Micheal O'Siadhail Books

I've used the textbook in class, and it was great with the help of a teacher. But as a teach-yourself with audio cassettes...I mean, audio cassettes!! It is a hopelessly outdated - not to mention annoying to use - technology. Wait for a version with CD's, otherwise this is a very difficult text for self-instruction.

Overall, I say this is a great book. I have learned how to speak the Irish language as fluently as an American who has not traveled across the seas can. What leaves this book at four stars and not five for me is the complexity of the design in the book and the simplicity of the explanations.

First of all, I spent ten minutes trying to find the pronunciation table of the different consonants and vowel combinations. They were hidden in the back with a bunch of other appendixes that I felt should have been a part of the book. But that also goes with my issue with the simplicity of the book.

This is not going to teach you how to understand the Irish language. Having studied ancient languages such as Latin and Sanskrit I am rather used to the formal training of understanding each word and how it is formulated and transformed throughout the sentences. This book has an appendix that if you took the time to learn on your own you could attempt something like that, but there is no chapter based around such a structured understanding of the language.

But of course, although I do have these complaints, I am only taking it down to four stars because it is a good book to learn to speak the Irish language. So if you want something that is in-depth enough to teach you the pronunciations and a great CD accompanying it as well as learning common sentences and a good learning structure, then this is perfect for you. However, if you are looking for a complete understanding of the language and the ability to break down the structure then perhaps you should look for something else.

This book is an essential one for anyone who wants to learn Irish. It contains 34 well-written chapters, pronunciations, and a lot of grammar. The glossary in the back is useful, but to get into the nitty-gritty of grammar details and for a more comprehensive word list, you should probably buy a companion dictionary or grammar book.

Many others have reviewed fairly the strengths and weaknesses of LI. I wanted to offer advice to beginners wondering if this is the best book for their needs. Yahoo groups are making their way through LI as one group focused on Connemara dialect-- for the Cois Fharraige version as spoken along the Co Galway coast is that which Ó Siadhail teaches; other Yahoo groups are learning Munster or Ulster Irish with different texts; another group takes the Standard "school" Irish via Mairead Ní Ghrada's primer "Progress in Irish." So, you have options that combine introductory textbooks with web- based discussion lists, often with sound files added by learners. This improves upon the dodgy semi-audible cassettes that some editions of LI come with and others do not. A CD version is rumored.

This book also came out in different printings; the latest 1992-era cover boasts of it being an improved edition, but little changes within beyond a somewhat clearer font and resetting of the layout (not enough if you ask me-- this book takes scrutiny and sharp eyes to make out crucial accents over many small-type letters; the italics are not easily discerned from a quick glance of many passages). LI contains errors; the answer key is not always correct, and explanations occasionally are lacking for idioms or vocabulary necessary for what a chapter may expect you to translate. This can be a far more frustrating book than an idealistic learner may expect.

I have taught grammar in English, but the linguistic explanations provided here at times bewilder me. It's not a well-organized progression of content for each lesson. Not until Ch. 12 do you learn the copula. Verbs begin to be taught in greater number later than you'd expect. The author may insert essential information into a tiny footnote or a blip of a phrase (often an exception to a rule he's explaining, or an idiom otherwise not to be found in the 30 chapters) within an otherwise unrelated paragraph. This book, the back cover tells us, is for the self-tutored learner or the intrigued linguist, but it may please the latter who's able to understand the convoluted and compressed paradigms and examples better than the clueless newbie.

I do like the little texts ending each chapter to translate from Irish-- these are my "reward" for finishing a chapter after the grueling work of making the English sentences in the other exercise into Irish. Despite answer keys, much will elude you as to what Ó Siadhail wants you to write and what you thought you must write given the past lesson. Also, that lesson may give you many words that you will not use until much later-- if at all. This hit-and-miss approach may reflect real-life uses of a language learned in the real world, but it does try a learner's patience.

Still, it's the only book teaching a dialect between north and south, and thus considered as the Connacht mean between Munster and Ulster extremes! Unlike most primers, it plunges you into a dialect with its own irrational peculiarities, and this immersion is necessary once you leave standard "school" Irish texts for learners behind. However, for absolute beginners, I would supplement this with a more concise, friendlier introduction such as Gabriel Rosenstock's "Beginner's Irish." This concise text is more "updated" than "Progress in Irish," but "PiI" features short chapters and the latter is easier to consult; Rosenstock combines an overview of the language with samples of how it works and has evolved alongside lessons.

If you're only curious for now about the language's context and what it's like past and present, "The Irish Language" by Darerca Ní Chartúir is recommended. Grammatical explanations much more detailed but also much clearer than those in LI can be found in a reference guide that anyone slogging through LI will soon need: Donna Wong's "A Learner's Guide to Irish". (I review Rosenstock, Ní Chartúir, and Wong on Amazon.) Nollaig Mac Congáil's "Irish Grammar Book" is a shorter reference while Éamonn Ó Dónaill's "Teach Yourself Irish Grammar" (unlike the dreaded revision of "Teach Yourself Irish"!) is another useful self-learning text combining explanations and exercises.

The book does not require a lot of prior knowledge of Irish, but it will require you to learn some grammatic terms that you may not be familiar with. The progression of the lessons seems a tad random compared to other foreign language methods, but it eventually goes everywhere it needs to. The text leaves something to be desired, at times, for its explanations which can be a little vague, but (with repetition) mastery is still possible. The cassettes are helpful, but they would be MORE helpful if they were CDs (for purposes of navigation). The cassettes would be more helpful, too, if they also went through the vocabulary for each lesson rather than just the exercises. Get ready to take notes and do some individual research.