Yesterday I wrote briefly about lenition, a process through which the beginnings of words in Irish can change depending on the word that precedes them. I found the lenition explanation in Essential Irish Grammar by Éamonn Ó…
A few days ago, for nine dollars and forty-something cents a month, I purchased access to an online course on the Talk Irish website. It is based on an old TV program, Buntús Cainte, that first ran…
Earlier today a reader asked me why, for Irish, I wasn’t beginning with Pimsleur and whether that had to do with there being only 10 Pimsleur lessons for this language. I admit to a little despondency over the paucity of…
Here are a few weird things in Irish: Weird Thing #1. On the eve of Mother’s Day, the word madra in Irish keeps throwing me. I keep thinking it is “mother,” but it is “dog.” Oops. Weird…
I am not super attached to social media, but I try to stay reasonably on top of things. A year or so ago I opened a Twitter account and then, like many people I know, let it languish while I…
Studying Irish is nowhere near as easy as studying Spanish or French or Italian. I Have Been Using the Google Translate App on My iPhone, a Lot Besides the very different grammar, there simply aren’t that many words…
One of the things I love about this project is that I hear from people all over the world who love languages, too. Since this website first went up, it has had visitors from 164 countries. A large chunk of Africa…
News Alert: This blog has been nominated as one of the top 100 language-learning blogs of 2013! If you like the blog and would like to contribute votes, which will in turn contribute substantially (50 percent) to my overall ranking on…
Irish may use the Roman alphabet, but looking up a word in an Irish dictionary is not a simple matter. You need to know something about the language before you can make a reasonable go of it. That’s because…
New York has many, many Irish bars. Two days ago I walked into one in my neighborhood, Malachy’s, told the bartender I was studying Irish, and asked whether any Irish speakers hang out there. I need conversation. Malachy’s,…
© 2009–2022 Ellen Jovin. All rights reserved.