My encounters with the deaf and sign language began when someone came around our school handing out bookmarks with sign language alphabets printed on them. A bunch of us challenged ourselves to memorise the alphabets. That was pretty cool. OK it was geeky cool and I couldn’t care less what you think.
My secondary school had a single deaf class. There was this one prominent incident seared in my memory. It was during our daily assembly, and for some reason or other the whole school was singing the national anthem dispiritedly. However the deaf class were busy signing away the anthem with their hands, our lack of patriotism has not affected them one bit. The discipline teacher grabbed the mike, and chastised us for the deplorable singing and said “You should be ashamed, even the deaf kids sang louder than you. Again!”
The most recent encounters with the hearing impaired were in the church I go to. Every Sunday in the front left corner of the church, members of the deaf community will sit in a few specially reserved pews close to the priest. The entire proceedings of the mass will be translated into sign language for the benefit of the deaf worshippers. Their sign language seemed so complex; it goes way beyond the alphabets I learnt. In addition, I observed that the interpreters struggle to translate when people speak fast.
In my opinion, sign language is an alternative language. What I mean is that although it doesn’t rely on speech it is a well developed language. Learning it would be cool, I thought. Imagine this: You and your friend are miles apart. No, you don’t have cell phones, wireless or wired technology of any kind. But you’re within visual contact, and throw in a pair of binoculars. Wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to communicate simple, concrete or abstract ideas using only your body? And shouldn’t it be like the third component of language? Learning English would involve oral, written and now the signing form of English. Brilliant?
So one day I saw a little announcement in the church bulletins that advertised a sign language course by the deaf outreach program of the church. Fun, among other reasons, was why I signed up. On our first Saturday afternoon class, I was among 15 interested students from all walks of life. Some were just beginning their careers, and some have long ended theirs.
Ground rules were laid down in our very first class and the No. 1 rule was that we must not use our voice. Tough indeed. However clumsy it was, questions needed to be written down on the white board. Every week we learnt roughly about 40 new signs. While I made it a point to attend every lesson, others wouldn’t or couldn’t be that devoted. I guess that’s the best you can expect from a Saturday afternoon class.
Our teachers tried to impress upon us that all of us unthinkingly use signs and gestures in our everyday communication. From the time you invite someone into your house, or try to say that that chilli is too hot but couldn’t, or the way we shrug when asked a question we don’t know, we already have a form of sign language. That strict no speaking policy in class forced us to use the few signs that we had learnt and to gesture out everything else that we were trying to say. Surprisingly fun, we had a ball of a time acting out a drama we wrote ourselves using just sign language and gestures.
Now, having completed the entire newbie course, I have formed a rough overview of sign language. Sign language consists of patterns and combinations formed by moving hands, arms, and body in specific shapes, orientation and direction. Its grammar is different from that of its associated spoken language. Some words in sign language take longer to sign than the time it takes to speak it so its grammar is simplified. To save on time, common phrases like “How do you do?” or “Where is he going?” are condensed into a single sign word instead of four. Filler words like ‘the’, ‘are’, ‘of’ are omitted.
Perhaps most notably, when contrasted against other languages I found that sign language heavily incorporates facial expressions into the language. If you’re trying to sign that you are angry but your face is expressionless, what you say has no meaning. A speaking world example would be a stereotypical monotonous German saying that he’s happy without so much as a raise in his tone.
One of the more eager students brought a sign language dictionary to class. His enthusiasm was curbed when our teacher clarified that unlike most spoken or written languages, sign language is with the deaf, i.e. the best way to learn it is through socialising with the deaf community. After all with a pool of speakers this small, learning sign language is less like learning a new language like German or Japanese but more like learning the secret language of your childhood gang.
Itching for a little background information, I did a little research. As always I’ll share it with you. I was wrong before when I thought that sign language was a global language or if there was any kind of internationalization at all. For every nation’s primary spoken language, there is a sign language counterpart. But it may branch out more, for instance British Sign language and American Sign Language are mutually unintelligible (that is a Brit can’t understand a Yankee’s sign language) although the two spoken English languages are so similar.
In my country Malaysia, apparently some American came over in the mid-20th century and influenced the early development of sign language, so the Malaysian sign language is mostly derived from the American Sign Language (ASL) with a few localized variations, in other words, a dialect. They use more ASL words if they are speaking in an English speaking crowd and less Malay influenced words.
Globally, sign language evolved just like any other language in this world blending in with local gestures, local culture and any other influences that crossed its path, but get this straight, each sign language by itself is a bona fide living language. While the world’s sign languages are free to chart their own courses, the world’s small deaf community face some complication. If a deaf person comes to visit from overseas and their native sign language is so different from the local deaf sign language, to communicate they have to return to the basics of gesturing or writing on paper. Suffice to say, the lack of uniformity between the world’s sign languages doesn’t do the deaf any favours.
So why should hearing people learn sign language? It’s definitely not an international language, what you learn is probably only applicable within your local deaf community. Quite simply, social integration; the finest way to bring out the best in the deaf is to talk to them in their own language. Also, it is the right of the deaf community to have interpreters. But you hardly see people learning sign language for reasons other than if you have a deaf family member or if your job involves their community.
While the deaf may seem like the most able of disabled peoples, they look normal, they act normal, but the only time you get the hint that they’re deaf is when you talk to them. Nevertheless, they faced a lot of adversity throughout their lives even to the extent of oppression.
