apolyghostjourney

[apolyghostjourney]

Don't Use Duolingo if You Really Want to Learn Irish

That title is a bit dramatic, but I really don't think that duolingo is a useful tool for Irish, especially in its current state, so I want to talk a bit about why, and I'll also talk about some alternatives.

Pronunciation

The first and most egregious issue is that at some point recently-ish, duo decided to start using Text-To-Speech for their Irish course, rather than recordings of a native speaker. The problem here is that their TTS is not trained on native speakers of Irish and pronounces words incorrectly. It doesn't make consistent distinctions between broad and slender consonants for example.

Irish has no standard pronunciation, so I understand how it can feel weird to choose just one dialect for the purposes of pronunciation (the old recordings were from a speaker of Galway Irish), but having just one dialect is much better than TTS which sounds like a learner, imagine if they had TTS for the French course which sounded like an anglophone schoolkid trying to pronounce french, and claimed they were teaching you how to speak french!

Grammar

Duo tends to be correct on grammar at least, which is a start. But often people using it get very confused about the grammar because duo doesn't explain any of it. I think there's a place for immersion in language learning, and I don't think everything has to be explained like that, but within duo's system of sentence testing and exercises like that, not having any explanation for why it's "mo chóta" and not "mo cóta" can be really confusing. Duo used to have more grammar information, it's a shame that they removed it, I wonder why they did it.

Money and Motivation

Duolingo is a business, and their motivation is not to help you learn a language 'fully', but to keep you using their app and hopefully have a higher chance of sharing it with others, competing with others, buying or causing others to buy memberships or lingots or any other in-app purchases.

I don't want to make it out like duo is some big conspiracy and they're tricking people, I don't think that's the case, but it's good to remember that their primary motivation is to keep people using the app, rather than help people move to a level in a language where they don't need the app anymore.

Keep this in mind whenever you see people trying to sell you stuff for language learning.

Why do people use Duolingo

I do get it, and I don't want to make anyone feel bad for using duo, there's a ton of reasons people tend towards it at first 1. It's really well known, so especially if you're learning a language and haven't heard of other resources for it, you'll check duolingo 2. It's very motivating for a lot of people, checking in every day and forming that habit is a really good way of sticking with a language 3. It's fun, people enjoy it

If you use it for reason 3. and you still like it, then don't worry about this post, I'm not trying to yuck anyone's yums, keep having fun!

If you use it for reasons 1. or 2. you can still keep using it if you like, but I want to suggest some other things which you might find helpful in trying to get to a higher level in Irish.

Other Resources

To address the pronunciation issue, I'd heavily recommend you disregard the pronunciation in duolingo, if you're looking for more reliable sources of pronunciation, I'd look towards recordings of native speakers, you can find that on:

Teanglann and Foclóir (they use the same recordings)

Fuaimeanna

and a really useful and underused one: https://davissandefur.github.io/minimal-pairs/ where you can hear the difference between similar sounds that English speakers often mix up in Irish.

A lot of people like duolingo because it's nice to have a clear path forward, a progression that you can get into without too much decision-making. For this I recommend getting a good textbook or course and working through it, the ones I'll recommend also have native speaker audio on them.

Learning Irish by Mícheál Ó Siadhail, this book teaches Galway Irish, not just in pronunciation but in grammar too. It's quite dense but it's well thought out and well explained.

Teach Yourself Irish (1961) this book is available for free online, and is a really good option if you're interested in Cork Irish (Munster), and have some experience with grammatical terminology. I used this book myself and really liked it, but it's very intense and not for everyone. (If you do end up using it, feel free to skip the appendices at the start, they're more of a reference and sometimes put people off from actually getting to the first chapter. Also if you have any questions about it or need any help just let me know.)

If you want a video course, there's a great course called "Now You're Talking" which is available for free online, along with audio files and worksheets here. It features Donegal Irish and leads into the more intermediate level course called Céim ar Aghaidh also available online.

