Blas na Gaidhlig: The Practical Guide to Scottish Gaelic Pronunciation

There's a lot to this book, but at the end you won't be necessarily fluent in Scots Gaelic. What you will do is speak Gaelic with a much better accent. The text uses the IPA symbols plus specific directions for shaping the sounds more accurately, and each section ends with a list of vocabulary words that use those sounds. This might be a good place to start, though, before taking on another "learn Gaelic" format. It's helpful especially for the times when you may not be sure of what you are hearing on a voice recording.If you have a chance to learn with a true native speaker, by all means do that. But this is an excellent auxiliary source to accompany lessons aimed at conversational Gaelic.

This book provides excellent help for Gaelic learners trying to pronounce this language. I'm past the vowels and into the consonants, and it's made a world of difference. You can't just read the word and try to pronounce it in English, for the sounds don't equate, and this book even shows you how to shape your mouth to say the sound. Excellent resource.

I love that someone deals with the fact that the sounds of Gaelic are different from what one expects and that to get them right requires a good ear and a little extra help sometimes. This is a big book but very useful.

This is a highly detailed book that is an essential tool for Scots Gaelic learners. Just learning the phonetic alphabet is a great lesson; delving into the Gaelic at the same time makes you feel like your brain is really stretching. Excellent book on the subject.

This is a great resource for anyone trying to learn Scottish Gaelic. It is very well written and explains in every day style the language.

Bought this as it was recommended by a friend from Scotland for starting with Gaelic. It may seem funny, starting out with a book that doesn't teach a single phrase but having read through most of it, I can see why it makes sense. The sounds in this language are just so different. Not easy, learning new sounds but the book is a great read and makes it all accessible and there's LOADS of sound files

I'm only up to page 67 so far, but am very glad I purchased this book. It is going to prove to be a very good resource for many years.

I am very happy my brand new book!

This is a readable, if a little over chatty, book that I have found useful to revise my knowledge of the international phonetic alphabet (IPA). I find the examples inevitably confusing as they are often at variance with the pronunciation I use. I say 'inevitably' because the book would not have been written for the dialect that I am more familiar with even if it were a real dialect. Some aspects are less than helpful for someone coming to IPA for the first time: for example, on p. 39, the symbol for ‘sh’ is used despite it not having been explained.On the whole, though, this is a useful book and worth considering if you have an interest in the subject. While I agree with the author that more should be interested in this aspect of the language, I suspect that this will not be many!

This is a brilliant book. It teaches about the pronunciation of Gaidhlig it also covers a little Scots as examples which was a bonus for myself. When I am finished I will do a full review on trilingual but I am very happy about my purchase. The 35 quid is a dissuader but it will stop novices from buying it as it does not teach Gaidhlig. I have studied Gaidhlig for a year and would say that you would need some basic skill in Gaidhlig to get the most benefit from it.

As near to perfection as you will ever get in a language textbook. For this Sasannach I found the complexities of pronunciation/grammar were dealt with in a manner that were easy to follow. The author seems to instinctively know what parts needed detailed help and explanation, and effortlessly guides you onwards. I only wish I had tackled this fascinating language years ago.It is also an extremely vital book in helping to preserve and promote a struggling language.

Great

Very helpful, friendly, and comprehensive