Dia daoibh! -Intro-

I just joined the forum, I have been recieving the Irish Word a Day by e-mail for a couple of months, but I have just decided to join the forum. I have been learning Irish on and off for the past two years, but I am planning to get back on it and stick with it this summer while I am out of school. Hopefully this forum will keep me going! I have used a number of different sets of lessons, but I purchased Teach Yourself Irish and the grammar book that goes with it so that my lessons are a bit more structured. I also watch tons of TG4 when I get the chance, which helps me get used to hearing the language and builds my vocabulary.

Bhuel, dia daoibh!

-Breandán

Fáilte chuig Labhair Gaeilge! I find my biggest challenge at the moment is just finding the time (when I'm not exhausted) to learn! I have lots of great learning materials, but am not getting the time to work steadily through them. Any tips?

I know what you mean. Between college, work, and other things, I have been heaped with things to do and rarely have the time to actually stick to the lessons I have been going through.

For myself, this summer, I am dedicating at least a half hour to an hour a day of studying the language materials that I have and listening to Irish music and watching TG4. I don't know how easy that would be for you, but I am using any of the time that I would have been using watching television (though admittedly, this is rare), purusing on the internet for recreational purposes, or just lounging around to learn Irish and studying the lesson I set up for that week (I am outlining everything in a planner). I am also planning to start putting post-it notes all over the apartment that I will be moving into this Thursday, labeling all the various things so that I think of those objects in Irish rather than in translation (which might drive my roomate nuts, but he'll get used to it and maybe even learn a thing or two). I also have various things on my computer and on the internet in Irish (Facebook, tips and words sent to my e-mail, Firefox as Gaeilge, ect.), so that it is basically everywhere. An attempt at immersion, I suppose you could say, at least to the extent that it possible here in the U.S. I would also like to attend one of the Irish immersion weeks that are held here in the U.S. and Canada should I have the time and/or money.

I don't know how much use the above is to you, but maybe you could try a thing or two. =)

Go raibh maith agat as do chineál fáilte roimh chách! (forgive me if I butchered that, I welcome any corrections.)

-Brandon

Tá mé sásta foghlaim foclóra - I'm happy learning vocab...but I find it difficult to get the repeat study to make the grammar stick. Ní féidir liom teilifíse - I don't have a tv - but do have a heavy workload, plus a lot of commitments - e.g. Tá mé i Londain anois le cúig lá (ar ghnó) - I'm in London now for 5 days (on business), then it's back to Belfast but down to Dublin for a few days the following week. The week after I've got a family party in Edinburgh which follows straight into 2 business days in Bristol. A week after that, I've to go to Chicago for a week (business again). While this is more travel than usual, it's pretty typical of how broken up my time is.

With this pattern, I find it easier to learn lots of words on the go (sa aerfort, ar an traein, agus sa caife). But I'm usually really tired and find that I can learn groups of words (ainmhithe, éadaí, áiteanna) but find that learning sentence structures takes more attention and a longer time. So I tend to get frustrated.

I'm currently trying to design up learning materials that work on www.talkirish.com, on my iPhone and mp3 player, so learning on the go will be a real possibility - and not just learning a few words, but being able to go in and explore sentence structures, tenses etc. 

Ádh mor ort,

Michelle

Día Mora a Michelle!

Tá fáilte romhat an Meiriceá!

I heard that you're going to be in Chicago, in the U.S.A. ! Tá fáilte romhat an lár-iathar Meiriceánach! Make sure that you go to 2 restaurants, one called La Françoise, and the other one called Algauer's On The Riverfront. You could also try a great restaurant called Via Spiga, which has beautiful views of Lake Michigan (one of the Great Lakes that borders the states of Illinois, Wisconsin, & Michigan, & is named for the state of Michigan), but you may need reservations. Make sure that you tell them that you're visiting here from Europe, because you'll be more likely to bet a reservation, & you'll get a better table. I should warn you that all of these restaurants are fairly formal, & Via Spiga has a fairly strict dress code- Gentlemen must wear ties with their suits. Ladies are advised to wear dressy skirts or suits. Algauer's is the least strict in terms of dress code & formality. Do try to get reservations, but don't be disappointed if it doesn't happen. Above all, don't miss seeing the Magnificent Mile, in the middle of the best part of downtown Chicago. It has a Lord & Taylor, Tiffany's, Sak's, Magnin's and the Water Tower. You can also go to the Sears Tower, which is the world's tallest building. The other thing in the Chicagoland area (the local name for Chicago and the Northwest Suburbs) that is not to be missed is the Oakbrook mall, in Oakbrook, Illinois, one of the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago. Flag down a cab and tell him to take you to the Oakbrook Mall. Look for the L'Occitan En Provence boutique once you get there. They have every great store at which you've ever wanted to shop in this mall. You're going to love this place. I do! 

