I came across this website today and I was wondering if anyone knows anything about it?

http://www.phouka.com/gaelic/book01/preface.html

I it seems to be one of the more in-depth online Irish courses out there, but there are some hiccups with it that are mentioned right away on the main page.

1) The course is dated 1894.
2) The spelling and grammar are not standard.
3) The font is Bunchló Ársa GC.
4) The course uses the dot instead of the "h".

But just skimming through the different lessons, there seems to be a lot of information in this course. Has this website ever been talked about here?

It looks like they simply posted O'Growney's course "Simple Lessons in Irish"

Here is some information on Father O'Growney

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_O'Growney

What's the problem with that course? It uses the correct spellings and the correct Irish script and gives the correct grammar? Why is that a problem?

Josh,

I didn't say there was a problem with the course, I said there are some hiccups with it.

One:

It is using spellings that a modern dictionary may not have.

Two:

It is using some grammar that would be marked incorrect in modern Irish classes.

Three:

The font being used may not work for all computers.

Four:

While there is nothing wrong with the dot vs. "h," contemporary Irish doesn't really do this anymore except for nostalgic purposes.

I never meant there was anything wrong with this course, I meant that there are things about it that might cause problems with someone trying to learn contemporary Irish with it. I am happy to see such an in-depth resource out there now, but it would be even better if they had modified it for contemporary use. But that's just my opinion.

I just went there and opened it at random. In word list §108 I find "cáibin [sic] spelled without an í fada; and the pronunciation of "móin" given as "môn" with no acknowledgement of the final slender 'n'. Ditto with the final slender 'n' in "folláin".

I found a few things that didn't gel with my Irish grammar books also.

But I didn't know if they were just standard vs. non-standard differences, dialect differences, or maybe even slang usage differences.

In cases like this, one should go up a few levels in the site, to see what is intended.

http://www.phouka.com/index_learn.html

quote:

The Gaelic League Series, Simple Lessons in Irish by Rev. Eugene O'Growney, M. R. I. A.. FIrst published in 1894, this series of three books contains 140 lessons, in their original format.

I suspect what Dennis spotted are OCR glitches when this stuff was scanned.

But if I recall, Pouka is (was?) a denizen of this community, and may have something to add.

It says that this is in its original 1800's format on the main page, this was never in dispute.

My question is how good is the content?

The course you are asking about is just part 1. It does not cover much grammar. It mainly covers pronunciation in fact. The main thing you will notice is the verb atá instead of tá. Another thing you will notice is the spelling of conas as cionnus. There is very little grammar in this. The grammar is probably in parts 2 and 3. Note however that slender n's are indicatted in his course by an italicized n. You can get more information on O Growney's transcription system at http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/~oduibhin/teangeolas/ogrowney.htm

This is not a full course in Irish, and so the answer to your question as to the content is that it is somewhat sparse.