Rosetta Stone - Irish (Volumes 1-3)

I too have the "Teach yourself Irish" but was not real pleased with the layout of the book but still plugged on through it.  I also found CD's in Irish at:

http://www.pimsleurdirect.com/collections/pimsleur-irish

These are real good but lack any books which is the only downside.  I converted the CD's in my PC to mp3 files and put them in my mp3 player and now I have them with me whenever I take a walk or go on a long drive.  I am one of those learners who does better by "hearing" and find this way a quiker way to retain the Irish words and phrases.

Slán,

Doug

Is an-go maith liom 'Sponge Bob' as Gaeilge.

Like most of you, I just purchased Rosetta Irish. I think we should keep this thread alive to help each other.  A quick perusal of the material says I'm going to need lots of help.

It worries me a lot that such an expensive piece of software doesn't do what it says it will do - i.e. help a learner learn Irish just from its software!

The repetiton DOES do a good job of driving me insane though.  Well, more insane.  So far is still enjoyable. 

I considered buying Rosetta Stone but thought it was just too expensive.

Just wondering (since this is an old thread) how everyone has gotten on with it after the year?

Was it worth the money?

I'm afraid I wouldn't recommend Rosetta Stone. I just didn't get the use out of it for the price. It didn't work for me for Irish or French, which is really frustrating.

I found Buntús Cainte a lot better, but then I'm biased

RS might work for you depending on  your learning style. How much Irish do you know? How much time do you have to learn? What way do you like to learn?

I think different courses can work for different people in different ways. For example, I used Michel Thomas for my French language learning and found him a great help - however, I didn't use the audio course the way he intended. First I did just listen and learn. But I found I forgot the vocabularly. So then I listend and wrote down the French as he taught - and I found that great, both as a way to remember vocab, but also to have a revision list on the go.

I really wish Michel Thomas had taught Irish - I was listening to his course wondering if I could create a course in Irish using his method! But have to get the rest of the Buntús Cainte course out here first!

Have you thought anymore about an Irish version of Michel Thomas's language lessons? I'm using it to refresh my German and I find it quite good. I've also listened to the Spanish and French. I think his method of building up an understanding of the structure of the language is superb. Early on in the German lessons, he says, paraphrasing, if you have a comman of the verbs, you have a command of the language. The rest is vocabulary.

So by the 2nd hour, you're saying things like "I'm sorry but I don't know where it is. I cannot find it and I need it tomorrow. Can you bring it to me tonight?" (Es tut mir leid aber ich weiss nicht wo es ist. Ich kann es nicht finden und ich brauche es morgen. Können Sie es mir heute abend bringen?) Just from listening to the Spanish for one hour, I can still remember "Lo siento pero no tiegno es."

On the other hand, I'm not sure if his method is successful because he exploits the Anglo-Saxon bits of English for teaching German (come = kommen, water = wasser) and the French bits of English for teaching French, Italian and Spanish (possible, probable, acceptable).

The main problem I have with standard lessons is that playing it back, even slowly, is no substitute for getting feedback on pronounciation. For example, the Chinese version of Michel Thomas's language lessons was done by a successor. They clipped out all of the pronounciation corrections (but not tone corrections) and I find I have no idea what is actually being said. Was that a "d"? "zd"? In the German, for example, Michel Thomas relentlessly drills the pronounciation of "ich", "mich" and "nicht" into the two poor students to the point where you are actually cheering for them to get it right.

In any case, I'm wondering if a Michel Thomas style lesson(s) could be set up via Skype. I'm willing to be a guinea pig!

Slan,

Steve

I learned a lot of vocab and it stuck for me with Rosetta Stone while learning German. I don't think I would have gone as far as I did with out. However you def need additional material to fill in the gaps. As much as they claim you'll be fluent, you'll still need grammar lessons either online or from a book.  

I'm debating picking up the Irish rosetta stone 1-3 software. I know how valueable it is to me learning a langauge but I can't keep buying them haha.

btw, this is my first post and my 5th day learning Irish. Slán!