www.talkirish.com - dictionary, game and quizzes launched
Whoo! After far far too long, we've finally launched our new dictionary, vocab learning game and quizzes on www.talkirish.com.
I'll start with our 365 dictionary. It's linked with our free Focal an Lae (word a day) service. Learners can search for an Irish/English term. The chosen word is displayed, along with an image. The learner can see the headword, cases examples and sample sentences. But the best thing for the learner is being able to listen to the entries. This is especially important to Irish language learners, as it's difficult for many learners across the world to get access to Irish language audio.
I have to say, my WordFlash game is my favourite new toy. WordFlash is based on the premise that the brain learns best through repetition, a little bit at a time.
When the game opens, a picture square flashes and an Irish word is played. The learner must click that square. The first square is repeated, then a new square flashes. This continues, and the learner must repeat the chain of flashes for as long as possible. While they play, their brain makes an association between the image, text and audio.
There are two modes - practice and test. But also 2 levels - listen and read. Listen mode encourages the learner to associate the sound and picture, without any text. That's really important in a Celtic language like Irish, whose written form can appear very alien to learners. Learners of Irish frequently mispronounce the words they see. I hope that by teaching them the word sound first, then then find the text easier to read, and have a phonetic system to apply to it.
Our quizzes simply let a learner test the following:
Irish-English text translation skills
English-Irish text translation skills
Spoken Irish recognition skills
All the games plug into our database of Irish words and associated images. I've designed everything so it can localise easily into any other world language. What we're working on now is getting our subscription model up and running - so learners can unlock the free versions of the games.
If you're interested in what we've done and want to get involved or find out more, feel free to contact me - details at www.talkirish.com.
I'll start with our 365 dictionary. It's linked with our free Focal an Lae (word a day) service. Learners can search for an Irish/English term. The chosen word is displayed, along with an image. The learner can see the headword, cases examples and sample sentences. But the best thing for the learner is being able to listen to the entries. This is especially important to Irish language learners, as it's difficult for many learners across the world to get access to Irish language audio.
I have to say, my WordFlash game is my favourite new toy. WordFlash is based on the premise that the brain learns best through repetition, a little bit at a time.
When the game opens, a picture square flashes and an Irish word is played. The learner must click that square. The first square is repeated, then a new square flashes. This continues, and the learner must repeat the chain of flashes for as long as possible. While they play, their brain makes an association between the image, text and audio.
There are two modes - practice and test. But also 2 levels - listen and read. Listen mode encourages the learner to associate the sound and picture, without any text. That's really important in a Celtic language like Irish, whose written form can appear very alien to learners. Learners of Irish frequently mispronounce the words they see. I hope that by teaching them the word sound first, then then find the text easier to read, and have a phonetic system to apply to it.
Our quizzes simply let a learner test the following:Irish-English text translation skills
English-Irish text translation skills
Spoken Irish recognition skills
All the games plug into our database of Irish words and associated images. I've designed everything so it can localise easily into any other world language. What we're working on now is getting our subscription model up and running - so learners can unlock the free versions of the games.
If you're interested in what we've done and want to get involved or find out more, feel free to contact me - details at www.talkirish.com.
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