I have heard talk before of the concept of a 'superspeaker' (or perhaps I've misremembered and it's actually a 'supernative'). This particularly interests me as a goal for the long term future. A person who is deeply knowledgable of Irish, well read, knows heaps of traditional and niche terms etc. What are yere opinions on this? Is this a reasonable goal for a non-native speaker such as myself? I'm afraid to ask, are there even many such people left in the Gaeltachtaí today at all?

I'd like to, one day in the future, be a sort of a 'superspeaker' of Déise Irish but is it now much more difficult if there are so few to learn from? I would be interested to learn more about this.

Go raibh maith agaibh,
Le gach dea-ghuí,
Baeris

I think it is all really down to the hours you are willing to invest in it. I was 'taught' Irish for 13 years in school. I left school with maybe a low A2 Level (A2 as in the Common European Framework of Reference). I obtained a B1 in Higher Level Leaving Cert Irish however, at that point I could barely understand basic conversations of native speakers and had no understanding of Irish phonology.

I have spent well over 1000 hours studying Irish as an adult learner (this consists of passive listening to RnaG while doing housework, driving etc, creating and reviewing thousands of flashcards of phrases in Anki, speaking to a native speaker weekly, reading Munster Irish books, listening to audiobooks and going to the odd Ciorcal Comhrá. I still would not regard myself as anywhere near fluent. I can have casual conversations with native speakers on a wide variety of topics. I understand typically 80-90% of what I hear on almost any topic on RnaG (if the speaker is from An Rinn, Múscraí or Corca Dhuibhne). However, I speak slowly and struggle occasionally to articulate myself. I make errors often but I usually can notice myself making them and self-correct. My passive vocabulary is far larger than my active one.

I really believe that to reach a C2 (CEFR) level with 'native-like pronunciation', it is not dissimilar to trying to become a master of a musical instrument. It will take many years maybe decades depending on how much time you are willing to invest on a regular basis. I definitely think some people are more linguistically gifted than others. However, the amount of information that you need to consume and digest to reach that level is truly enormous. I continue to work on my Irish almost everyday however, I accept that I probably won't feel truly comfortable in the language for another few years. Building automaticity in speaking (while maintaining good pronunciation) is one of the biggest hurdles (for me at least).

I think a superspeaker would be someone like Amhlaoibh Ó Loingsigh, maybe? Have you asked the Údarás na Gaeltachta office in An Rínn whether there are any recognised seanchaithe in the Gaeltacht there? Have you listed to the poem Is Gael Mise, Nách Uasal San?, being read out by a young boy in Déise pronunciation very ebulliently?

The file seems to have been scrubbed from the Internet, but I might have it somewhere.

I think you could translate superspeaker as sár-chainnteóir.

That's the term I've used before, I think it fits well

Baeris, let me know - or should I say let An Lon Dubh know, if you would like volumes 2 and 3 of Críost Mac Dé transcribed with vocabulary notes. As he owns the Cork Irish site, he might agree that this would be a good development of the site, and I would be prepared to co-operate on that.

That'd be very helpful though it sounds like a lot of work. I would certainly use them as I plan on reading Críost Mac Dé at some stage (in a few months I think) but I wouldn't tell you to do it just for me.
It would be nice to see something new on the site for sure.

Go raibh maith agat,
Le gach dea-ghuí,
Baeris