Improve your Irish during lockdown
Published on 17th March 2021
Here are some tips gleaned from top language-learners on how to improve your Irish. Starting with the easiest and becoming more difficult.
1. Watch the weather forecast (Tuar na hAimsire) on TG4 as they use the same phrases again and again. (This should teach you the Irish for rain!)
2. Watch the news in English first, then watch it on TG4 so you'll already know what's being said.
3. Read Irish novels so you can go at your own pace. Look up the publisher, Comhar, in advanced search on Borrowbox to find stories for adult learners which have a glossary for difficult words at the bottom of each page. As you progress on to non-glossary novels, make it easy on yourself. Read the same sort of novels you normally read, don't force yourself to read worthy books that don't like. If you need to look up more than three words per page (on average) it's probably too hard.
4. Only watch or listen to programmes that interest you, if you care about something, you're more likely to enjoy it and learn from it.
5. Have Irish as the default station on the radio in the car or around the house. It doesn't matter if you can't understand - you're tuning your ear to the music of the language and this will help you in the future. Don't forget about Raidio na Life and Raidio Fáilte.
6. To improve your conversational Irish, watch Ros na Rún as it shows native speakers having chats/arguments/love affairs as opposed to voice-overs and talking heads. (Did you know that an entire season of Ros na Rún costs less to produce than three episodes of Coronation Street?)
7. Read Irish language magazines online: Comhar is probably the best known, www.tuairisc.ie is the main news website, www.nós.ie young people's contemporary lifestyle online magazine. Daltaí na Gaeilge is a USA-based online discussion forum.
8. Join a zoom group to practice your speech. Or Create your own group so as to be sure to have people with a similar level and ambition as yourself.
9. Remove subtitles in order to test your comprehension and to push yourself to listen better. Don't try to translate what the speakers say, instead simply repeat what they say in your mind in Irish (this is difficult at first, but stick with it and you'll find you understand more, without realising your mind is working).
10. Shadowing: repeat aloud the words said by a broadcaster. Don’t translate, just repeat. Use headphones to make it easier. Time yourself to see how long you can keep it up without having to stop. You should get a little better each day.
And finally - don't be discouraged by different accents. Over ninety per cent of the words we use are the same in all three dialects. Pronunciation does vary from region to region (just as it does in English - think of a conversation between a Belfast woman and a Cork man - and that's without taking Jamaica, South Africa, and other places into account!) So embrace the difference and enjoy the journey!