There's other textbooks that I have less experience with (Buntús na Gaeilge, Gaeilge/Gramadach Gan Stró, etc.) but if they work for you, stick with them, there's nothing worse than not making progress because you keep switching resources trying to find the "perfect one"

Whether or not you continue to use Duolingo, I would really really encourage you to try engaging with media in Irish. People often shy away from this when they're learning because they don't feel like they're "ready" yet. But you basically never feel like you're ready, you just have to try and find something near your level and try to get comfortable with not understanding everything. This is where you learn a huge portion of the language, you hear how things are pronounced you see what words mean in what contexts, getting input in your target language is so important!

I know content can be kind of hard to find, so I'll make a few recommendations here: There's a wealth of content available for free online (more if you're in ireland but some internationally) on TG4 If you're still starting out, I'd recommend trying to watch some kids shows since they'll have simpler language and will be easier to follow. I wouldn't recommend using English subtitles when you watch them. Some good options include:

Dónall Dána: an Irish dub of Horrid Henry, silly and childish but the actors have good Irish and importantly the show has Irish language subtitles, they don't always match but if you're still beginning and can't necessarily get everything by ear, they're really useful. (Mostly Galway Irish)

Curious George: another dub, again with Irish language subtitles (I can't remember what dialects were in it off the top of my head but I'd assume mostly galway again)

Seó Luna: No subtitles, but a good option if you're aiming for Munster Irish, the lead character has Kerry Irish

Miraculous: No subtitles but a better show than most of the other kids' ones and more bearable to watch as an adult (Mostly Galway Irish)

Ros na Rún: Moving away from kids shows, a long running soap opera, this has Irish subtitles and a really good mix of dialects within the show. If you're finding the kids shows boring or too easy I'd really recommend it, but it can be complex because of the amount of characters, dialects, and plotlines. I'd recommend starting at the beginning of a newer season and just trying to catch on to what's happening as you go.

There are a lot of books, if you live in Ireland you can get nearly any Irish book for free from a library, so please check out your local library or request some of these from other libraries in the system:

There's a series of fairytales (Rápúnzell, Luaithríona etc.) by Máiréad Ní Ghráda which are illustrated and for children, which are a really good option for when you're just starting out reading

There's kids books about Fionn and the Fianna by Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin

There's a cute little kids' book in Kerry Irish about a cat named Mábúis

Leabhar Breac has a lot of graphic novels, some of them based on Irish mythology, some on other stuff. The fact that they're illustrated can make it a lot easier to follow even if you don't understand all the words at first.

Gliadar has just released their Scott Pilgrim translation

If you're looking for something a bit more advanced you can look at some of the books for adult learners by Comhar, they contain simplified language and glossaries but have full original adult stories.

And if you're wanting full, natural, native-level Irish there's a load of books by those same groups, and others like An Gúm, Cló Iar-Chonnacht, Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne, Éabhlóid, Coiscéim, and more.

And don't shy away from older books written in Seanchló either, they can be more challenging but it's a whole extra world of books

If you're trying to improve your listening comprehension, I definitely recommend listening to shows on Raidió na Gaeltachta, hearing native Irish speakers talk at full speed is really good practice. But I get that it can be overwhelming at first. Here are some things you can do as you build up to that:

Watching those same TV shows I mentioned without subtitles is a good way to build up listening skills.

Vifax is a website where you can practice listening to short news segments and answer questions on them, then getting to look at the transcript with notes afterwards.

Snas is kind of the evolution of vifax, now using clips from both the news and Ros na Rún.

I really hope that this post can help people move away from duolingo if they're looking to take their Irish learning to the next level, if you've got any questions, just let me know!

[apolyghostjourney]

I'm looking for language audio samples for a conference project!

