Nótaí galaxyrocker - Ancient Celtic Languages, (Old) French, Latin, Old English

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galaxyrocker
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Nótaí galaxyrocker - Ancient Celtic Languages, (Old) French, Latin, Old English

Postby galaxyrocker » Mon Jul 20, 2015 10:01 pm

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So I'm new to the forum, though I did have an account on the old one; I could never use it because it was so slow. So, I think I'm going to start doing a log here, though I most likely will be sporadic at updating it.

Irish

I passed the B2 exam earlier this year, though my listening portion was atrocious. So that's my main goal, and has been for a while. Sadly, I just haven't been super motivated to work on it. There's a great site, hosted by Maynooth University, call Vifax that has segments of NuachtTG4, one of the few un-subtitled shows, and then asks questions about the segment. It also gives a transcription, the answers, and some other general questions about grammar and such. It's a great resource, but I just can't sit myself down and make myself use it.

There's also Comhrá a great TV show which is perfect for intermediate speakers/listeners. My issue with that is that it's completely subtitled in English, and there's no way to turn them off. Needless to say, I get distracted by that pretty easily and take my attention off the Irish. This applies to all other shows that I'm aware of, as well, and is a huge issue when trying to learn Irish; there's nothing, as far as I'm aware, with actual Irish subtitles (or even without subtitles at all, except for the news)

As for reading I've got several books (ok, more than several) in Irish backlogged, and am currently reading some folktales (a collection from Micháel Phatch), which is great because, apart from spelling (which is annoying), most of the dialectal stuff has been un-sanitized, so there's a lot of non-standard grammar features that I really enjoy reading. And when that one's done, I've got some of the 'classics' of Irish literature, as well as a Scribd account, which has a surprisingly high number of Irish ebooks available (though, alas, I won't be able to use my Kindle's new Irish dictionary).

Writing: I've got a native speaker friend who I chat with via Google several times a week. topics are varied, and I learn quite a bit of vocabulary from them because of that. I've had several people offer to help me if I send them stuff I've written, so I might take them up on that.

Speaking: I speak with the same native speaker, though nowhere near as often as we just text chat. I also speak with another speaker from America on Monday nights. We used to have a native speaker in these chats, but he's been gone a while. When I get a job, I'm going to look at perhaps paying someone (maybe my former native speaker teacher) to help me just get better at dialectal stuff. However, I'm generally not too worried, as speaking was my best portion on the TEG.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

On top of all of this, I'd like to add a third language, but I have such a bad case of wanderlust it ain't even funny. I'm serious about learning one, but I'm not sure which one I want to learn. I've dabbled or had interest in French, Spanish, Finnish, Romanian, Japanese, Mandarin, Haitian Creole, Slovene, among others, but none of them have held my interest for really long. I'd like to learn Northern Sámi, but I don't know of many English resource, or a way to contact speakers. Any tips on how to pick a language and just stick with it would be appreciated; I took Irish as a subject in school, then became passionate about it so I didn't have this issue.
Last edited by galaxyrocker on Mon Feb 12, 2024 3:35 pm, edited 26 times in total.
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker

Postby iguanamon » Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:06 pm

First, welcome to the forum! Right now everything is up in the air with our situation but it will eventually sort itself out. We may move back to the old site, but even if we do, I believe that move will also be temporary until a more permanent situation is determined. This has been on the burner for some time but this incident may serve as the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.

I have never learned a language that I didn't have a good reason for learning first. So, I've always stuck with them. In my experience, I can't put the cart before the horse- the cart being the language and the horse being the motivation. I can't give you advice for motivation. That has to come from within, in my experience. Once I have motivation, the rest is easy. So, if you can find a good reason, the rest will follow. Otherwise, you will continue to wanderlust because it seems you aren't being motivated by a language on its own. I have been on HTLAL for over 5 years and I have seen quite a few learners try to learn a language without motivation and the results are predictable.

