Hello everyone,

I have recently bought the Before You Know It Irish CD-Rom and have just sat down to take a look at it.

While I love the fact there is are learning resources out there like this, I am not sure if I like this one just yet.

I started on the first list of adjectives and already I am not sure how I feel about it because you are given the word "suaimhneach" and told it means "quiet." Now it appears that this CD-Rom is catering to English speakers so I find it odd that they would do that right away when most English speakers are going to use "ciúin" because that is typically the concept we think about when we think of the word "quiet." I have been always been under the impresstion that "suaimhneach" means "relaxed."

Also, the female speaker definitely flipps and rolls her "R". She seems to be flipping it in the middle of the word, but tends to really roll it at the beginning and end of the word. Now I am not complaining because I have always liked that in languages like Welsh and Spanish, but then there is also a male's voice on the program and he doesn't do it for the same words. So, I could see a possible confusion for someone...

Are there others here who have tried this program? I would like to know what other people think of it?

I have a demo copy. It's not a bad way to jam a bunch of vocabulary into your head, but it does seem to be about vocabularly only.

As to the variations in pronunciation among speakers, you'll hear this in Transparent Language Company's other product, "Irish NOW!" There are three voices: an older woman, a man, and a young woman and they all have distinct accents even to my American ears.

I wouldn't let it bother you. In real life you'll be faced with all kinds of speakers anyway.