Lonely Planet Irish Language & Culture (Language Reference) [Paperback]

Martin Hughes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2007 | Series: Language Reference

Bejaysus and begorrah! The next best thing for anyone not blessed with the gift of gab - a grand tour through the language, lilt and laughter of Ireland old and new. So joint in the craic, forget the Blarney Stone, and wrap your tongue around English the way the Irish reinvented it.

-Features special section on Irish Gaelic.
-Lonely Planet's English Language & Culture series goes behind the scenes of languages you thought you knew.
-Get into the culture and humor behind common - and not so common - English expressions and learn about the local languages that inspired them.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1740595777
• ISBN-13: 978-1740595773
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,041,572 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Anthropology > General
  • #20 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Travel > Guidebook Series > Lonely Planet
  • #53 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Travel > Europe > Great Britain > General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Don't judge this book by its title, December 9, 2007

By 

John L Murphy "Fionnchú" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lonely Planet Irish Language & Culture (Language Reference) (Paperback)

Caveat lector. Let the reader beware. Not the book you may be looking for.

One reviewer correctly diminishes this little guide for its lack (about ten pages) of attention to the Irish language itself (see my Listmania "Learning Irish Gaelic" for 39 other resources). The other reviewer celebrates how this pocket guidebook gave so much space to the Irish culture, largely through its Hibernicisms rendering into English often many terms and ideas derived directly from the Irish Gaelic. I therefore balance the one-star with the five-star ratings. It's not the book you might expect from the misleading title, but I did find, if you can put up with the relentlessly snarky tone adopted by so many of the Lonely Planet writers when telling us foreigners about how the natives are laughing at us, an array of witticisms and invective that no other printed source could likely provide for the non-linguist...and the clueless or the un-hip reader. Don't know exactly how useful this'd prove for many, but surely it'll lead to surprise or unexpected reactions from any Irish person you corner with these colorful and off-color effusions.

However, every culture should have its own book of such insider codes to turn the tables on each other in our global village, when tourists visit our own hometowns. Fair play to ye/yiz, as the Irish'd say themselves.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amusing look at Irishness, October 5, 2007

By 

Wyvernfriend (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Irish Language & Culture (Language Reference) (Paperback)

This had me giggle and reading pieces out to my husband who almost tore it out of my hands to read. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to see the reality of Irish modern Language and culture and Irish English. Although it does miss out on some things for a small book it does capture a lot of Ireland and the Irish. It was interesting to see how sometimes those phrases I take for granted are actually Irishisms.

It has a little bit with the Irish Language but most of the book is actually about English as spoken in Ireland. Most of the Irish/Gaeilge in the book is actually useful conversational Irish.

I would recommend this book to writers looking to capture modern Ireland and Irish people.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Misleading and full of errors, August 30, 2007

By 

Gwilym - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Irish Language & Culture (Language Reference) (Paperback)

Judging by the title of this book, you would expect it to be about the Irish language. It's not. Only a meager 14 pages of the book deal with the irish language, and these fourteen pages are filled with errors. You'll find errors in the pronunciation, errors in the grammar and errors in the vocabulary.

If you're interested in the Irish language, I recommend you to have a look at a course such as Learning Irish or other books on the Irish language that keep the promise expressed in the title. This book certainly doesn't.