About

The story behind Love Irish, a free way to learn the Irish language through the history, mythology, music and places of Ireland.

What Love Irish is

Love Irish is an independent, free and non-commercial project for anyone who loves Ireland and its language. The idea is simple: learn Irish (Gaeilge) not in isolation, but woven together with the stories, places, history and culture the language grew out of. Whether you're reconnecting with your roots, part of the diaspora, a visitor, a student, or a complete beginner, you're very welcome here.

Our approach to accuracy

A language resource is only as good as it is trustworthy. We aim to use standard Irish (An Caighdeán Oifigiúil) for spelling and grammar, with careful attention to the síneadh fada (á, é, í, ó, ú). Vocabulary and phrases are checked against reputable dictionaries such as teanglann.ie and focloir.ie.

We're honest about what this is: a labour of love, not an academic institution. Mistakes can slip through, and if you find one, we genuinely want to hear about it so we can fix it.

A note on dialects

Irish has three main living dialects (Munster, Connacht and Ulster), and pronunciations can differ between them. Where we can, we note dialect variations; where a form is dialect-specific, we try to say so rather than present one region's usage as the only one.

History & folklore

Our history and mythology articles are written to be engaging and accessible. We try to distinguish folklore and legend from established history, rather than presenting the two in the same breath. These pieces are introductions and starting points, not academic papers. Treat them as an invitation to explore further.

Spotted a mistake?

Corrections and suggestions are always welcome. It's how the site gets better. Please get in touch and we'll review it.