Ciorcal Comhrá na Cuinge

Ranganna / Classes

We have a group of continuing Irish language learners who meet weekly for conversation practice on an ongoing basis. Beginner lessons can be arranged for UW-Madison students, faculty, or staff. Click the Sign Up button below to express interest in a class, or to be added to our mailing list. Email Becky with any questions or for more information!

All classes are FREE!

Spring 2023 Class Schedule

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Beginning Irish 2

-In person at UW-Madison, Thursdays 4:35-5:25

-For UW-Madison students, faculty, and staff.

-Students may (optionally) register for 1 credit of independent study.

 

(Non-UW community members interested in beginning Irish can contact Dineen Grow of the Celtic Cultural Center, a fantastic teacher with years of experience teaching Irish in the Madison area! Dineen offers online lessons at any level.)

 

Ciorcal Comhrá

-Online

-Sundays 4:00-5:00 pm Central Time

-Feb 12 - Apr 30

-For learners with some prior experience with Irish (Advanced Beginner or Intermediate). Beidh fáilte roimh achan duine!

 

 

Check out this collection of Wordwall activities that you can use to help practice!

 

Organizers

Classes are taught by Dr. Rebecca Shields, lecturer in Linguistics with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Language Sciences Program.

These free classes are sponsored by UW-Madison's Language Institute.

Resources

 

We are fortunate to have many wonderful resources available online and in print for learners of Irish Gaelic. Here are some of the many good ones to help you on your Irish learning journey.

We have group members who have participated in the online courses listed below - be in touch if you would like to connect with someone who can give you more information about which class might be right for you.

Online Dictionaries and Reference

• Teanglann

  The database at teanglann allows you to search multiple dictionaries at once. These are a bit older than the NEID below (published in the 1950s-1990s). There is also a grammar database and a pronunciation database - you can hear audio of the words in all three major dialects. This site is most useful if you have an Irish word and want to know its meaning.

• New English-Irish Dictionary

  The NEID at foclóir.ie is the most up-to-date contemporary dictionary of Irish available, and also contains grammatical information and audio for most words. There are also lots of usage examples which are searchable. Since this is an English-Irish dictionary only, it is most useful when you are trying to translate from English into Irish. The NEID is also available as a phone app.

• The National Terminology Database for Irish

  This resource contains many specialized or technical terms which are not included in the above dictionaries.

• Abair.ie

  Abair.ie is a speech synthesizer, which will auto-generate an approximate pronunciation for any Irish word or sentence you type in. You can also see an IPA transcription. Although the speech synthesizer is rather mechanical sounding and not perfect, it might be helpful if you want to know roughly how something is pronounced, which is not contained in the audio samples in the above dictionaries.

• Forvo

  There are quite a few Irish language audio samples at the crowd-sourced Forvo pronunciation database. Be aware that while most of the audio samples are fine, the samples are submitted by ordinary people recording themselves. Not all of the contributions are from native speakers, so there are occasional incorrect pronunciations.

Online Courses

• FutureLearn / Fáilte ar Líne

  Free online self-paced lessons in Irish language and culture created by Dublin City University. There are currently 13 levels, with each course lasting 4 weeks. Irish 101-108 are A1-A2 (Beginner) level, Irish 201-205 are B1 (Intermediate). These are not live/Zoom-based classes, but there is lots of audio and video, as well as opportunities to interact with instructors and other participants via the chat. The classes are free for the regular 4 week period - for a fee, you can keep access to the materials indefinitely (although there will be no interaction with others after the free period ends.) Most of the audio was created by second language speakers, so you won't hear many native accents here, but the courses are interactive and very well-designed.

• Oideas Gael

  Donegal-based immersion school for adults whose in-person summer classes in Irish language and culture attract learners from all over Ireland and across the world. They now offer online classes during the year as well. They are reknowned for their excellent teachers and rich and interesting cultural materials.

• Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin

  The Cultúrlann in Derry offers online classes. There are multiple online levels and each lasts a full academic year (30 weeks!), at an extremely reasonable price. The emphasis is everyday conversational Irish. They use a series of coursebooks created by Toirealach Ó Grada of the Cultúrlann, Céimeanna Comhrá.

• Gaelchultúr

  Gaelchultúr is located in Dublin, Ireland, and offers in person and online classes at a variety of levels from beginner to advanced. Classes have a communicative focus and are based on the Gaeilge gan Stró coursebooks. They offer some classes during US evening and weekend hours.

• Two Rivers Gaelic League

  This New York branch of Conradh na Gaeilge (the Gaelic League) is very active and organized. They offer language classes at various levels on weekday evenings US time, as well as study and reading groups, for a very reasonable price. A small selection of Irish language books and learning materials is also available for purchase through their website.

• Gaelic League LA

  This large West coast branch of Conradh na Gaeilge offers weekend language classes and events at many different levels.

• Celtic Junction

  This culture and arts center in St. Paul Minnesota organizes a wide variety of Irish cultural activities and events, including music, dance, history, and language workshops, classes, and lectures.