Beginner's Irish with Online Audio

By Gabriel Rosenstock

Book Overview

The Irish language, also known as Irish Gaelic or Gaeilge, is spoken today by approximately a million people worldwide. It is also the basis of the Irish literary tradition, which is the oldest in Europe after Greek and Latin. Whether you want to connect to your Irish heritage or carry on a conversation when visiting the Gaeltachtai (small rural pockets in Ireland where Irish is the first language spoken), Beginner's Irish with Online Audio is the perfect start

Ideal for those new to Irish, learning at home or in the classroom, this guide includes a brief history of the Irish language; 10 carefully-paced and practical lessons with dialogues, vocabulary, and expressions; a guide to the Irish alphabet and pronunciation; and online MP3 audio files for free download featuring pronunciation by native speakers. The author uses the medium of poetry to enrich the reader's study of Irish. Numerous examples from Irish literature and poetry, as well as common proverbs and sayings, help teach vocabulary and grammar in an engaging way. A chapter on Irish names and their origins and another on Geography and Tourism round out this unique guide to learning Irish.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0781813816
• ISBN13: 9780781813815
• Release Date: March 2019
• Publisher: Hippocrene Books
• Length: 152 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Start your 1000 mile journey through Irish here

I cannot parse the intricacies of grammar or usage to nit-pick as some Irish speakers might be able to do--a habit that intimidates those of us less fluent. This book, however, is for the latter category. As a refresher or a starter, this whets your appetite not by plunging you into the usual "Dia dhuit" conversation but a gradual grazing and nibbling about. Instead, the long history of this language--the oldest vernacular outside of Greek and Latin surviving in Europe--a look at male and female names, and the role of the language among tourists and in Ireland allows the reader to get a feel for the contexts within which today's learner will progress.Rosenstock, of German-Irish parentage by the way, is a noted poet, critic, editor and translator. His wit and enthusiasm make this an ideal starting-point for not only those who wish to learn Irish but those curious about how the language works, what its grammar and vocabulary look like, how simple conversations might go, and what its proverbs and colloquialisms reveal about the native Irish character.Rather than dive into another twenty-lesson textbook like Michael O Siadhail's admirable but daunting "Learning Irish," my advice is to begin here, see if you like the language, and then go on to the more linguistically oriented tapes and series. This also accounts for the demotion of a star. Perhaps to appeal to the widest audience, almost no phonetic equivalents for the sounds of the Irish alphabet are given, since Scots, Aussies, ESL readers, and Americans might all say the sounds differently. Too often, Irish texts assume a learner with a standard English (as in the south-of-Britain version) dialect/accent. This avoidance, while admirable on one hand, detracts from a learner's "ear," necessary for anybody needing to get a grasp of the peculiarities of Irish pronunciation. Still, you can read and get a feel for the layout and mentality of the language here and gain a valuable foundation upon which to later sound out...Adh mór/good luck!