Motivation can be a desire to travel, read literature, music, film, love of a culture or people, history, cuisine, etc. The reasons go on and on but you must figure out what motivates you for yourself. The languages I have learned are because of my interest in the peoples and cultures the languages represent. That, and the opportunity to use them factor in greatly. Ladino (Djudeo espanyol) was an exception. I can't really use it but I love the history, culture and literature. I don't learn a language "just because I can". It won't stick for me if I do that. "Just because I can" can work for some people but not me.
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker

Postby daegga » Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:15 pm

Where there is a will, there is a way.
http://www4.ur.se/gulahalan/
Should be enough to dabble in Northern Sámi.
You can use google translate to translate the Swedish to English.

Most resources will probably be in Norwegian, followed by Swedish. Older stuff rather in Danish.

This seems more advanced for example: http://kursa.oahpa.no/
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker

Postby Polyclod » Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:41 pm

Man, I don't have a freaking clue. After Spanish, French, and German, I was so sure I wanted to learn another language. But after trying on so many, so to speak, I just don't know why I was able to stick with those and I can't pick something else that I'll take "all the way'', or at least to a decent level. I think with Spanish it's just because I use it every day, and French because I've made friends that would never let me quit it :D . German is my language love, so that's enough to keep it in my life. But nothing out there really interests me as much as German, and the languages that do interest me superficially are either A.) too small to have enough resources to make investing the energy and time worth it or B.) too close to the languages I currently speak, and therefore I wind up getting bored seeing repetitions on the same old pattern. Sometimes I feel like it sucks that the Romance and Germanic languages dominate so much of the language-learning market...I already speak two of each, give me something new!

The only exception I can think of is Japanese, a language I already planned on learning "someday". You know...that eternal "someday'' that exists only in your head, that never seems to arrive...I already have the resources for it. Courses, native materials, you name it. And it definitely interests me. So why don't I do it? I don't know...I tell myself it's because it's a super-hard language that requires more time than I can devote to it. I'm already struggling trying to get French and German up to an advanced or at least high-intermediate level. And Japanese is supposed to take yeeeaaars of hard work. So part of me believes this excuse, but part of me doesn't. Maybe it's fear that's holding me back? The fear that I thought I wanted to be a hyperpolyglot, but I'll burn out after Japanese?

It might also be just seeing how the actual experience of learning multiple languages differs so much from the dream. Now I realize that these aren't just subjects I can study and then put to the side...these are living things that need attention. The more you ''adopt'', the more ''mouths'' you have to ''feed'' so to speak. I don't have the luxury of living like a language-learning monk...How many languages can I actually squeeze in my life? How many cultures can I really touch per day? The beginning stage is so fun, but the maintenance can be exhausting. If I really want to master German, and I add another language to the mix, then German gets less attention. Am I willing to do that? Is there a language that would be worth sacrificing the progress I've worked so hard to achieve in the other three already?

I hope you find some answers, because it's pretty frustrating.
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker

Postby galaxyrocker » Thu Jul 23, 2015 10:03 pm

Iguanamon wrote:First, welcome to the forum! Right now everything is up in the air with our situation but it will eventually sort itself out. We may move back to the old site, but even if we do, I believe that move will also be temporary until a more permanent situation is determined. This has been on the burner for some time but this incident may serve as the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.


Thanks! Yeah, I'm kinda hesitant to put too much in, until I see what the outcome is. I've been trying to use the old site now that it's back up, but it's just so painfully slow and clunky...

Iguanamon wrote:I have never learned a language that I didn't have a good reason for learning first. So, I've always stuck with them. In my experience, I can't put the cart before the horse- the cart being the language and the horse being the motivation. I can't give you advice for motivation. That has to come from within, in my experience. Once I have motivation, the rest is easy. So, if you can find a good reason, the rest will follow. Otherwise, you will continue to wanderlust because it seems you aren't being motivated by a language on its own. I have been on HTLAL for over 5 years and I have seen quite a few learners try to learn a language without motivation and the results are predictable.

