All is not perfect, but it is a hugely valuable source for learners who wish to get the approximate pronunciation of a word or sentence.

The dialect used is Ulster. Here’s hoping for Connacht and Munster versions!

For Irish pronunciation, visit:

http://www.abair.ie

Does anyone know why it’s offline? Unfortunately they have always been quiet about who’s behind the project.

Please do reply if the site is indeed back online.

Update: As noted in the comments, the dictionary is back online!

There are not that many Irish dictionaries available online. There’s Focal.ie, An Foclóir Beag, and EnglishIrishDictionary.com, for example. But that’s about it.

All of these dictionaries are closed. They do not harness the power of the Internet masses, of the large Irish-speaking community online. They don’t make their databases freely available to the Irish language community, either.

Here’s where a collaborative dictionary could help. Such a dictionary would be empowered by its users. It could keep up-to-date with current word usage. Wiktionary is such an effort, but it’s not very easy to quickly search through.

Here’s where Foclóir Gaeilge.ie comes in. It will be an Irish collaborative dictionary. With a simplicity for searching, and a simplicity for adding to it. Simple as that.

The dictionary will be accessible through both Irish and English language interfaces.

Here’s a sneak preview: http://www.focloirgaeilge.ie

Over at Irish-Sayings.com you can currently pick up for yourself a St. Patrick’s Day Pub Cheat Sheet. Print it off at home, and curse as Gaeilge like a made Irish person. It’s only available for this week only!

It includes such classic gems as Póg mo thóin and Pionnta Guinness, le do thoil. While you there, you can listen to several hundred recordings of three native Irish speakers.

It’s only a bit of craic!

This course has been created to help you learn, or re-learn, a range of simple words, phrases and expressions on everyday topics that can be easily used within your own daily life. There are no accompanying textbooks, so simply listen, repeat and enjoy an cúpla focail for yourself!

The PDF transcripts and MP3 files are now available online, hosted by the Sunday Independent. Get them while they’re still there!

YouTube is a great place to find people speaking and practicing Irish. You can also reply to a video with your own video, allowing you to practice with others.

Take a look at this video of two Conemara men talking with a tourist beside them. With my own Munster Irish, I find it very hard to even catch a couple of words. They’re speaking faster than you’d normally hear on Raidió na Gaeltachta:

An Ghrá faoi Glas (Love under lock and key, read the video script) is a four-part Big Brother parody which was shown on TG4:

See the other episodes.

The House of Ireland which is located in Balboa Park in San Diego, has recorded many of its Irish language classes, and have put the videos up on YouTube. The lesson sheets are also available.

On YouTube, you’ll also get many (often young) people uploading videos of them speaking Irish. Many videos will have video replies from others, so some “video conversations” get going. No matter what your level of Irish is, it would be a great exercise to post your video online, and allow for others to reply.

And finally, here’s a guy speaking about the urban Gaeltacht movement in Belfast:

Below I list the big Irish word reference sites that you can use for translations.

1. Irish Gaelic Collaborative Dictionary Blatant self promotion

Irish Dictionary.org is a collaborative dictionary, which is grown by its users. It’s quite empty right now, but is building up over time.

2. EnglishIrishDictionary.com

EnglishIrishDictionary.com is probably the most popular Irish English dictionary online. It’s quick to use, and contains most common-day entries. It seems to be based on the database of Collin’s Irish dictionaries. You can search quickly in both Irish and English.

3. Focal.ie

Focal.ie is lead by Dublin City University, probably arising from their Irish-language entrepeneurship centre called Fiontar. Focal.ie is quite extensive, and contains many everyday words, but brands itself as a “terminology database” rather than a full dictionary. It is great for science and technology terms. Focal.ie has a bi-lingual interface, and you can search for terms in both English or Irish.

4. An Foclóir Beag

An Foclóir Beag is a dictionary hosted by the University of Limerick, and has an Irish-only interface. It is an Irish-Irish dictionary, and is especially useful for its verb tables.

5. Acmhainn.ie

Acmhainn.ie is another searchable Irish terminology resource. It’s an Irish-only interface, and classifies terminology for subjects such as biology, health and media.

6. Pota Focal

Potal Focal is a personal project by a Czech couple. Its strength is in detailed grammatical information and usage samples. (Go raibh maith agat, a Pheadair.)

7. Print Dictionaries