Slán, 

Cáit

I have been trying to learn Irish for several years now.Not only for myself but to teach my children, who all bear Irish names, in celebration of our Heritage.But I have found, living in America that there are very few if any avenues for learning the language, as our schools here subscribe to only 3 languages, German,Spanish and French. I looked into Rosetta Stone but like many programs they cost quite a lot and I was never able to fully understand what I was speaking when reading listening to or writing the sentences in the trial mode, as they showed nothing in English. Could anyone give me any advice as to what things I might try to learn sentence structure and such?

Also Brandon...what is TG4?

Sincerely.

Amanda

Dia dhuit!

The only thing that I could think of is to purchase an Irish grammar book. You can get them relatively cheap (in comparison to some language sets). I got my Teach Yourself Irish grammar book separately from the rest of the set, but it was not too pricey and is worth it, in my opinion.

TG4 is the Irish language television channel that runs in Ireland. You can catch it live on the internet, but they also have archives of their previously run shows. Here is the link if you are interested: http://www.tg4.ie/

-Brandon

Go raibh maith agat! for your response. I will look into both of those suggestions, though to see TG4 may take a connection speed I dont have at the moment.Hopefully within the next couple months I will be able to rectify that however. Do You happen to know of any good, but inexpensive computer or cd additions that might be of some help? I've seen a couple I wanted to look into but discovered they were set for XP and I am currently running Vista which it seems none of the current programs aside from Rosetta Stone are capable of working with.

Again Thank You for Your response and thank You to anyone else who may have a suggestion to offer!

Amanda

Mor Dhuit á Amanda! I live in the U.S. as well, & my grandmothers wanted me to learn Gaeilge, because it's an important part of our family's heritage. I went to Barnes & Noble and got the Teach Yourself Irish set with the book and 2 CD set. They had it in stock, so I didn't have to order it, & Derek, one of the managers at Barnes & Noble, said that they keep that item in stock, so it should be easy to find. The CDs play on any stereo or CD player, so you won't have to worry about compatibility.

go raibh maith agat a Fand! (pardon any writing mistakes please for I have not learned how to add a fada in words with my Keyboard yet) I will definately go and check that out! I looked earlier this year at Books a Million but they had nothing whatsoever on Gaeilge...which is somewhat irritating so I will try Barnes and Noble. Unfortunately heritage was not as important to my family when I was growing up so I have had to learn of my family history since coming of age and I wish it to be important within my own house.My Husband and I even dream of going to Ireland soon.

Amanda

Amanda,

 try this to make fada's

Tá failte romhat, Amanda! If you have a Mac, it's very easy to get the fadas. Just go to the "Edit" pull-down menu, select "Special Characters", & then just pick the "Accented Latin" menu & click on the character you want- the fadas are already included. Also, the Mac allows to to make a favorites list, and it's extremely easy to do. Just select the character, click on the button that says "Add to favorites", and presto! I put all of the Gaeilge and French letters that require accents on my favorites list. It saves me the trouble of looking for them every time. Now, when I select "Special Characters", it automatically pulls up the box with my favorites list in it, so I have instant access to Irish & French letters with the appropriate accents on them. I just click the one I want, click "insert", and there it is. You can get fadas, & all the French accent marks, on the Blackberry as well. All you have to do is hold down the letter you want, and then scroll through the various accent marks using the scroll button. Let up on the letter to insert it once it shows the accent mark that you want. It's very easy, just remember to hold down the letter firmly until you get to the accent mark that you want. 

Amanda- An bhfuil tú i do chónaí i lár-iathar Meiriceánach? Do you live in the American Mid-West? Maybe we can call each other & talk & work on the exercises from the book. I'd love to have a partner to actually _talk_ to, because it can be hard to figure out how to apply the lessons in the book set when you're not speaking. Also, we could email, & work on our grammar & spelling. I am determined to speak Gaeilge as well & beautifully as my grandmothers did.

Dia Dhuit, Cáit,

I use a Windows oriented Vista OS, so unfortunately I won't be able to use those wonderful hints you gave me but go raibh maith agat á Cianaigh! For the fada list..it works wonderfully. Cáit, I do not live in the midwest but there is a way we can contact each other.If you have the lastest version of MSN messenger it has a 'call' feature where the contacts can call one another without use of phone numbers and talk through use of microphones. i too would love to have someone to practice and study with,but i will warn you that while i know a number of words i know next to nothing about sentences and sentence struture but i am determined to learn!

Slán!

Amanda

I have Windows, as well. I had to add a Irish keyboard option which you can do by going to your control panel, select "Clock, Language, & Region", then go to "change keyboard or other in input methods". You should be able to find an Irish keyboard option. If you can do that, you just push your apostrophe key before you push the vowel you are using. On my computer it allows me to go back and forth from my English keyboard to Irish.

Brandon,

I set the keyboard to Irish with the ability to switch back at will this morning when I first saw your message but I have noticed that even when I have it set for Irish when I use the apostophe key and vowel it still puts the apostrophe before the vowel or even changes the vowel to Upper case instead of adding a fada...is there something I am doing wrong?