Study resources for:

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AUDIO FILES

The following are MP3 files, which will play in most browsers, or may be downloaded and played using
computer applications or in a stand-alone MP3 player.

A note from the reader about the recordings

My name is Lughaidh Ó hEacháin; I am doing a PhD on Celtic linguistics. I have learnt Irish in Northwestern Donegal Gaeltacht (Gweedore, Ranafast and Gortahork), and with Donegal Irish-speaking professors at Coleraine University, Co. Derry.

For these recordings, I have read the Irish words and sentences with a Northwestern Donegal pronounciation. However, First Steps in Irish teaches Standard Irish, with some Donegal features (especially for vocabulary). The grammar it gives is very standard and quite different from Donegal dialect grammar. For example, the irregular verbs that are given in the last lessons are very different in Ulster -- "I see" is tchím in Donegal, feicim in Standard Irish; "you come" is thig tú in Donegal, tagann tú in Standard Irish, and so on.
In these recordings I have tried to give what the Donegal pronounciation would have been if the Standard grammar forms were used in Donegal.

ANSWER KEY SHEETS

About the answer keys
These lesson-by-lesson answer keys for First Steps in Irish have been used by countless students in New England-area Irish classes for decades, and have been gradually "proofread" through the years. They may, however, still contain the occasional error, and if you find any, please let us know. They are typeset as individual sheets, as they have been designed for use as hand-outs in Irish classes.

There is often more than one "correct" way to express a thought in Irish. The authors of this book relied heavily on the Caighdeán Oifigiúil for their spellings, and favoured northern vocabulary somewhat; every effort has been made to keep these answers "correct" within the context of what has been taught First Steps in Irish -- i.e. within the confines of the vocabulary & phrases which had been taught up to any given point where you might find yourself preferring some other answer.

We understand that the various dialects may have equally appropriate equivalents to these answers, but for the sake of brevity, and of consistency with this book, we have preferred answers derived solely from the teachings of First Steps in Irish.

We hope that the countless students of Irish who will read and/or download these answer key sheets will appreciate this book all the more, now that they can check their work against the work of others.

Viewing the answer keys
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Downloading the answer keys
To download the files, please use your right mouse button (Windows) or hold down your mouse button (Mac) over the filename you wish to download. Then select "Download Link to Disk" (Internet Explorer) or "Save Link Target As" (Netscape) and choose the directory on your hard drive where you wish to save the downloaded file.

(Answer keys last revised 10 May 2005)

Should you find any errors in these materials, please e-mail us.