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Teach Yourself Gaelic Complete Course Audiopack

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job well done
The Tongue of the Gael...
very good
The best currently available
A Good Resource

Teach Yourself Gaelic Complete Course Audiopack
Boyd Robertson , and Iain Taylor
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Dic Scottish Gaelic English English Scottish Gaelic
Teach Yourself Gaelic Dictionary (Teach Yourself)
Teach Yourself Irish Complete Course, CD package
Colloquial Scottish Gaelic: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series)
Beginner's Gaelic (Hippocrene Beginners Language Series)

ASIN: 0071418849

Book Description

Bestselling language courses now with audio CDs!

From Cantonese to Thai, Gaelic to Modern Persian, learning the languages of the world is attainable for any beginning student. Learners can use the Teach Yourself Language Courses at their own pace or as a supplement to formal courses. These complete courses are based on the very latest learning methods and designed to be enjoyable and user-friendly.

Prepared by experts in the language, each course begins with the basics and gradually promotes the student to a level of smooth and confident communication, including:

Up-to-date, graded interactive dialogues
Graded units of culture notes, grammar, and exercises
Step-by-step guide to pronunciation
Practical vocabulary
Regular and irregular verb tables
Plenty of practice exercises and answers
Bilingual glossary

The new editions also feature:

Clear, uncluttered, and user-friendly layout
Self-assessment quizzes to test progress
Website suggestions to take language study further

Customer Reviews:

job well done.......2006-09-11

I bought this pack without high expectations but because it looked better than the alternatives.

Let me say at the outset that the book by itself is useless for teaching anybody Gaelic. I have yet to see any useful written material on Gaelic pronunciation, and this book does not even try. My guesses, even as an experienced linguist, were far off the mark. With the CD's however it is another matter - they are excellent, though the learning curve is steep at first and a few written tips of things to look out for would have been helpful.

Each unit contains (primarily) a dialogue, with key expressions collected at the end, a grammar section and a useful selection of exercises. All this material is professionally organized, and the level of the grammar explanations is probably about right for most learners - clear and thorough enough without any danger of overload. For the first half of the book there are also sections on Gaelic terms against their cultural background.

After working through about half of the book, I can say that I am pleased with the purchase, and feel that I am already getting the hang of this language far more quickly than I would have imagined. But don't forget the CD's.

The Tongue of the Gael..........2006-05-02

I think this set has aquired some negativity it does not deserve. For one, it never claimed to be teaching Irish, it's a matter of proper terminology - if you want to learn Irish, buy a book that says IRISH. Nor does it claim to be an on-the-go trainer; of course it's book dependent.

I highly recommend this, it is the most thorough course available for beginners. The other course mentioned hereabouts, "Colloquial Gaelic", does NOT do as good a job teaching the language, focusing on phrases rather than giving one a full understanding of the functions of Gaelic grammar, a must in order to learn this complicated language.

TY's kit does an excellent job teaching the really useful elements of speech. We learn conversational ballast rather than the mostly-ubiquitous "this is a book" lines too often taught. Lessons are given in managable chunks, and the background sections make for interesting reading. The edition does stand in need of a little revision, being unchanged for over a decade, and a little more audio material would be nice, but as a beginner's kit, it does its job well.

I've owned this kit for a number of years, making a little more progress each time I turn to it. Gaelic is best learned this way, along with a dictionary to browse through, and of course listening to much good Gaelic music (I recommend Runrig and Capercaillie).

very good.......2006-03-20

i really like this course because it's easy and the cds help with the pronounciation

The best currently available.......2005-12-01

This is the best general coursebook for Scottish Gaelic for beginners. While some of the material could have been better organized and presented, Teach Yourself Gaelic contains all the grammar you need for conversation and writing, and a good basic vocabulary. I highly recommend buying the package with the CDs rather than the book alone; it is essential to have exposure to the spoken language as Gaelic has a number of sounds which don't exist in English. I also highly recommend purchasing the Teach Yourself Gaelic Dictionary by Boyd Robertson and Iain MacDonald (ISBN 0071426671) together with the Teach Yourself Gaelic course -- this is the best two-way (Gaelic-English and English-Gaelic) dictionary available and is absolutely indispensable for every student of the language.

