The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1963, Page 34

32
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Winter 1963
of a recognizable language relation.
At present the relationship in Ice-
land between English and Icelandic
may be said to be on three levels.
In Keflavik there is an American TV
station. Iceland has not a TV station
of its own. The youth of Iceland, and
some passed that age, watch TV shows
from the American station. Thus there
is a perpetual barrage of shows select-
ed for service personnel, and it may
be assumed that literary English is not
the common TV diet. Educators and
men of letters, particularly those who
have rejoiced in the removal of Dan-
ish infiltrations may frown upon this
bombardment but it must be accepted
as a fact as long as American troops
are maintained at Keflavik.
In Iceland there has been a phen-
omenal expansion of trade and almost
always the medium of expression in
trade transactions, and in correspon-
dence incidental to it, has been Eng-
lish. For that reason, for practical pur-
poses, the opinion prevails in Iceland
that English should be the first for-
eign language to be learned.
Then there is the third reason. Here
the relationship is on a high cultural
level—the philological ground.
It is not without significance that
the following is a part of the Report of
the Island-Kanada RaS to the Canada-
Iceland Foundation. (See Icel. Can.
Autumn 1963).
“In Britain, and also in Australia,
instruction in Icelandic studies has
been given in association with English
studies, and only then have they pro-
vided just rewards.
“The Icelandic language, as a uni-
versal subject for English-speaking na-
tions, has three points of merit which
cannot be challenged. Through Ice-
landic a person can acquire all need-
ed knowledge of the original develop-
ment of the Germanic languages, in-
cluding English, which can be learned
from Gothic and Anglo-Saxon, the
ancient languages which at present
are being studied for that purpose.
“In the Gothic language, however,
there is extant only a fragment of a
translation of the Bible and few
Anglo-Saxon books are read except
for philological purposes. But in Ice-
landic there is much classic literature,
which, a man of letters of the stature
of Gilbert Murray, to name only one,
has said is ‘in some respects the equal
of the highest quality Hebrew and
Greek literature’. A more lofty parallel
could not be found.
“Finally, it is of inestimable value
that Icelandic is both an ancient lan-
guage and a living tongue, which can
with equal ease be learned from books
or from the spoken language of the
people.”
A Canadian man of letters, Scott
Symons, of Toronto, of United Em-
pire Loyalist descent, has said:
“It seems to me that a study of Ice-
landic — ironically enough — would
teach Canadians much of the Eng-
lishness of English as a tongue ... In
a remarkable way Icelandic is indeed
a Canadian mother-culture, and in
particular a root culture for the Eng-
lish-speaking Canadian, quite aside
from its value as an independent cul-
ture.”
Viewed in the perspective of the
above it cannot be said that English
can be discarded as something wholly
foreign to Iceland’s practical and cul-
tural development. “If you can’t beat
a man take him into partnership” is a
common business expression. It may
well be that a better understanding be-
tween Iceland and the English-lan-
guage world should be encouraged.
There need be no fear that at this
stage there will be any damaging in-