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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent resource for learning Irish, June 26, 2009
This review is from: Spoken World: Irish (Book & CDs) (Paperback)
I recently purchased "Spoken World: Irish". I too am familiar with the Living Language series of language books. I have to say, from a person that owns "Teach Yourself Irish" and before, "Learning Irish", I would HIGHLY recommmend "Spoken World: Irish". There are several frustrations with other books that I believe were not in this book. Other books spend too much time on cultural aspects and glance over proper grammar & vocabulary. This books limits cultural lessons to minimum with updated and pertinent information. The print, binding and layout is fresh, easy to read and concise.
Contrary to other linguists, I am very happy that this books teaches the official standard of Irish. It does not avoid the dialects but this gives one universal approach to the language, which is so important to gaining more speakers and users of a language. English is my 1st language and I have studied other languages.
Since Irish has struggled in the past with declining speakers, the one positive thing about English is its ability to be rather universal. One can speak English with Americans, Brits, Australians, South Africans, etc. and get along just fine.
Learning the dialects of English comes with travel, interaction with other people, reading and writing. That is the exciting part. The same can be said of this book. Once you understand the structure and vocabulary of the official standard of Irish, you can surely learn the differences between the dialects and it makes you even more passionate about the language and culture.
I also find the conversations to be concise, without archaic or useless vocabulary. Some other language books teach you vocabulary such at the word for turnip or car tire. This books focuses on useful words and builds upon learning.
I have purchased other Living Language books for Russian, French, Portuguese and German. I thoroughly enjoy their approach to language acquisition. I think that most would agree that any new books the teach Irish is a good thing. Enjoy!
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great course, June 1, 2009
This review is from: Spoken World: Irish (Book & CDs) (Paperback)
I have to confess that I'm not that far in the course, but I am very familiar with the Living Language approach, as I have the Japanese, Russian, Polish, Korean, and Chinese courses as well. That having been said, the thing I like the most about this course is the audio. Other courses are more about reading AND listening, and rarely have just audio exersises. they may have a few here and there, but they do not have the amount that Living Language offers. And I believe that you need to have sufficient audio only exposure in order to understand people when they speak to you. Overall the book is a great start in the language too. The grammar notes are short, but clear and concise. The vocabulary is practical and up-to-date. The exercises are easy and yet good for the topics covered in the lessons. the only complaint I have is that there are no vocabulary lists for the 'readings' given in most lessons. You are expected to look up any unknown words you want to know. In the Korean textbook the readings have a vocabulary list (be it smaller then the main list), but this is the only complaint I have. And all you have to do is look up a word here or there per lesson really. Also, this book does not lend it self to one particular dialect like most Irish textbooks. Instead it teaches you the Official Standard used in Ireland, which is based on all three major dialects (Ulster, Connacht, and Munster). Thus this book is good for getting a good grasp on Irish, and while not being as comprehensive as the Japanese, Russian or Chinese courses, it is still good for a beginner. And Best thing is you can go on and learn any dialect you would like and take your Irish further!
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Super start but beware of the details!, January 17, 2012
This review is from: Spoken World: Irish (Book & CDs) (Paperback)
I have just completed every lesson and exercise of this course book. It gives a wonderful overview of the Irish language, introducing all the main points of grammar and using plenty of everyday vocabulary. The 15 lessons are supported by CDs on which the dialogues and vocabulary lists are recorded together with the example sentences for each new grammar topic. Separate recordings give the learner practice at aural comprehension and in answering some spoken tests.
There is also supplementary reading text with each lesson, requiring probably a separate dictionary to translate all the words, although the dialogues and texts all have a printed translation following them.
The course book has a full guide to pronunciation at the start and some very handy appendices on lenition, eclipsis and other prefixes.
Each lesson has some written exercises at the end. These are frankly much too easy for even the most puzzled learner and do not prepare you for the far harder business of the aural/oral tests later. On the other hand there are also interesting passages in English on a wide variety of topics concerning Irish life and culture with internet addresses where we can read further details and extend our interest.
However, the attentive learner will notice a few points which perhaps need attention in a second edition of this course. There are some obvious misprints: some arise from transcription - e.g. fhdcadán for fholcadán, éise for éisc. Others come from failed proof-reading: `the initial consonant . . . is made slender[p.142]' instead of `the final consonant . .'. Things like that might confuse the unwary learner, as does the spelling of cathan[p.154], m'fostóir [176] etc.
The two speakers on the CDs, together with the continuity speaker, are excellently clear and they speak at a speed that makes their words easy to follow with or without the printed text - something that many other Irish courses fail at miserably. However, although the female Irish voice is clearly confident and consistent, the male speaker seems to need watching! He might have a native dialect which will pronounce `ch' as a `k' and `dh' as a hard `g', but I have my doubts. His intonation when reading the texts suggests to me that he is reading from a script of imitated pronunciation, without actually understanding the Irish he is saying. Words that belong together are often separated as if the second belongs to what follows; and some words are pronounced in more than one distinct way. I cannot find the names of the speakers anywhere in the course material.
You will also find that occasionally the speakers insert words and even short sentences that are not printed in the book. And in the aural tests, you cannot always blame yourself if your answer is different from the one given. At one point you are asked to describe in Irish a pair of trousers as blue: after a pause, the man recites the answer, saying in Irish that the trousers are red. Even in the recitation of some of the printed paradigms there are little mistakes which could easily have been corrected.
So, if you buy this course, just be aware that you are not alone in making small mistakes along the way!
The course uses nearly 600 Irish words and there is a further supplementary vocabulary of words, grouped under general headings for further study. There are even some blank pages at the end of the course book for your notes.
Despite the imperfections which required only some efficient proof-reading or, better still, some practical trials with students before publication, I think this is a fine first course and a great way to start Irish and I still reckon it deserves its 5 stars. But you would do well to arm yourself with `Progress in Irish' for getting to grips with the grammar in serious detail.
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