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I am hoping to get an unoffical poll to see how people here are learning Irish. I had started teaching myself a few years back going through “Learning Irish” and really didn’t get that far. I know there quite a few book for teaching onesself but would like to know if anyone here feels they have developed a fairly good system for getting into the language.
It depends on what your needs are. Do you want to be able to read Irish books or do you expect to be able to understand it and speak it?
If you want to do the latter, you NEED audio. I would seriously recommend doing some general reading on language learning techniques. Most study that has been done contradicts the traditional approach quite a bit. And by traditional approach I mean learning out of study books, grammar tables, things like that. Not to say you won’t end up consulting things like that, but it is not a way to learn a language.
When learning anything, “spaced repetition” is a CRUCIAL concept. It is better to work with a small amount of material at a time and really learn it than to try to cram in a lot at once and expect you will remember or internalize it. Ideally, you need audio and text that you can read. The text will help you figure out what is actually being said (think of it as the answers in the back of a math book so you can check your work).
I recommend reading this article and really working with a method similar to this:http://www.tommasonjr.org/?p=21
This type of repetitive exercise where you are thinking intensely about the material as you are doing it is what actually helps you learn. Most other methods are volatile. Flashcards have value, but I think you’ll find that as time passes, you won’t remember the words you don’t use or don’t have identified with other words and contexts within your head. When you learn a word, learn it in a sentence and learn synonyms, because Irish is full of synonyms and words that have very similar meaning.you won’t remember the words you don’t use
that is true in general… if you don’t want to forget anything, you have to speak Irish all the time and about all kinds of subjects… which is quite difficult to do… 🙂
Yeah, it becomes easier as you get better, I think, but it is a challenge to keep everything current in your head.
For this reason it’s also important (as with any language) to build up a core vocabulary of most of the words that you would need to describe basic things so you can use them to explain concepts or things that you don’t specifically remember the words for.
One thing I also recommend is that, as soon as possible, switch to primarily using An Foclóir Beag for your first look-ups. That’s because it’s Irish words with Irish definitions, which causes you to think of each word as it is in Irish, not as a word translated from English. If you want to know what “iasc” means, “ainmhí veirteabrach a mhaireann in uisce agus a análaíonn trína gheolbhach; breac éisc; cnuasach éisc; an bia ar chorp an éisc” should help, provided you understand all those words, and if you don’t, that tells you that you don’t even know the basic words to describe the object “fish”. For instance, you might not know the word “geolbach”, but now you will, and not only that but you’ll have it contextualized in your brain along with the word “iasc” rather than just be associated with the English word “gills” (the latter is what you DON’T want).
The more you can challenge your brain and put it into a situation where it has to work on those associations, the more likely you will be to form a fully functional of the model of the language in the appropriate center of your brain and identify those words with their CONCEPTS not with their translations.
stuff that’s easy?ish to do
…make your shopping lists as Gaeilge.
I’m learning Spanish at the minute – when you write “diario” on your list every day for several weeks, you DO remember that it’s a newspaper!A friend of mine used to talk to himself about simple tasks he had to do – even if you just use phrases at first .. “I must bring that suas staighre” etc
eadaoin
Yeah, that is a good idea as well. Talking to yourself is a big help – I did that a lot in the beginning when I was learning and I still can remember some of the phrases that I used to say a lot now, which means they’ve obviously stuck with me and I really internalized them. And as you point out, you don’t have to know the whole sentence, if you can plug in any bits of Irish into your thought process or activities, it’s a good thing.
What are the goals of you other learners here? I suppose my eventual goal would be to increase my fluency so that I could read fairly easily and not have to use the dictionary for every sentence when reading. I would also like to find some good literature in the language.
I enjoy reading (at this point I can read most things without needing to consult a dictionary) but I am most interested in being able to speak and understand it fluently which is a real challenge when you don’t have access to native speakers.
If you are looking for literature, most Irish writers agree that Martin O Cadhain is probably the most important force to be reckoned with (especially if you are into Connacht Irish). Diarmaid O Suilleabhain is one of the pre-eminent Cork writers, I believe. I have one book by him but haven’t read it yet. Micheal O Conghaile is very good. Mairtin O Direain, Sean O Riordain, Maire Mhac an tSaoi are probably the most important poets.
I enjoy reading too, and can read most stuff to get the gist. (memo to mé féin – I haven’t read today’s Irish page in the Irish Times yet).
If you’re reading, start with simple stuff and work up -there are books written for adults, but with simplified vocab — I revived my school Irish, when the kids were young, by buying kids books in Irish for them and half-reading/half-translating them. And singing kids songs in Irish to them.
I suppose my goal would be better fluency in speech, but as I get older I get slower! But at least I understand more!
eadaoin
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