Hello,

My name is Robert, and I am in the prosess of learning Irish. There are some catches though.

1. I am blind so will have little to no idea what words written in Irish here are sound like as my computer will not Speak irish. Heck, it has a hard enough time speaking english. The other problem is most of the teaching courses are text book based so I need a course that uses audio format such as tapes or CDs so I can learn by listening.

2. I like the course "Irish on your own/ now your talking", but I have found that it is out of print. If someone is willing to copy the tapes or have them as mp3 files I am willing to buy them a pint and shipping costs. If there is a better course that is in the same type format as Irish on your own, such as done in both Irish and English, that would be a help as well.

3. Is it a good idea to stick to one form of Irish spoken? I started whith the Dr. Pemsler course "Irish quick and simple", done in the Munster (I think), and the Irish on your own I find to be much better. I also like the Ulster pronouncement better.

Sorry for any misspellings, spelling wasn't my best subject.

Go raibh maith agat,

Slan go Foil,

Robert

Hello,

The BBC has a nice audio course online, free, at this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/irish/blas/learners/beag1.shtml

I think it is done in the Ulster dialect, if I remember right. It requires the realplayer audio player, which you can get from here:

www.real.com

Also, you might find the tapes called "Irish 30" to be useful. I haven't actually used them myself, but considering your situation, I think it might be something to look into. They're available at Amazon or maybe at a local Borders or Barnes and Noble.

Aaron

(Message edited by aaron on October 02, 2005)

Dia Dhuit Robert! Fair play to ya for making the effort as we say ;
Tús maith leath na hoibre - A good start is half the work!

I would recommend sticking to one form of Irish - and defo stay well away from that Donegal "Irish" it's anything but irish! Just kidding! The rest of the dialects will come to you with time.

Go n-éirí an bóthar leat!

Domhnall

Dear Robert

I concur with Aaron's recommendation which I've repeated below. The link is to BBC Northern Ireland's program entitled Blas, and the teaching program which is entitled Giota Beag (A Wee Bit.) The program is divided into two parts with 15 lessons each, and although the recorded material is supplemented with printed vocabulary lists, as I recall, it is not necessary to use them. In fact one of the words the instructor frequently says is "éist." which means listen.

And yes, it's done in the Ulster dialect.

May your journey succeed.


The BBC has a nice audio course online, free, at this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/irish/blas/learners/beag1.shtml

Go raibh maith agat for all the responces, ta cupla fugle ar em

It should be noted that I have to type the words in the way they sound as being blind I have no idea, or should I say neal is agum how to spell them. I found the first of the bbc program lessons 1 through 15, but what is the second part's link?

for the what it's werth department, I will be in Ireland starting on oct 6th through the 16th and will be in belfarsta (Belfast) for a few days. if you like, drop me an email at and we will raise a pint.

Is mile lum pinta Ghuinness

hmmm ta me me honey e Texas agas is mile lum Galic. hmmm mo clan is Irelan anoc uck is American uck me.

if you have no idea what I was trying to say, that's fine as when you type in Irish whithout typeing it in the way it is spoken I have no idea what your saying...

hmmm I really want to learn so please let's try to find a way for me to use and learn Irish...

Chufa ma tu (I'll see you.)

Maith thú, a Robert,

That would be My Who, I believe. Believe it or not, most of the Irish you've written is understandable so long as your pronunciation is correct.

as regards the second 15 lessons in the Blas program, the BBC home page should have an icon which I believe is labelled "Giota Beag Eile" which will connect you to the second series.

I notice you claim citizenship in the Republic of Texas. Have they gone and seceded again?

Here's the link to the second set of lessons:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/irish/blas/learners/beag2.shtml

We have the word "Republic" on our flag out here in California, too...

(Message edited by aaron on October 02, 2005)

ta cincha
ta me mahoney ruplibca Texas hmmm is Texan me.

ar wie lat pinta Ghuinness?

If you can get it here via the internet, your fortune will be made.

I'm curious what you hear when your PC reads "Ar mhaith leat," or "tá mé i mo chonaí" which are the Irish spellings of your ar wie lat or ta me im mo honey."

(Message edited by pádraig on October 02, 2005)

You can sort-of hear what it sounds like here:

http://www.research.att.com/projects/tts/demo.html

Cut and paste some of Robert's Irish into it, and it'll turn it into a .wav file and play through the media player. I'm sure Robert has a much better text-to-speech engine, though.

(Message edited by aaron on October 02, 2005)

(Message edited by aaron on October 02, 2005)

Unfortunately that link doesn't have an Irish option. I typed ar wie lat into the U.S.English menu item and it gave me back gibberish.

