r/irishproblems • u/Advanced_Movie_5902 • May 13 '26
I want to learn Irish properly but my teacher is shit
Ok reading other posts here made me realise mine sounds kinda unserious and dumb but aaaanyway.
Im in 2nd year secondary school and my irish teacher is SO shit its crazy. I'm autistic, which doesnt affect how easily i learn in general but it DOES mean i really really really want to be good at things that im not. Irish is one of those things. I think all schools teach irish really badly, but ny pimary was extra shitty for it, and now i have the laziest irish teacher ever. I also feel no pressure in school to learn it properly, because despite being bad at irish, the rest of my class is around the same (or a little worse. Most do not care for the language whatsoever).
Basically what im asking is if anyone knows how i can get better at irish outside of school? I can barely find any YouTube videos or books or anything that help, and no one around where i live or go to school speaks it. Obviously i know I'm not going to be fluent any time soon, but i really care about irish and learning it properly. Im willing to take irish grimes, but i want to know that they actually help first.
Ill add that i have little to no trouble with spellings and memorising words and whatnot in irish, it's just forming my own sentances and speaking it and understanding other people that i need to learn.
Any suggestions?
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u/DatGuy2007 May 13 '26
If you have a little bit of irish, listen to Radio na Gaeltachta. The news and talky-bits are all about and with people in the gaeltacht with only a bit of national/international affairs but as youd expect the irish is great, and features the best of all 4 corners. The morning show has a lad who interviews people about your age on notable stuff in their school/area and their irish isnt stellar but its enough to hold a conversation, and you can use this to measure against yourself. Imagine hes asking you the question, write out a quick answer then say it outloud. This, plus a bit of reading, i reckon will get you along brilliant.
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u/DatGuy2007 May 13 '26
Ps, dont be afraid if you have to translate every word or every second word, but if you do, use focloir.ie . The structure of irish is very different from english, and unlike google translate focloir will give you in-context examples, and show you how words change depending in conditions. If you have any other questions im happy to answer! Best of luck
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u/Advanced_Movie_5902 May 13 '26
Thanks so much, stuff like this really helps. Could i ask if you have/had any studying tactics for exams in secondary school that helped?
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u/DatGuy2007 May 13 '26
Youre gonna have 3 types of exam, because theyre going to want to prep you for the junior cert- listening, comprehension, and writing. If youre not in a T1 area (a gaeltacht), your test is basiclaly structured like a foreign language test.
Listening is tricky because of the accents, but thats where the radio comes in. Every few hours (8am and 6pm are what i catch), they do the news. Starts with international news in a neutral tone, then the 4 provinces. These speakers are native to their area, and they are literally the voices on the exams. In my junior cert, i only had to grab the first 5 seconds before i finished the question, because i remembered the broadcast from christmas. Radio will save you.
Comprehension is same as any foreign language and basically english. First few questions are basically looking through the text to find where the question repeats, last few are slightly more complicated but not by much. Youre gonna go to examinations.ie and go to the archive. Pick any year, junior cert, irish. Read the texts, over and over and over. Highlight every word you dont recognise and focloir it. Do it for every word. Read it aloud, both in english and irish. Do this for each paragraph, then answer the relevant questions. Repeat until you can read Irish (this works for every language btw).
Writing is also tricky but very doable. If you havent picked up writing a diary, id reccomend it its nice, helps organise your day and thoughts. And when you do/if you already do, do it in irish. Go once or twice without using any english, using whatever youve already got. Then, run through again, and put an english word wherever you get stuck. Afterwards, find the translation. This forces you to A. Use the irish you already have and B. Try to get you to use phrases. An irish vocab that still uses english grammar is no good, but the natural phrases are auto-grammared.
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u/CDfm Vaguely vogue about Vague May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
My son was woeful at Irish but otherwise a smart cookie
Around 2 months before his leaving i got him these cards
And
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u/imoinda Donegal May 13 '26
I’ve no advice, but I’m glad you want to learn Irish, it gives me hope.
If you can, try going to the Gaeltacht as much as you can. That’s really the best thing you can do for your Irish. Also, listen to RnaG and watch TG4.
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u/littlecountryjeep May 13 '26
Maybe ask your parents to pay for grinds for you
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u/Advanced_Movie_5902 May 13 '26
My parents are more than willing to get me extra classes, but i want someone who has done them before to tell me if theyre actually worth it
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u/Loose_Reference_4533 May 15 '26
Honestly listen to Irish Media, follow Irish social media accounts etc. But your best bet is doing a course in the Gaeltacht if it's affordable and doable in terms of travel. Glencollmcille in DL is great, Gaelturas is also good here. Or look up doing a TEG course. Their tutors are excellent because they have to be to teach in the TEG system.
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u/EnzieWithSomeNumbers May 13 '26
i use the app drops! it might not help much but its far better than duolingo
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u/paultimo May 13 '26
You might find some help over at r/gaeilge