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Title: Teach Yourself Gaelic Complete Course Audiopack by Boyd Robertson, Iain Taylor ISBN: 0-07-141884-9 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies Pub. Date: 21 November, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 2 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.09 (23 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent beginner's course in Scottish Gaelic
Comment: I've been doing a little research on Celtic languages and linguistics, and I got this course to help out with Gaelic, especially the speaking and pronunciation. This is a course in Scottish Gaelic as opposed to Irish Gaelic in the Teach Yourself Series. I've previously had the TY courses for several languages, such as Spanish and Arabic, and they have all been excellent so far, and this one is no exception. The audio tapes are great for teaching you proper pronunciation, and they put to use the vocabulary and grammar that you learn in the book.
Each chapter has vocabulary-building lists, a brief grammar section, and exercises and practice drills. Aspects of the language's grammar are typically introduced in the context of a given conversational requirement, so although the coverage of the grammar isn't systematic and especially technical, it's still good and more than adequate to understand the conversational examples and phrases. For those wanting a more rigorous treatment of the grammar of a language, you'll probably want to pick up a separate grammar to accompany the Teach Yourself courses, which is what I do.
To give you a little idea of what I've learned so far (much of it from this particular book), Irish belongs to the Celtic language family, the most western of the Indo-European language groups. It is of interest to linguists since it may preserve features of the original Indo-European proto-language. The family has two branches, the first composed of Gaelic and Manx, which are very similar to each other, and the other branch, composed of Welsh, Breton, and Cornish, but they are too different to be mutually intelligible. Irish is known as Gaeilge, and Welsh is called Cymraeg. Breton and Welsh are grouped together as Brythonic languages, while Irish and Scots Gaelic are grouped together as Goedelic languages. Irish and Scots Gaelic speakers can understand each other with some difficulty and also Welsh and Breton speakers. However, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a Welsh and an Irish speaker to understand each other.
Irish and Scots Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton are still alive, but Cornish and Manx have died out. The other Celtic languages that have died out are Galatian (spoken by Celts in central Turkey), Gaulish, and Celtiberian or Hispano-Celtic. The last three were assimilated into the Roman empire. Lastly, there was Pictish, which may or may not have been a real Celtic language.
Irish has a relatively small alphabet compared to most European languages, with only 18 letters. One of the ways Irish gets along with such a small alphabet is that there are complex rules relating to combinations of consonants and vowels, with the vowels affecting the pronunciation of the consonants. You'll learn about all of these in the sections on phonetics and pronunciation.
There are several interesting aspects to Irish phonetics. One is that it has what are called slender and broad consonants, or short and long versions of the consonants. An American speaker typically has long consonants, and a Scottish speaker short consonants, but Irish has both. To illustrate this concept, the "l" in the word "leaf" would be "slender," but in the word "feel," broad. Another interesting aspect of Irish phonetics is there are complex rules for mutation of sounds, such as in lenition and eclipsis of consonants. This often happens in the first consonants of verbs and nouns. Lenition means softening, or the replacement of a loud, abrupt sound by a softer hissing or continuous sound, as in the replacement of "c" by "ch." Eclipsis occurs when the sound of a consonant like "c" is overtaken by the sound of the consonant before it, such as a "g." I'm used to this phenomenon being referred to as forward or anterograde assimilation of consonants, and English also has it, as when the "s" in dogs sounds like a "z" because it is being assimilated by the voiced "g" sound. Russian is the reverse, and has regressive or retrograde assimilation of consonants.
Irish has masculine and feminine genders, and also something called the genitive singular, which affects different kinds of nouns when they are joined to the previous noun. Irish has similar verb tenses and moods to English, but the habitual past is more important in Irish. There are two perfect present tenses, based on the verbal adjective, or past participle, such as in "written," or the verbal noun, or gerund, as in "writing." Hence, Irish has present, past, present habitual, past habitual, and future tenses. It also has the imperative, conditional, and subjunctive moods, and there is a passive voice, similar to English and most Indo-European languages.
Well, I hope you didn't mind my little digression on Celtic and Irish linguistics, but getting back to the present book, this is an excellent book and audio tape combination for the beginning student of Scottish Gaelic. After completing this course, you'll have an excellent foundation in the language and will be ready to advance to the intermediate level in your studies.
Rating: 5
Summary: Perfect for those with no other way of instruction
Comment: I got this tape and book set about 2 1/2 years ago in 1999. I started on my own with absolutely no one else to practice with. In the summer of 2001 I went to Scotland to attend a short 2 week course in Scottish Gaelic at Sabhal Mor Ostaig on the Isle of Skye. They had 8 levels, one per week. After I had my interview they put me straight into level 5! Mind you, I had NO ONE else to speak with. The tapes REALLY help with the pronunciation, which is the hardest thing about this language in my opinion, b/c words are not spelled how they sound to an native English speaker. If you read through every part of the chapter and treat it just like a textbook, and if you do all of the exercises in the book in the proper way, you will have no choice but to learn this language as best as it is possible without a live teacher. If you want to get back in touch with your Scottish roots, or you just love the celts and want to feel cool by speaking a beautiful and ancient language, then this book and tape set is for you.
Rating: 5
Summary: Tha e GLÈ math!
Comment: Ò, tha gràdh agam dhut, CHO mòràn,a Ghàidhlig! 'S toil leam seo leabhar glè mòràn agus is miann leam tuilleadh às seo cànain àlainn. Seadh, bidh gràdh agam air seo cànain gu bràth. Feumach air cuideachadh. Ma 's e bhur toil e. I'm only starting this book, but I have learned a LOT. I don't usually do all the excercises, but I make up my own to see how well I can perform. So far, this is an excellent course- wonderfully explained, good use of words, interesting facts about Alba (Scotland), this is just beautifully done. And the language is just SO beautiful! The Celtic languages are MUCH more beautiful and romantic than the latin languages in my opinion. I just can't and won't believe nor accept the frail condition this ethereal tounge is in. The Celtic languages MUST BE SAVED! Tha gràdh agam dhuinn uile cho mòràn, an ceòl agus na diathan sin tha iad. Tha iad uile ceòl, bàrdach, agus Dia fhèin. Ò, bhithinn anns an dùthaich daonnan, sin Alba breagha, an t-Eilean Sgithneach, Inbhir Nis, Glaschu, h-uile rud. M'Alba, tha gràdh agus miann agam dhuit.Buy this course and learn it! You will NOT regret it! Sure, it is hard, but you get the hang of it. I HIGHLY recommend it.
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Title: Scottish Gaelic-English/English-Scottish Gaelic Dictionary by R.W. Renton, J.A. MacDonald ISBN: 0781803160 Publisher: Hippocrene Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1994 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Beginner's Gaelic by James MacLaren ISBN: 0781807263 Publisher: Hippocrene Books Pub. Date: 01 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Colloquial Scottish Gaelic: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series) by Katherine M. Spadaro, Katie Graham, Fiona Boyd, Iain Macleod, Iseabail Mactaggart ISBN: 0415206774 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 05 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $46.95 |
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Title:Talk Now! Scots Gaelic ASIN: B0000899Y9 Publisher: EuroTalk Pub. Date: 31 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.99 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $18.99 |
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Title: Gaelic-English/English-Gaelic Dictionary by Dougal Buchanan ISBN: 0781807891 Publisher: Hippocrene Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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