Motivation can be a desire to travel, read literature, music, film, love of a culture or people, history, cuisine, etc. The reasons go on and on but you must figure out what motivates you for yourself. The languages I have learned are because of my interest in the peoples and cultures the languages represent. That, and the opportunity to use them factor in greatly. Ladino (Djudeo espanyol) was an exception. I can't really use it but I love the history, culture and literature. I don't learn a language "just because I can". It won't stick for me if I do that. "Just because I can" can work for some people but not me.


Yeah, that's my biggest issue. I've dabbled in some of them that interest me, but none have really held for me. I feel I just need to learn more about the literature and culture of them and one certainly will. I just lucked into Irish, where I was able to take classes and go on several immersion trips, really making me fall in love with the language and the people who speak it, as well as the dwindling 'Gaelic' culture of the Gaeltacht.

daegga wrote:Where there is a will, there is a way.
http://www4.ur.se/gulahalan/
Should be enough to dabble in Northern Sámi.
You can use google translate to translate the Swedish to English.

Most resources will probably be in Norwegian, followed by Swedish. Older stuff rather in Danish.

This seems more advanced for example: http://kursa.oahpa.no/



Thanks! I'll look into it, but it's unlikely I'll stick with it, just because the middle language issue. Maybe one day I'll know enough Norwegian/Swedish/Finnish to be able to tackle it, or I'll meet a native speaker. For now, as interesting a language as it is, it just doesn't give me enough to work on overcoming the obstacles (though a native speaker willing to practice would greatly change that).

Polyclod wrote:Man, I don't have a freaking clue. After Spanish, French, and German, I was so sure I wanted to learn another language. But after trying on so many, so to speak, I just don't know why I was able to stick with those and I can't pick something else that I'll take "all the way'', or at least to a decent level. I think with Spanish it's just because I use it every day, and French because I've made friends that would never let me quit it :D . German is my language love, so that's enough to keep it in my life. But nothing out there really interests me as much as German, and the languages that do interest me superficially are either A.) too small to have enough resources to make investing the energy and time worth it or B.) too close to the languages I currently speak, and therefore I wind up getting bored seeing repetitions on the same old pattern. Sometimes I feel like it sucks that the Romance and Germanic languages dominate so much of the language-learning market...I already speak two of each, give me something new!


I agree completely on that last sentence, but for a different reason. I want something new because I'm not super interested in Romance and Germanic languages, though I have dabbled in a few. Well, at least the ones that dominate the market. Sadly, most of my attention is drawn towards minority languages, which just makes the whole resource deal a pain in the ass.


Polyclod wrote:It might also be just seeing how the actual experience of learning multiple languages differs so much from the dream. Now I realize that these aren't just subjects I can study and then put to the side...these are living things that need attention. The more you ''adopt'', the more ''mouths'' you have to ''feed'' so to speak. I don't have the luxury of living like a language-learning monk...How many languages can I actually squeeze in my life? How many cultures can I really touch per day? The beginning stage is so fun, but the maintenance can be exhausting. If I really want to master German, and I add another language to the mix, then German gets less attention. Am I willing to do that? Is there a language that would be worth sacrificing the progress I've worked so hard to achieve in the other three already?

I hope you find some answers, because it's pretty frustrating.


That's something I've learned as well. The beginning stage is great, and there's plenty of resources and you can advance quickly. Sadly, it's the maintenance and working on those upper levels. While I'd be happy to only have one C1 language (Irish, of course, which currently doesn't offer a C2 testing anyway) and plenty of B1/B2 ones, I have to admit it'd be nice to have only two C1/C2 ones, and no others. So I do worry about giving enough time to Irish to actually make decent progress in others. Recently, I've been seriously looking at paying for continuing education classes through a local university of community college, just to give myself the initiative to do it, and keep up with it. Just gotta see what languages are on offer, and how much it'd interfere with my Irish time.

