Sir, – Christopher McMahon (Letters, August 20th) and Frank McNally (An Irishman's Diary, August 18th) needn't be bewildered by some of the strange sentences found on their Duolingo courses.
The app deliberately throws up the occasional odd sentence to keep learners on their toes and make the words and phrases memorable – the latter as evidenced by their comments. The important thing about them is their construction, and the quirky words can easily be changed for more everyday use.
But by the time you finish you will end up eating bread and crying on the floor. – Yours, etc,
NORMAN DAVIES,
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Bray, Co Wicklow.
A chara, – An Irish course I attended in 1980 had a very memorable section teaching us how to order 20 cigarettes and a box of matches as Gaeilge. The average age of the learners was 12. – Yours, etc,
PATRICIA KEANE,
Dublin 8.