Hello everyone! Learning the Irish language is something I want to accomplish. More importantly I want my kids to learn it. I live in the North Eastern United States so there are not a ton of resources here, but at least there are more here than other parts of the country. What do people recommend I do to improve my chances of learning Irish? I know there are summer schools in Ireland and I am wondering do any American adults go there? What about American kids? I don't know why but I feel its important that I at least attempt to teach my children some Irish as they grow up. I'd honestly consider moving there if my wife was on board! What else can I do? Anyone else with any information, resources or experience please chime in, particularly if you have experience trying to learn Irish in America.

Thanks!

Hello Redsox,

Being in the U.S. myself I completely understand how you feel. Learning Irish in America can be challenge but yet it is an worthwhile and honorable goal. From my own personal experience, I had to be creative on my own free time and I had two native speakers help me as well. Without the support of speaking it everyday, it is important to find ways to reinforce what you learn so you won't forget. This could include numerous methods: keeping an Irish Journal where you record things that you learn everyday. This journal will also help keep you motivated as well. After awhile, you can even keep a journal of your daily life only in Irish. There're more methods as well but would too long to list!

As a beginner listening to Irish is extremely important even just to get used to the sounds. When I started,I was confused by the funny sounds but after awhile I learned to recognize them. I always thought they were pretty, but I didn't know how the phonetic system operated. This even included the sentence structures as well. But one I got used to them my progress and confidence IMPROVED a great deal.

There're plenty of free sources out there as well and tutors/teachers if you want a more personalized, coaching experience. But ether way, learning the sounds properly is a must. If you want to hear the language http://www.tg4.ie (Irish language television) and http://www.rte.ie (has a section for Irish Gaelic radio) are two good places to hear it.

I also found help from forums such as this one was a MAJOR help The good people on this forum can offer you advice which can be hard to come by, especially as an American learning Irish.

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Irish Gaelic Tutor
http://www.Irishgaelictutoring.com

On the topic of teaching children, I would find more creative, fun ways to teach it since adults learn differently for the most part. Hmm would anyone have any information on how children learn Irish in Ireland? I heard it takes them awhile?

thanks much,

Swiss

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Irish Gaelic Tutor
http://www.Irishgaelictutoring.com

Redsox, I would suggest that you locate an Irish studies class near you and start from there. Daltaí na Gaeilge lists some @www.daltai.com. Depending on the age of your chilldren, they may be able to attend also, particularly if you have private lessons with a teacher. I would recommend learning some basics before going to Ireland. There are several summer schools and Saoirse, a frequent poster here, has attended a family-oriented one. There are also on-line courses, however, I am not familiar with them. I'm sure someone here will be able to fill you in

As for the summer courses, there are often American adults in the Summer courses I attend here in Kerry. I cant speak for the children's summer courses, but since there are kids of all nationality's in the local schools (learning through Irish) and I sometimes see children who have Asian or African ancestry with the summer camp kids who are walking about the area, I'd imagine there are American kids there as well.

I moved my family to the Gaeltacht, all be it from a different part of Ireland, we took some trips around the various areas first, in order to get my partner on board.

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Bíonn rudaí maithe mall

I've been learning Irish in the Northeast on and off for a few years now and I definitely think the best thing that has helped me is finding a native speaker willing to sit down and speak for an hour or so a week. I'm down in the Philadelphia area and its not too difficult to find. I'm guessing by your username that you're based closer to Boston. I would recommend the reference above to Daltaí na Gaeilge. They list several teachers in the Boston area.

If you're in the Boston area then you're within driving distance of two Irish language organizations, both of which have native speakers as teachers. There are a couple more in Western MA, one in NH, possibly RI as well. Not to mention there's plenty of native speakers in Boston and the suburbs as well (hope you like the Conamara dialect )

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Roibeard

There are also a lot of native speakers of Munster Irish in Springfield massachusetts.
Cant fathom though how they could emigrate from a beautiful coastal region to somewhere so far inland

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Bíonn rudaí maithe mall

http://www.piarsaigh.ie/ They are terrible for keeping their website up-to-date, but it's a great week; I would highly recommend it.

I think rhymes and songs are a great way for kids to take in the sounds of Irish without any real effort. We have had a few threads here about this topic - you might find something useful here: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=3035&hilit=futa+fata

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