3 comments about Irish-English/English-Irish Easy Reference Dictionary, New Edition.

1. It is very easy to use and it can be a life saver when you are not sure about a certain word as you are learning irish.It contains about 24,500 entries. This is the main irish dictionary that I use. :) Although, it is best to buy this with an Irish course or at least have some knowledge about the pronunciation of irish words because the pronunciation is not listed with the word. But has proved to be very very useful, helpful, and invaluable as I learn about Gaelic Irish!



2. This is my first dictionary for learning Irish, and so far it's been pretty good. It is fairly complete in terms of entries, and often has examples of how words are used. It doesn't have pronunciations, which is a bummer on the Irish side but, in some ways, even more so on the English side because when I want to look up the Irish word for "live", for example, so I can talk about where I live, there is also an entry for "live" as in live music. So I have to go back and forth a bit. But overall I like this dictionary.



3. A great quick reference book. Convenient size, light weight, a perfect choice for the student of Irish Gaelic.

No comments about Random House Webster's Pocket Italian Dictionary, 2nd Edition (Best-Selling Random House Webster's Pocket Reference).

2 comments about Buntus Cainte Ceim a hAon: A First Step in Spoken Irish Part 1 (Irish Edition).

1. The Buntus Cainte books and tapes are an easy way to learn some basic Irish vocabulary and simple sentences. The series is designed to be "first steps in spoken Irish," and the steps are easy to follow. The tapes and pictures are helpful and make the course fun, for adults as well as children.



2. Love the book! It's very simple to read for my first attempts and progresses very nicely into conversations. I haven't had a chance to listen to the cassette tapes yet (yes, cassette tapes), but I'm sure they will be just as easy to follow as the book is. I just hope my old cassette player works when I clean off the dust.

5 comments about Teach Yourself Gaelic Complete Course Audiopack.

1. I bought this pack without high expectations but because it looked better than the alternatives.
   
   Let me say at the outset that the book by itself is useless for teaching anybody Gaelic. I have yet to see any useful written material on Gaelic pronunciation, and this book does not even try. My guesses, even as an experienced linguist, were far off the mark. With the CD's however it is another matter - they are excellent, though the learning curve is steep at first and a few written tips of things to look out for would have been helpful.
   
   Each unit contains (primarily) a dialogue, with key expressions collected at the end, a grammar section and a useful selection of exercises. All this material is professionally organized, and the level of the grammar explanations is probably about right for most learners - clear and thorough enough without any danger of overload. For the first half of the book there are also sections on Gaelic terms against their cultural background.
   
   After working through about half of the book, I can say that I am pleased with the purchase, and feel that I am already getting the hang of this language far more quickly than I would have imagined. But don't forget the CD's.



2. One thing I very much appreciated about this course (though it is likely to be a point that turns off inexperienced and first-time language learners)is the way in which the book plunges straight into quite sophistocated language. The approach of providing "lexical chunks" rather than single words or endless grammar examples is, in my opinion very useful and very appropriate to such an idiomatic language as Gaelic.
   
   On the down side, I have to agree with other reviewers that felt the pronunciation section of the book was severely lacking. A more detailed description of what to expect would enable learners, not only to better follow the CD, but also attempt to more accurately pronounce new vocab learned from reading independently outside the course. Way too much detective work is necessary to build up a picture of pronunciation rules from the CDs and a more comprehensive overview would really be immensely helpful- especially given how complex the pronunciation of Gaelic is!
   
   Regarding the CD moreover, personally, I wish the speed of delivery were a little more natural- the stilted word-word-word delivery is a little annoying. It is possible to speak clearly yet naturally and I don't feel it is much help to get used to turtle-speed speech when normal spoken Gaelic is much faster. Clear speech is essential but overly slow speech is unnatural.
   
   Finally, I really wish that the grammar index was more comprehensive so that it would be possible to refer to grammar as necessary without feeling bound by the course structure- it is, after all, a self-instruction course and I need something that will enable me to reach the language I need when I need it. On a related point, it would also be a great help to have an English-Gaelic glossary as well as the Gaelic-English one to avoid having to search through the units looking for forgotten vocabulary.
   
   Overall, with some revision, this could really be a good course. I have enjoyed using it and it has been a great help but with some improvements it could be much better.



3. While the older version by Roderick MacKinnon may be better for all the fine points of grammar, this is the version you want for learning conversational Gaelic. The lessons build upon each other gradually, so you'll want to master each one before preceding. With dedication, you'll do just fine.



4. This book is definitely not for beginners. There's little in the way of explaining pronunciation, or anything else for that matter. I'd return it if I could. Better look elsewhere.