A Good Resource.......2005-09-09

I have read several books about Gaelic; many have been a failure because they do not know how to organise the language for non-native speakers. This book has an odd format; it could have been better organised. The introduction to orthography and pronunciation is decent, but could be expanded and better explained. The CDs could have had more examples also. Despite this, it is a good resource to learning Gaelic.

Teach Yourself Irish (Teach Yourself Complete Courses)

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Teach Yourself Irish (Teach Yourself Complete Courses)
Diarmuid O Se , and Joe Sheils
Manufacturer: Teach Yourself Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Irish: Learn to Speak and Understand Irish (Gaelic) with Pimsleur Language Programs (Quick & Simple Basic Programs)
Learning Irish, Text, Audio, and Self-Tutor (Boxed set)

ASIN: 034087077X

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Teach Yourself Irish (Teach Yourself Complete Courses)
Diarmuid O Se , and Joe Sheils
Manufacturer: Teach Yourself Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0340870737

Teach Yourself Gaelic (Teach Yourself Complete Courses)

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Audio version of Teach yourself Gaelic (Robertson!)

Teach Yourself Gaelic (Teach Yourself Complete Courses)
Boyd Robertson , and Iain Taylor
Manufacturer: Teach Yourself Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Teach Yourself Gaelic Dictionary (Teach Yourself)
Teach Yourself Gaelic Complete Course Audiopack
Colloquial Scottish Gaelic: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series)
Gaelic-English/English-Gaelic Dictionary (Hippocrene Practical Dictionary)

ASIN: 0340866675

Customer Reviews:

Audio version of Teach yourself Gaelic (Robertson!).......2006-03-15

These tapes ARE the welcome companion to the print ed. _Teach Yourself Gaelic_ (by Robertson & Taylor, c1993, 2003,) with the same "heather" cover. Becasue most Scottish Gaelic texts don't give a hint to the pronunciation, which does not resemble the spelling of the words, the tapes are a must.

(I believe there is an error above. This is NOT by Roderick Mackinnon in this iteration & not a companion to Gaelic, by Roderick Mackinnon.)

Caveat: Both books _Teach yourself Gaelic_ by Robertson & Taylor, & _Gaelic_ by Roderick Mackinnon are Scottish Gaidhlig (not Irish Gaeilge.) Also Mackinnon does include pronunciation guide for each of the vocabulary words.

Teach Yourself Gaelic. A Complete Course for Beginners

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Teach Yourself Gaelic. A Complete Course for Beginners
Robertson & Taylor
Manufacturer: Trafalgar Square
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OVF9WE

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Teach Yourself Irish (Teach Yourself Complete Courses)
Diarmuid O Se , and Joe Sheils
Manufacturer: Teach Yourself Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0340870753

Irish: A Complete Course for Beginners (Teach Yourself Books (Lincolnwood, Ill.).)

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A Comparison Of Two Irish Language Courses
Far from "Learning Irish" or "Irish on Your Own"
Very good, I dare say
Very good, but incomplete.
Needs more emphasis on grammar

Irish: A Complete Course for Beginners (Teach Yourself Books (Lincolnwood, Ill.).)
Diarmuid O Se , and Joseph Sheils
Manufacturer: Hodder & Stoughton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Teach Yourself Irish Complete Course, CD package

ASIN: 0340564903

Book Description

Functional and fun, this course offers full pronunciation guides, grammar summaries, dialogues, cultural notes, vocabulary charts, and irregular verb tables. Ideal for complete language study from comprehension, to speaking and writing skills, to understanding the culture.

