General

Re: Dia daoibh! -Intro-

seanduine — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 17:13:05 GMT

I suggest you try Keyboards and Languages, Change Keyboards, under English add United States International. To get a fada, depress and hold the right ALT key while you depress the vowel key. Works with caps as well...Ú ú. Depress and hold both the ALT and SHIFT keys while before depressing the vowel key.

Seanduine

Re: Dia daoibh! -Intro-

Russell — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 13:10:09 GMT

Dia's Muire dhuit.

Byki and the Transparent Language System works with Vista and Windows 7. I have both, and aside from having difficulty printing flash cards (Which may be just my printer, I don't know as it prints lessons and help topics just fine), everything else seems to work alright. I use Byki for vocabulary (It's a virtual flashcard program) and Transparent Irish for both vocab and grammar (Transparent Irish is a series of immersion environments). I've tried Rosetta Stone for Japanese, but I didn't like it, so I wouldn't use it for Irish. I can't remember if there were any translations in Rosetta Stone, but there's translations for everything in Byki and Transparent Irish.

http://www.byki.com/

http://www.transparent.com/learn-irish/

Byki and Transparent Irish are a whole lot cheaper than Rosetta Stone, and have worked very well for me. I found Rosetta pretty boring and couldn't get into it.

Also, you can read an old Irish grammar book here.

http://books.google.com/books?id=ezIWAAAAYAAJ&dq=subject:%22Irish+language%22&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s

It's the full book, and you can even download a PDF file of it if you want.

Re: Dia daoibh! -Intro-

Sile Su — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 12:35:55 GMT

I hear there is an easier way of just backspacing plus one other key to make a fada. Anyone out there know what it is.

Re: Dia daoibh! -Intro-

Cianaigh — Sat, 29 May 2010 11:07:46 GMT

ALT GR is not an option on a US keyboard

To make fadas see http://talkirish.com/forums/p/2294/3428.aspx#3428

and http://talkirish.com/forums/p/26/59.aspx#59 for Mac

Re: Dia daoibh! -Intro-

beanrua — Fri, 28 May 2010 13:08:39 GMT

Tá brón orm - that should have been ALT GR and then vowel.

Re: Dia daoibh! -Intro-

TNIrishDancer — Thu, 27 May 2010 16:20:33 GMT

unfortunately for me it does nothing...not even let me type the letter normally.It just sits there like i am doing nothing lol maybe its my keyboard...~shrugs~ i dont know..thanks though. Guess i will keep trying with the fada codes instead.

Slán,

Amanda

Re: Dia daoibh! -Intro-

beanrua — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:02:40 GMT

Hi - try holding ALT and and vowel at same time - that puts a fada on vowel. Well on mine it does. Adh mór agus coinnigh ort. Good luck and keep going.

Re: Dia daoibh! -Intro-

TNIrishDancer — Fri, 21 May 2010 09:53:46 GMT

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?

Re: Dia daoibh! -Intro-

Brandon — Thu, 20 May 2010 19:22:43 GMT

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.

Re: Dia daoibh! -Intro-

TNIrishDancer — Thu, 20 May 2010 07:57:39 GMT

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

Re: Dia daoibh! -Intro-

Fand — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:43:38 GMT

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.

Re: Dia daoibh! -Intro-

Cianaigh — Wed, 19 May 2010 14:45:34 GMT

Amanda,

try this to make fada's

á : ALT + 0225	é : ALT + 0233	í : ALT + 0237	ó : ALT + 0243	ú : ALT + 0250
Á : ALT + 0193	É : ALT + 0201	Í : ALT + 0205	Ó : ALT + 0211	Ú : ALT + 0218

For other ways see http://talkirish.com/forums/p/2294/3428.aspx#3428

Re: Dia daoibh! -Intro-

TNIrishDancer — Wed, 19 May 2010 11:11:56 GMT

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

Re: Dia daoibh! -Intro-

Fand — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:59:48 GMT

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.

Re: Dia daoibh! -Intro-

TNIrishDancer — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:09:21 GMT

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