Product Description Specially written by experienced teachers, this easy to use and completely up to date course offers you a step-by-step approach to spoken and written Irish with no prior knowledge of the language required. What makes Colloquial Irish your best choice in personal language learning?: emphasis on the language of East Connemara, with a clear pronunciation guide and an appendix on dialectal differences within Irish stimulating exercises with lively illustrations effective combination of language points, dialogues and cultural information Irish/English and English/Irish word lists. By the end of this rewarding course you will be able to communicate confidently and effectively in Irish in a broad range of everyday situations. This pack contains the book and two 60-minute audio CDs.This audio material has been recorded by native speakers and will help you perfect your pronuncation, listening and speaking skills.
Customer Reviews:
Poor September 21, 2008 5 out of 8 found this review helpful
I must agree with the other negative reviewer: this language course is totally inadequate. Lessons are badly organized, with far too much fluff and far too little useful, substantive material. Grammar is poorly explained, so that each lesson becomes little more than a list of indecipherable phrases to the uninitiated beginner. The exercises are largely useless. And this thin book gives you a truly scanty vocablury. The CDs might offer a few hours of listening practice, but they are hardly worth the price on their own. Go for 'Learning Irish' instead: as the previous reviewer said, it is simply the best option on the market for the serious learner.
Another terrific Routledge Colloquial August 30, 2008 9 out of 11 found this review helpful
I have just received my multimedia pack for Colloquial Irish. I have extensive experience in learning foreign languages -- everything from Swahili to Chinese. I was a contributing editor to the best-selling textbook for teaching Biblical Hebrew to Christian Seminary students --"The Basics of Biblical Hebrew" by Pratico and Van Pelt (Zondervan).
That established, the Colloquial Irish course is everything that I have come to expect from Routledge. It is fun, practical and well-grounded. I have some nine of the Routledge courses. The Colloquial Irish reaches the standard set by their Colloquial Welsh course, which is excellent.
It must be remembered that Learning Irish is primarily for the written language. There is not that much dialogue. What dialogue there is is sometimes stilted. The examples in LI can be dense to ridiculous. How about this sentence given to teach the vocative : Oh hens ! Maybe farmers talk to their poultry, but I have no plans to address a hen in conversation any time soon. And this one: The little birds are on the little stones. How interesting !
I have spent a good bit of time with Learning Irish and it is thorough, but it is hardly a text for the spoken language. The vocabulary that is taught in LI is also of questionable value. Who needs to know the Irish words for "auction" or "shrew?"
Colloquial Irish by Ihde, et al is an exciting introduction to the spoken language. It is as good as my German textbook was -- Ich Spreche Deutsch -- and that was an excellent spoken German text on the market for its time. The introduction to CI is upbeat and encouraging. It makes the point that Irish studies today are in full swing like never before. Fortunately, the academic world has discovered both the value of Irish and Yiddish -- two vernaculars from different peoples who have shared a parallel history in expulsion, dispersion and contribution to the world's cultures.
It is a little strange that O Siadhail in his introduction to Learning Irish is so pessimistic regarding the fate of the language. One almost wonders why he bothered to write it. After such a gloomy introduction, does he really expect to attract students to the language ?
After Colloquial Irish, one might take up Intermediate Irish from Routledge and Turas Teanga from RTE. There is also Speaking Irish for advanced learners.
All rights reserved. Amazon.com is a trademark of Amazon.com Information about prices, products, services and merchants is provided by third parties and is for informational purposes only. Caribbean Travel Books does not represent or warrant the accuracy or reliability of the information, and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use.
