Product Description

Scottish Gaelic is one of six modern Celtic languages, which, like most other European languages, belong to the Indo-European family of languages. The older versions of the modern Celtic languages were spoken in a large part of Europe at the height of Celtic civilisation.



This book/CD course is designed for anyone who wants to progress quickly from the basics to understanding, speaking and writing Scottish Gaelic with confidence. 'Teach Yourself Gaelic' consists of 23 thematic units progressing from introducing yourself and talking about everyday topics to reporting events and making suggestions. The emphasis is on communication throughout with important language structures introduced through dialogues on the accompanying recording. There are plenty of exercises to practise the language as it is introduced and cultural information sections give useful advice about the culture of Gaelic-speaking people. There is a special section on spelling and pronunciation at the start of the course.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96256 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 2
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

About the Author
Iain Taylor taught Gaelic in the Western Isles and Perthshire (1982-87) before working on curriculum materials at Jordanhill College (now Strathclyde University) in Glasgow (1987-91). He has worked as scriptwriter, editor and producer with Scottish Television and independent producers (1991-98) and also worked on publications and course materials for Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in Skye (1999-now). He is a former setter and marker with Scottish Examinations Board (now SQA) and member of Central Support Group for Gaelic (course materials preparation for Standard Grade Gaelic courses). Boyd Robertson is Senior Lecturer in Gaelic at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. Before joining the University, he was Principal Teacher of Gaelic at Oban High School. He has played a leading part in the development of several courses for learners of Gaelic including the Speaking our Language TV series and the Abair E course for secondary schools. He is currently Chair of The Scottish Qualifications Authority Gaelic Assessment Panel and Vice-Chair of the main Gaelic language promotion agency, Comunn na Gàidhlig. He has had extensive involvement in European projects on minority language issues for bodies such as the Council of Europe and The European Cultural Foundation.

Customer Reviews

GOOD BOOK FOR GETTING A GRASP OF GAELIC
If you've ever listened to the Radio Scotland Gaelic services, you'll know that Gaelic sounds like a difficult enough language to get your ears round even before you start learning it. But for those of you who listen wistfully, wishing to be able to speak it with ease and flair, I can promise that after a read through this book, you can (by making the effort) become familiar with the language fairly quickly. Even if you are not the type of person who can readily pick up grammar points, this book explains it well, giving good concrete examples which are not ridden with exceptions and using words that won't send you scrambling to find for the glossary at the back. I read through the book along with listening to the cassette, and one of the handiest things about it is that you can listen to the tape without the book and thus improve pronounciation. All in all, it makes it possible to learn Gaelic through self study, and with a bit of drive and determination, I would imagine that even people who consider language learning a form of torture, may be able to pick up enough to have them picking up a Runrig album and singing along loudly in full confidence !

Good, but not enough by itself
Possibly the best teach yourself option currently available, but its difficult to learn from books and cd alone. A face-to-face course is highly beneficial. I started learning from this, then got other books and took a couple of courses.

The content is good, and you could have a reasonable conversation using it, but only if the other participants kept to its content and pronounciation. Even a simple conversation with a 'real' gaelic speaker may be difficult to understand though, partly because they will use vocabulary not covered, but also because of 'localised' pronounciation and word use - I am told a gaelic speaker can easily identify Skye gaelic, Harris gaelic, various sub areas of Lewis gaelic, BBC gaelic etc.

There are lots of variations from community to community (even neighbouring villages) in pronounciation etc. I didn't understand this fully from this book and was still left with quite a few questions. I would recommend the following book as a supplement:

Scots Gaelic - A Brief Introduction (Paperback)
by George Robert McLennan (Author)

You will probably also need a dictionary and if at all possible book yourself onto a course.

For something a bit more in depth I rate the following:
Gaelic Verbs: Systemised and Simplified (Paperback)
by Colin B.D. Mark (Author)

Finally, watch the Rocket Post and feel clever about understanding the small snippets of gaelic used (mainly hello & how are you).

stopped after two days
The thing that annoyed me the most about this book is that there are no written pronounciations. Without these it doesn't matter how well explained things are - the reader is left looking at unfamiliar words and letters in combination and scratching his/her head. Even with the audio, it's not clear and I quickly found myself thinking - God! why didn't they just write down the [pro-nun-see-a-shons] of the very difficult words. If you only want to read Gaelic then this book will work for you, but as for myself, I felt robbed of the £20 I spent.