Dear Geri,

Sorry to take so long to reply. Audio materials for many modern language
courses are extremely unhelpful to beginners. They understand that learners
must be exposed at initial stages to the sound of the language as it is spoken
naturally; however, they forget that beginners, like babies with their mothers,
need to experience an enunciatory stage.

For help with pronunciation, you really need to interact with a native speaker
who can be 'mum' for you and this is why Gaelnet's online sessions with native
speakers is such an invaluable part of the course. In my view, you can't
properly learn pronunciation simply from a book. (Even handing a course as
complete with audio and text as 'Ship or Sheep' to English learners is not
enough. Learners require interaction with native speakers, preferably a
teacher, to keep them right on pronunciation matters that they haven't picked up
on, or heard/understood properly, from the learning materials.)

Beannachdan,



Alasdair




--- In clairseach@..., "bayharper" <bayharper@...> wrote:
>
> --- In clairseach@..., "Alasdair Codona" <calumcille@> wrote:
> >
> > Dear Geri,
> >
> > Co. Galway and Co. Donegal apparently have the greatest numbers of
professedly fluent Irish speakers in the Irish Gaeltacht so this will be what
you're most likely to encounter even in the States.
> >
> > Munster Irish has something of an elevated place in literary history though.
In certain respects, it relates to the other forms of Gaelic as would Spanish to
French. It has kept more of the synthetic verbal forms than other forms of
Gaelic which tend more to split the person off from the verb. This is like
having Spanish penso, pensas, pensa instead of French je pense, tu penses, il
pense.
> >
> > It also has structural differences in word stress compared to other forms of
Gaelic: elsewhere the first syllable of a word is stressed but in Munster, the
stress can be moved onto other syllables. This has important implications when
it comes to relating words to musical rhythm. This would like having Spanish
word stress (any of the last three syllables) instead of French word stress
(generally on the last syllable); compare libro/livre, comprendes/comprends,
memoria/memoire stressing the same syllables but música/musique,
próximo/prochaine, magnífico/magnifique stressing different syllables.
> >
> > Learners of any form of Gaelic are going to encounter different ways of
talking wherever they are. The media, whether the web, newspapers, radio or
television, will inevitably bring you into contact with different dialects of
Gaelic, either in written or in spoken form. The important thing is to start
off with one dialect and to graft knowledge about other dialects onto your own
core language.
> >
> > Pairings of monolingual Anglophones and bilingual native Irish speakers on
Live Mocha of course offer nothing to Irish speakers so that's out. Rosetta
Stone would cost far too much unless you can agree to share the cost and the use
with a group of trustworthy, like-minded individuals. Byki is free but it is
only a learning tool for memorising by drilling phrases (spoken in Connaught
Irish) with flashcards (althought it does have the impressive option to press
the tortoise and slow down the speech of the native speakers so you can really
listen to them). It will not explicitly teach you either the connection between
spelling and pronunciation or grammar.
> >
> > BBC Northern Ireland's Radio Ulster has a short beginners course which
displays the language points online. These are short aural lessons in Ulster
Irish and don't offer the exercise that the Byki cards would but they are
downloadable for free.
> >
> > Most people will need a full course, either by buying a book and tapes or by
doing an online course. Gaeltalk does a reasonably priced online beginner's
course which will teach you Munster Irish and offer you Skype sessions online
with native speakers. Have a look at the following webpages.
> >
> > http://www.gaeltalk.net/shop/
> > http://www.learn4good.com/distance_learn/ireland_online_irish_courses2.htm
> >
> > Congratulations on the progress so far!
> >
> > Beannachdan,
> >
> >
> >
> > Alasdair
> >
> > --- In clairseach@..., "bayharper" <bayharper@> wrote:
> > >
> > > First, I wanted to share the news that I have placed the deposit on my
Student Trinity Harp. I am really excited. The Triplett wire harp has all of
its strings now and is beginning to hold its pitch. Actually, it is sounding
pretty good. I just have to add some satellite speakers to my laptop for the
Skype lessons with Ann and make arrangements with her to get started.
> > >
> > > Second, I have joined a forum called "Learning Irish". I asked for
opinions on software and a program called "Transparent Language" BYKI was
recommended. My concern is that the reason I want to learn Irish is to use it
as an aide in learning the ancient music. Is there any special dialect I should
be looking for? Or will a program like BYKI be sufficient for these needs? I
appreciate any opinions.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Geri
> > >
>
> Dear Alasdair,
>
> Since your last post that provided me with much good information and
direction, I have tried the free sample of Gaeltalk. While I like the format,
the speakers talk so fast that I cannot quite catch the proper pronunciation of
the words. I did buy their suggested book "Progress in Irish", but it is more a
dictionary without pronunciation keys. I still think that Gaeltalk would be the
best choice for me, but is there a book that you can recommend that would help
me with pronunciation?
>
> Thank you,
> Geri
> >
>