biodh am feachd leibh

What is your favourite/strangest idiom(s)?

Mine are:

(Yn Kernewek)

Ny synsav anodho favenn goeg (I don't care an empty bean)

Deug - Ten

Fichead - Twenty

Trithead - Deich air fhichead - Thirty

Ceathrad - Dà fhichead - Forty

Caogad - Dà fhichead 's a deich / Leth-cheud - Fifty

Siagad - Trì fichead - Sixty

Seachad - Trì fichead 's a deich - Seventy

Ochdad - Ceithir fichead - Eighty

Naochad - Ceithir fichead 's a deich - Ninety

Learning

Gerlyver Kernewek - Online Cornish dictionary

Say Something In Cornish - Cornish lessons in podcast format

Tamm ha Tamm - Video series teaching simple conversational Cornish

GoCornish - Interactive Cornish resources for all ages

-> Memrise course (flashcards with audio)

-> Word Tango (puzzle app available in Cornish)

-> Kows ha Flows (listening materials with notes and vocabulary)

Kesva an Taves Kernewek - Cornish Language Board

-> KDL lessons (designed as a correspondence course but suitable for independent study)

-> Classroom resources (worksheets, activities, etc)

-> Skeul an Yeth - Free Cornish textbook

-> Past papers

Desky Kernowek - Cornish lessons in podcast format (Late Cornish)

-> This is an older site with a lot of dead links, but you’ll be pleased to hear their 24 audio lessons, their grammar notes and their in-depth guide to swearing in Cornish are all still fully functional.

Modern Cornish - Written lessons and texts in Late Cornish

Reading and Listening

Radyo an Gernewegva - Radio and TV in Cornish

An Nowodhow - Radio news bulletin in Cornish

Kernewek Bew - Website with a collection of video and audio in Cornish

Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek online shop  - Books for sale in and about Cornish

Agan Taves - Books for sale and for free in and about Cornish

An Gannas - Monthly magazine in Cornish

-> Dalleth - The puzzles from An Gannas on their own

First line of defense. Its a fucking wall. While these particular designs are new, controlling access to the space by reducing the number of ingress points has served human (hominids, really) well for a couple million years or so, ever since we found caves and said “Hey, this is pretty neat.”

Second line of defense. She’s an older model, but we’ve been using the same technology for at least 30,000 years, and it’s still reliable. With better senses of hearing and smell, they are able to track and identify interlopers before humans can. They are also snuggly.

#ArtSnacksInk Day 4- Sweater

Tha geansaidh blàth orm- I have a warm sweater on.

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the national centre for Gaelic language and culture, recently worked with BBC Alba to produce videos, audio and a website called SpeakGaelic. 

There’s videos, an online course, support for tutors, multiple new podcasts, Youtube, various things airing on TV. The actual self-taught online course is only one part of how much this resource has to offer! So here’s some of the things I’ve been looking at. 

1. The website itself

 https://speakgaelic.scot/all-online-courses/

This is just the whole website: explore at your leisure! At the moment they have finished up to around A2 level, and are working on producing higher level content. 

Each topic has a series of 8-10 mini-lessons that are sometimes more duolingo style, and sometimes with videos.

I…actually prefer to use the teaching resources for tutors (linked below) than this course for a few reasons. My main problem is that the vocabulary they present to you is far too fast (in one lesson they might give you 20 words for different Scottish towns), which is fine if you just need to choose the relevant words for where you are from, but in order to pass the quiz to get to the next level you have to get ALL of them right. And Gaelic spelling takes a while to get used to…

There’s also no writing / spelling practice, but to pass the level requires you to write things. Which. Feels counterintuitive! You can learn any level without passing the tests, but it’s annoying because it means your progress isn’t saved to an accurate place. I emailed them about it and got a friendly response back, but this isn’t something they are planning to change. 

2. The classroom materials

 https://speakgaelic.scot/classroom-materials/

Now THIS is where it gets exciting. These are materials designed in theory for tutors - full lesson plans, worksheets, everything - but they are accessible to learners too. In fact, I think they’re much better than the online course. 

