Lost in Translation?

Hugh finally consents to teach Marie how to speak english. In some ways this seems like a surrender to the English, saying we will learn your language and the new name of our cities. This saddens me because Hugh can see that his heritage is important and something is lost without the language to describe that history. Not only that but Hugh is aware that even though Marie will want to speak with Yolland there will still be problems between them. He says, "I will provide you with the available words and the available grammar. But will that help you to interpret between privacies? I have no idea. But it's all we have. I have no idea at all" (p 90). He does not seem very confident that even though Marie will have the words in the language that she can communicate with all the ins and outs of a native speaker. I think that there is so much more behind the words and it can take years to truly be able to understand what everything must mean. It is interesting to think then of how the Irish must of felt in the transition period between only knowing Gaelic to learning English. Would the people of that time feel they couldn't express everything they felt? It keeps bringing up the question of how important is native language to express culture? I think the language is a very prominent and useful tool to promote the culture but there must be other ways. There is still a strong Irish culture without the Gaelic language but it may be missing what was lost when English became the native language. I think that Hugh can see that there might be a loss and he has surrendered in part to the English by teaching Marie how to speak English. On the other hand, after seeing his pride in his country I don't think that a loss of language will mean a complete loss of culture.