How to Practice Reading, Hearing and Speaking Irish Gaelic

Note that we don’t call the Irish language “Gaelic”! We call it “The Irish Language” or just “Irish” when referring to it in English.

Do you want to learn Irish Gaelic (or any other language, for that matter)?

It will come in stages of reading, understanding, and finally expressing yourself.

Greg sent us a great question recently. He realized there are these steps to learning, and asked:

With each of the languages [that I learn], I had some means of ‘hearing’ the language, beginning with the alphabet.  The Irish will be no different with me I think.  I will need to hear, speak and read it in order to become even moderately proficient with it.  Can you make any suggestions for overcoming this problem?

1. How to Read Irish Gaelic

Reading through a piece of complicated text will probably just frustrate you. I know it puts me off, in any case.

Childrens’ books

Here’s a little tip that some people have already figured out: get a couple of kids’ books in Gaelic. Such books are targeted at a young audience who have a limited vocabulary. The more basic your own language skills, the more basic kids’ books you should seek out.

Litriocht.com sells every Gaelic language text in print. Go there and find some kids books. Do you know of any good books for learners? Reply here to let us know.

Advanced tip

Beo.ie is a quality Gaelic language monthly publication online. Each of their articles contain terminology tips. Even if you can’t make out what the article is about, use the underlined terms to increase your vocabulary.

2. How to Hear Gaelic

If you’re a reader here, you’ll know that we heartily recommend the superb free services offered by TG4 television and Raidió na Gaeltachta.

Not to push you in any particular direction, but our online Irish Gaelic lessons also feature several thousand Gaelic recordings, at time of writing. The first lesson is free, and you can subscribe to become a member.

3. Speak Gaelic

While I realize this isn’t an option for most people, you should visit Ireland. More specifically, you should visit the Gaeltacht regions, and practice your Gaelic on the locals.

Speaking tip

A tip to speaking Gaelic, even if you don’t have anyone in your vicinity learning the language, is to teach something to your friends or family! For example, teach them to count from 1 to 10 in Irish Gaelic. Not only will it be something fun to teach them, it will re-enforce what you have been learning.