Customer Reviews:

A Comparison Of Two Irish Language Courses.......2002-05-16

After researching Irish language courses at my local libraries and on-line, I selected the following two textbooks for my own study of this language. The two books are Teach Yourself Irish by Diarmuid O Se (1993 edition) and Learning Irish by Micheal O. Siadhail (1995 edition). Before reviewing each one, let me first warn those wishing to learn the rudiments of this language that you may find Irish grammar, spelling, and pronunciation hopelessly complex and illogical. (Fortunately, it uses the Roman alphabet.) Whichever book you chose, proceed in small steps. Read just a chapter a day to keep your frustration to a minimum. I recommend beginning with Teach Yourself Irish, which I found the more enjoyable of the two books. Each of its 20 chapters opens with short dialogues which are topical as well as interesting. Next comes a review of grammar clearly explained at a very basic level. All of the chapters conclude with exercises requiring the reader to answer in short phrases or sentences. There are also illustrations scattered throughout the book, thus breaking up the monotony of the text. (Too many other language books for beginners, like Learning Irish, lack pictures to liven up the text.) On the audiotapes the dialogues have been re-created by native speakers who demonstrate, as I understand it, the Munster dialect.
If you want a more thorough grounding in the language, read Learning Irish next. In its 36 chapters it will re-inforce what you have learned in Teach Yourself Irish, explain the grammar in greater depth, and expand your vocabulary. Each chapter begins with a laundry list of words to memorise. It is followed by a presentation of grammar which I found quite dry and boring. (It will put you to sleep if you are not careful!) Next there are some paragraphs of text to translate, drawing on the words in the vocabulary list. Finally, there are sets of exercises to test your skills, including one English-to-Irish exercise. As a do-it-yourself language student, I found myself to lazy to write out the answers for the exercises in both books. Instead, I would translate by sight, while taking quick peeks at the answer key provided at the back of each book. The audiotapes for Learning Irish offer a detailed treatment of what the author considers the more standarised pronunciation in Ireland today.
*A word about dictionaries: The selection of Irish dictionaries currently on the market is disappointing. I ended up buying the Pocket Oxford Irish Dictionary because I thought it was the best one for beginners. I am still waiting for the big publishing houses, namely Cassell's, Collins, or the Oxford University Press, to put out an up-to-date, standard Irish-English/English-Irish dictionary with a phonetic pronunciation guide for each entry. This book would serve as an essential reference for the intermediate or advanced student.

Far from "Learning Irish" or "Irish on Your Own".......2002-01-23

Having a grandmother from Co. Cork in Ireland, I have always been interested in the Irish language and speak it well . Irish is not an altogether easy language to learn, and this book certainly doesn't help. The conversations are unnatural, the vocabularies are messy and the grammar is hardly explained at all. Bascially, this book encourages you to memorise phrases, not to actually learn to talk on your own. Ironically, there used to be another Teach Yourself Irish by M. Dillon, which was much better on teaching Irish.

Do learn Irish, but avoid this book. My first recommendation would be "Learning Irish", followed by "Irish on Your Own". They are both superior to this book in every way. Another noticable point. The Irish taught in this book is a stilted language, removed from the native speakers, while both the other books are based on Irish as it is actually spoken.

Very good, I dare say.......2001-06-16

The grammar is explained very clearly, and the companion tape is to explain how Irish is to pronounce. The Irish used in that course is very up to date; I think it's the best course of Irish, provided, of course, that you aren't an absolute beginner.

Very good, but incomplete........2000-04-26

This book gives an excellent mix of grammar and examples. It introduces just the right amount of grammar in each unit. The written exercises are too few and too simple. The pronunciation on the tapes is clear. Unfortunately the tapes only cover a part of what is in each unit, and there is too much English. I will definitely make good use of this book, but after that I will be looking for a more extensive book with more exercises and better tapes.

Needs more emphasis on grammar.......1999-08-13

If your whole intention of learning a new language is to memorize phrases that will get you by when you are travelling, then this book is adequate. However, if you really want to learn how a language is structured, forget this book. Learning the basics of grammar i.e. verb conjugation, etc. is fundamental and to me, the obvious starting point. It is of little benefit to memorize how to say "Excuse me, but where might I find the secretary?" if I don't even know which word is the verb or which word is the subject. The tapes do not necessarily follow the exercises in the book, so I got lost rather often. One advantage, though, is that the tapes are spoken clearly, and it would not take a person very long to catch on to the pronunciation (once you've memorized how to say "Thank you for your hospitality, Miss O'Donnell.")

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Teach Yourself Gaelic Complete Course
Boyd Robertson
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OFVJBK

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