language can feel overwhelming. Many, or most, give up. You can feel that your too old, or don’t have enough time, or that you’re not a “languages person”. At worst, the Irish language becomes a source of stress and self-judgement in your life!
Yet the Irish language is probably a calling for you. It’s a life-long journey of nourishment. You’re already expressing that calling by diving into the Irish language. The journey is worth it in itself.
Each Bitesize step is worth your effort, since the journey in itself is worth it, At Bitesize Irish, we help you overcome the feeling that you’re not doing “enough”. You are already good enough. Tiny bites of Irish allow you to connect through the language every day. The alternative is to wrongly think that you must study large portions of the language regularly: this is only giving yourself an excuse to avoid your calling. Thousands of learners have used the Bitesize approach, and love it.
The quickest bite you can take with Bitesize is to play an audio recording of a native speaker and repeat it out loud (known as the shadowing technique). Our online courses also feature videos on specific topics, which you may prefer at the time. After taking this Bitesize step, you can keep going if you feel like it (you will!). Complete a lesson in your own time, at your own pace, and make progress step by step.
Even attending a weekly Irish language class is not enough. The most successful Irish language learners make the language part of their every day life, their daily practices. It becomes part of their identity. Failed learners think that they must take huge steps each time. They start to procrastinate. And finally they bury their heart’s calling.
By practising Irish EVERY day, you’ll move from being a learner to being a practitioner of the language. Start by practising a bite each day, and keep up that habit. With Bitesize Irish, you’ll have the opportunity to practice on your own (through online courses), and take guided action every day (through our community). Practice can be a mix of saying, conversing, reading, writing, and reflection.
Regular conversation is possibly the most valuable activity you can take on on your Irish language journey. A language is for expressing yourself with others.
Do you feel unready for conversation? Think about it the other way around: kids converse for several years before starting to converse. You get to have conversations because you speak it over and over again.
Attend online group conversations with a fluent speaker. You should attend even if you can’t speak it: our scripted conversations give you a change to role-play. For more advanced learners, we offer more open conversation around specific topics, so that you can get immediate feedback on how you’re expressing yourself.
For now, you can sign up to Bitesize Classic.
When these plans launch, you will have the opportunity to avail of the new benefits.
Take daily bites of Bitesize Cúrsaí online courses at your own pace. Start from the very beginning, and continue on to everyday Irish. Thousands of audio recordings with phonetic spelling, so you can practice pronunciation. Video lessons explaining the finer points of the language.
Are you already an active learner, including attending classes? As well as access to Bitesize Cúrsaí, be an active member of Bitesize Pobal, our private daily-practice community. Guided prompts to encourage you. Connect with others, help them, get help, share resources. Even recruit them to practice conversation.
Hungry for conversation? Not getting enough, even with classes? Attend Bitesize Beo weekly group video conversations with a fluent speaker. Scripted conversation so that you can role-play even if you can't speak yet. More open topic-based conversation for advanced learners, with immediate feedback.
Since attending a weekly Irish language class is not enough, you can enrich your experience with one of our membership plans.
Use the “Conversationalist” plan if you can’t get enough Irish in your life! You’ll get weekly Bitesize Beo group video conversations with a fluent speaker. Bitesize Pobal private daily-practice community will help you with Gaeilge GACH Lá. Bitesize Cúrsaí will allow you to renew and expand your knowledge of the Irish language at your own pace.
Otherwise, use the “Speaker” plan, so that you can participate in Bitesize Pobal, our private daily-practice community, and expand your Irish by taking Bitesize Cúrsaí online courses.
Do you actively study the Irish language, but looking to now connect with others?
The “Speaker” plan will move you from being a learner to being a speaker, by prompting you daily in Bitesize Pobal, our private daily-practice community.
By all means, you could invest in the “Conversationalist” plan if you’re really also looking for regular conversation practice.
Start with the “Learner” plan to get the very basics of the language. We don’t assume any prior knowledge.
The Bitesize Cúrsaí will be available to you. These online courses cover conversation (essential phrases, and fast-and-slow scripts), everyday Irish, and even singing traditional songs. Videos in the lessons describe fundamental aspects of the language.
Take a tiny bite a day. That can be as little as listening to a single phrase in one of the courses and repeating it aloud (that’s the shadowing technique). Take it at your own pace.
After continuing your Bitesize daily practice alone for a couple of months, you’ll probably want to connect with others who are on the same journey as you. That’s a perfect time to upgrade to the “Speaker” plan.
Did you try to learn Irish in the past, and gave up? Or did you attend school in Ireland, and now regret that you didn’t learn so much as you hoped?
You’ll probably most benefit from the “Speaker” plan, so that not only do you take online courses at your own pace, but also find your motivation again in Bitesize Pobal, our private daily-practice community.
Do you please traditional Irish music? Or do you practice Irish dancing? You might be deep in Irish history.
What a fantastic background to come from, because you have a rich cultural background.
We suggest that you start with “Learner“, to pick up the essential parts of the Irish language, at your own pace. You can always upgrade later to “Speaker” plan, to connect with others.
Planning a trip to Ireland? You’ll get so much more out of your trip by appreciating our local native language. You’ll see it everywhere, yet you’ll have to seek it out if you want to hear it spoken.
