English Irish Language Dictionary

A foreign language dictionary is a valuable resource. An English Irish language dictionary can help those with beginner skills learn key points of the Irish language while looking up words in English or Irish in order to get their meaning. More advanced Irish language scholars will appreciate verb conjugation options and other additional features, since these options may not be easy to use or even available in a hardbound dictionary. Additionally, online dictionaries may be updated more often and questions may even be posed to the administrators of the site.

Bookmark your favorite dictionaries to use at your convenience. You may want to keep a dictionary that allows a look-up from English to Irish and one that you can use to look up an Irish word and translate its meaning into the English language. Finally, if you are involved in an industry or business that requires Irish language knowledge, you may want to keep a specialty dictionary bookmarked for that purpose as well.

Irish Dictionaries at yourDictionary.com

The yourDictionary website provides links to language resources for approximately 300 different languages, including Irish. Use the following sites referenced by yourDictionary for your English Irish language needs:

  • Gramadach Lexicon: Click on a letter to search for an Irish word in order to get the English equivalent. Choosing "Search the dictionary" leads you to a more comprehensive site that allows you to search the Scottish, Irish, and Manx Gaelic languages. A notation is made at the bottom of this page's screen that errors have been made and are awaiting review, so use this dictionary as a secondary source until the errors have been fixed.
  • Téarmaí Ríomhaireachta: Although the instructions for using this website are written in Irish, you can use the charts to find computer terminology translated from Irish into English. Irish words are on the left, while English are on the right. Relevant phrases and terms are defined, grouped together by categories, like computers, hardware, and World Wide Web.
  • An Tobar: This dictionary is perfect for a novice Irish student or tourist on holiday. Proclaiming itself to be made up of "useful Irish terms for the public sector," it certainly fulfills. Divided into 11 separate categories, it provides a list of commonly used phrases and terms. Check the "roads and traffic" section to find out the terms for "speed" or "toll bridge." "Hospital terms" carries a number of various departments translated, along with commonly used phrases. Study this reference and copy key phrases to help you in your travels.
  • Old Irish Glossary: To switch between English and Irish languages, click on the upper right box that says either "English" or "Gaeilge." You can choose to search either the glossary or use the verbforms database for conjugation help. An Old-Irish Thesaurus is also linked to this page, making it practical and functional. Search for "dog" in English and you are taken to five variations on the word. Choose the Irish translation of the English word that best suits your purposes.

Irish Language Pronunciation

Unfortunately, none of the aforementioned dictionaries have the option to listen to any of the words or phrases being pronounced. This makes it difficult for a non-native speaker to know if she or he is saying the words correctly. Keeping a pronunciation key handy can help alleviate this problem. Use Daltaí na Gaeilge's Pronunciation Key to help identify how vowels and consonants are to be said. Audio pronunciations by a native Irish speaker can be heard when clicking on the green colored "Irish Examples." For additional help with pronunciation, navigate to the "Phrases" webpage. Ten separate situations, such as food and drink, good bye, and personal information, are listed to the left of the screen. Select the one needed, then click on the green Irish language word/phrase to hear it pronounced. An English translation of each word or phrase is to the right.

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