Chapters
- 01. Top Tip:Read more Books!
- 02. Read a Book you Have Already Read/Read a Children's Book
- 03. How can I Build my Vocab with Quizlet?
- 04. Can I Find my Own Irish Tutor? Sign-up to Superprof!
- 05. Can I read on the Go? The Duolingo Mobile App
- 06. Where Else Can I Find Reading Materials? Find Past Exam Papers from the Examinations Committee!
There are lots of different skills you need to learn when you are learning a new language, it is a long road, but a really rewarding one. Having another language opens so many doors for you both personally and professionally. It lets you travel and work all over the world!
We have lots of helpful articles on Superprof that will help you along the road, such as our one on stepping up from beginner to intermediate Irish
If you are looking to improve Irish fluency, we also have one for you!
(Stay tuned throughout for more helpful articles!)
It does take hard work however, and you need to spend time honing you language skills. The best way to learn is to create daily habits, and to practice in all kinds of ways. These ways might include listening, grammar, and writing and as this article will discuss, reading!
Reading in a language can be tough, especially in Irish, as many people find the accent hard! This is a key component in reading, and one that can be overlooked, but there are lots of ways to work on it, as this article will outline!
Being a good Irish reader requires you to have a good accent, understand vocabulary and grammar, and there are now more ways than before to practice, online or offline, alone or with someone!
Keep reading to find out how you can boost your reading comprehension in Irish!
Top Tip:Read more Books!
The first tip sounds like a very obvious one, but it does help, and can be overlooked! If you are struggling with reading, and finding it too difficult, you will likely give up quickly, or you might even give up altogether, but the good news is you can always practice and pick up a book no matter your level!
The more you read, the ore vocab you learn! For more useful tips with Irish vocab retention check out our Superprof guide !
When you are learning a language, you might notice many of the books and learning resources are broken down into levels. These levels are given letters, with A0 and A1 being the lowest, beginning levels, and C2 meaning the most advanced levels!
These letters can be super helpful, because many online bookstores include these levels in the information for the book, so you will be able to purchase one that suits your level! These levels are universal, across all languages, and they apply to the grammar books also!
So don’t let the more difficult books put you off, you can start at your own level. There are many online bookstores dedicated to Irish books, like the one here!
Read a Book you Have Already Read/Read a Children's Book
This next tip is a good one, and one I have used myself on my language learning journey, that is, to read a book you have already read in English, or whatever you are more comfortable with! By reading a book you have read before, you won’t have to worry so much about focusing on the narrative, and it will be less confusing! You can just focus on the language learning aspect and boosting your reading comprehension!
How can I Build my Vocab with Quizlet?
The more words you know, the easier reading in Irish will be, as you will be able to run through books quicker, and not have to pick up that dictionary as much! There are many ways to boost your vocabulary, which is why we also have a guide on how to improve your vocab!
It’s important to make notes of the words you learn, and to keep revisiting them every day to make sure you commit them into memory. The traditional way to do this is to have a notebook where you keep your Irish vocabulary, but this next service makes it easier than ever to learn on the go!
Quizlet is essentially your online notebook, where you can store and study all of the words you have learned, and it’s free! One you make your account, you are able to start writing down words you have learned, as well as their meaning!
This is great because you can input words on the go, using their built in dictionary, so you don’t need to carry around heavy books. We mentioned before in our other Irish language guides, such as our Irish writing guide, that repetition is key, and it isn’t enough to just write down the words, you have to commit them to memory.
Quizlet have an easy way you can do this. You can take tests, where they take the words you have learned, and they ask you for their meaning, you can also check the pronunciation, which will also help you with your reading out loud!
You can also break the words into groups and themes, so you will know exactly where to find them, think of it as an online filing cabinet! The more you use Quizlet, the more you will learn, and this will boost your reading, and improve your all round Irish!
Can I Find my Own Irish Tutor? Sign-up to Superprof!
There are many ways in which you can boost your Irish reading comprehension by yourself with no help, and this is useful for many reasons, but if you are struggling, or prefer to have someone to set you a schedule or keep you motivated, then Superprof is the perfect place.
Superprof is an online tutor service that puts learners in touch with tutors all over the world, across a variety of subjects. We have millions of users all around the world, so you will always be able to find users near you, with a large number of Irish tutors available! They are also flexible, with many of them available online or offline!
Many of these tutors are experienced with the Irish leaving certificate exams, and might be native speakers, so they will be able to give you a comprehensive overview of the language. They can give you personalized reading tasks to do, while also being available to correct your accent, which is super important! This is a great way to iron out any common mistakes you tend to make.
As a bonus, we also offer the first lesson free, so you can see how the first session is before you commit! Prices are competitive, with some tutors just charging 10 euro per hour.
Can I read on the Go? The Duolingo Mobile App
Duolingo is an extremely popular mobile phone or desktop language learning app used my millions of people all over the world, with a long and extensive Irish course, all for free!
Duolingo takes you all through the basics of Irish, increasing in difficulty the more you progress. The app also sets daily targets, which helps create that all important consistency!
When doing this short daily tasks on Duolingo, you will have to read the question, so you will be familiarizing yourself with the Irish language. You will also get the opportunity to speak into the mic, so this helps your spoken Irish, which transfers to your reading skills!
It coveers listening skills to, as you have to listen to short statements. For more help with this, you can read our extensive guide on getting daily listening practice
Duolingo also has a great “stories” feature where you can read and listen to quick anecdotes tailored to your level. This is a great all round app that covers the many basis of Irish learning, and gives you daily reading experience.
Where Else Can I Find Reading Materials? Find Past Exam Papers from the Examinations Committee!
Some of you may be studying Irish at an academic level, and if so you will have access to books, exam papers and resources that will help boost your reading comprehension! However, not every one of you will have, but fear not, we have an easy solution for you!
The Irish state exam commission upload all of their Irish exams online, for free, and you can download them and do the reading comprehension tasks! It’s as easy as that
You simply search for the year, exam and level and you will be shown the files ready for download! This is a great way to read little Irish stories and snippets that will challenge you, and also allow you to activate your Irish brain and engage with questions, testing your understanding!
Reading in Irish is hard, but there are so many ways in which you can improve! You need to remember that to become a skilled reader, you have to focus on vocab and grammar to.
Our guide to boosting reading comprehension covers all of the core fundamentals in Irish. It is important you give all of these a try, and try to incorporate them in to your daily language learning schedule, because like we always say, consistency is key! Good luck!
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