Start on the “Learner” plan to get essential conversation phrases. After your trip, you can always upgrade to the “Speaker” plan to learn with others.
Launching soon.
Available on “Learner”, “Speaker” and “Conversationalist” plans.
Online Irish language courses. Start from the very beginning, into your first conversation, every day Irish, and more advanced grammatical topics:
Learn at your own pace. Take a little bite a day by listening to one of the audio recordings and repeating out loud.
Launching soon.
Private daily-practice community. It’s a forum with daily guided prompts, to help you with Gaeilge GACH Lá.
Available on “Speaker” and “Conversationalist” plans.
Prompts vary from reading something, watching a particular video, trying to write to your ability, or a fun challenge in your everyday life. Prompts also include weekly reflection, so you can look back on what you’ve done the past week, and use your energy better the next week.
Find uncommon commonalities with other members. Get a sense of connection and of belonging by helping others and getting help from others. Even recruit others for daily practice conversations.
Participation daily from Bitesize Irish staff. The community is covered by acceptable behavior policies, thus participation is not guaranteed by the purchase of membership.
Launching soon.
Weekly group video conversations with a fluent speaker every Tuesday (or another day depending on national holidays and availability).
Available on the “Conversationalist” plan only.
Group video conversations will take place no later than 22:00 Irish time (that’s typically 17:00 Eastern time, and 07:00 Australia Eastern Time. The means that group calls may not suit your schedule. If you cannot attend a session, there is not a “credit” for another group conversation that week. We coordinate group call times in our private forum. If you find that you’re not able to attend sessions, it’s probably better to downgrade to the “Speaker” plan.
Practice conversation even if you don’t speak it, with scripted role play. For more advanced learners, you’ll have the opportunity for more open-ended conversation around a specific topic.
Bitesize Irish is run from Luimneach / Limerick, a city in the west of Ireland. We are your direct connection to practising the Irish language every day. Each of the team has Irish “running through our veins”. Bitesize Irish is what you might call a “micro-business”. We’re personal. If you’re a member, you’ll get to know us by name.
As well as the team members below, many of our original lessons were written by Audrey Nickel, in Santa Cruz, California. As an advanced adult learner with valuable perspectives on learning, her lessons came from a stance of empathy, not assuming any prior knowledge of the language.
Dia dhuit! I started Bitesize Irish back in 2009 to give you a way to practice Irish every day. The idea started as daily emails, but I quickly realised that they would be no good without lots of audio. Since then, I have been developing ways of bringing the Irish language into your every day life.
I grew up in Inis (Ennis) in County Clare. The Irish language is my first language – it’s my family’s language. I attended primary and secondary schools in Irish. For a long time I was uneasy that my spoken Irish is “urban” Irish, not straight from the Gaeltacht. In more recent years I have come to fully appreciate what I speak: modern, alive, Irish. I love the vibrancy around the language, and I get ultimate satisfaction seeing others find a deeper part of themselves through the Irish language.
I found my grá (love) for Gaeilge when I visited the Gaeltacht (Irish speaking area of Ireland) when I was thirteen years old. It changed my life! I’m so happy to be able to share this love with the Bitesize Irish community and help you find that grá too. I spent seven years in Australia and so I understand – both from my experience and through the people I met while I was there – how important the Irish language and culture is to people with Irish heritage who don’t live in the Emerald Isle.
I’m originally from Co. Westmeath but I’m living the dream in Connemara Co. Galway now, as I study to become a secondary school teacher. I love Irish grammar (but I’m not fanatical!) and have dabbled in Classical and Old Irish too. I’m a strong believer that learning a language is about communicating – as long as the person we are speaking with understands, then it doesn’t matter if we make mistakes!
Having been fortunate enough to having Irish as my primary home language and having had the opportunity to hear Irish all around me since I was a child, my goal is to help others make Irish their daily language, too. I, too, can understand the struggles of language learning as I am currently learning Russian and have dabbled in other European languages. For the past few years, I have been helping learners of all ages master Irish Gaelic, both online and in a classroom setting. I received a Diploma in Applied Irish and Translation while studying in Carna, Connemara.
I was born in Galway but currently live in Tipperary. At Bitesize Irish, I help members understand the intricacies of the Irish language and offer opportunities to practice their conversational Irish, all with the goal of helping learners use Irish on a daily basis.
Reconnecting with our idea of “bitesize” Irish. Why small pieces? Well, it’s not your fault. The Irish language can seem overwhelming and daunting. We can end up with self-blame and self-judgement for not understanding more, not being “better”. But this is a calling. A life-long journey. By accepting that the journey is already good enough
Bitesize Irish members hail from all corners of the world and all walks of life – we have everyone from realtors, musicians and engineers in our community! One of our newest members is Ricardo, a musician from Brazil who came to Gaeilge through his interest in Sean-nós singing and Irish literature. Read about his journey
“I want to be fluent enough in the Irish language in a year’s time, to be able to have a simple conversation with a native.” What could be better than having this generally unattainable goal for yourself? Possibly, it’s to to have a goal of fluency. Although (or because) the following audio is based on
