It's hard to know what to do!! I wear the fáinne óir and I have to say that if I have Irish spoken to me once a year because of it, that is about it. I have never made little of any Gaeilge spoken to me and I am happy on the very few occasions somebody speaks it to me. A few friends and myself do have a meet-up once a week in the local teach ósta for a pint and a chat as Gaeilge, and a listen to some fine Irish music players, and people are always welcome.

_________________
Bí cinnte de go nglacfaidh triúr le gach aistriúchán a thabharfar.
Be sure to get three in agreement with a translation given.

I was just with a beginners class last weekend there was 9 in our class but easy 100 people in all the other classes in clondakin irish center this is in the heart of dublin when i went to the shop for a bottle of water i got greeted with a dia duit

Irish is coming on in leaps and bounds in the urban centres the blás baile athá cliath is coming back :P

I do have to say there was 2 Americans in my beginner Irish class as well .

My best friend from school moved to Clondalkin. Then I lost touch with her.
I don't know where to find her now.


Don't do that. You might miss a good conversation in Irish the day you take it off.

_________________
___________________________________________________________

It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
___________________________________________________________

Thats great! Hopefully classes and interest like that will keep on flurishing

_________________

Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

Yes, this can be very discouraging to some. But if corrections are pointed out tactfully rather than condescendingly (assuming the one doing the correcting is knowledgable, and offers an explanation, of course), the mistakes increase the learning opportunities exponentially. Every mistake I make is an opportunity for a "mini-lesson," and frequently, it is a lesson on things you won't find in books. So let people jump all over my mistakes. I view this as a stepping stone rather than a stumbling block.

_________________
Táim ag foghlaim Gaelainn na Mumhan

Tá fáilte roim nach aon cheartú!
I am a learner. Any translations offered are practice and should not be used unless confirmed.

Mise freisin.
I am very happy to have knowledgeable people help me to improve. I personally create many, many, many opportunities for what Aislingeach refers to as "mini-lessons"!!

_________________

The way we used to handle it at IGTF was not to offer corrections in posts tagged "GA" ("GA" actually originally stood for "Gan Aistriúchán," though people came to interpret it as "Gaeilge Amháin." The effect was the same, though...they were conversational or informational posts made in Irish.). The idea was that such posts gave people a place to practice without worrying too much about making mistakes (an essential step in the process toward becoming fluent).

If a person made a post entirely in Irish and it wasn't tagged "GA" we might ask if he or she wanted corrections...especially if the poster didn't seem to be clearly looking for something else.

Corrections are good up to a point. They are part of the learning process. But for fluency to be achieved, there also needs to be a "safe place" where one's every grammatical error or odd word choice isn't jumped on, so long as one's meaning is understood. Otherwise the learner will never get to the point where he or she is comfortable conversing. In such situations, I would only point out an error if it was one that was likely to cause the speaker real embarrassment or confusion down the road (and not one that he or she was likely to catch and correct on his or her own).

Redwolf

The only way for me to learn is to make mistakes, and for that reason, I have no shame. I think it's easier being an American learner of Irish because most people here know nothing about the language. Some people don't even know it exists. The most popular reactions I get are, "Why would you want to do learn that?" and then they shrug it off, or, "Oh, that's cool." And then they shrug it off, too.

But that's also the downside, because I have no one in my life to speak it with on a daily basis. Except for my children, but they are also still learning English.

But get this! My 18-month-old just started calling his grandma Mamó, all on his own! He must have it in his blood. Either that, or it's a natural progression from "Mama", which is what he calls me, and he's been calling his grandma "Mama" for a while and she's been correcting him ("No, I'm GRAM MAW!"). But instead of picking up "Grandma", he started saying Mamó.

_________________
I'm very much a beginner learner. Don't hesitate to correct me, as long as you explain why. This is how I learn best!

many Irish people don't know much about the language either , at least most wouldn't be able to see if you make mistakes or not, since they only remember of Dia duit, sláinte and fáilte



I'd answer "because it's the most beautiful language on earth"



can't you use skype? I think several members of this forum use it to chat in Irish

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

Nice. Will use.



I can, and someday I will, but not yet. I need a few years under my belt before I do that. All I'd be able to do right now is recite nouns.

_________________
I'm very much a beginner learner. Don't hesitate to correct me, as long as you explain why. This is how I learn best!