Now let's take a look at the apps, software and online courses that you can use to learn Irish. The biggest advantage of such learning apps is that they are much cheaper than traditional language courses.
uTalk Irish App
Alternative to Duolingo or Babbel
Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online Version
Content: Irish vocabulary (2000 words), lessons and playful exercises
Prices:
USD 12 (1 month and all 160 languages)
USD 60 (12 months and all 160 languages)
Discount offer: USD 199 (Lifetime Access to all 160 Languages)
Overall Value:
The uTalk app teaches about 2000 Irish words and focuses primarily on playful exercises.
There are several exercises to choose from:
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Read and listen to Irish words (with translation and photos)
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Match the Irish word you heard to a photo
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Speak a Irish word and compare the recording with the original
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A memory game with pictures
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Speak the Irish translation of an English word
The vocabulary is divided into 60 freely selectable topics. The special thing about the uTalk app is that you get access to
all 160 languages.
The interface of the app is well made and is similar to other apps like Babbel, Duolingo or Mondly.
Summary: Getting access to 160 languages is impressive and the scope (2000 words with native speaker audio and exercises) is also solid.
Link: uTalk Irish Language Course App
Ling Irish App
Playful Irish Learning
Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online Version (PC and Mac)
Content: Irish lessons with native speaker audio
Prices: USD 8.99 (1 month), USD 79 (12 months),
USD 149 (unlimited)
Overall Value:
The Ling language learning app offers lessons for 60 languages and is quite similar to Duolingo or Babbel, which do not offer Irish courses.
Ling uses "gamified learning", which means learning the Irish language in a playful way.
There are mini-games, levels, experience points, as well as tests and exercises at the end of each lesson.
The vocabulary covers about 1000 Irish words and phrases, all with native speaker audio and pictures. Grammar is not included.
This app offers a test to determine your proficiency level in Irish.
Summary: Good ideas that make learning Irish more fun.
Link: Ling Irish Language Course App
Glossika Irish App
Irish for Advanced Learners
Systems: iPhone App, Online Version
Suitable for: Intermediate and advanced learners
Content: Irish advanced exercises
Prices: USD 17 (1 month and 1 language), USD 31 (1 month and all 64 languages)
Overall Value:
The Glossika app is for people who already have some basic proficiency in Irish or already know a similar language.
The app has an entry test to determine your Irish proficiency level. You can start from A1 to B2 (beginners and intermediate).
Glossika works with whole sentences instead of single Irish words. You can choose which topics you want to learn.
This app has intentionally no "gamification". The only exercises are reading, listening, typing the sentences and speaking into the microphone.
There are also no grammar explanations. You are supposed to understand Irish grammar from the context, like in Rosetta Stone.
You can try the complete app with all 64 languages for 7 days for free (without providing payment information).
Summary: Effective exercises for advanced learners, but somewhat higher price and not much variety.
Link: Glossika Irish Language Course App
Rosetta Stone: Irish
Most Famous Language Learning App
Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online Version (PC and Mac)
Suitable for: Beginners, intermediate, experts, professionals, business
Content: Irish lessons with native speaker audio and speech recognition
Prices:
USD 36 (3 months)
USD 145 (12 months)
USD 299 (Lifetime access)
USD 349 (Lifetime access for 24 languages)
Overall Value:
How does Irish learning with Rosetta Stone work?
Rosetta Stone has a different approach to language learning than many other online courses or language apps such as Duolingo, Memrise and others.
The idea behind Rosetta Stone is to learn a language like you did as a child - by using pictures in combination with listening, speaking, and reading.
Each Rosetta Stone lesson includes the following exercises:
- Pronounce the words or phrases correctly (speech recognition)
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When reading or hearing a word, click on the correct picture
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When looking at a picture, click on the correct word
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Type in a spoken word correctly, etc.
A possible disadvantage of Rosetta Stone is that there are no grammar explanations or translations of the Irish vocabulary.
Instead, you are supposed to learn the grammar and the meaning of words from the context or recognize the meaning from the pictures.
Rosetta Stone Apps and Online Version:
The Rosetta Stone Irish learning software can be used online with a subscription for 3 or 12 months or with a Lifetime Access.
In addition to the online version, there are now also Rosetta Stone apps for iPhones and Android smartphones.
Summary: Time-tested method, but the lack of grammar explanations and translations may make Rosetta Stone not suitable for everyone.
Link: Rosetta Stone App and Online Course
Cudoo: Irish Course
Online Learning with Certificates
Systems: Online Access (PC, Mac, smartphones)
Content: Irish video lessons and quiz tests
Prices: USD 12.99 (one course), USD 24.99 (4-7 courses bundle)
Overall Value:
Cudoo is a kind of online university that offers courses with certificates on different topics.
This includes language courses for 160 languages. These are all beginner courses (CEFR level A1 and A2).
For each language there are 1-10 courses and each course has 20-40 lessons.
The lessons each include a short video with new vocabulary and there are short quiz questions below the video.
Summary: The videos are well made, so especially for smaller languages these courses are a good start.
