Sin ceann de na fáthann gur maith liom an iris *nós: bíonn ailt inti fá achan rud, agus tá sí dírithe ar lucht léitheoireachta níos óige agus níos ‘faiseanta’ ná an chuid is mó de na scríbhinní eile atá ar fáil as Gaeilig ar an idirlíon. Dá bhrí sin, tá sí níos coitianta agus comhráití chomh maith, rud is maith liom.

(That’s one of the reasons I like the *nós magazine: they’ve got articles about all kinds of stuff, and it’s directed at a younger, more ‘hip’ audience than most other things you can find in Irish on the Internet—as such, it’s more colloquial and informal, which I like.)

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Not a native speaker.

Always wait for at least three people to agree on a translation, especially if it’s for something permanent.

My translations are usually GU (Ulster Irish), unless CO (Standard Orthography) is requested.

Koko, it might be worth adding to the 'Useful Links' section if you think others may like it. I, for one, have never heard of it. Will check it out though.

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Apologies for my earlier disruption of this thread. After careful re-reading, it has become clear that in my haste I misread some sections of Livi's posts.

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WARNING: Intermediate speaker - await further opinions, corrections and adjustments before acting on my advice.
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

One thing I've said frequently over at IGTF is that learners benefit from a variety of approaches.

With children, and with many adults, the most important thing is to get them talking, and the best way to do that is to use topics that are relevant to their daily lives. There are a lot of books and learning programs out there today that take that approach, including the two I mentioned: "Now You're Talking/Irish On Your Own" and "Enjoy Irish." These books take a conversational approach to the kinds of situations that anyone, urban or rural, might encounter: Talking about your family and where you live, discussing jobs, holiday plans, giving directions, etc.

Some adults, however, do best with a very methodical, heavily grammar-based approach, and that's a niche Ó Siadhail's book fills very well. There are also other texts that take this approach, including "Progress in Irish" and Éamonn Ó Dónaill's "Essential Irish Grammar."

I think there's room for both approaches. In fact, most of the learners I know personally have a wide variety of books, computer programs, and audio methods, and find something useful in each.

I'm not sure that Ó Siadhail needs to be updated, when you consider that it focuses exclusively on a particular dialect, and in the area where that dialect is spoken, the subject matter is probably still pretty relevant to a lot of people. I don't know that I'd use it exclusively, unless I were very focused on learning the ins and outs of the Cois Farraige dialect, but that's just me...many people who have much better Irish than I do have used it and swear by it.

There are plenty of other methods our there, though, for those who want a different approach, or who want to supplement Ó Siadhail with other materials. We reviewed a lot of them over at IGTF:

http://www.learnirishgaelic.com/productcomparison/

Redwolf

This is actually one reason I love Irish novels geared toward teenagers/young adults. They tend to deal with more universal topics...the kinds of things that might interest teens in any area.

I've got two going right now. One, Sarah Eile, which I'm actually re-reading (and finding much easier going now than I did when I first tackled it several years ago!) is about a 16-year-old girl with anorexia nervosa, as well as other mental health issues. Another, Gluaiseacht, is about a teenage boy's struggle to escape Sudan and immigrate to Europe after the massacre of his village.

I think the folks who publish for teens know that they can't hook them on reading in Irish if they focus too exclusively on the language itself, or on Irish culture. We adult learners will read just about anything to practice our Irish, but a teenager is likely to shrug and say "why bother?" if the subject matter isn't of interest.

I'm noticing that novels for adult learners are beginning to do this as well. Used to be they were all detective stories (are detective stories in English huge sellers in Ireland?), but now they're branching out to all kinds of topics. I just finished one, Cúpla Focal (another re-read from a few years ago) that, among other things, features cell phone tampering, gender re-assignment and in vitro fertilization! (It is, however, set in the context of an Irish language class for adult learners).

Redwolf

And then there is the Open Door series, now available as audio books.

http://www.newisland.ie/search/luceneap ... %20Gaeilge

They were originally written in English for adult learners of reading in English (whether first language or not). They have since been translated into a number of languages including Irish. Variety of topics, variety of authors -Roddy Doyle, Patricia Scanlan, Vincent Banville, Deirdre Purcell etc.

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Livi:

I've been learning for about 2 years (1.1/2 year seriously) The way that works best for me is learning to speak and then figuring out with grammar why I am saying what I'm saying and it gives me a structure upon which to organize the language in my mind and the structure to formulate new thoughts. Have you got the "glance card"? If you don't, get it and I'll be happy to do a Skype session with you and go over it all. If you do have it, we could start with you learning it (if you don't know it), and we could do some simple simple conversation with limited vocab. This would reinforce what I do know and help you along in your restart in the language. My pronunciation is northern but my teachers have come from all around. I spent 3 weeks in the summer in the Donegal Gaeltacht and learned alot from the grandkids there in my house. You can reach me at "faberm". Please identify in the note that we met on this forum as I usually decline all the people that just seem to float on Skype that I do not know. Anyway, an hour or so talking might save you a million emails, and I can share with you what seems to be working well for me.

Slán anois, Féabar MacMaolain
Am ar bith - Áit ar bith (any time any place)

Sorry for continuing a conversation of 15 years ago. I joined the forum only recently, and as I am learning with "Learning Irish", this is my thread.

Someone asked about new books with a grammatical approach, but new didactics and methodology. On the German book market there is https://buske.de/hbv_de/irisch-fa-r-anfa-nger-19523 "Irisch für Anfänger", with audio and also focussed on Conamara. Though not that detailed in some points (for example ignoring the fortis/lenis opposition for L and N).

For me, Ó Siadhail is the best book I can choose, though I noticed there are still some typos. Did anyone make a list of them? I would like to check whether the ones I found are already on the list and make use of the ones found by other learners.

GRMA!

EDIT: I use the German edition of it. By the way, did you know there is a Welsh and a Japanese edition, too?

Hmm. An aimsir láithreach is the present tense.

The future tense is an aimsir fháistineach.