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Irish Wordle: FOCLACH Posted by on Jan 31, 2022 in Culture, Irish Language

Dia daoibh!

You may have already heard the hype around the new addictive word game called Wordle. This simple daily game challenges you to guess a word in six tries, and it lets you know if a letter is in the word or not, and whether it is in the right place. The word is always a 5 letter word and usually pretty common, so it’s not necessarily challenging your English vocabulary knowledge, but it’s a great brain-workout!

Here’s what it looks like (don’t worry, no spoilers for today’s Wordle as this one is a past one!):

Photo taken and shared with permission by user.

But for language learners, a game like this would be not only a brain-workout, but also a challenging way to test our vocabulary knowledge. Thankfully someone has also created an Irish version called Foclach!

 

The rules are very similar to Wordle:

___________________

    • Gheobhaidh tú 6 iarracht leis an fhocal cheart a thomhas.
    • Glactar le mórchuid na bhfocal bailí Gaeilge. Ní ghlactar le hainmneacha dílse.
    • I ndiaidh gach tomhas a dhéanann tú, cuirfear dath glas, buí nó liath ar na litreacha a chuir tú isteach.
  • You will get 6 attempts to guess the correct word.
  • Most valid Irish words are accepted. Proper names are not accepted.
  • After each guess you make, the letters you enter will be green, yellow or gray.

Different from wordle though (which is only daily) there are two modes you can choose between and the rules on the site about them:

Mód Laethúil – Daily mode
Mód cleachta – Exercise mode
“Tá tú ag imirt sa MHÓD LAETHÚIL. Sa mhód seo, tugtar an tomhas céanna do gach imreoir gach tréimhse 24 uair, agus thig leat do thorthaí a roinnt ar líne. Más mian leat níos mó ná cluiche amháin a imirt sa lá, thig leat úsáid a bhaint as an MÓD CLEACHTA. Sa mhód cleachta thig leat imirt chomh minic agus is mian leat, ach ní thugtar rogha duit do thorthaí a roinnt ar líne.”
“You are playing in DAILY MODE. In this mode, each player is given the same word every 24 hours, and you can share your results online. If you want to play more than one game a day, you can use the EXERCISE MODE. In practice mode you can play as often as you like, but you are not given the option to share your results online.”

___________________

The real fun part is of course then sharing your results, without giving away the answer to anyone who hasn’t yet done their Foclach of the day. Sharing is similar to Wordle, and looks as such:

⚪⚪💛💛⚪
⚪⚪⚪💚💚
💛⚪⚪💚💚
💛⚪💛💚💚
💚💚💚💚💚

If you all love Wordle, I recommend Foclach to improve your Irish! Share your results below if you would like. 😊

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About the Author: Bridgette

Just your average Irish-American Italo-Francophone. Client Engagement for Transparent Language.


Comments:

  1. Seán:

    Conas Foclach a roinnt? Nuair a dhéanaim iarracht deireann sé ” cóipeáilte chuig an ghearrthaisce”. Céard is brí leis sin?

  2. Lily:

    Extremely difficult but very enjoyable

  3. Síle:

    Should be easier than Wordle since Irish has only 18 letters in its alphabet. Logically should be but it certainly isn’t


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