I do not speak even a bit of Irish Gaelic. I know the meaning to about a dozen words, and rough pronunciation of them, but that is the entirety of my knowledge. This is a situation I would dearly love to remedy.

With this thought in mind, I began perusing Amazon for introductory Irish Gaelic instructional books . Needless to say, I was completely overwhelmed and felt lost .

So my question is this: what books or authors would you recommend for one as ignorant as I? I have great desire to learn, though perhaps not great quantities of time to devote, and I want to make certain of pronunciation. As I understand it, inflection can change meaning, which is why the emphasis on pronunciation. Unfortunately my university doesn't seem to offer any linguistic classes AT ALL that even mention Irish Gaelic

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

I recommend 'Learning Irish' by M. Ó Siadhail (although it isn't in my beloved dialect ):

http://www.litriocht.com/shop/product_i ... ts_id=4318

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

I wouldnt recommend Learning Irish by Mícheál Ó Siadhail, It is not a good aid To get speaking, it is very heavy on grammar and reading/ listening. Turas Teanga (DVD/ cd/ book) is a much more fun learning program which is more balanced and more importantly more fun which is important in sticking with the program. I have both of the above and while 'Learning Irish' is very comprehensive it isnt much fun and I can never get through the whole book I just get to bored, my reading improved a lot with it but I couldn't say much. Turas Teanga is much more conversational. Make sure you get the whole course if you do (book/ cd and DVD) it's more money in all than O Siadhail but give you just a beginner it will get you speaking (you dont learn 'hello' until lesson 16 in o Siadhail or somethin like that)

First thing to watch, Scooter:

In English, Irish Gaelic is formally called "Irish" and only Scottish Gaelic is formally called "Gaelic". (I blame the Brits and their divide and conquer policy for that one but that's a whole 'nother forum ...)

So, if you want to learn Irish don't buy any texts that say "(Teach Yourself/Learn, etc.) Gaelic" because they will be about Scottish Gaelic, not Irish. (Just letting you know so as you don't waste money unnecessarily.)

"Learning Irish" is great for grammar AND it is one of the few texts with real native (i.e., Gaeltacht) speakers doing all of the readings (the fact that it is in my favourite dialect is irrelevant and if you believe that you'll believe anything. ) (@others - if there are other more recent textbooks that have real native-speaker soundfiles, please let me know.)

BUT you'll notice a real love-hate reaction from all quarters regarding "Learning Irish". "It doesn't teach conversation", "it's methodology is outdated", "it's too hard to get through", etc., etc., all of which are no doubt true but the fact is it has no real rival (except maybe the really, really expensive linguaphone courses?) and has stood the test of time.

My suggestion is to use "Learning Irish" as your core grammar base (as long as you don't mind learning Connemara Irish) and then dabble with whatever other courses you hear of for conversation.

I myself used Buntús Cainte for conversation practice.

If you get stuck with Learning Irish, you can always post your questions here.

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
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), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

the problem with Turas Teanga, is that there are many non-native speakers who speak in it. And really, hearing learners speaking in self-teaching material, is a shame.
It's fun etc, but you'd need to know whose pronunciation you should try to imitate (basically it's quite easy to know, some have an English accent, other don't... so imitate those who don't sound English :-) ).

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Back at the old forum, we reviewed quiet a few learning products. That may be of help to you:

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

The reality is that most self-taught learners use a variety of products.

Redwolf

I certainly appreciate the input, but I do have a question. On Amazon, some of the selections are coming up with "Irish Edition" on them. Will these serve the same purpose? It seems to defy logic to have books on how to learn and speak Irish, written in the very language they are supposed to teach... Unless they're teaching from one dialect to another....

They probably mean that they are printed in Ireland and therefore don't use American spelling.

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
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), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

Lol, well that's a relief. Now I'll worry less about it.

Can you tell us which texts these are?

I live in the U.S., and most of the texts I have use Irish spellings for the English, so "Irish Edition" would seem very odd to me.

I also just did an Amazon search myself on some of these titles, and didn't come up against anything titled "Irish Edition."

Redwof