What satisfied customers say about the Pimsleur IRISH audios:
A GOOD TOOL TO HELP UNDERSTAND IRISH (GAELIC)
As a beginner you've probably already discovered that there are a large number of books, cassettes, and on-line resources available to help you understand, speak, and write Irish. I've been plugging along for about 30 days now with this audio and have found it very helpful - the repetition is great, but most important is simply hearing how the words sound. I have a few books and a pile of lessons I've got off the web and the most frustrating thing is that the phonetic spelling that accompanies the Irish word varies GREATLY from one resource to the next, which (at least for me) just created further confusion. I've seen Dia duit (Hello) phonetically spelled about 8 different ways - I finally thought I had it down until I heard this CD - of course I was wrong! I wouldn't use this as your only resource, but it's a great way to pass the commute to work and a good item to have in your pile of learning resources, plus the price is great. Go raibh maith agat! -- Hellekson, Pasadena, MD, USA
Good conversation practice
I used the Pimsleur course after more than 3 years of studying Irish by other methods. I found it excellent. Since I am a visually oriented learner, I can sympathize with those who are frustrated at not having printed text to relate to the sounds they are hearing and, even worse, are knocked for a loop when they finally DO see the spelling. Because the spelling of Irish is so dissimilar to English, I recommend that Pimsleur be used after the learner has had 6 months or a year of instruction in reading, writing and speaking the language. No matter whether one's introduction has used the Ulster, Connaught or caighdeƔn (standard -- which has many echos of Munster) pronunciation, the Pimsleur pronunciation will now be recognizable in the mind's eye. -- J. Griffin Crump, Mount Vernon, Virginia, USA