Teach Yourself Irish

The only pronunciation guide is in the first chapter, you must memorize all those crazy rules to proceed, unless you buy the audio CD. But I am hard of hearing so that's no help in reading anything.

Irish belongs to the Celtic language family, the most western of the Indo-European language groups. It is of interest to linguists since it may preserve features of the original Indo-European proto-language. The family has two branches, the first composed of Gaelic and Manx, which are very similar to each other, and the other branch, composed of Welsh, Breton, and Cornish, but they are too different to be mutually intelligible. Irish is known as Gaeilge, and Welsh is called Cymraeg. Breton and Welsh are grouped together as Brythonic languages, while Irish and Scots Gaelic are grouped together as Goedelic languages. Irish and Scots Gaelic speakers can understand each other with some difficulty and also Welsh and Breton speakers. However, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a Welsh and an Irish speaker to understand each other.Irish and Scots Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton are still alive, but Cornish and Manx have died out. The other Celtic languages that have died out are Galatian (spoken by Celts in central Turkey), Gaulish, and Celtiberian or Hispano-Celtic. The last three were assimilated into the Roman empire. Lastly, there was Pictish, which may or may not have been a real Celtic language.One of the first things students notice is the odd spelling of Irish words. This is because there are only 18 letters in the Irish alphabet. This isn't many letters compared to English's 26, Arabic's 29, Bulgarian's 30, Russian's 33, Hungarian's 44, Japanese's 52, or Chinese's thousands of characters (however, there are only about 220 basic characters, or radicals), but Malaysian still has less at 14. One of the ways Irish gets along with such a small alphabet is that there are complex rules relating to combinations of consonants and vowels, with the vowels affecting the pronunciation of the consonants. You'll learn about all these in the first chapter, which is on phonetics and pronunciation.To discuss the phonetics a little more, Irish has short and long vowels like English, but unlike English it has both long and short consonants, called slender and broad. If you are an American or Scottish speaker your consonants are all broad, but if you are Welsh or Irish your consonants are likely all slender, but old Irish has both slender and broad types. To give an example of this, the "l" in "leaf" is slender, but the "l" in "feel" is broad, and the word "little" has a slender initial "l" and a broad second "l."Another interesting aspect of Irish phonetics is there are complex rules for mutation of sounds, such as in lenition and eclipsis of consonants, which I alluded to earlier. This often happens in the first consonants of verbs and nouns. Lenition means softening, or the replacement of a loud, abrupt sound by a softer hissing or continuous sound, as in the replacement of "c" by "ch." Eclipsis occurs when the sound of a consonant like "c" is overtaken by the sound of the consonant before it, such as a "g." I'm used to this phenomenon being referred to

From what I have seen, this is the best all around course on Irish language there is. I bought it awhile ago and was impressed with its comprehensive compilation. Remember, study everyday for a short period, Irish is hard to learn and easy to forget so it takes constant study.A warning to the learner, Irish has a number of dialects, some of them are mutually unintelligable such as the Ulster and Connacht dialects. Don't be discuraged when you come across someone who speaks a different dialect and either A) they can't understand you B) they tell you you're pronouncing it wrong or C) both A and B. Irish people are extremely proud of the dialect they speak (if they do indeed speak Irish) since it's unalterably linked to the land and they are quite convinced that they speak the language the only correct way it can be spoken.

After researching Irish language courses at my local libraries and on-line, I selected the following two textbooks for my own study of this language. The two books are Teach Yourself Irish by Diarmuid O Se (1993 edition) and Learning Irish by Micheal O. Siadhail (1995 edition). Before reviewing each one, let me first warn those wishing to learn the rudiments of this language that you may find Irish grammar, spelling, and pronunciation hopelessly complex and illogical. (Fortunately, it uses the Roman alphabet.) Whichever book you chose, proceed in small steps. Read just a chapter a day to keep your frustration to a minimum. I recommend beginning with Teach Yourself Irish, which I found the more enjoyable of the two books. Each of its 20 chapters opens with short dialogues which are topical as well as interesting. Next comes a review of grammar clearly explained at a very basic level. All of the chapters conclude with exercises requiring the reader to answer in short phrases or sentences. There are also illustrations scattered throughout the book, thus breaking up the monotony of the text. (Too many other language books for beginners, like Learning Irish, lack pictures to liven up the text.) On the audiotapes the dialogues have been re-created by native speakers who demonstrate, as I understand it, the Munster dialect. If you want a more thorough grounding in the language, read Learning Irish next. In its 36 chapters it will re-inforce what you have learned in Teach Yourself Irish, explain the grammar in greater depth, and expand your vocabulary. Each chapter begins with a laundry list of words to memorise. It is followed by a presentation of grammar which I found quite dry and boring. (It will put you to sleep if you are not careful!) Next there are some paragraphs of text to translate, drawing on the words in the vocabulary list. Finally, there are sets of exercises to test your skills, including one English-to-Irish exercise. As a do-it-yourself language student, I found myself to lazy to write out the answers for the exercises in both books. Instead, I would translate by sight, while taking quick peeks at the answer key provided at the back of each book. The audiotapes for Learning Irish offer a detailed treatment of what the author considers the more standarised pronunciation in Ireland today. *A word about dictionaries: The selection of Irish dictionaries currently on the market is disappointing. I ended up buying the Pocket Oxford Irish Dictionary because I thought it was the best one for beginners. I am still waiting for the big publishing houses, namely Cassell's, Collins, or the Oxford University Press, to put out an up-to-date, standard Irish-English/English-Irish dictionary with a phonetic pronunciation guide for each entry. This book would serve as an essential reference for the intermediate or advanced student.

The grammar is explained very clearly, and the companion tape is to explain how Irish is to pronounce. The Irish used in that course is very up to date; I think it's the best course of Irish, provided, of course, that you aren't an absolute beginner.

Irish is an extraordinarily difficult language to learn. To the English speaking learner, the written form of it bears little or no resemblance to how it sounds. As a result, you need to hear the language to learn it, and luckily this book comes with a cassette. If you want to get to grips with the basics of Irish as it is spoken today in Ireland, then this is a great place to start.