Why? Because everything is STRUCTURED. You are given practice, and told what to do, and there are grammatical explanations. (NB: all of these exist in the online course, but not in one handy document for you to look over in one place.) 

You have all of the learner content….

…and you ALSO have teacher content:

‘If learners need more time and practice with the vocative case’ > that’s me! And it shows you then exactly what you should do next. Whereas the online course doesn’t have that option for customisation at all. Most of the worksheets are included in the lesson plan, and some are on the main page. Absolute bliss. 

3. The SpeakGaelic learner podcast

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6x5b901Zj8ky0UsMM4SzZM?si=00c361fe5ffc4f0d

(If you don’t have Spotify, you can just search ‘SpeakGaelic’)

This is an audio version of the lessons above, and goes into more detail - with information from three different native speakers - into some of the grammar things that the course doesn’t really cover in that much depth. There’s conversations you can listen to, and it’s all targeted at complete beginners. If you listen to any other Gaelic podcasts you’ll recognise the presenter, John Urquhart!

After each episode, there’s also a special episode - scroll down to the bottom - with conversation about different topics relevant to the day’s lesson with two of the presenters. Great for providing extra information!

4. The Youtube channel

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppoHU_ece7o&list=PL_U7jPRkbJZtFegaqKKT8MrZnV7ugwHAG&index=1

Ok, so there’s a LOT of content here. First you have the A1-A2 lessons, around 30 minutes each. Despite what the name suggests, these are not the same as the audio podcasts. They have Joy (who presents the online course) but they also give some extra video clips and information about cultural things too!

They’re a little slow, but a good supplement to the material given above. As far as I can tell, there are only 13 of this particular series (and 13 for A2) but the YouTube channel SpeakGaelic itself has hundreds of episodes of everything that goes into the online course. All the videos can be found there. 

This includes all audio and conversations, as well as snapshots on individual learners and some cultural information. 

They also seemingly have started marking some grammar videos! Check out this playlist for more grammar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq9_0ht4L3Y&list=PL_U7jPRkbJZu0uq_6wpzCgZcpddGDU76D

5. The intermediate podcast: Beag air Bheag

https://open.spotify.com/show/34wGOU9sDTE7Vzg0qMexfv?si=314cbbb294b648ec

Once you’re a little further on in your journey (I…can’t understand these yet), there are a few other podcasts on Spotify also by the BBC Radio nan Gàidheal. This is one! This is totally in Gaelic, but spoken fairly slowly and designed for intermediate learners. 

6. The old site: learngaelic.scot

https://learngaelic.scot

Check it out! I…actually prefer this site and the way it teaches. It has some bonuses over the old one - good vocabulary sections, plus a really great directory of Gaelic courses online and in person, as well as a dictionary, and so on. 

It goes all the way up to B2, so is a better choice if you have more than a little Gaelic. 

It’s also a brilliant directory of media in Gaelic - you can watch lots of videos with transcripts in Gaelic with a dictionary, as well as finding native-level material. You can sign up to their newsletter and get weekly Gaelic information too. 

It also has links to Speaking Our Language!! Which is an absolutely wonderful resource from the 90s teaching Gaelic one conversation at a time, and also goes up to a fairly high level. These are all updated for The Modern Age: i.e., they all have PDFs and transcripts, as well as links to the grammar points for whatever lesson you’re listening to. Far more advanced than anything the new site currently has. 

I might do another post once I’ve explored this website a little more! 

7. Bonus: Gaelic with Jason

Finally, one extra! The other main resource I’m using is Gaelic with Jason (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rAE_iLRh4g for example). 

He has a whole bunch of free Youtube videos, but I’m actually doing his paid online course - it’s by the best value for money I know from any course, Gaelic or otherwise. If you have the money for it and like immersive learning with a board and just being chatted to, I’d highly recommend you give it a go. He also has loads of Gaelic books for learners, which are wonderful too, and a folktales and traditions course for intermediate learners. Can’t talk about this man enough. (https://gaelicwithjason.thinkific.com)

—

Once again, I’d really encourage you to check out the teaching materials: I personally find them way more useful than the online course for learners specifically. I’m looking at the teaching materials in conjunction with the audio on YouTube and then the podcasts on Spotify.

All the best!