This is for you if you feel something like the following:
- “How on Earth will I understand this Irish language grammar?”
- “I see all these words in the Irish language written down, but how will I ever use them on my own?”
- “Irish language grammar is just to hard, I’ll never crack that.”
Advanced learners will always say that they find patterns in the Irish language.
They’ll be able to crack grammatical rules. They’ll see the Irish spelling rules. They’ll start to be able to try and put together their own sentences.
These people are way ahead of the curve. On average, you’re not anywhere as far as them. And don’t let that fact hold you back from making a real connection with your Irish heritage.
Seeing patterns will come later for you
It’s true: At some point, when you’re learning a language, you have to track down the patterns the pop up throughout the language.
But it’s easy to underestimate how soon you’ll see those patterns.
It’s frustrating, because there’s plenty of grammatical rules that you could be learning, if you could only get your head around them.
The good news is that you can spend lots of your time learning words and phrases. You don’t have to be a grammatical genius. Flashcards are a great way to do this, scientifically proven with spaced-repetition.
It’s all about making the Irish language part of you day. Anyway, Irish Gaelic grammar is maybe not so important to start with.
Challenge for you this week, before any pattern recognition
Set out to learn a single new word in Irish this week. Isn’t that a big enough step already? We like taking Bitesize steps around here (shouldn’t you have guessed!).
Learn a word that would apply to something you do every day.
If you’re looking for inspiration, and if you’re an member of Bitesize Irish Gaelic, then find a word in your lessons. Otherwise, look up a simple word in a recommended dictionary. Write out the word in front of you.
8 thoughts on “Before Learning Patterns in Irish Gaelic”
Hello, Thank you so much for these posts. I keep telling myself that id only I can home in on the “code” to this language I will have taken a giant leap forward. You call it a pattern. I will keep on pushing through. One day it will all click I’m sure. I love this language soooo much. Thank you for all the information and helpful tips. I just found out there is a gentleman at church that is Irish and speaks the language, hopefully that may be a help to me.
Hi Linda,
Thank you for commenting.
Yes, that would be great if you could speak with that gentleman at church as you could practise what you have learned through having an everyday conversation 🙂
Feel free to contact us at any time if you have any questions regarding our lessons.
Le meas,
Ana.
I love the one word a day idea. When I subscribed to BSI in 2012, I knew nothing but was going to Ireland for a visit. I wanted basic greeting and maybe some word recognition pronunciation. I have a brain injury and learning ANYTHING new is a tremendous challenge. What amazes me today, 4 years later, is that I haven’t forgotten the few phrases that I learned! SUCH A GREAT PROGRAM!!
PS Took some wonderful pics whilst there! Ck July/Aug 2012 on blog.
Hi Dalton,
Thank you for commenting.
That’s very good that you still remember the phrases that you have learned. Now you have a nice foundation to add more to that knowledge 🙂
Did you have a wonderful time in Ireland?
Le meas,
Ana.
I think everyone has their own method for learning the grammar and proper syntax. For me, the best way is to look at a few sentences in Gaeilge and then have them translated literally so that you can look at how the sentences are structured and how the “flow”. I found this method has also helped me learn other languages, including Italian.
Hi Seáin,
Thank you for sharing your learning methods.
I am sure that many will find them useful while learning a new language.
Keep up the good work 🙂
Le meas,
Ana.
I’m not a beginner – I was once quite advanced, but that was a long time ago. I have a good understanding of grammar and I can spot mistakes in written Irish, surprisingly, even in official documents. I also have a fair knowledge of Portuguese and Spanish, and knowing Irish helps to understand the grammar of those languages.
I do not know whether there is a course to fit my knowledge. Perhaps you can give nme some idea of how to find one.
Hi Fidelma,
That’s really impressive 🙂
You might be interested in our one month free trial: http://bitesize.irish/try
You will have access to all of our lessons and you will be able to read the text and hear the audio files.
If you have any questions regarding our lessons, you can always shoot us an email and we will be glad to help.
Le meas,
Ana.