Hi! I'm Lila and I'm a sound artist! I'm showing a work celebrating language diversity at the 2025 International Music Conference in Boston and would love to include as many languages as possible! If you have a language you want to share and are open to recording a quick audio clip of you speaking (by yourself or with someone else), telling a story, a recipe, singing... Please submit here: https://app.vocal.email/collect/icmc-soundwalk

Thank you in advance and I'm open with any questions :)

[apolyghostjourney]

You need to be looking for sewing and drawing tutorials in Spanish, to watch baking tutorials in Russian or read the wikipedia article about the insect you've just discovered on your balcony in German ! You cannot watch Peppa pig in your target language forever.

Will knowing how to say "aiguille à tricoter" in French be useful for your exam ? Probably not, but who cares ? You're listening to spoken French AND you're learning a manual skill !

Youtube is full of wonderful tutorials in many languages, everything is there just waiting for you ...

And why stop at manual skills ? Philosophy ? History ? Astrology ? Hop hop hop, in your target language ! Want to learn something about Egypt ? The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona has a coursera course on it.

"But I won't understand anything" I personally prefer to understand 20% of a lecture about a sacred temple in the middle of the desert than understand 60% of the most boring standard "what do you like to eat for breakfast" textbook learning material.

[apolyghostjourney]

If you could instantly be granted fluency in 5 languages—not taking away your existing language proficiency in any way, solely a gain—what 5 would you choose?

[apolyghostjourney]

THANK YOU

AND HUNGARIAN IS EASY TOO

TANULJ MAGYARUL

I needed to say this for Hungarian too because people also keep saying it's impossible and too hard

CZECH IS EASY. IT IS LIKE BREATHING. IT IS LIKE LOVING. OH Y/I and Z/S IS IN THE AIR! I DONT MIND. WHAT ELSE IS IN THE AIR? LOVE AND NEVERENDING JOY.

FNĚH

UČ SE ČESKY

[apolyghostjourney]

It's not ignorance but poetry

the weirdest thing about learning a language is not knowing a specific word.

not sure what a puddle is called but i can say little ocean in the road !

[apolyghostjourney]

Bonjour, quels sont quelques façons de démonstrer à qqn sur texto en français que tu lui écoute et reconnaître (bref, des affirmatifs français)?

Salut !

Comme dans toutes les langues ça va dépendre des personnes et de la discussion, en tout cas pour ma part voilà ce que j'utilise :

- Je vois (oui)

- Ah oui

- Ah bon ?

- Je comprends (oui)

- C'est vrai (?)

- D'accord/d'acc

Répondre par juste "oui" ou "ok" peut paraître froid pour la personne qui reçoit le message, certaine fois je remplace "ok" par "oki" pour que ça passe mieux

Je rajouterai peut-être d'autres choses plus tard si j'ai de nouvelles idées, en tout cas j'espère que ça peut t'aider !

Si d'autres personnes veulent ajouter leur avis, n'hésitez pas à reblog en ajoutant les mots que vous utilisez :)

#french language #learning french #foreign language

[apolyghostjourney]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for 10 people! Get to know your mutuals and followers (ू•‧̫•ू⑅)♡

Hi :)

❈ Listening to music - I listen to a lot of different genres and I like to discover new things. I can't spend a day without listening to music x) (and I like to play it too!)

❈ Crafting things - Especially origami but it can be all the other manually things/DIY that I can found in Internet or books :)

❈ Learning about languages and culture - I think that the diversity of languages and cultures in the world are really beautiful, I love discovering new things, new ways of saluting, showing love, new concepts, new untranslatable words...

❈ Writing/worldbuilding - I'm a Fantasy worldbuilder, and I like to write songs and poems. I'm currently working on a draft for a book that's still a messy draft, due to a lack of time and organisation x) Hope one day I'll finish my projects xD

❈ Nature - I'm just fascinated by the diversity, the beauty and the complexity of nature, it's so mesmerising!

#ask #tag game #i always write a lot even for simple questions x)

[apolyghostjourney]

in an age where machine translation is getting better and better I BEG you to keep learning languages and keep your brain sharp and keep an open mind. learning a language is so much more than memorizing a bunch of words, it opens up ways of seeing the world you hadn't considered before that are inherent to the way things are phrased in another language. it gives you a new lens through which you'll view life. it will make your life fuller, more well-rounded, more fulfilling. please learn languages other than your own.

