You can't mention Irish language without mentioning TG4 . The only Irish language television station. Without it I would not have even tried to learn Irish because if you can't hear the language spoken on a normal basis, you don't have much chance of learning it. That being said, you have to go watch the shows on TG4 on a regular basis and by that I mean...daily. I suggest that you find the shows that have English subtitles or you will just grow bored because you don't know what anyone is saying. Even with English subtitles you are still learning. You will find yourself picking out those Irish words that you know and you will hear them more and more as you progress. Small sentences will start to have meaning. This is where I am now. Some shows are better than others. I once read that I should watch the children's shows because they talk slower on them but I didn't find the children's shows to be very helpful because even though they talk slower they also talk in funny voices and it is hard to understand the words. I suggest you watch the adult shows. You get a lot more regular conversation on them and it is just easier to learn from.
When you run out of interesting shows on TG4 look for more of their shows on Youtube. I recently found this one called No Bearla (sorry no fada). It was an excellent show and since he talked in Irish most of the time to regular people it was great for learning, plus it was just an interesting show for someone who doesn't live in Ireland.
Anyway, watch as much as you can, as often as you can. It is likely the only real immersion you are going to get unless you go to Ireland and visit a region where they speak mostly Irish.
No comments:
Post a Comment