Good Books on the Irish Language (difficult!)

Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and one for Sun) meets the néaladóirí (cloud-watchers) and réadóirí (star-gazers) from our past who without the luxury of Met Éireann observed birds, trees and animals (plus markers on land and sea) for signs of changing weather.

The heron’s behaviour offered hints: Aimsir chrua thirim nuair a bhíonn an corr éisc suas in aghaidh srutha chun na sléibhte (when the heron flies upstream to the mountains, the weather will be dry). Fearthainn nuair a thagann sí an abhainn anuas (when she goes downstream, it will rain!)

Evoking countless shivery experiences on this Atlantic-swept Emerald Isle, this beautifully illustrated gift book uses Irish words to grasp an almost-lost world through the wisdom stored in the Irish language.

Manchán Magan is a writer and documentary-maker, who writes for the Irish Times and reports on radio. He lives in County Westmeath.

An Irish Word a Day is a unique book to teach us how to learn one word of this very difficult language each day. So in a year, you’ll have quite the vocabulary.

In England, many people have Irish heritage (especially in Liverpool), and considering our country is renowned for being complete rubbish at learning other languages, this is a book much-needed.

Wales and Scotland have their own languages (and so does Cornwall). So it’s about time we all learned a few words to get by in the Emerald Isle!

Around half the people in Ireland know how to speak Gaelic, as it’s taught in schools. But only around 72,000 people use it on a daily basis, usually in the far west and on remote islands.

By the end of this book, you’ll be able to start your day and greet others, including the spiteog (robin), building his spring nest.