Choosing an Irish Dictionary For Beginners

The Irish language, often known as Irish Gaelic outside of Ireland, is usually simply referred to as "Irish" in Ireland. The language is beautiful to listen to, and encompasses the rich traditional culture of Ireland through the ages.

Once widespread throughout the country, the language suffered greatly over the last few hundred years. Today, about 3% of the population of 4 million people use Irish as their main community daily language.

While this may sound unfortunate, the language has put its worst years behind it. Indeed, there is a new energy felt by the speakers of the language. It has shaken much of its stigma that was attached to it even only fifteen years ago. Many young people now have an interest in the language, much helped by media entertainment now available through the language.

The language is also growing outside of Ireland. Online communities such as Daltai.com and IrishGaelicTranslator.com show us that there are hundreds of people actively learning the language. This is the case even for people with no direct ancestry to be found in Ireland.

If you're setting off on learning to speak the language, an essential tool for any serious learner is an Irish dictionary. There is a limited range of dictionaries available to the user, but yet there is a rich mix of strengths and weaknesses to the dictionaries that are available.

As a learner, you don't want to be overcome by the grammatical detail of a dictionary, but you also need a dictionary that covers a wide range of every-day Irish speech. You'll also want a two way dictionary (both English-Irish and Irish-English).

As a learner, you don't need anything too fancy to start learning, which is why I suggest Foclóir Scoile. This dictionary is edited by an Irish state-owned publishing company. The title literally means "School Dictionary". It features a relevant mix of every-day speak for the Irish language. As a plus, it's quite compact and easy to get a hold of.

As a bonus tip, I suggest watching Irish language television (TG4) and listening to Irish language radio (Raidió na Gaeltachta) to get a real taste of the beautiful rhythm of the language.

This article has been written by Eoin of Irish Dictionary . The Irish dictionary is a collaborative effort by the Irish language community. It is a fast easy to search dictionary where user submissions are welcome.

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