Product Description

Since English is also spoken in the Gaelic-speaking areas, communication in Gaelic is not so much a matter of necessity as of choice and interest. This book, therefore, covers more than just the phrases needed by an outsider in a foreign land - it also dips into the chatty, the personal and domestic aspects of the language. It ranges from simple words and phrases to the more complex and idiomatic. Hopefully it will serve the non-speaker of Gaelic who wishes to utter the odd phrase and get an idea of the language, the person whose parents spoke Gaelic and who understands it but is unwilling to 'try his hand', and also the keen learner, who might like to gain a greater scope of everyday phrases than those contained in grammar books of the language. Obviously the whole of the Gaelic language cannot be contained in one book. Therefore a selection has had to be made of those words and phrases most likely to be useful in everyday situations, for example meeting and greeting, aspects of travelling, the weather and eating and drinking. If this selection has been successful, the reader will find the book not only informative but also interesting. Everyday Gaelic was originally published by Gairm Publications in 1984 and had been reprinted many times. This is an expanded and updated edition which feature up-to-date orthography.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106475 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 138 pages

About the Author
Morag MacNeill was born in Greenock and learned Gaelic as a teenager. She was a full-time primary school teacher and now works as a supply teacher, mainly in the Gaelic medium. She has done extensive teaching of adults within night class, adult education groups and organisations. She has lived in Inverness since 1970.

Customer Reviews

Wealth of phrases to use in everyday situations
This slim book can easily fit into a back-pack so that it can be readily used. It is nicely organized according to topics, such as: traveling, eating and drinking out. Her sense of humor can be seen in her choice of phrases, such as on page 36 of the travelling section, "Stop nagging me" and "Do you want to get out and walk." These are indeed "everyday" phrases that are useable. She also includes phonetic pronunciation for those who may have a bit of trouble getting their tongues around such phrases as "An urrainn dhuit inseadh dhomh" (Can you tell me) whch is pronounced, "un oeren ghoot eenshugh ghoe..." Her introduction to the grammatical concepts of the language are enough to give the reader a feeling for the way the language works. Those who simply want a phrase book to help them get along as they pass through Gaelic-speaking Scotland will find that the grammar is not overbearing, and comprises a small section of the book, only 7 of the 110 pages. Although one can't use this book by itself to become fluent in the language, it is invaluable in learning vocabulary and in being able to get by with "everyday Gaelic."

Good attempt at a difficult task
This book my be quite slim but it does have a lot of content. It is well organised and very easy to use.

Every word/phrase has a phonetic spelling to help but beware as a lot of gaelic words are pronounced quite differently in different gaelic speaking areas.

I think this book would be useful for people who just want an easy way to be able to say a few things in gaelic and also to anyone learning gaelic as it does give a good idea of how words may be pronounced. Also it can sometimes be hard when learning to put together the right words for the sentence you want.

Drawn between giving 4 or 5 stars, I decided on 5 as I would really be surprised if someone comes up with a better phonetic phrase book, and if they tried to explain all the pronounciations in use it would lose its simplicity.

Gle math!