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Not the most encouraging introduction in a language learning book.
Tá eagla orm.
FWIW I don't think there's any basis to this claim. And I didn't buy the book. Who would be confident with a teacher who says that something is a nightmare but not impossible?
@padraic I actually did buy Joyce's book. It's a dense little thing. The class I'm taking uses Progress In Irish and Gaeilge gan stró.
@mpotter I'll check those out, thanks!
@padraic Which book is this? IIRC Irish is considered a Category II Language for English speakers, on a par with German. It is nowhere as difficult as Japanese, Mandarin or Russian. It has some challenges with quite a complex grammar for an English speaker. And some of the irregular verbs are 'really' irregular, but there's only 11 of them. But pronunciation is very regular compared to English (-ough- words anybody?)
@padraic According to the FSI a category II language should take 828 class hours to learn compared to 2,200 class hours for a category IV language like Arabic or Korean.
https://www.state.gov/foreign-service-institute/foreign-language-training
@bullivant it's from "step by step Irish" by James Joyce.
I didn't know about that category system. Interesting, thanks!
@padraic OK. I've never come across that book and a recommended resource. It's not a very positive attitude to the language is it? Maybe try another book?
There are plenty of recommended free resources here: https://toingaeilge.com/acmhainni#%C3%ADosl%C3%B3d%C3%A1lacha
This Discord server has plenty of recommended resources as well:
https://discord.com/channels/513690921724936203/513692883635666944
I personally like Colloquial Irish or Gaeilge Gan Stro as easy introductions to the language.
@padraic We were having a conversation with language educators and educationalists from UL and MIC the other day, and one of the themes that came up was that Irish language teacher training is a world of its own, with its own traditions and methods, that doesn't engage with "foreign" language teaching or with language teaching specialists.
@bthalpin that's interesting.
The likes of Gaelchultúr seem to have embraced the different European certificate levels. Surprising that school teacher training wouldn't also do this.
@padraic I think the only thing more conservative than primary teachers is primary teaching teacher trainers.