1 a good dictionary that translates in both directions for vocabulary. the little blue and
orange one they sell on this website (under "shop") I highly recommend.
2 "Teach Yourself: Irish" is good for grammar. It teaches the southern Munster dialect,
but that's fine. There is a version that comes with tapes. That will let you hear the
sound of the language and serve as a grammatical reference. Be sure NOT to buy
anything that says "gaelic" on it. If you do, you have bought materials on Scottish, not
Irish. Look for "Irish" or "Gaeilge"
3 Copy the grammar rules for verbs and prepositions from this site, it is rather difficult
to get a comprehensive "all in one spot" set of rules for those common constructions.
4 "Briathra na Gaeilge: Regular and Irregular" This is a book which conjugates examples
of common verbs and all the irregular verbs for you. Very hard to come by, I had to order
mine from a little bookshop in New York. If you ask Liam
(
...he's in
charge), I'm sure he will be happy to supply you with the name, phone# and address of
the place (trust me, it's worth it)
There is really no one book that can substitute for a live, 98.6 degree teacher, but all of
these combined will allow you to get the basics, and formulate your own sentences. #3
is, of course, free, but won't make too much sense without #2. If you don't have the
means to purchase all of these things, in order of importance, they are #2, #1, #4.
Feel confident buying anything that says "An Gúm" or is copyright, "Rialtas na hÉireann"
Those are as official as you can get, Rialtas na hÉireann meaning the Government of
Ireland.
I hope this has been helpful. What you need to do is to decide just how much you would
like to learn. Conversational tape courses work as quickly as you can memorize, but
you only learn how to say what they teach, not to make your own sentences. Two
suggestions, one of which is essential and the other is highly recommended would be
1 Essential - learn WITH someone. A few friends or your parents if you can. Use what
you learn every day. As with any language, if you have no one with which to speak, you
will quickly forget what you have learned. It's tough at first, but stick with it, it's worth
it, especially if you like poetry.
2 Highly recommended - find a penpal...someone who's fluent...to write to. This will
make sure that you're not learning any mistakes, but if you're careful, it's not entirely
necessary.
Go n-éirí an t-adh leat!
(Good luck!)
(guh NAY-ree un TAW-d lutt)
..................