Link: Cudoo Online Irish Language Course
Memrise Irish App
App with User-Generated Lessons
Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online-Version (PC and Mac)
Content: Irish lessons and vocabulary trainer with native speaker audio, grammar
Prices: USD 8,99 (1 month), USD 60 (12 months), USD 110 (unlimited)
Overall Value:
With the Memrise App you can learn over 90 languages.
This includes even very small languages - however, in such cases the language courses are often limited to just a few lessons.
One special feature of the Memrise learning app is the large number of lessons created by users (native speakers).
The quality of these lessons varies greatly though. For example, only the basic forms of verbs are usually taught, without the conjugations. Some languages also do not have an audio recording of the words at all.
Another good idea of the Memrise app are the user-generated tips and mnemonics for each word to help you memorize them.
Summary: User-generated lessons are a good idea. In practice, the quality of the lessons leaves a lot be desired.
Bluebird Irish App
Irish Lessons and Exercises
Systems: Android and iPhone apps, online version (PC and Mac)
Content: Irish exercises with native speaker audio and speech recognition
Prices: USD 9.99 (1 month), USD 100 (12 months), USD 200 (unlimited), USD 400 (163 languages)
Overall Value:
The Bluebird App offers 146 source languages and 163 target languages and dialects, including Irish.
The Irish language course in this app includes the following:
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Daily video lessons in three difficulty levels
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Basic Irish vocabulary on several dozen topics
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Common Irish verbs with conjugations
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Analysis of your own pronunciation (with speech recognition)
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Tests: listening comprehension, filling in word gaps, vocabulary quizzes
There are about 500 video lessons for learning Irish, each 5 to 60 minutes long. For languages with other scripts, the words can also be displayed transliterated in the Latin script.
The Bluebird app has no grammar lessons. Instead, you are supposed to understand the grammar "implicitly" from the examples, like in Rosetta Stone.
Summary: The video lessons and the interface take some getting used to, but the exercises are quite varied. Especially for smaller languages, this app is a viable alternative.
Clozemaster Irish
Exercises for Advanced Learners
Systems: Android and iOS Apps, Online Version
Suitable for: Intermediate and Advanced Learners
Content: Multiple-choice selection of missing words in sentences (with native speaker audio)
Prices: USD 8 (1 month), USD 60 (12 months), USD 140 (lifetime access)
Overall Value:
The Clozemaster app is intended for intermediate and advanced learners who have already mastered the basic vocabulary and want to practice.
The only exercise is to choose the correct missing word in a sentence from a list of four words. The translation of the sentence is displayed as well. At the end, the sentence is also spoken by a native speaker.
In the English version of this app there are 70 languages to choose from.
Large languages have up to 50,000 vocabulary items (words, phrases, and verb variations), while smaller languages often have only 500.
In the online version, you can also type in the missing words. The smartphone app now offers speech recognition.
Summary: An interesting method that is quite fun. Since many apps teach only at a beginner level, this is a good addition for advanced users.
Mango Irish App
Includes Grammar
Systems: Android and iOS Apps, Online Version
Content: Irish lessons with native speaker audio, grammar, culture
Prices: USD 7.99 (1 month), USD 80 (1 year),
USD 18 (1 month and 70 languages), USD 180
(1 year and 70 languages)
Overall Value:
The Mango Languages App offers 70 languages, including Irish.
This app also has some grammar lessons and cultural explanations. The explanations in English are all recorded and well done.
However, the number of lessons for learning Irish is quite small, which means that this app is only suitable for absolute beginners.
There are no exercises, except for the repeated vocabulary tests.
You can also record your own pronunciation in the app and compare it with the recording of a native speaker.
Summary: Good quality, but not much vocabulary. Only for absolute Irish beginners.
Instant Immersion: Irish
Learning Software for Download
Systems: PC and Mac
Suitable for: Beginners and intermediate learners, travel vocabulary, business
Content: Irish vocabulary lessons and exercises
Prices: USD 35 (Level 1), USD 55 (Level 1-3)
Overall Value:
The Instant Immersion Irish learning software is available for download only for PCs and Macs.
According to the vendor, this software is supposed to be "as good as Rosetta Stone", but much cheaper because less money is spent on advertising.
Unfortunately, this promise cannot hold.
The software interface is chaotic and all three "language levels" offer a chaotic mix of easy and difficult words.
Essentially, this software only introduces new Irish vocabulary with native speaker audio and pictures, and then there are a few exercises.
Irish grammar is not included at all.
Summary: Limited scope and bad interface. At least it is relatively cheap and there is a 90-day money-back guarantee.
Linguashop: Irish
Educational Software for Download
Systems: PC (Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP)
Content: Irish lessons with native speaker audio and speech recognition, grammar
Prices: USD 35 (second language for free)
Overall Value:
The Linguashop educational software ("TeachMe") is available for over 90 languages, including Irish. It also includes an audio CD.
The native speaker audio and speech recognition are relatively good.
However, the interface of the learning software is quite chaotic and there are no exercises — only lessons where new vocabulary is presented.
It is also unclear how many words are included in this Irish learning program. There is no information about this on the website.
Some grammar lessons are included — however, these are basically just images with short texts.
Summary: Poor quality for a relatively low price. You get language courses for two languages when you buy, one as a free bonus.