One of the biggest problems that Irish learners have is that they don’t have the time to study. Others may encounter an issue where they schedule learning time, but don’t get to it due to unplanned events.
If you find yourself in these situations, don’t worry – the Bitesize Irish Gaelic lessons are created specifically so you can use them when you have the time.
One step at a time – there’s no need to transform the process of learning Irish Gaelic into a chore and take all the fun out of it. The Bitesize method allows you to go over lessons, listen to audio pronunciations and watch insightful videos whenever you have time available, be it while doing laundry, on the commute or while taking a stroll in the park.
The thing is that there’s no best time to learn Irish Gaelic and from our experience setting up big goals in small periods of time can lead to people not studying at all. So it’s best to learn whenever you have the time.
Of course nobody says you shouldn’t set up a schedule for your Irish language learning process, but if you just started learning the language, take our advice and study whenever you have the time available. You’ll end up feeling excited to learn and you won’t see it as a chore.
If you’re planning to learn Irish Gaelic at a conversational level, you should really take a look at the Enthusiast plan because it features monthly intermediate live lessons, learning-enhancement quizzes and video lessons!
But, if you’re at the start of your Irish learning journey, we recommend to start slow and learn whenever you have time. Another great thing you could do is to read our Community Member Interviews and see how other people are learning the language. For example, go ahead and read the following interview of Christopher Doucette who applies the rule of “learning whenever he has time available”.
Bitesize: Where abouts in the world do you live?
Christopher: Ta me i mo chonai i Boston. Actually, Lancaster, Ma, just outside of Worcester.
Bitesize: What got you wanting to speak Irish Gaelic?
Christopher: I visited Ireland for the first time in 2016. A friend of mine had run in the Dublin Marathon for many years and I was invited even though I do not run. After the marathon, all the runners from his running group (Green and Grey from Clinton, MA) stay in Doolin for the next week (all the way to the west coast). It was here that I came across the language being spoken in the cafes in Galway.
I went again in 2017 and met a “sean-nos” singer at the local pub and he spoke Gaelic. I went to the Aran Islands and the ferry captain spoke it (I told him. “Is tosaitheoir me”).
Everyone on the island speaks it. I was only comfortable with “Dia dhuit” in the local shops, but he immediately answered me back as you said he would.
I am hooked and expect to go every year from now on.
Bitesize: Do you have Irish ancestry? Tell us about it.
Christopher: I do. I am half Irish. Both my mom’s grandparents came from Cork. My sister and mother visited some relatives in the late 1980’s but I never went. Didn’t know what I was missing at the time.
Bitesize: How do you use Bitesize Irish Gaelic?
Christopher: I have all the lessons on my iPhone so every morning on the way to work I listen (and listen and listen). I also listen at the gym. I printed out all the materials and sit on the beach reading/listening. Everybody else is reading a magazine or book and I am doing my Bitesize lesson. Then of course all the lessons are on my iPad and I use that the most with the audio clips. So, many different ways to learn.
Bitesize: What advice would you have for a total beginner of Irish Gaelic?
Christopher: It started out really tough, almost daunting. How many ways can you spell father (athair) in Gaelic, with a t-, with an h added in front? How many ways can you make a word plural, seven or more? But, I am getting it thanks to Eoin!
The pronunciation is very clear on the audio and the conversational lessons are very practical.
I try to write down some sentences that are combinations of different lessons as some reinforcement that I am getting it! I do have to use an online dictionary on my phone as a supplement and it helps with vocabulary words that aren’t covered. I was surprised how much I could understand when reading Gaelic.
You can see the root word and can figure it out as Eoin said. It is all starting to make sense.