Foclóiropedia: A Journey Through the Irish Language from Arán to Zú

by Fatti Burke, John Burke

This breathtakingly exciting book discovers the Irish language as you’ve never learned it before! Fatti Burke’s amazing illustrations and her father John’s fabulous teaching bring the language alive with every turn of the page.

A visual introduction to Ireland’s language for young and old, you will learn your first thousand words, discover your culture and enjoy the fabulous quirks and features of your native tongue!

Bringing a contemporary appeal to a classic subject, get ready to fall in love with your language. It’s Irish as you’ve never seen it before!

This is the third book from the bestselling father and daughter duo behind Irelandopedia and Historopedia, which have sold over 100,000 copies.

Genres: Nonfiction, Ireland

89 pages, Hardcover

Published October 6, 2017

About the author

Fatti Burke is an Amsterdam-based illustrator from Co. Waterford, Ireland. She has been working as a freelance illustrator since she graduated from the National College of Art and Design in 2012. Her first three publications in children's non-fiction -- Irelandopedia (2015), Historopedia (2016) and Focloiropedia (2017) -- were bestsellers in Ireland.

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Irish language is dying in my family, every generation seems to know a little bit less than the generation before. My great-grandfather was only able to speak in a mixture of English and Irish, often getting the languages confused. My granny can speak a bit of Irish, but is always reluctant to do so. My dad understands very little and can speak even less and I'm only able to say the odd word and phrase. After reading and loving John and Fatti Burke's other book, Historopedia last month, I thought I'd try their book on the Irish language.

Fatti's illustrations are wonderful, as always! I love her adorable art style and her fantastic use of colour, which complement the text perfectly.

Foclóiropedia isn't hugely in-depth, as it's written primarily for children, but it's a great place to start with the language. I enjoyed the variety of words and phrases that are included in the book; from basics like colours, days of the week and countries, etc to more challenging things like sentence structure and proverbs.

Frustratingly, there wasn't any information regarding pronunciation, which was a surprise and a bit of a shame. Pronunciation is what I struggle most with; it's hard to remember words and phrases if you don't know how to say them.

Overall, Foclóiropedia is another fantastic book by the father-daughter duo and I look forward to reading more of their work together.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful introduction to Irish Gaelic for children, or for anyone! It has cute pictures and loads of useful daily vocabulary and sentences.