Part of me feels this would, on a whole, be a lot easier if I was in Ireland (or even Europe/place I need to use the local language). While Ireland mostly speaks English, it'd be much easier to find Irish speakers to interact with, and I could do it without a time delay and more often in person, leaving me more time to perhaps pick up another one. Or, if I was in another country that used some other language, I'd get enough exposure during the day I wouldn't feel bad about devoting my evenings and nights to Irish or something. Ah, the anglophone problems.

Anyway, this's turned into a long-winded rant about whatever. Oops. Perhaps I'll get a new one picked up, at least to dabble in, this weekend and see if it can't make me hooked.
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker

Postby rdearman » Thu Jul 23, 2015 10:11 pm

Have you considered esperanto or another conlang? They might be fun for you and quicker to reach fluency. Esperanto certainty has resources.
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker

Postby galaxyrocker » Thu Jul 23, 2015 10:13 pm

rdearman wrote:Have you considered esperanto or another conlang? They might be fun for you and quicker to reach fluency. Esperanto certainty has resources.


I have, but I must admit I don't really have much interest in conlangs. I'd rather learn another natural language first, then perhaps look at a conlang. Thanks for the suggestion though.
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker

Postby galaxyrocker » Fri Jul 24, 2015 2:57 am

So, I just wanted to give a little background about myself, since I didn't do much of that in the first post, as well as how I've been learning Irish up to this point, and my opinion on the best resources and some of the most commonly used/recommended ones. Just in case it helps someone in the future.



I started learning Irish my sophomore year of university. I knew of Scottish Gaelic at the time, but had no clue it was a separate language than Irish, or that Irish even existed, until I reached university. I did want to study abroad, though, and, since I was studying physics, I knew I wouldn't be able to have the language skills I needed to take classes through another language after just a year of study. So that limited my options to pretty much Ireland. I heard that your chances increased if you took Irish as a course, and had a minor in one of the two Irish-related subjects, so I signed up to study Irish. I quickly realized there wasn't a club in place like there was for other languages to help facilitate learning or immersion in other aspects of Irish culture (even if it was done through English), so I founded one as well, thus becoming more acquainted with various members of our department, all of who were absolutely amazing.

From there, I just sorta fell in love with it. It happened gradually, but by the time my second semester rolled around I was meeting my professor at least once a week outside of class to practice speaking and sounds, as well as new material that we hadn't covered in class. I eventually applied for, and was awarded, a grant to study abroad in the Gaeltacht. It was there that my love for Irish was really solidified. Just seeing the look on the older people's faces when I spoke to them, even if my Irish wasn't nearly as good as theirs, really touched me; they were just so enthused that I cared, when most in Ireland couldn't give a damn. From there I knew I'd continue with it. I spent a semester in Dublin (where sadly I didn't get to use it much), then returned to my university and started right back in, speaking with professors multiple times a week. By this time I had a part time job in our Irish department, and was able to speak with all of them on days I worked, and regularly met several for coffee (especially the Club sponsor). This pretty much continued up until I graduated, with me getting progressively deeper study and practice of it than my classmates, as well as speaking and reading outside of class that they didn't get. One thing I didn't work on, however, that came back to bite me in the ass was my listening...

