How to Type the Irish Language on Android with Spellcheck

grma! bhfuil tú ag dul amach anocht?

(SMS saying: “tnx! you going out tonight?” in the Irish language)

On the one hand, smartphones have been excellent for typing in the Irish language. You long-press the letter “a”, for example, and it will give you a whole selection of accented variants, including the good ould síneadh fada /shee-na fodda/ accent mark in Irish.

On the other hand, though, it often forces you to type in a single language (like English). There’s a reason behind this: they want to help you spell your words as quickly as possible.

Get spell-checking help for Irish (Gaelic) on Android

I started using a specific app called Multiling Keyboard. Download it.

After installing it, you need to select the option to install the added Irish (Gaeilge) dictionary.

Spell-check and quick switching

Once you’re all set up with Multiling Keyboard on Android, you can long-press the space bar to switch between your installed languages.

After switching, you can type Irish with all the help of the Irish language spellcheck.

If you want to write your next text in English, just long-press the space bar again.

Alternative: “Add to dictionary”

The one alternative I’ve found is to type in the normal Android keyboard, but select to add each new Irish word I type to the dictionary.

I tried that for quick a while, and of course you’ll get words always repeating. But there was enough word variation that it didn’t seem worth building up my own dictionary (only to be lost with the next phone I start using).

Do you have any tips to share?

What’s the best way for typing different languages on your iPhone or Android? Please share below.