[apolyghostjourney]

I love the way learning a language can make you feel like a kid again

I went for a walk with my grandma and pointed at all the flowers, always saying the Hungarian word or, if I didn't know it, asking my grandmother "Mi ez?" or "Hogy mondják… magyarul?", then she answered me and I wrote it down on my vocabulary list

It's like rediscovering the world

You look at everything, find out everything you know and everything you don't know. You repeat the word with a smile, then you see the same flower, you try to remember the word, and if you do, you're as happy as a child

So simple but so sweet

[apolyghostjourney]

this is so cool and also rosencrantz and guildenstern's sign names are killing me lol

[apolyghostjourney]

me: why are you destroying earth!!!

aliens: because theres people who think that english is the only language they need to speak

me: thats fair i understand

[apolyghostjourney]

I saw that English has also an expression for that: "should be taken with a pinch of salt"

Also, even if some translators are good, keep in mind that sometimes they won't understand the most colourful expressions and they will lead you to a word-for-word translation

I'm pretty sure that's not it....why is this the first result...... -> prendre quelque chose avec des pincettes = to handle/treat something with caution This post is a friendly reminder to take the google translate/AI translations with tweezers.

[apolyghostjourney]

Last night I ate breaded fish with my grandma, and she said that is was "bundás hal", explaining to me that "bundás" was from "bunda", fur/coat.

So, literally, "bundás hal" is a fish who wears a coat of breadcrumbs

[apolyghostjourney]

I love untranslatable words and expressions! Sometimes it turns out so poetic I'm just like "why don't we have that???". But I think also of the old words very specific that we lost during time (hello old English, Latin, ancient Greek and all the old languages) and that makes me like "wow we can use only one word for what and not using a weird several-word-expression".

They make me fall in love with languages again and again

i fucking love foreign languages because while im glad english is my first since its stupid hard to learn, ive heard so many phrases and words in different languages that cant accurately be translated into english. like thats a special unique saying exclusive to that language that there arent words for in english. sometimes its the foulest assemblage of curse words ive ever heard and other times its something so gorgeous im like “you have a word for that???” holy shit. i love languages so much

[apolyghostjourney]

affirmatives and filler words/sounds are my favorite thing in any language. i love that every language has various noises to make between words & thoughts and in pauses etc. i think they're also called "hesitation forms" (?)

growing up autistic i've always been very prone to language mirroring and i pick up hesitation forms so quickly i often explain upfront that it's not on purpose and i'm not mocking or purposefully mimicking someone in a conversation.

i also pick up affirmatives unintentionally and nearly immediately. in a lot of languages, people have a way of gently saying "yes, yes, yes, yes," repeatedly while receiving a list of instructions. in english this often is along the lines of "yes, mhm, okay, yep. got it. okay."

i took a kendo class in which everyone but me spoke Japanese as a first language and i was expected to answer instructions in Japanese and i began so formal but quickly fell into extremely casual, repeated affirmatives. i have very little experience with Japanese, so note this is only what i picked up in one particular place with this particular group, but it was fast nodding and repeated "ah. mm."

when i lived in norway and learned the language on the fly by immersion, i got completely stuck doing the affirmative H, which sounds like a gasp. i couldn't stop doing it for months after i moved home, and some of my friends near Oslo also used it as a hesitation form, so it was a double whammy.

no point to this, i just love languages and sounds.

[apolyghostjourney]

I fucking love language and linguistics, I love the social aspects of it, the storytelling, the music, the sounds, the comparisons, the loanwords, the differences, the history, the changes, the communication, things that transcend that, non-verbal languages, the dialects, unconventional ways of communication, the mixes of languages, the pigins and creoles, the bilingual or multilingual speakers, codeswitching-

I love it all. I love how humans express themselves. How sometimes translation isn't needed because everyone understands anyway. How it can catch you offguard, how words aren't possible to translate-

How silences are often louder than words.