Fellow Learners Please Add The Resources You Use! - Blog Posts

Certified Irish person here with my own tried and test resources for learning Irish! Disclaimer, I am not fluent but you could call me a lifelong learner.

General Info

I could say a lot here but I'll start with some general info. I encourage anyone interested to go and look up these things and learn more, you'll be well on your way if you do!

We refer to the Irish language either as Irish or as Gaeilge.

It's taught as a mandatory subject in schools in the Rep. of Ireland from primary all the way to secondary level. In my opinion however, while there are genuinely good teachers out there, the syllabus leads a lot to be desired, many are backing its reform. Most of us have a similar level of Irish unless we have an Irish speaking background or have put in a lot of effort.

Irish has a different alphabet to English, some letter combinations will sound different than expected to English speakers, e.g., bh is a 'v' sound. We also use accents called fadas: á, é, í, ó, ú. The YouTube Channel Gaeilge i mo chroí is great for these kinds of explanations (see below).

We have a unique sentence structure: verb, subject, object.

There are 11 irregular verbs. All others have a predictable structure.

There are special mutations known as séimhiú and urú, these create differences in words depending on the situation/sentence structure. For example, Dublin in Irish is 'Baile Átha Cliath,' but if I wanted to say I live in Dublin it's 'táim i mo cónaí i mBaile Átha Cliath.'

There are three different counting systems, you'll find a good explanation here. Once you've read this, there are plenty of YouTube videos that teach you each one.

We don't have proper words for yes and no. Positive and negative replies to questions will use the verb back at the question asker.

There are three primary dialects but we tend to understand each other alright most of the time!

Online Resources!

I promise you Irish isn't dead, there's a lot to get your teeth into!

Get used to how it sounds! TG4 is the name of our national Irish language TV station and the Irish is usually very clear. I'm partial to documentaries myself, I recommend Fíorscéal (general topics) and Domhan an Dúlra (nature). It's all available online but you'll likely need a VPN to access it. I can also recommend a Raidío na Life, a radio station based in Dublin. You can listen back to shows of your choice or listen live.

Bitesize Irish: They have short explanation and pronunciation videos on YouTube, interspersed with some culture. On their website they also have a free learning challenge called Gaeilge Gach Lá (Irish Everyday), they will email you every day with a small assignment for a calendar week and send you a newsletter every week thereafter. This is highly beginner friendly and mostly gets you used to the idea of daily practice and effort. For those who really want to get stuck in, they have some paid resources including connecting you with other learners so you can practice.

Gaeilge i mo chroí: A really great all-rounder of a YouTube channel. They explained some grammar rules that I'd never quite got my head around in school.

Úna-Minh Kavanagh: I cannot sing Úna's praises enough. I'm sure my knowledge of her only scratches the surface of her achievements but she's translated Among Us into Irish, she streams games in Irish (she's Yunitex on Twitch), she forages in Irish and she teaches you how to use existing online resources and communities in your learning journey. She really specialises in the "how" of learning the language today. She is also a published author and she speaks out against racism in Ireland.

Online dictionary: foclóir.ie

Similar resource to the above with more explanation and pronunciations in the three dialects for learners: teanglann.ie

Books:

Gaeilge gan Stró! by Éamonn Ó Dónaill at beginners level and Gramadach gan Stró by the same. These books helped me return to Irish as an adult and are geared towards adults.

These books and other physical resources can be bought from siopa.ie, which ships worldwide.

Courses:

Gaelchultúr, the publishers of Gaeilge gan Stró offer group online courses. There are others but this is one I've tried myself. They use Gaeilge gan Stró as their course book.

Well, this post was longer than I expected it to be but for any of you who decide to give Irish a go, go n-éirí libh!