Gaelic Is at Me

Fernando is wed to the responsibility of maintaining his store, which leaves little time for him to do the things which normal people do in their spare time, like traveling and socializing. It would be a boring existence if not for the fact that Fernando can challenge, entertain, and amuse himself through the marvel that is the internet.

One day Fernando was browsing Wikipedia and meandered on a wikiwalk to the page on Celtic languages. He noticed a link at the bottom to a BBC Alba-sponsored website at which one can learn the rudiments of Scottish Gaelic. Having little better to do with his time and being a great big fan of all sorts of language, Fernando accepted the challenge. Language is, after all, a reflection of cultural worldview and comprehending the language of a group of people means that one has a better grasp of which things that group emphasizes in the world.

He was listening to one of the conversations (and parroting the words which were said with a no-doubt barbarous accent) when a customer snuck into the store. Fernando was so engrossed in his labors that he failed to hear the tinkling of chimes above the door.

“What are you doing?” the man asked.

Fernando jumped a little, since he was taken completely by surprise. “I'm teaching myself Scottish Gaelic,” he answered, pausing the audio.

“Why?”

“Why not?” Fernando retorted.

“Well, you're not even Scottish, are you?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“So why bother?”

“According to that logic, why would anybody learn any language with which he or she does not share a cultural heritage?”

“Well, nobody speaks it around here.”

“Nobody speaks Spanish or German around here either. Hell, English sometimes has a rough go at it.”

“That's different though. You could use those languages.”

“Should I ever find myself traveling to Scotland, it'll be nice to have a basic understanding of the language.”

“They speak English there, though.”

“And people also speak Gaelic.”

The guy leaves without renting anything. Fernando returns to his studies, and they are good.