After I graduated I was kinda lost. But, thanks to some people on Reddit, I met a native speaker who I talk with at least weekly, but usually more, on Google Chat, and Skype with sometimes. I also met a Skype group that used to have a native speaker but now is just me and one other intermediate student, and that still is very useful since we both try and speak only Irish, helping with vocabulary and such. I also really got into reading more, as well as just general study of grammar, since I found it so interesting. There really wasn't any particular schedule, it was just kinda perusing stuff as I willed. I also started reading even more, amassing a decent collection (in my opinion!) of Irish language novels, plays, and short stories, most of which I've still gotta work through. Sadly, I didn't think to do any specifically targeted listening, as most stuff is subtitled in English and it was just a pain. Plus, I thought listening from speaking would be enough; sadly, I was wrong. After a year of this, I took the B2 test. All of my scores were easily above pass range, except for my listening, which was absolutely dreadful; thankfully, my others made up for this and I still passed. One day I hope to study the language academically in Galway, but I need to improve my listening and get a higher mark on the B2 test to do so. Maybe in a couple of years, once I have the money saved up for the course itself. Unless of course I can find a way to get to Ireland before then....

So, that's my Irish experience in a nutshell (and also perhaps explains why I like minority languages); now onto my reviews of useful material.


--------------------------------------------

I'll start with the things I think are absolutely essential for any learner of Irish, then move on to my review of other, general things I know.

  1. Gramadach na Gaeilge

    This is an absolute must-use for any serious Irish learner. Seriously. It is more detailed than half the grammar books I've read or owned, and, what's more, it's available online for free (which is a downside if, like me, you sometimes get distracted with a browser open). It covers historical development of mutations, grammar rules on when to apply just about everything, standard and non-standard forms, as well as some dialectal pronunciation issues. It's really the best place to turn to for grammar information about the Irish language. There are some parts that haven't been fully translated from German (it was originally a German-language site), but I've never had an issue understanding any of it. It also gives examples of everything discussed. I can't recommend it enough.

  2. The Irish Language Forum

    I've quite possibly learned just as much from this website as I've learned anywhere else on the internet. There's several native and highly advanced speakers, most of who actually write in dialect, making it that much better to see how the language is actually used. They can answer just about any question you might have about Irish, or direct you to someone who can. They're also just such an amazing community.

  3. Foclór Gaeilge-Béarla

    Niall Ó Dónaill's seminal Irish - English dictionary. If you're looking to start reading Irish texts, this is a must have. This dictionary is second-to-none, and up there (perhaps even surpassing) with Dinneen's famous one (more on that later).

  4. Teanglann

    This site is basically an online version of the previous dictionary, coupled with De Bhaldraithe's English - Irish dictionary (which is now being updated in the New English-Irish Dictionary, which can be accessed via this site, through a redirect, as well, so it won't be mentioned). Basically, the go-to place if you want to find a word, either Irish - English or English - Irish.

So, that's my overview of essential things, for the more serious learner. There aren't any coursebooks there because I assumed that everyone who is at that stage already has one, and, really, there's not much for intermediate speakers. So, now I'll review some of the courses I've looked at and enjoyed, as well as list some others that might interest you.


-------------------------

When people ask me how to start learning Irish, I always recommend they start with a dialect, and to that purpose, there's three books, one for each broad dialect grouping, that I recommend:

Munster Irish:

There is absolutely nothing better than the 1961 version of Teach Yourself. It teaches the West Cork dialect, and is now out of copyright, so it can be found online for free. It is written in the older, drier, style of translations, but a learner can easily adapt that, especially with some advice from this forum. Instructions on how to obtain it, and audio for it, can be found here. What's more, there's also a series of Memrise courses made for this book, which can be found here. That's a great way to get started, and there's plenty of notes out there (quite a few things are mentioned on the ILF, for instance), as well as quite a lot of literature that uses Munster Irish.

Connacht Irish:

This is the most spoken dialect, and the one I also endeavor to learn (though if I happen to find a job in Cork/Kerry/Waterford or Donegal, I'll switch to learning the local one, of course). The best resource for this is by far Micheál Ó Siadhail's Learning Irish. It's not available for free, but if you can get your hands on a copy of this, use it. It alternates between dialectal spelling and non-dialectal, and it also includes a Celticist version of IPA for every word, making it a great use, in my opinion. He does fully stick to dialectal pronunciation and grammar, even when he does deviate from the dialectal orthography.

