Read here for some information about these books.

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1244

If anyone has used this resource, feel free to comment here. When someone is trying to decide which resource would best suit his/her needs, it can be useful to hear what others think.

_________________

I think this resource provides a very good introduction to many aspects of Irish grammar. I think prior knowledge of Irish is necessary to engage properly with it. There are lots of examples of usage of each aspect being examined. There is a selection of exercises after each topic and the answers to all questions are provided directly afterwards.

This seems to be suited to someone like me who has reasonable fluency, but too many inaccuracies - I can hold a conversation which others could understand without difficulty, but I wouldn't be rushing to get a tattoo with anything I'd write! This focuses on the grammatical detail without using too much technical jargon, something that can be intimidating for non-linguists.

Having said all of that, I am only about a quarter of the way through the first of the two books so someone who has had more experience with them may offer a more thorough insight.

_________________

I've used both of these...the beginning book with a class of advanced beginners I was teaching and the intermediate book on my own.

I think the biggest issue with them is they are very jargon-heavy...geared more toward people with a hard-core intellectual interest in grammar and less toward people who just want to learn to speak correctly. I found the intermediate book moderately useful for working on more advanced structures, though her explanations can be pretty convoluted, and I was often better served turning to something like Mac Congáil's Leabhar Gramadaí Gaeilge or Ó Dónaill's Essential Irish Grammar if I found myself struggling with a concept. My beginners found the beginning book to be very heavy going and not terribly logically arranged (and I must admit I only chose it because I was limited under the terms of my contract to not requiring materials that cost more than $30, and this was the only book I could find that met that requirement. I'd have much preferred to teach from something like Gaeilge Gan Stró or the old Now You're Talking, both of which are much more approachable to beginners).

Redwolf

I use both of these. I am learning from the old TYI, but I want more exercises than TYI provides. Basic/Intermediate Irish fills that need nicely for me. I would not, however, use them to learn grammar. The explanations are not particularly helpful to me. But they're laid out almost perfectly for my usage. I learn from TYI, then find the unit in Basic or Intermediate Irish that corresponds to whatever grammar point I'm working on, and do the exercises. An unexpected bonus is discovering things that are outdated in TYI (in Albain vs i nAlbain, mar shampla). Some might find the fact that one is CO and the other Munster a hindrance, but I don't have a problem with it. I think they make a great supplement to another primary learning source, but I wouldn't recommend trying to learn with those alone.

_________________
Táim ag foghlaim Gaelainn na Mumhan

Tá fáilte roim nach aon cheartú!
I am a learner. Any translations offered are practice and should not be used unless confirmed.