Journal Entries
Sign language
Posted May 10, 2006
I'm currently a sign language interpreter student, and I constantly get the same questions every time I introduce myself.. Which is kind of cute and fun the first couple of times, but it becomes an annoyance after a while (though I guess I'm going to have to live with that). First off; the typical questions:
-Well, sign language, that's universal, isn't it? How handy, now you can talk to anyone in any country!
--Uhm...noop. Doesn't work that way! It's developed naturally, it's not a constructed universal language. There are even three main dialects of sign language just in my little country.
-It's just like (insert language of choice here), only with signs isn't it?
--These two questions are quite often voiced BY THE SAME PERSON. Now tell me, how is it possible to have a universal sign language and still be able to mouth the words in any chosen language? There's usually a difference in syntax in for instance English and German... And anyway, as I said above - sign language has developed naturally, and has its own syntax. Yes, there are signs with an oral component which sembles the spoken language in that country, but that's only a small part of the language!
Guess that's it for tonight, more to come 
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Latest reply: May 10, 2006
SimplesOfTheMoon
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