Try

co nosh taw to

taw may go ma

with the first US English voice. It isn't very close, but just kind of fun. I've never actually seen an Irish text-to-speech engine, so I'm guessing Robert is listening to all this with a US English voice as well. Maybe his can figure out "ar wie lat".

(Message edited by aaron on October 02, 2005)

Hello Robert,
I have the 'Now you're talking' course on cassette tape in a box somewhere. To get them from tape to mp3 - I would have to, fix my old tape recorder, link it to a CD recorder, change the CD to mp3 and then upload unit 1 to a webpage.
Damn, I wish I was a drinker ;)
Click link below for unit 1


(Message edited by Asarlaí on October 02, 2005)

(Message edited by admin on October 02, 2005)

A hAsarlaí,

Does this mean the rest of the units are forthcoming?

I have very limited webspace so I can only put half a unit up at a time. I just emailed Robert and he has already got tape 1 so I'll give him 'tape 2' tomorrow. Would you like to hear tape one then? a Phádraig

I am a techno-idiot and therefore can't distinguish between what you call Tape 1 and what the link you posted pulls up. I put a shortcut to that link on my desktop. Does that mean it will remain there, or will the connection be lost as soon as you remove it from your site?

I can't even be sure my questions make sense.

Apparently what's up now is only half of unit one? Correct?

There are 6 or 7 units to every tape and that link will give half a unit at one time - The link won't stay there ..
If you want unit one you will have to download what is on that link now, tell you that you're ready for the second half of that unit and then I'll put the second half up on the link.
If you right click the link on the webpage you can save the file to your computer.

Asarlaí,

Is the "Irish on your own/ now your talking" series out of copyright protection?

Caoimhín

Okay, a chara,

I saved the first part of Unit 1 to my documents folder under the file name ceol3. I'm ready when you are, but isn't this going to take forever? 60 half units?

BTW I don't drink either, but this project might drive me to it.

I was just about to ask the same question. A Chaomhin, when do you sleep?

dia gud,
Well, to the person who has the tapes, if you are willing to post them, I would be happy to pay for shipping if it comes down to copy rights... but then again, educational teaching aids used for educational not for profet reasons fall whithin the cover of "for use for educational formating".

by the way, "ar wie lat" comes out perfect as far as my American voice program. if you want to play around whith it, www.hj.com will take you there click on jaws for windows.

hmmm maybe you can email me the files directly, and I can find out if I can post them on my site... hmmm it's out of print so you'd think we'd be okay (cart gelore)

Ga lore there we go, "cart ga lore"

anyway,...

Eire,

Unfortunately, unauthorized use of an entire copyrighted work (out of print or not) is not permitted for even educational purposes.

If the work has been released form copyright protection (and someone can prove that), feel free to do what you will with it (including posting links to it here). In the interim, I have pulled Asarlaí's link.

Airneanach ;-)

Hello Folks,
Oops, fair enough Caoimhin. I didn't check first to see if they were still under copyright. Robert said they were out print and I wanted to give him a sample.
I've done some research and they still sell 'Now you're talking' from Oideas Gael. Here's the link to their shop below. Robert. Also, I'm sure you be able to get these in Belfast when you go there this week.

http://www.oideas-gael.com/siopa/#liosta

Go raibh maith agat mo cara,

I called them straight away and spoke whith them and even ordered in irish. I was asked if I knew any irish as a friendly question, and when I responded ta cupla fucgle, he asked if I wanted to try to order my product in irish.

So, I asked Bu Wye lum Now your talking, and he asked "ever credit card" and I gave him the numbers, but got she and shoct confuesed and then he asked for my address but I didn't know "spring dove" so helped whith that. Is miy lum on shopa

they were very helpful.

Robert head towards west belfast there's quite a few pubs, shops and all that stuff there.
If you wanted to meet some irish speakers email the Cumann Gaelach in Queens university. Students are always up for a pint!!

Domhnall.

eire,
what method do you utilise as your input/outputs? I see above voice output for reading...so how do you input?

is there any 'varible braille' system that can transcode written English script to braile?

Could anyone here write a braille sequence-to-phoneme program, i.e. one phoneme = one symbol.

c'est possible?

eire,
what method do you utilise as your input/outputs? I see above voice output for reading...so how do you input?

is there any 'varible braille' system that can transcode written English script to braile?

Could anyone here write a braille sequence-to-phoneme program, i.e. one phoneme = one symbol.

c'est possible?

By the way, there are two different Roberts in question on this thread

"is there any 'varible braille' system that can transcode written English script to braile?"

That makes no sense...what I mean is: is there any technology that can, by a matrix, raise or lower little rods so that new symbols could be created in braille?

If sounds were coupled with these symbols, then a blind person could, after learning a number of symbols, have a braille sequence in parallel with the written English braille form to help learn the sounds.