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Dia daoibh! Are these courses around the same level, or is one harder than the other? Could someone describe the exact level of difficulty that they are? What type of free or cheap courses are out there for a more intermediate level, say for someone who has completed or is finishing beginner and lower intermediate courses such as Learning Irish and Gaeilge gan Stró, Lower Intermediate Level? (I know there’s Gramadach gan Stró, but I’m looking for lessons with listening, reading, practice, etc. not just grammar.) I’ve found some free stuff online, but most resources are too easy, geared toward new beginners. Are Speaking Irish (An Ghaeilge Bheo) and Turas Teanga similar? If I buy one in the future, would buying the other one be worthless? Any other good courses and resources? GRMA.
Well, if you want to learn how to speak like a fluent native speaker from the Gaeltacht, I recommend “Speaking Irish An Ghaeilge Bheo“. As far as I can tell, the people on the video are mostly (maybe all?) native speakers from different Irish speaking regions so you’ll learn how to speak and understand the Irish language as it is actually spoken by fluent native speakers.
Turas Teanga is meant for people who already learnt “standard” in school and want to learn how actual native speakers speak. If that’s your thing, give Turas Teanga a try.
Good luck!
If you’ve already done the Gaeilge gan Stró: Lower Intermediate Level, you won’t get much new out of Turas Teanga. (Similar structure and material in both.) Speaking Irish is excellent and probably more geared to your level. Not all of the speakers are native, but you get a good mix and there are tips and mini lessons throughout.
Nancy Stenson’s books are good for grammar, with excellent exercises at the end of each chapter (as does Gramadach gan Stró, by the way). At the level you describe, though, I wonder if you don’t want to ditch the courses and just go for reading Irish literature, listening to fluent speakers whenever possible, maybe joining or starting a conversation group, getting to a Gaeltacht…
From the material I’ve seen published on Amazon, An Ghaeilge Bheo seems to be more advanced than Turas Teanga. In fact, these courses have different aims, the former provides examples of native speakers discussing a certain subject and, apart from occasional dialect notes, you’re expected to have already mastered the necessary grammar and vocabulary, whereas the latter touches on various points of grammar and idiom that crop up in the dialogues and has a more gradual approach, trying to build your communicative skills from basic interaction up to a more advanced level.
But, as Seáinín says, at your level you might already give a stab at listening to radio and TV programmes and other authentic stuff.
My practice lately has consisted of watching an episode of Ros na Rún and trying to understand it without the subtitles and, if possible, echo back what people say. It’s a challenge. I will go through sections of over a minute without needing to look at the subtitles. Sometimes if I just back it up and listen again I will understand perfectly. Sometimes after a few listens. Then sometimes I won’t have a clue what was said and I’ll need to look at the subtitles. Sometimes that makes it immediately apparent to me what I had heard. Sometimes I need to spend a minute or so working out what they could have said that would equate to what the subtitle is telling me. I can almost always get it at that point, but sometimes (as is the case with many things Séamas says) I still haven’t a clue what they really said. At this point, short of actually speaking with natives myself (which I can’t do at the moment), I feel this is the kind of challenging practice that best benefits me. It seems the closest to hearing actual conversations that you would have to react to very quickly. But of course, the annoying thing is when you encounter something you really don’t understand and there is no way of getting the right answer unless someone with better Irish than you listened to it and then explained it to you. In fact, a good activity may be to watch things with other speakers and you can occasionally pause if one person has a question – sometimes even people of lower levels can catch things you at a higher level may have missed. I intuitively believe that once your Irish is at a certain level, the best thing is to dive into the most authentic audio material you can find (for improving listening comprehension) and likewise for literature. There is also nothing wrong with not understand everything. After all, that itself is a situation one must prepare themselves for if they expect to go to a Gaeltacht. It isn’t necessarily feasible to ask someone to explain every word you may have missed. Listening to something for general information and being able to detach from the instants of misunderstanding is a skill unto itself that has to be learned. At first it’s really easy to lose track of what is being said the moment you hear a word you don’t get. It’s just a matter of very regular practice and putting a lot of time into it. Despite what these supposed polyglots tell you, there is no shortcut to learning to understand native speakers fluently. One can learn to convincingly speak a language in relatively short order, but the entrainment that takes place in the brain for interpretation takes time, so it makes sense to me that this is what one should focus their efforts on as much as possible. Anyways, sorry I departed from the main question, but I suppose I am just proposing an alternative mode of study (not that one has to be exclusive about these things).
As far as I can tell, the people on the video are mostly (maybe all?) native speakers from different Irish speaking regions
several of them are not native speakers, if I remember well.
several of them are not native speakers, if I remember well.
Which ones are not native speakers? I’ve got the book (and dvd), but haven’t actually started working through it yet.
*note: Of course, I’m asking specifically about the Munster speakers. 🙂
Caithfidh mé mo DhVD a fháil! níl’s agam cá bhfuil sé 🙁 Fuair mé ‘n leabhar ach níl an DVD inti…
Tá súil agam ná fuil do DhVD caillte! :ohh:
several of them are not native speakers, if I remember well.
Which ones are not native speakers? I’ve got the book (and dvd), but haven’t actually started working through it yet.
*note: Of course, I’m asking specifically about the Munster speakers. 🙂
Cúpla daoine atá ar dheireadh an leabhair agus Trevor Sargent. Ní cainteoir dúchais í Helen Ó Múrchú, más buan mo chuimhne, ach is cuma, dúirt cainteoirí dúchais liom go bhfuil an blas aici agus ná fuil aon dearúdtaí ina cuid gramadaí.
Cúpla daoine atá ar dheireadh an leabhair agus Trevor Sargent. Ní cainteoir dúchais í Helen Ó Múrchú, más buan mo chuimhne, ach is cuma, dúirt cainteoirí dúchais liom go bhfuil an blas aici agus ná fuil aon dearúdtaí ina cuid gramadaí.
Go raibh maith agat, a Loin Dhuibh!
Beidh stáidéar a dhéanamh agam ar an leabhar san an tseachtaine seo chughainn (if all goes well*).* Dáltha an scéil – Conas a déarfá “if all goes well” as Gaolainn?
* Dáltha an scéil – Conas a déarfá “if all goes well” as Gaolainn?Le cúnamh Dé, nó rud éigint den tsórd san:
Beidh stáidéar á dhéanamh agam ar an leabhar san an tseachtain seo chughainn, le cúnamh Dé.
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