Uh...I've worked with Bitesize, and I can assure you that the speakers are ALL native speakers.

Redwolf

Actually, Breandán, he IS a first-language speaker.

Redwolf

Hmm, interesting. Have the recordings been redone since the beta version?

When I did a test listen of the beta version, there were a few non-native mistakes amongst the recordings. (I had a list of them to suggest that Eoin redo, but I have misplaced it.)

I can't access those any more but the counting on the publicly accessible first page sounds fine.

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

They haven't been re-done, but I can assure you that all the voices used are native speakers.

Redwolf

Gaeltacht born and raised?

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

Why should that matter? If a person is raised in an Irish-speaking family, in Ireland, with Irish as his first language, and educated through that language, he is a native speaker by any definition that truly matters. If we're going to limit the term "native speaker" to people born and raised in a Gaeltacht, we may as well give up on this language as dead and buried already and go off and learn basket weaving, or something else useful.

You suggested that the person in the recordings does not have Irish as his first language. As a matter of fact, he does.

Redwolf

Thanks, Redwolf, for your thoughts on this issue. I feel exactly the same way, but
was having a difficult time figuring out how to say it without sounding perhaps too harsh or judgmental. You just came out with it, and I guess that's how it needed to be said.
I am glad you clarified things re: the audio on Bitesize being done by "native speakers" as it would be unfortunate if someone discounted the value of that
resource because he/she thought it was somehow flawed.
I was under the impression that Eoin is a native speaker/has Irish as his first language. You confirmed that.
"...Gaeltacht born and raised"-- we certainly can't be that exclusive.

We need good resources for learning the Irish, and thr more that are out there and accessible, the better. One of the challenges has been finding something that [i]has[i]an audio component that is clear, and the speaking is not so fast that it is frustrating to the beginner.

CheerioTexas

I stand by my appraisal. The speaker is a non-native with anglicized pronunciation.

Eoin speaks a language that is like Irish but is not really Irish because the distinctive sounds that make it Irish have been replaced by English sounds. This is the equivalent of someone with a strong Indian accent teaching English. Indian (subcontinent) speakers of English are technically native speakers - for many it is their first language - but how many of you would want to learn from materials from such a source?

It is interesting that Gumbi has managed to come through the same technically non-native circumstances instead with a proper appreciation of the sound system that makes the language what it is. Whether Gumbi is technically a native or not becomes irrelevant because he has near-native pronunciation.

As Lughaidh and l have pointed out time and again all these types of courses really need to be brought up to the sort of standard you'd expect from other languages is for the recordings to be redone by people with real native Gaeltacht Irish. That's not impossible or even difficult. There are still enough native speakers left that if everybody copied them instead, the real language could be revived instead of being slowly diluted and strangled to death by English and second-language speakers.

By promoting sub-standard non-native materials you contribute to the demise of the language, not its survival.

Eoin's course could be so much more (and worth paying for) with just a little more effort to get authentic recordings instead of doing it himself.

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

There are people who are raised through Irish by parents who don't speak properly because they aren't native speakers. If the children speak like their parents, technically they are native speakers but to me, they shouldn't be considered as such, simply because they don't speak proper Irish. A native speaker uses the genuine sounds and the genuine grammar etc.

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

It is strange for me to see people who are neither Irish born nor native speakers commenting on whether an Irishman who was born in Ireland and raised through the medium of Irish is a qualified "native speaker" or not. You guys are on a very slippery slope. I think you both should call him up and discuss IN IRISH his deficiencies in the language. That would be an interesting call.