Ulster Irish:

Barbara Hillers, of Harvard University, makes the courses she uses at Harvard publically available(at the bottom, under 'Course Materials / Textbook'). While audio only exists for one, and they're not completely dialectal (choosing, for example, to use the standard instead of Ulster cha as a negative marker), they're the best you can get for Donegal Irish, at least until you start looking at more academic stuff and stuff written in Irish.


For the dialects, there's also quite a few other things, such as academic studies done of various dialects and subdialects, as well as the series called An Teanga Bheo, which has short books detailing broad strokes of the Irish of various dialectal areas. I really recommend this latter series for whichever one holds your interest.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Now that I have mentioned my preferred courses, I guess I'll review other courses.

More modern Teach Yourself/ Colloquial Irish:

These are alright. They teach the Official Standard, which isn't really used by any native speakers and exists only among learners. Kinda a pain if you want to sound like a native, but a better start than nothing, I guess. Be wary of the audio and grammar on some of these, as they're not always done by native speakers, which can be a pain.

Verdict: Decent enough if you can't get any of the other stuff, but be wary.

Duolingo

This is the one I feel everyone's been waiting for. To be honest, I'm not a fan. I've been testing it since the first day of Beta, though I no longer do the lessons and just focus on answering questions on the forums. Personally, I don't like it. Some of that comes from Duolingo's audio, but a lot more of it comes from the fact that the course had quite a few inaccuracies in grammar/usage. If you have followed the course at all, you'll have heard of the issues with the audio. I was one of those leading the charge against how bad it was. A clearly non-native speaker was chosen, and the most words are mispronounced. This was first put off as "dialectal"... but these were also the same people who said the speaker sounded "native" to begin with. The speaker clearly has a learner's dialect, and often doesn't pronounce anything correctly, even when the distinction is grammatically important (such as marking the singular from the plural, or the imperative from the past). Eventually, they all admitted she was pretty bad. As of a week ago, a new voice was recording new sentences to use. Hopefully this one is better, though I'm going to stay doubtful until they release some of the sentences.

If it was only the audio that I had an issue with, I'd trust the creators more, but at the beginning there was a lot that looked like direct translations from the English. Some examples include Tá mé ag thógáil é, something that is clearly prohibited in Irish, but would likely be given by Google Translate or the like. There's also a lot of what is called "Béarlachas" (basically, direct translations of English to Irish, instead of using Irish idioms). Thankfully, a lot of these have been corrected due to reports, though there's still quite a few mistakes at the upper levels (and even at lower levels!) that make me hesitant to recommend the course, though the audio is by far the main thing wrong with it.

Verdict: Do with sound off, and always check discussions to see if there's any issues with the sentences.

-----------------------------------------------

And, since this is getting pretty long already, I'm just going to give a list of other things I've found interesting and useful in my Irish journey.

  • Irish Grammar Book by Nollaig Mac Congaill
  • Basic and Intermediate Irish by Nancy Stenson
  • New Irish Grammar by the Christian Brothers
  • A Grammar of Modern Irish: An Annotated Guide to the Graiméar Gaeilge na mBráthire Críostaí by Pól Ó Murchú
  • Fionn Mac Cumhail box set by Tadgh Mac Dhonnagáin (includes two CDs of the books being read by the author!)
  • Gearrscéalta ár Línne, by Briain Ó Conchubhair (good collection of short stories)
  • An Litir and the rest of the series by Liam Mac Cóill
  • Irish Glance Card by Leon Mac Aongáin
  • Briathra na Gaeilge: Regular and Irregular Verbs by Folens
  • Gaelskype on Facebook (Great for finding Skype partners, though not many are natives)
  • Gaeilge Amháin on Facebook (a page for only Irish, great for practicing reading and writing.
  • Vifax (perfect for listening practice)


Well, that's it for now. If you have any questions or would like more specific recommendations, please don't hesitate to ask me; I'm always willing to help someone learn this beautiful language.


