Page:The Celtic Review volume 4.djvu/21

8 Hamerton said once that no man can use two languages with perfect facility in each. He holds that one or the other is bound to suffer. Now this plausible statement is absolutely belied by the experience of Welshmen, Bretons, Irish and Scottish Gaels. With regular practice, there is no reason why a man should not retain mastery of two or even three languages. Professor Anwyl said at last year’s conference that ‘a working knowledge of two languages is but a small demand to make of intelligent men. It is the insular-minded mono-glot Englishman, who frequently knows only a patois of his own noble tongue, who regards a knowledge of two languages as superhuman.’

In France and Germany the knowledge of more than one language is quite common. It is not inherently impossible to master two languages, as many can testify. The thing is quite practicable. To know Gaelic as a literary language is specially easy to young people who already know it colloquially. Instead of being a toil and burden to learn, it should be a pleasure. The modern or classical languages learned at school are in most cases forgotten in a few years. Even as regards University education, how many graduates keep up their Classics, Mathematics, or Science in after years unless they must do so from the nature of their calling? The worth of it all is in the intellectual outlook obtained, the new standards of judgment formed, and the discipline of the mental powers undergone. Now let a boy master Gaelic and he will gain not only these advantages, but besides, the language easily becomes a permanent possession. The gain is cumulative and continuous. In maturer years he will naturally retain an interest in Gaelic literature, and will return to it again and again in leisure hours with growing profit and pleasure.

I have emphasised in this paper the fact that Gaelic is an instrument of culture in the highest sense, apart from material gains, for a man’s wealth does not consist in the abundance of his possessions, and ‘the life is more than meat.’ But it is also true that valuable practical fruits accompany this culture. The knowledge of two languages gives a quickness and flexibility of mind, a mental vigour, a bright