Resources for learning Galician

In Monforte you hear Galician every day: at the market, in the bar, on the radio. These are the free tools and places we point people to when they want to understand more of it and start speaking it. Most come from public bodies or the Real Academia Galega, so the Galician in them is reliable.

Dictionaries and verbs

• Dicionario da Real Academia Galega: the official dictionary. Every entry has a verb conjugator and recorded pronunciation. There are apps for iPhone and Android too.
• Verba: an iPhone app with a dictionary and full verb tables for Galician and Spanish, explained in English. It works offline and is free, with no ads and no account. In the interest of transparency: Jimmy, one of the organizers of Linguas Tecidas, made it.
• DiGalego: the Xunta’s dictionary, with definitions, synonyms, a verb conjugator and equivalents in other languages.
• Dicionario de pronuncia: from the Instituto da Lingua Galega. Useful for the open and closed vowels, which the spelling doesn’t show.
• Rinoceronte: a Spanish to Galician dictionary, handy if Spanish is already your strong language.

Courses

• Curso Celga 1 en liña: a free self-study course from the Xunta for beginners, open to anyone at any time.
• Free Celga 2, 3 and 4 courses: the Xunta runs free, tutored online courses for the higher levels. Registration opens at set times, announced on the Portal da Lingua Galega.
• Portal das Palabras: from the Real Academia Galega and the Fundación Barrié, with word games, videos and short lessons.
• Isto é galego!: a free app from Cuac FM, a community radio station in A Coruña. It teaches everyday, informal Galician with humor. Also on Android.
• cursos.gal: paid online courses for Celga 2, 3 and 4, if you want more structure.

Certificates

The official Galician exams are the Celga, from level 1 to 4. The Portal da Lingua Galega has the dates, sample exams and how to register.

A local note: the Escola Oficial de Idiomas in Monforte doesn’t teach Galician. It does teach English, French, German, Italian and Spanish for foreigners.

Watch and listen

• AGalega: the Galician public broadcaster’s free streaming platform, with TVG series, films and documentaries on demand.
• AGalegaAudio: Radio Galega live, plus its podcasts.
• Xabarín: cartoons and children’s shows. Simple language and clear speech make it good for beginners too.
• Podgalego: a directory of over 100 podcasts in Galician, sorted by topic. A good way to find one about something you already like.

Read the news

• G24: news from the public broadcaster.
• Nós Diario: a daily paper written entirely in Galician.
• Praza: independent news and analysis.
• Galicia Confidencial: news from all over Galicia.
• Medios en galego: a list of more than a hundred Galician-language media, from local papers to magazines.

Translators

Gaio, the Xunta’s translator, is good for checking a sentence you wrote. Use it to check, not to learn.

Then come and practice

None of this replaces conversation. We meet every week in Monforte de Lemos to practice English, Spanish and Galician. It’s free, all levels are welcome, and there’s no need to sign up. See the next sessions.