I say that's enough to give anyone interested a running start into learning Irish
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker

Postby galaxyrocker » Sat Jul 25, 2015 8:18 pm

I'm gonna share something else I recently stumbled on again and think people would like. It's a list of the 'Best novels in Irish to read before you die'. The seminar was directed by Brian Ó Conchubhair and Philip O’Leary. The fifteen selected books excluded memoirs, autobiographies, diaries and translations into Irish from other languages: no Peig, no An tOileánach, no Angela Ashes, no The War of the Worlds no Dracula nor Ulysses.


I'm full Irish Central article can be found here, but I'm going to reproduce the list for ease of use. Some discussion can be found here that includes these novels as well as some of the prerequisites to fully appreciate and understand them.

The list was:

  • Séadna (1905) by An tAthair Peadar Ó Laoghaire [O]
  • Deoraíocht (1910) by Pádraic Ó Conaire [O,R]
  • Mo Bhealach Féin (1940) by Seosamh Mac Grianna [O]
  • An Béal Bocht (1941) by ‘Myles na gCopaleen’ [O]
  • Cré na Cille (1949) by Máirtín Ó Cadhain [O]
  • Néal Maidine agus Tine Oíche (1964) by Breandán Ó Doibhlin [O]
  • Dé Luain (1966) by Eoghan Ó Tuairisc [O]
  • Caoin Tú Féin (1967) by Diarmaid Ó Súilleabháin [O]
  • An Uain Bheo (1968) by Diarmaid Ó Súilleabháin [O]
  • Fuíoll Fuine (1970) by Máirtín Ó Cadhain []
  • Méirscrí na Treibhe (1978) by Alan Titley [O]
  • An Fear Dána (1993) by Alan Titley [O]
  • Cuaifeach mo Londubh Buí (1983) by Séamas Mac Annaidh [O]
  • Éagnairc (1994) by Pádraig Ó Siadhail [O]
  • Desiderius a Dó (1995) by Pádraig Ó Cíobháin [O]


When it was decided that no author should be on there twice, Liam Mac Cóil's An Dr. Áthas[O,R] was added (along with presumably two other, since three authors are listed twice).

Personally, I'm working on collecting all of these and working my way through them, though I'm currently reading folklore and other things to prepare myself for some of the more advanced novels.

Key: O = Owned, R = Read
Last edited by galaxyrocker on Mon Dec 06, 2021 11:14 am, edited 4 times in total.
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sctroyenne
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker

Postby sctroyenne » Sun Jul 26, 2015 12:23 am

First off, congrats on passing the B2 test! You're an inspiration!

And thank you for the resources and the reviews. It's good to have it all laid out like that from someone who has "made it". I did finish the Duolingo course and I am grateful for it for being easy to use and carry around and giving me a good view of the overall structure with some hints of the thorny details I'll need to hash out. But with your review I'm thinking rather than continuing to review the course it's best to drop it for the more traditional methods which will ingrain correct Irish in my brain.

I haven't been formally studying (or even informally studying) for a few months now. I've been overwhelmed with a lot of other stuff and I'm still waiting to settle down into a routine again. I did get to the point where I could build some sentences and start to (painfully) communicate so it's important to keep working until I get to a basic communicative level before I lose a lot of the progress I made. Hopefully I'll get it up and running again so I can work on Vifax and chat with the Skype group regularly.

As for additional languages - have you thought of keeping it in the "family" and going for Breton or Welsh? French could be interesting for a parallel (English-Irish, French-Breton) plus it'll make some more good resources available to you. I also just recently discovered that French-Canada has a rich Celtic-inspired tradition with lots of great music (and there are pockets of Irish speakers in Canada too). My list of dream vacations (in addition to the Irish Gaeltacht) now includes a trip to the Quebec, P.E.I., Maritimes, etc to explore more of French-Canadian Celtic culture and music.
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