Irish-gaelic Hello! Irish Learner Needs Some Tips!

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Himura_Hinata Thursday 10th of May 2007 06:38:10 AM
Hello! - Hello! My name is Hinata Himura(at least here and in Japanese class)! I have been trying to learn Irish for some time now, in fits and starts (mostly because I had undiagnosed ADD, now because I can\'t figure out which box my dad packed my textbook in). I also have a growing group of friends with me who want to learn it with me. My goal is to become fluent enough in Irish that I can study Brehon Law and the old Celtic myths in their (somewhat) original form (since I am studying to become a licensed Druid preistess), and also to raise my future children speaking Irish at home (they can learn English at school or from their grandparents, at home it\'s Irish). However, I have met some obstacles...

One of my biggest problems is that I am having trouble wrapping my tongue around some of the sounds in Irish. Just about every textbook I\'ve tried makes continious references to French and German. Problem is, I know next to nothing about either of those languages; even some of the references to English are a little beyond me, since the textbook was written by a British author and apparently British English and American English differ more than I thought they did.

I\'ve been taking Japanese in high school for about four years now, and frequently watch most of my anime in Japanese with subtitles. I always get complements for being able to speak what I know of Japanese with a really accurate accent (thanks to my teacher, who is Japanese by birth and still has a pretty strong accent). Unfortunetly, this means that I\'ve been having a very hard time making some of the sounds in Irish, both because I don\'t understand the textbook\'s references and because I can\'t figure out how to make my mouth and throat work that way. It took me about two years and a lot of coaching from my mother and some friends who are taking French to make that French \"r\" sound that the textbook kept refering back to for the broad \"dh/gh\" in Irish.

Does anyone here have any tips for how I can work on this? It would especially help if there\'s anyone else here who knows Japanese as well as Irish. If you know any textbooks that are a bit easier, that would be great too (I am currently using \"Teach Yourself Irish\" by Diarmuid O Se).

Also, on a side note, does anyone know of books or websites that have excerpts of Irish myth and/or Brehon Law in Irish? That\'d be nice.

caeireann Thursday 07th of June 2007 11:28:31 PM
- Don\'t you have a CD that comes with the Teach Yourself?

My boyfriend has that book and he has a CD with it and says it\'s real good. I have the Swedish Teach Yourself book and the conversations on the CD are excellent and very helpful.

You could also try the BÃºntas Cainte series.

It\'s especially designed for oral Irish and comes in three parts each with two CDs. In Ireland you can buy all three booklets and six CDs for only â‚¬25. I am not sure how much it is to buy online.

At any rate go here:

http://www.litriocht.com/

and here:

http://coislife.ie/

for Irish language books.

As for the myths I am not sure but try here:

http://www.daltai.com

and

http://www.irishgaelictranslator.com/translation

and ask the question and I am sure you will get an answer. Between those two sites they have around 10,000 registered members interested in Irish.

jamjam Monday 23rd of July 2007 01:45:38 AM
- hey I\'m irish and am learning japanese. might be able to help you. irish is fairly simple once you get to know the sounds that some letters together make. like \"se\" or \"sean\" wud be said like \"sshhay\" or \"sshhan\"

Phrasebase Archive
	Himura_Hinata	Thursday 10th of May 2007 06:38:10 AM
	Hello! - Hello! My name is Hinata Himura(at least here and in Japanese class)! I have been trying to learn Irish for some time now, in fits and starts (mostly because I had undiagnosed ADD, now because I can\'t figure out which box my dad packed my textbook in). I also have a growing group of friends with me who want to learn it with me. My goal is to become fluent enough in Irish that I can study Brehon Law and the old Celtic myths in their (somewhat) original form (since I am studying to become a licensed Druid preistess), and also to raise my future children speaking Irish at home (they can learn English at school or from their grandparents, at home it\'s Irish). However, I have met some obstacles... One of my biggest problems is that I am having trouble wrapping my tongue around some of the sounds in Irish. Just about every textbook I\'ve tried makes continious references to French and German. Problem is, I know next to nothing about either of those languages; even some of the references to English are a little beyond me, since the textbook was written by a British author and apparently British English and American English differ more than I thought they did. I\'ve been taking Japanese in high school for about four years now, and frequently watch most of my anime in Japanese with subtitles. I always get complements for being able to speak what I know of Japanese with a really accurate accent (thanks to my teacher, who is Japanese by birth and still has a pretty strong accent). Unfortunetly, this means that I\'ve been having a very hard time making some of the sounds in Irish, both because I don\'t understand the textbook\'s references and because I can\'t figure out how to make my mouth and throat work that way. It took me about two years and a lot of coaching from my mother and some friends who are taking French to make that French \"r\" sound that the textbook kept refering back to for the broad \"dh/gh\" in Irish. Does anyone here have any tips for how I can work on this? It would especially help if there\'s anyone else here who knows Japanese as well as Irish. If you know any textbooks that are a bit easier, that would be great too (I am currently using \"Teach Yourself Irish\" by Diarmuid O Se). Also, on a side note, does anyone know of books or websites that have excerpts of Irish myth and/or Brehon Law in Irish? That\'d be nice.
	caeireann	Thursday 07th of June 2007 11:28:31 PM
	- Don\'t you have a CD that comes with the Teach Yourself? My boyfriend has that book and he has a CD with it and says it\'s real good. I have the Swedish Teach Yourself book and the conversations on the CD are excellent and very helpful. You could also try the BÃºntas Cainte series. It\'s especially designed for oral Irish and comes in three parts each with two CDs. In Ireland you can buy all three booklets and six CDs for only â‚¬25. I am not sure how much it is to buy online. At any rate go here: http://www.litriocht.com/ and here: http://coislife.ie/ for Irish language books. As for the myths I am not sure but try here: http://www.daltai.com and http://www.irishgaelictranslator.com/translation and ask the question and I am sure you will get an answer. Between those two sites they have around 10,000 registered members interested in Irish.
	jamjam	Monday 23rd of July 2007 01:45:38 AM
	- hey I\'m irish and am learning japanese. might be able to help you. irish is fairly simple once you get to know the sounds that some letters together make. like \"se\" or \"sean\" wud be said like \"sshhay\" or \"sshhan\"