The people who designed the Irish course are all from Ireland. However, Luis, the owner, is a native Spanish speaker.

Edit: I believe that they're prolly drawing the exercises from those courses too, so it kinda makes sense.

I'm just shocked that no one seems to be pointing out that that sentence is wrong.

Redwolf

If you're talking about the Irish one, there's a lot of times they use tá when bíonn would be better...Personally, while it's the best free thing legally available, the course is meh.

From the subreddit dedicated to cataloging all of this I offer you Labhraíonn an fia Gaeilge.


https://twitter.com/shitduosays/status/ ... 6129017857



https://twitter.com/shitduosays/status/ ... 0278025216

This is why I have stopped using Duolingo completely. I assisted with the Portuguese beta and dropped it because of things like that and I figured I'd try again with Irish. I am far more advanced in both languages than the levels they teach so in both cases I was just sending in corrections (but usually about alternate correct answers for Portuguese). It's just not even OK in my opinion. Occasional use of weird things like that can help certain things stick in your mind but it's a core part of the Duolingo method so it loses any and all impact as a way to make difficult grammar or vocab stick.



I don't think that is an accurate statement with Giota Beag, Giota Beag Eile, Líofa, and Dr. Barbara Hiller's Buntús na Gaeilge (bottom of the page). If you combine those with some Memrise courses, you've got enough material to get you up to the A2 level. Abair Leat from Lurgan is really good as well but it's hard to figure out and a bit buggy.

And then once a learner gets to a decent level there are tons of books from CiC on Scribd (though not free you can get a free membership by contributing) and there is this massive treasure chest of more advanced material from U of Ulster and then Tacaíocht: iTunesU COGG Rang 5&6.

Edit:
I also forgot that Archive.org hosts the original version of Teach Yourself Irish that taught Munster Irish https://archive.org/details/TeachYourselfIrish

Grammatical aspect is something that seems to get lost all the time when people are learning languages

_________________
__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

It's not just a matter of "tá" vs. "bíonn" (though it would still be incorrect, if the sentence was intended to be in the habitual tense). People are interpreting the meaning of the sentence as being "I have a fish and I am eating it" (since the English "I have a fish and I eat it" doesn't really make sense) and then applying that formula to similar constructions.

If this is what it's offering, I'd say it's worse than "meh."

Redwolf

I was unaware that all of that stuff existed, honestly. Since I was lucky enough to have classes, I just practiced a lot outside with the teacher and didn't need much other beginner stuff. I definitely stand corrected, and agree with you athat there are other things much better than Duolingo (at least on a cursory browse-through).

Right now I'm only doing it so I can keep pushing for semi-correct audio. Though, since it seems that's unlikely to get answered, I'll probably quit. Doubly so given their seeming lack of acceptance of certain Connemara usages (they don't like the fact that I eclipse sa, for example).

[Quote = Redwolf] It's not just a matter of "tá" vs. "bíonn" (though it would still be incorrect, if the sentence was intended to be in the habitual tense). People are interpreting the meaning of the sentence as being "I have a fish and I am eating it" (since the English "I have a fish and I eat it" doesn't really make sense) and then applying that formula to similar constructions.

If this is what it's offering, I'd say it's worse than "meh." [/quote]

True, I guess. I don't understand why it's doing the simple present first, and then teaching the verbal noun almost at the end of the course. But, judging from the comments, there haven't been many people getting the two confused (since if you use the gerund in English, like we would, it's marked incorrect).

True, I guess. I don't understand why it's doing the simple present first, and then teaching the verbal noun almost at the end of the course. But, judging from the comments, there haven't been many people getting the two confused (since if you use the gerund in English, like we would, it's marked incorrect).[/quote]

But the ENGLISH is wrong! You've got shite English AND shite Irish happening in that sentence!

Redwolf

But how is the English wrong? "I have a fish and I eat it" is an acceptable sentence, at least to me, though it sounds odd and isn't something I'd normally say.

No native English speaker would "normally" say it...not in isolation. You might say "Every Friday I have a fish and I eat it" (though it would be pretty redundant), but as a standalone sentence the implication is that you are currently consuming the fish: "I have a fish and I am eating it."

Redwolf