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Books > Irish Language
In just the last 150 years, the Irish language has made a dramatic comeback from near-extinction. At that point in time, Irish was in rather dire straits, a casualty of the expansion of British colonialism. As the Irish censuses 1851-1961 demonstrated, the Gaeilge (Irish) language was in a steady decline; only small clusters of native speakers along the west coast of the country were keeping the language alive. Read entire Irish Language article here.
Learn Irish
Irish Quick & Simpleby Pimsleur
You learned English by listening. With Pimsleur, you listen to learn Irish. This Language Program was developed by renowned memory expert, Dr. Paul Pimsleur. His research led him to the realization that the most important use of memory is in language learning. Based on this, Dr. Pimsleur designed a learning program that works for any language. The Pimsleur Language Program is an integrated system which immerses you in the language, encouraging you to hear, understand and use the language all at the same time.
Now you can take advantage of Dr. Pimsleur's research. At the completion of these eight lessons you will comfortably understand and speak at a beginner level.
+ Review
A
GOOD TOOL TO HELP UNDERSTAND IRISH (GAELIC)
As a beginner you've probably already discovered that there are a large number of books, cassettes, and on-line resources available to help you understand, speak, and write Irish. I've been plugging along for about 30 days now with this CD (unabridged 4 disk set) and have found it very helpful - the repetition is great, but most important is simply hearing how the words sound. I have a few books and a pile of lessons I've got off the web and the most frustrating thing is that the phonetic spelling that accompanies the Irish word varies GREATLY from one resource to the next, which (at least for me) just created further confusion. I've seen Dia duit (Hello) phonetically spelled about 8 different ways - I finally thought I had it down until I heard this CD - of course I was wrong!
I wouldn't use this as your only resource, but it's a great way to pass the commute to work and a good item to have in your pile of learning resources, plus the price is great.
Go raibh maith agat!
Singing In Irish Gaelicby Mary McLaughlin
Until now it has been extremely difficult for anyone without knowledge of the Irish language (Gaelic) to sing the songs of that tradition. A must for anyone who has always longed to sing the old songs of Ireland, this book and CD decodes the Irish language for those who aspire to sing these songs without them having to undertake an Irish language course. The fourteen songs are presented in an accessible fashion. On the CD, the author speaks each phrase slowly, leaving a pause for the student to imitate the pronunciation. The author then sings each song in a simple, plain style, conducive to learning. The book has the sheet music, guitar chords, phonetics, Irish lyrics, and a translation and background to each song. There is an introduction which gives information on traditional singing in Irish as well as a guide to the phonetic system used. The songs are graded linguistically and musically so that the student can build up skills as she or he progresses through the book.
+ Review
Very good way to learn some traditional Irish songs! I have been struggling through an Irish class here in Munich. I am really enjoying the language, but it is HARD! I am fluent in Russian and German and over the years have studied and done well in Latin, Polish, French, and Spanish. Languages usually come easily to me but Irish is another story; it is MUCH harder than any language I've ever encountered.
This book has been a real help to me. I find that learning songs helps me with pronunciation and grammar - and it's always nice to learn about culture and tradition while studying a language! I didn't really like the way the author used "phonetic" spelling; for me, this was just confusing. (I actually find that transliterating the words into Russian letters is far more helpful!) Other than this minor quibble, though, this book and CD were worth every cent - I highly recommend this product!!
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A Sound Atlas of Irish English
Linguistics buffs and scholars alike will marvel at the wealth of content to be found in the book/DVD set A Sound Atlas of Irish English, which stands as the most comprehensive audio overview of the English language as spoken in Ireland. Depending on the county of birth and age of the speaker, a wide range of linguistic characteristics may be present. A Sound Atlas of Irish English addresses this need with more than 1,500 recordings of native speakers aged 11 to 80, hailing from every county in Ireland. To enable detailed study of the spectrum of variations found among speakers in large cities, the authors have taken special pains to include large numbers of speakers from Belfast and Dublin. The DVD offers streamlined access to all data, and users can browse through text and voice files county by county, demonstrating the variations in each lexical set. Highly recommended.
Recommended specifications: Windows PC: Pentium PC, Windows 2000/2003/XP, at least 128MB RAM, DVD-ROM Drive, 16 Bit Soundcard, XVGA (1024 x 768 resolution). Apple MAC: OS 9 or higher, 16 Bit Soundcard, at least 128MB RAM.
Corpas Na Gaeilge 1600-1882: The Irish Language Corpus: Focloir na Nua-Ghaeilge
by Royal Irish Academy (Other Contributor)
Contains CD ROM and accompanying booklet. Contents includes prose, poetry, religious texts, historical documents, translations, etc. Printed material from 1600-1882. Based on 1.2 million lines of running text, 7.25 million words. Includes 705 texts, over 600,000 formae, index with frequencies, reverse index, custom search facility.
Recommended specification - Intel Celeron Processor 1GHz, Microsoft Windows 2000/XP, 256 MB RAM, CD-ROM 16x, 800x600 Screen resolution.
Availability: This title usually ships within 2 to 4 weeks. Please note that special order titles occasionally go out of print, or publishers run out of stock. These hard-to-find titles are not discounted and are subject to an additional charge of $1.99 per book due to the extra cost of ordering them. You will be notified within 2-3 weeks if we have trouble obtaining this title. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Dlúthdhiosca, mar aon le leabhrán eolais.
CD-ROM and accompanying booklet.
Clár:
Prós, filíocht, téacsanna creidimh, cáipeisí staire, aistriúcháin, etc.
Á bhar i gcló ó 1600-1882
Bunaithe ar 1.2 milliún líne de théacs reatha
7.25 milliún focal
705 téacs
600,000 foirm
Innéacs minicíochtaí
Innéacs droim ar ais
Á is sainchuartaithe
Innéacs nominum: 270,000 logainm agus daonainm
Learn Irish Now! 9.0from Transparent Language
IrishNow! 9 Deluxe takes you from beginner to confident Irish speaker in no time. Five exciting language learning areas feature grammar tutorials, interactive learning, progress tracking from your desktop, and conversation practice with native Irish speakers. IrishNow!'s stimulating multimedia environment adds enhanced large-format video and real-life video content that lets you experience Ireland, while integrated speech tools record and play back your own voice.
+ Review
Want to Learn Irish Gaelic? Use thisFinding this program was like finding a four leaf clover. Previously, I had tried audiotapes, books, etc. but I learned more from this product in a few nights than from weeks of study with other products. Irish Now concentrates on four areas of language skills, Listening, Speaking, Reading & Writing, and Vocabulary & Grammar. The audio features are so incredible that you can check to see if you are pronouncing words correctly. The videos make it possible to follow a conversational dialogue with scenes which help in understanding the context. I was able to gain a vast vocabulary through the games and large amounts of content. I would suggest anyone try Irish Now if you are trying to learn Gaelic.