5. Gaelic pronunciation is so different from English that a CD is absolutely necessary to be able to figure it out. However, the pronunciation guide on this CD is inadequate. I can hear that there are more ways to pronounce certain letters than are given in the guide (For example, the letter L pronounced as V), which leaves me pretty much at sea with getting into the exercises themselves. Even with memorization of the sounds, it may be difficult to begin.
   
   I think they could improve the CD by including any odd pronunciations that were left out, and perhaps by giving some attention to pairs of vowels within words, which sounded like diphthongs to me. A glossary with phonetic (IPA) key would possibly be useful. But maybe that's another book :)

5 comments about Learning Irish.

1. This book is an essential one for anyone who wants to learn Irish. It contains 34 well-written chapters, pronunciations, and a lot of grammar. The glossary in the back is useful, but to get into the nitty-gritty of grammar details and for a more comprehensive word list, you should probably buy a companion dictionary or grammar book.



2. Overall, I say this is a great book. I have learned how to speak the Irish language as fluently as an American who has not traveled across the seas can. What leaves this book at four stars and not five for me is the complexity of the design in the book and the simplicity of the explanations.
   
   First of all, I spent ten minutes trying to find the pronunciation table of the different consonants and vowel combinations. They were hidden in the back with a bunch of other appendixes that I felt should have been a part of the book. But that also goes with my issue with the simplicity of the book.
   
   This is not going to teach you how to understand the Irish language. Having studied ancient languages such as Latin and Sanskrit I am rather used to the formal training of understanding each word and how it is formulated and transformed throughout the sentences. This book has an appendix that if you took the time to learn on your own you could attempt something like that, but there is no chapter based around such a structured understanding of the language.
   
   But of course, although I do have these complaints, I am only taking it down to four stars because it is a good book to learn to speak the Irish language. So if you want something that is in-depth enough to teach you the pronunciations and a great CD accompanying it as well as learning common sentences and a good learning structure, then this is perfect for you. However, if you are looking for a complete understanding of the language and the ability to break down the structure then perhaps you should look for something else.



3. I've used the textbook in class, and it was great with the help of a teacher. But as a teach-yourself with audio cassettes...I mean, audio cassettes!! It is a hopelessly outdated - not to mention annoying to use - technology. Wait for a version with CD's, otherwise this is a very difficult text for self-instruction.



4. This book is brutally fast-paced, and seems to assume a pretty solid knowledge of linguistics. For example, in lesson 2, it states, "A second person singular pronoun, e.g., tú, tusa, is used wen addressing one person. A second person plural pronoun, e.g. sibh, sibhse, is uned when addressing more than person. The plural is not used to express politeness or formality". That last sentence would be utterly cryptic to someone who has never studied a language that makes a T-V distinction. On the other hand, if you're already a polyglot, this book is probably exactly what you're looking for.
   
   As a side note, the binding is not very good. I've owned the book for one week and the pages are already falling out.



5. The 1995 edition, which had horrible binding and provided Audio-Cassettes, is an embarrasment to Mícheál Ó Sidhial's fine course in studying the Irish language. I brought the recent 2006 edition for my friend. This edition has a better layout, it uses simplified terms, it still uses proper grammar terms "Second person singular", "Third person plural" but it offers a better explanation of the terms,but it can not avoid using them, I don't see another way of expressing such a term.
   
   Numerous lines such as "Do not use the plural for formality or politeness" will be confusing to English speakers, as in Scottish Gaelic, French, Spanish and Latin people use the Second person plural for formal purposes. I.e. Vous and Tu (the French words for two).
   
   Mícheál Ó Sidhials' "Learning Irish" focus's mainly on the Conamara Dialect, specifically the Cois Farriage dialect, which is found on the coast of Galway. I myself am a native Gaeilgeoir from Conamara and don't live far from where Mícheál Ó Sidhial was born, I specifically chose this product to give to my friend because it was based on my dialect of speaking, but if you do not want to speak the Conamara dialect, you should purcahse another product. If you were unaware of dialect differences, than choose a product that offers a dialect. 'Standard Irish' is a cultimation of various dialectual aspects, and gives an unauthentic feeling, I strongly recommend a product with a dialect, Connacht, Munster or Ulster. (Conamara is a member of the Connacht dialect)
   
   Remembering that I am writing about the 2006 edition, it is an amazing revamp from the older editions. This edition provides an intensive hsitory of the history of the Irish Language, it also features a number of idioms which make you sound very authentic, after only a few days my friend sounds alot like me, using phrases I myself use, giving her a native feel. ONLY purchase a copy with the Audio CD's, you will learn the grammar and words where the CD's will help with your pronouciation. DO NOT just purchase the Audio CD's they do not provide any grammar help, their job is to provide pronouciation examples.
   
