Radio Fáilte have a podcast where they go through some of the lessons from Buntús Cainte.

I don't have Buntús Cainte, but I believe the recordings that come with the book are give you Connemara pronunciation. This version from Radio Fáilte gives you the Ulster pronunciation instead. I think it might be a candidate for our Useful Links section.

I have a question about lesson 1. When the speaker says "It is very cold," "it is very hot" etc. what word is he using for "very"? To me it sounds a bit like "Tá sé iontach fuar." Or is it just an Ulster pronunciation of "an-fhuar"? It's difficult for me to tell because I don't have the text and am not familiar with the dialect.

Edit: Trust me to forget to give you the link.

http://www.raidiofailtearis.com/category/ceachtanna/

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

I don't know about Ulster. But we use "iontach" sometimes for "very/extremely" too in Conamara.

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It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
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Go raibh maith agat, a Bhríd.

In Munster, cuibheasach is used the same way, but iontach fuar is new to me. My own Irish is a Standard/Munster hybrid.

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

Using "iontach" for "very" is very common in Ulster.

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賢いふくろぐま
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doesn't "cuibheasach" mean "quite"?

Btw, yes, "iontach" is the normal Ulster word to say "very". People say "iontach maith" etc much more often than "an-mhaith" (if they ever say it, I don't know)

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

One might even say "iontach cotianta"

Redwolf

I don't think there is any difference between "very" and "quite" in English, at least not in Ireland. Maybe "quite" is a little more formal.

My Collins dictionary gives "fair," "reasonable" and "middling" for cuibheasach. I won't dispute that definition, except to say that I personally haven't heard the word used like that.

In Hiberno-English, we often say "it's fair cold" or "that was fair good" (using "fair" instead of "very"). Americans use "pretty" in the same way: "it's pretty cold" or "that was pretty good." Maybe that's what the dictionary means by fair.

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

ok, to me there was a difference, but I don't know all the nuances and stuff of Ireland English.
To me, quite = rather, (it's like "assez" or "relativement" in French, and "measartha" in Irish), and very = very (iontach/an- in Irish, "très" in French).

for instance, to me "quite tall" is "tall but not extremely tall though" while "very tall" is really really tall.
If I learnt that I guess it's Standard England's English?

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

Yes, I see where you're coming from with that. In certain contexts, "very" might have more emphasis than "quite." But I think it has a lot more to do with the tone of voice than which word you use.

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

As Mick said, it really does seem to be a matter of context and tone of voice with "quite." There are regional differences as well...a West Coast American is very likely (I almost said "quite likely"!) to use "quite" in the same sense as "very/extremely." A friend of mine from Northern Ireland found that to be disconcerting when she first moved here, as where she grew up, saying that something was "quite good" meant that it really wasn't up to snuff at all...OK, maybe -- perhaps exceeding expectations -- but nothing to write home about.

I'm guessing there are regional differences within Ireland as well.

The use of "iontach" in Ulster always makes me think of the Pennsylvania Dutch way of using "wonderful"...they'll say something is "wonderful good" (or sometimes mix languages and say something is "wonderful gut").

Redwolf