How would you interpret this sentence? How would you interpret this sentence ‘Before he was nine years old he could talk with one hand in the American way--and also could employ both of his hands after the method of Europeans’? Does it mean when he was nine, he could talk by the method of Americans, and he could also talk by the method of Europeans? I have a little confusion about ‘the American way’. Is it real that American deaf-mutes only use one hand to talk? By the way, I think the phrase ‘after the method of Europeans’ means to follow the method of Europeans, not after learning the method Europeans, right? Thanks! It’s from The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by McCullers.the context: There was one particular fact that he remembered, but it was not at all important to him. Singer recalled that, although he had been deaf since he was an infant, he had not always been a real mute. He was left an orphan very young and placed in an institution for the deaf. He had learned to talk with his hands and to read. Before he was nine years old he could talk with one hand in the American way--and also could employ both of his hands after the method of Europeans. He had learned to follow the movements of people’s lips and to understand what they said. Then finally he had been taught to speak.