   Overall, this product matches a teacher, and deserves 5 stars.

3 comments about Basic Irish: A Grammar and Workbook (Grammar Workbooks).

1. Keep in mind that this book is not the place to start if you haven't studied Irish before (or studied other languages from a grammar-intensive perspective). If you are just starting, save this for later and get a basic course that includes audio (you MUST have audio with Irish). If you can find it, Irish on your Own is a good starting place, or if you're really serious, Learning Irish. With that disclaimer, here's my review:
   
   I studied Irish some years ago fairly intensively, and I was always annoyed by the lack of a book JUST LIKE this one. I've had it only a few weeks, but have had a chance to examine it and work through some of the exercises. It is something that has been sorely needed for a long time. If you are familiar with Irish language resources, you may recognize the author's name--Nancy Stenson (she is a linguistics and Irish language professor at the University of Minnesota). She compiled a huge series of worksheets to accompany "Learning Irish" in the early 1990's (I was lucky enough to find and print them out some years ago from an internet server archive). She has now written two Irish grammar workbooks. I don't have the second yet--Intermediate Irish--but soon will.
   
   Stenson's Basic Irish is wonderful. It covers all the basic grammar/structure concepts AND offers page after page of various types of practice problems--filling blanks, sentence manipulation, verb conjugation, sentence negation, translation both ways, correcting errors, and more... just tons of good stuff!
   
   Here's a summary of the sections: Spelling and pronunciation, word order, lenition, mutations, nouns and articles, classes and cases, ... , prepositions, numbers, verbs I & II & III, irregular verbs I & II, copula, verbal nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and a few other topics.
   
   As you can see, a lot of info--and it all has in-depth explanation and tons of practice problems. This is a lot like the types of grammar workbooks that are available for all of the major languages. With some of the latest Irish learning materials available, there is now a pretty rich pool of resources out there and this book, especially, fills a huge void that has been there for years.



2. I would recommend this book to anyone trying to learn Irish who was not raised in Ireland. It is well written, covers a lot of material. It also has exercises for each chapter with the answers to the exercises. It also answered a lot of questions I had considering the problems with different dialects. There is a lot of good information for the price!



3. I've got a small library of beginning Irish books. I've turned a corner recently with rapid progress which I attribute to two things: this grammar book and Rosetta Stone for PC. Rosetta Stone has been providing examples of how things are supposed to sound. R.S. goes so slowly, and since it's aimed at learning naturally (like a child does), it can be a little frustrating. This workbook was a good companion for bringing the level up, adding some general guidlines/rules to explain the 'why' (not just the 'what'.) There are other books on the market that might be just as good, but this is the one I turned a corner with.... This book has no pictures or distractions from what is being taught -- it's a WORK book! The lesson in the chapter is re-enforced with questions at the end of the chapter, with the harder questions asking you to build on what you've been taught, come up with an original construction based on what you've learned. Really very nice.

4 comments about Teach Yourself Gaelic Conversation (3 CDs + Booklet) (TY: Conversation).

1. I'm using this with "Teach Yourself Gaelic Complete Course", and it's very good for extra practice. My only complaints are the dialogues. They're not very lively and are a bit monotone. The dialogues in the complete course are much livelier.



2. This conversation set is an excellent help to learning and practicing Scottish Gaelic especially if you live far from any other people or group that share your interest in learning this language. Speakers are easy to hear and follow. Conversation content is very useful and relevant to real-life interaction. The written booklet helps the English speaker begin to make the connection between the sounds of Gaelic and its very unique spelling method. Highly recommended.



3. I listen on my iPod while i walk and am slowly learning some simple greetings...but enjoy it a lot and the process used to teach the language is very effective.



4. These CDS are not the conversations in the Teach Yourself Gaelic book! So don't expect to buy them and use them to follow the lessons in the book. THey are good cds and the the booklet helps you learn basic phrases in a conversational mode, but they can't be used with the larger book. That is disappointing and the cover is misleading because you can't tell that these CDs are not the same as those that come with the book in a set. Otherwise, great to use the CDs for learning how to say many things in Gaelic.

4 comments about Spoken World: Irish.

