A/N: A very slow start to my own challenge! Been hugely enjoying seeing everyone's responses this year though, and apologies all for not being too active on the PMs! And apologies any genuine Scots Gaelic speakers out there, Google Translate could only take me so far...
From W. Y. Traveller: Celtic
As I entered our living room, weary from a long day of traipsing around on various house calls, I was surprised by a rather heavy book hurtling through the air towards me.
"Watson!"
Fortunately my reflexes were sufficient to save me from a rather nasty bruise, but nonetheless Sherlock Holmes - apparently the man who had flung the missile - hurried over to check that I had not been harmed. Once I had reassured him that I was fine, he went to pick up the offending book.
"You are trying to learn Gaelic?" I had spotted the title, Gaelic in Contemporary Scotland. "A case?"
"Indeed," he grumbled, opening the book again. As I divested myself of my medical bag and restocked the necessary supplies for the next day, he returned to his reading. Within only a few minutes, however, he had placed it aside with a groan.
"An urrainn dhomh cuideachadh?"
"I beg your pardon?"
I laughed at his incredulity. "It means, 'Can I help?'"
"You speak Scots Gaelic?!"
"Not well," I warned him. "But perhaps enough to get you started. I can't imagine it's easy, learning a language from a book alone. Languages are intended to be spoken, after all."
"I didn't think many still spoke it," Holmes admitted. "I thought it was almost a dead language at this point."
"Oh there are some who speak it," I informed him. "When I was younger, at least, my grandmother was fluent. I only wish I had taken the chance to learn more while she was there to teach me."
"Well then you can teach me, and we can continue the tradition," Holmes announced happily. "And hopefully preserve the freedom of an innocent man in the process!"