Have you ever considered learning to speak the Irish language, but felt that you’re alone? Prof. Kevin Scannell says that this is a new age of Irish language, where you can not only immerse yourself in Irish online, but also use it as a way to connect with other learners. He’s a professor at Saint Louis University, Missouri, and his software will help you immerse yourself in Irish.
What you’ll hear
- How Twitter is ideal for using the little bit of Irish that you do pick up, even if you’re shy to use it
- How to install Firefox Irish language spellchecker
- Kevin’s background as an American who learned Irish
- How technology is helping give a boost to the Irish language offline
- How making mistakes as a learner is the only way to improve
Mentioned in the show
- Gaelspell for Firefox – Irish spell checker
- An Gramadóir online grammar checker
- Raidió na Gaeltachta
- TG4 television
- An Chearthú Rua, Conamara, where Eoin saw Des Bishop learning Irish
- Oideas Gael courses in Donegal
- Indigenous Tweets
- Kevin Scanells’s university site
- Bitesize Irish Gaelic online lessons
Get the next episode as soon as it’s up
- Subscribe on iTunes
- Alternatively, subscribe on Android to this RSS feed
- Use the audio player in this post. The player also have a download link to grab the episode’s MP3 file.
The show comes out each fortnight on Thursdays at 8am EST. Thanks for listening. We’d love to hear from you about the episode. Just leave a comment below.
Eoin
Gordon Molengraf 
Murphsoli 
Sile 
Bhain mé taitneamh as i ndáiríre é.
I really enjoyed it.
Go raibh míle maith agat, a Gordon. Nice to have you as a listener.
It was cool to hear Kevin’s perspective on learning Irish with the help of online tools and platforms. I thank him for the tools he has made available for us. We need all the tools we can get.
Thanks for listening!
Is there a way to have an Irish spell checker on chrome? or should i use the Gramadoir link?
Hmm, the best I know is to use An Gramadóir (link above). I wonder if Kevin has any more ideas about spellchecking in Chrome.
I think it’s possible, but I haven’t looked into the details. For learners of Irish I strongly recommend Firefox in Irish: http://www.mozilla.org/ga-IE/firefox/new/
Excellent, thanks Kevin for sharing the link for installing Firefox as Gaeilge.