Buntús Cainte - A First Step to Spoken Irish 1-3

Buntús Cainte (English: Basic Speaking) was a programme aimed at teaching the Irish language that was broadcast on Raidió Teilifís ireann in Ireland, beginning in 1967. The show was designed to appeal to young viewers, and was (unusually for RT's educational output) lively and humorous. The programme was presented by Máire O’Neill and Aileen Geoghegan. By November 1967, 218,000 copies of the Buntús Cainte lessons booklet had been sold.

The programme catered for people with little or no Irish. Phrases were spoken by the presenters in both Irish and English, and were also overlaid (in Irish) on a simple static cartoon relating to the phrase. It is also the title of a series of 3 books which contain the programme material, including the cartoons, the spoken Irish words and the English and Irish text. Buntús Cainte is currently available in book form, published by Foras na Gaeilge with editions in 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2008. The current editions include remastered versions of the original recordings on Compact Disc.
Buntús Cainte is also available as an MP3 course for iPod, iPhone and iPad. The English and Irish text can be viewed by the learner using the lyrics function on the device.
The course consists of a series of short lessons in which the presenters speak in Irish. The lessons are accompanied by English and Irish written versions of the spoken words.
Each lesson contains new words, basic sentences for each of the new words, revisionary sentences, a second section of new material and a situational conversation. The book's lessons are intended to be used with recorded versions of the Irish words and sentences they contain. The current publications, unlike earlier ones, come with the recordings.