Reading Comprehension: Understanding Written Irish

Reading Irish with confidence

A written Irish text can look hard at first, but you have more help than you think. Many Irish words are loanwords borrowed from English, so they give you their meaning for free. The topic and the words around a gap tell you a great deal. And you never need to understand every word to answer a question. Good reading is about strategy, not about knowing everything. You skim a text for its overall meaning, scan it for the details a question asks about, lean on the words you recognise, and read past the words you do not. Recognising the Irish question words, such as ca for where and ce for who, also tells you what a question is asking. This module covers skimming and scanning, loanwords and context, the question words, and how to handle a text with unknown words in it.

Words for reading Irish

Learn these terms before the strategies are compared. They name the tools of a confident reader.

Match each Irish question word to its meaning

Reading for gist against reading for detail

Two reading habits do different jobs, and a good reader picks the right one for the question.

What helps with an unknown word?

You meet an Irish word you do not know in the middle of a text. What is the best first move?

• Use the topic and the surrounding words to work out a likely meaning
• Stop reading the text altogether
• Look up every word before you start
• Guess a random English word

Let the whole text help you

No reader knows every word, and you do not need to. When a written text in Irish looks hard, remember how much help is already on the page. The title tells you the topic. Words that resemble English, the loanwords, hand you meanings for free. The question words, such as ca for where or ce for who, tell you what a question is asking. And the words around a gap suggest what must fit. So do not read one word at a time, stopping dead at each unknown one. Read for the overall sense first, use the clues the text gives you, and come back to puzzle out only the words that really matter for the question. A confident reader works with the whole page, not against a single word.

Pick the good reading habits

Select every habit that helps you read a written Irish text well.

• Read the question first
• Use loanwords to guess meaning
• Use context to work out unknown words
• Translate every word before you start
• Give up at the first hard word

Order how to work through a reading text

Put the steps of tackling an Irish reading text in a sensible order.

• Read the question first to know what to look for
• Skim the text for its overall meaning
• Scan for the key words the question needs
• Use loanwords and context for unknown words
• Choose your answer and check it against the text

Complete the Irish reading facts

Reading quickly for the overall meaning is _____. Looking for one specific piece of information is _____. An Irish word borrowed from English is a _____. The Irish question word ca means _____.

Tap the two loanwords from English

Tap the TWO Irish words that are loanwords you can guess from English.

• banc
• teilifis
• teach
• madra

A map with a few labels missing

Picture a map of a town with a few of its labels rubbed off. You do not throw the map away; you use the roads, the river and the labels that remain to work out where the missing names must be. Reading a text in a language you are still learning is much the same. Some words will be missing from your memory, but the topic, the shape of the sentence and the words you do know form a map around each gap. Read the map, not just the one blank spot. Nearly always the words you have are enough to place the words you do not, and the meaning comes into view without reaching for a dictionary at every step.

The Irish reading run

Answer each one correctly to keep your lives. Choose the best answer.

Tackle each written text

Read each situation and choose the best strategy.

• You must find one specific fact in an Irish notice. Which strategy fits best?
• You see the Irish word banc in a text. What is the smart guess?
• A text has several words you do not know. What should you do?

Build a reading-strategy rule

Choose the word for each gap to complete one rule of good reading.

Explain how to read Irish well

A friend panics when they see an Irish reading text full of words they do not know. Using what you have learned, explain how to read written Irish well.

• Explain what skimming and scanning are
• Explain how loanwords help you
• Explain how to use context for unknown words
• Explain how the Irish question words help you answer
• Explain why you do not need to understand every word