What do other people use to learn to speak Irish? The results of a recent survey will tell you.
Here at Bitesize Irish Gaelic, you get to learn to speak Irish online. You might also enjoy learning from an additional source, like a more traditional book or CD course.
Below are the resources used by Irish language learners, and their teachers, according to the Ireland-United States Fulbright Commission report published September 2011.
The main language resources in use today
In most cases below, the title links to the product’s page on Amazon.com or Litriocht.com.
- Basic Irish (2008)
- Kindle edition available.
- Basic Irish is followed up by the more advanced Intermediate Irish.
- Progress in Irish (1960)
- Learning Irish (1980)
- Buntús Cainte (1967)
- Tús Maith
- Turas Teanga (2004)
- Multimedia course that mostly assumes that you already learned Irish in school.
- Colloquial Irish
These results come from the big report “Inter-changes: Irish Language Learning & Teaching in the US” published by Ireland-United States Fulbright Commission. Additional resources are mentioned, but those listed above were identified as the primary resources used.
In connection to this report, we previously wrote about where our online Irish language learners come from.
Which Irish language courses have you used?
And what did you think of the courses that you have used? Share your reply below.
5 thoughts on “Book, CD and DVD Courses that Irish Language Learners Use”
Hi, Could you please recommend an English/Irish dictionary which uses simple phonetics for the Irish as used in the book “Speak Irish Now”.
Thanks. Eilís P., Sedona AZ
I’m afraid I don’t know of any dictionary with simple phonetics but you can hear sound recordings of many words on the dictionary websites http://teanglann.ie/ and https://www.focloir.ie/. If you can’t find the pronunciation of a word there, try https://forvo.com/.
I hope you find those helpful!
I use several things on a daily basis. Rosetta Stone for Irish is awesome and claims to use the Munster dialect as it is the “eaesiest for native English speakers”. I also use Turas Teanga (great show that comes with it, I still can’t wait to find out what happens with Dónall agas Rósín). The dialects are split into threes per section. So you get to hear each dialect back to back, yet sorted. The first being told in Munster, then Connemara, then Ulster. Highly recommended as this is one of the few really good materials for intermediate learners. Eamonn O Donaill’s Gramadach Gan Stro now has six levels, Eamonn claims if you start at the first book and work through all six you will become fully fluent (he just told me he introduced a more beginning level book this month). I’ve used other people’s copies and am now ready to get my own. I also plan to get a copy of Mary Mc Laughlin’s Singing in Irish Gaelic on Mel Bay. I am told it is an excellent way to learn sean nós singing. Who can learn to speak a language but not learn the culture too? And of course everyone learning Irish should have a copy of Progress of Irish. It’s a lesson plan that a woman used to teach her class. While it isn’t complete itself it is monumental in moving forward with basic Irish. And finally, no one can learn Irish and not have a copy of Foclóir Gaeilge – Béarla by Niall Ó Dónaill. It is the most complete dictionary in the world for Irish. Pay extra for the hardback, you will use it a lot!
I’ve failed with so many Irish language courses. I have a whole shelf of them, including Buntús Cainte and Progress in Irish. The best one, and the only one that really started turning my light bulbs on is Rosetta Stone’s three-levels of Irish. Most folks don’t know that Rosetta Stone even has an Irish course, which is a shame, because it teaches in full immersion, the same way that babies learn language. There’s pictures and sounds, followed by pictures and phrases, leading to pictures and conversations. The brain gets hard-wired to actually think in Irish. Amazing!
My primary resources are this website and the TeachMe! Irish software. It can be a bit confusing sometimes (the software) because they seem to mix dialects and speak fairly quickly in the audio examples. However, I’m hoping that just makes understanding the various dialects easier in the long run.
I’ll likely pick up a book at some point and the list in this blog post will definitely help.
Thanks,
Kelly