1. I have to confess that I'm not that far in the course, but I am very familiar with the Living Language approach, as I have the Japanese, Russian, Polish, Korean, and Chinese courses as well. That having been said, the thing I like the most about this course is the audio. Other courses are more about reading AND listening, and rarely have just audio exersises. they may have a few here and there, but they do not have the amount that Living Language offers. And I believe that you need to have sufficient audio only exposure in order to understand people when they speak to you. Overall the book is a great start in the language too. The grammar notes are short, but clear and concise. The vocabulary is practical and up-to-date. The exercises are easy and yet good for the topics covered in the lessons. the only complaint I have is that there are no vocabulary lists for the 'readings' given in most lessons. You are expected to look up any unknown words you want to know. In the Korean textbook the readings have a vocabulary list (be it smaller then the main list), but this is the only complaint I have. And all you have to do is look up a word here or there per lesson really. Also, this book does not lend it self to one particular dialect like most Irish textbooks. Instead it teaches you the Official Standard used in Ireland, which is based on all three major dialects (Ulster, Connacht, and Munster). Thus this book is good for getting a good grasp on Irish, and while not being as comprehensive as the Japanese, Russian or Chinese courses, it is still good for a beginner. And Best thing is you can go on and learn any dialect you would like and take your Irish further!



2. I recently purchased "Spoken World: Irish". I too am familiar with the Living Language series of language books. I have to say, from a person that owns "Teach Yourself Irish" and before, "Learning Irish", I would HIGHLY recommmend "Spoken World: Irish". There are several frustrations with other books that I believe were not in this book. Other books spend too much time on cultural aspects and glance over proper grammar & vocabulary. This books limits cultural lessons to minimum with updated and pertinent information. The print, binding and layout is fresh, easy to read and concise.
   
   Contrary to other linguists, I am very happy that this books teaches the official standard of Irish. It does not avoid the dialects but this gives one universal approach to the language, which is so important to gaining more speakers and users of a language. English is my 1st language and I have studied other languages.
   
   Since Irish has struggled in the past with declining speakers, the one positive thing about English is its ability to be rather universal. One can speak English with Americans, Brits, Australians, South Africans, etc. and get along just fine.
   
   Learning the dialects of English comes with travel, interaction with other people, reading and writing. That is the exciting part. The same can be said of this book. Once you understand the structure and vocabulary of the official standard of Irish, you can surely learn the differences between the dialects and it makes you even more passionate about the language and culture.
   
   I also find the conversations to be concise, without archaic or useless vocabulary. Some other language books teach you vocabulary such at the word for turnip or car tire. This books focuses on useful words and builds upon learning.
   
   I have purchased other Living Language books for Russian, French, Portuguese and German. I thoroughly enjoy their approach to language acquisition. I think that most would agree that any new books the teach Irish is a good thing. Enjoy!



3. If you are interested in the Irish language, get this with Pimsleur, and alternate between the two. Pimsleur is usually the first material one should get, then Living Language and other materials. If you are extremely serious about a language, perhaps get Fluenz first, but it is expensive, as is Rosseta Stone, which I would avoid. Pimsleur for Irish is done differently from the Latin languages, and I haven't finished it yet, nor have I finished Irish Gaelic. Irish is difficult, so I use both together.



4. I like this product, I did not have enough money to buy the expensive computer program so this was a great substitute. Still at the beginning but for the price and what you get I am very happy with my purchase.

5 comments about Dic Scottish Gaelic English English Scottish Gaelic.

1. A handy quick reference Scots Gaelic to English/ English to Scots Gaelic that is easy to use and very handy in size and usage.



2. Not meant in any way as a comprehensive dictionary, this is a quick pocket reference. For its design, it is very good. Scots Gaelic to English/ English to Scots Gaelic that is easy to use and very handy. Nice for beginners.



3. I ordered the book. I paid for it. According to the shipment tracking, I received it, but I do not have it. Apparently it was delivered to the wrong address or not at all. When I tried to contact Amazon about this, I got no reply. I will not order anything again from Amazon.



4. this dictionary is quite good for beginners who don't know that many gaelic and probably don't need so many complicated words



5. This is an excellent way for beginners to learn gaelic. I was able to study and use some gaelic on a recent trip to Ireland and Scotland.

5 comments about Irish/English English/Irish Dictionary and Phrasebook (Language Dictionaries Series).

1. While I was not expecting a thorough compiliation of vocabulary, I, too, had much difficulty finding the words I was looking for. The lack of pronunciation only added to the frustrations I had while using this book.



2. Only for beginners, not that many words and only basic phrases, but handy for people just wanting to get a feel of the language.



3. If you have a basic idea for pronouncing Irish, this is just a handy little extra for travellers to have. Not too much vocabulary, but plenty of touristy phrases about food, music, holidays, family, etc. Use as a supplement only.



4. this book was a great tool for learning gaelic before i went to Ireland. I stayed with a Gaelic-speaking host family for a month this winter, and this book became my best friend!



5. I have looked at several Irish/English-English/Irish dictionaries and this is one that actually has a guide in the middle of the book that explains how things are pronounced in accordance with the groupings of consonants. Other more expensive dictionaries in this language do not have this. I ordered two of them.