It was after the class drama that one our teachers, Karen who was hearing impaired kept asking us how we felt especially trying to communicate without our natural voice. She asked “Was it awkward trying to talk but not knowing how to say it? Did you feel shy about it?”
She was trying to explain to us that for deaf people, their first instincts in a speaking world were to cower in the fear of social rejection. She told us how some parents would get so frustrated with their deaf children; they would chide them into behaving normally, and consequently avoid sign language and gesturing altogether. The deaf community find strength in groups forming a distinct deaf culture. Sign language is a tool for deaf empowerment as it turns out.
I acknowledge that my church’s almost free sign language classes have a higher purpose to train much needed deaf interpreters for the churches. But like all religious related services, it requires a higher calling and a commitment of hours per week. In this case you are basically joining the deaf community as a peripheral member. That idea is totally the opposite of what I had when I first signed up. And so like one of two travellers who met on the road, I have to say, “Take care, this is where we part ways”.
My secondary school had a single deaf class. There was this one prominent incident seared in my memory. It was during our daily assembly, and for some reason or other the whole school was singing the national anthem dispiritedly. However the deaf class were busy signing away the anthem with their hands, our lack of patriotism has not affected them one bit. The discipline teacher grabbed the mike, and chastised us for the deplorable singing and said “You should be ashamed, even the deaf kids sang louder than you. Again!”
The most recent encounters with the hearing impaired were in the church I go to. Every Sunday in the front left corner of the church, members of the deaf community will sit in a few specially reserved pews close to the priest. The entire proceedings of the mass will be translated into sign language for the benefit of the deaf worshippers. Their sign language seemed so complex; it goes way beyond the alphabets I learnt. In addition, I observed that the interpreters struggle to translate when people speak fast.
In my opinion, sign language is an alternative language. What I mean is that although it doesn’t rely on speech it is a well developed language. Learning it would be cool, I thought. Imagine this: You and your friend are miles apart. No, you don’t have cell phones, wireless or wired technology of any kind. But you’re within visual contact, and throw in a pair of binoculars. Wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to communicate simple, concrete or abstract ideas using only your body? And shouldn’t it be like the third component of language? Learning English would involve oral, written and now the signing form of English. Brilliant?
Sign Language Level Zero
So one day I saw a little announcement in the church bulletins that advertised a sign language course by the deaf outreach program of the church. Fun, among other reasons, was why I signed up. On our first Saturday afternoon class, I was among 15 interested students from all walks of life. Some were just beginning their careers, and some have long ended theirs.
Ground rules were laid down in our very first class and the No. 1 rule was that we must not use our voice. Tough indeed. However clumsy it was, questions needed to be written down on the white board. Every week we learnt roughly about 40 new signs. While I made it a point to attend every lesson, others wouldn’t or couldn’t be that devoted. I guess that’s the best you can expect from a Saturday afternoon class.
Our teachers tried to impress upon us that all of us unthinkingly use signs and gestures in our everyday communication. From the time you invite someone into your house, or try to say that that chilli is too hot but couldn’t, or the way we shrug when asked a question we don’t know, we already have a form of sign language. That strict no speaking policy in class forced us to use the few signs that we had learnt and to gesture out everything else that we were trying to say. Surprisingly fun, we had a ball of a time acting out a drama we wrote ourselves using just sign language and gestures.
Now, having completed the entire newbie course, I have formed a rough overview of sign language. Sign language consists of patterns and combinations formed by moving hands, arms, and body in specific shapes, orientation and direction. Its grammar is different from that of its associated spoken language. Some words in sign language take longer to sign than the time it takes to speak it so its grammar is simplified. To save on time, common phrases like “How do you do?” or “Where is he going?” are condensed into a single sign word instead of four. Filler words like ‘the’, ‘are’, ‘of’ are omitted.
Perhaps most notably, when contrasted against other languages I found that sign language heavily incorporates facial expressions into the language. If you’re trying to sign that you are angry but your face is expressionless, what you say has no meaning. A speaking world example would be a stereotypical monotonous German saying that he’s happy without so much as a raise in his tone.
One of the more eager students brought a sign language dictionary to class. His enthusiasm was curbed when our teacher clarified that unlike most spoken or written languages, sign language is with the deaf, i.e. the best way to learn it is through socialising with the deaf community. After all with a pool of speakers this small, learning sign language is less like learning a new language like German or Japanese but more like learning the secret language of your childhood gang.
Sign Language in the World
Itching for a little background information, I did a little research. As always I’ll share it with you. I was wrong before when I thought that sign language was a global language or if there was any kind of internationalization at all. For every nation’s primary spoken language, there is a sign language counterpart. But it may branch out more, for instance British Sign language and American Sign Language are mutually unintelligible (that is a Brit can’t understand a Yankee’s sign language) although the two spoken English languages are so similar.
In my country Malaysia, apparently some American came over in the mid-20th century and influenced the early development of sign language, so the Malaysian sign language is mostly derived from the American Sign Language (ASL) with a few localized variations, in other words, a dialect. They use more ASL words if they are speaking in an English speaking crowd and less Malay influenced words.
Globally, sign language evolved just like any other language in this world blending in with local gestures, local culture and any other influences that crossed its path, but get this straight, each sign language by itself is a bona fide living language. While the world’s sign languages are free to chart their own courses, the world’s small deaf community face some complication. If a deaf person comes to visit from overseas and their native sign language is so different from the local deaf sign language, to communicate they have to return to the basics of gesturing or writing on paper. Suffice to say, the lack of uniformity between the world’s sign languages doesn’t do the deaf any favours.
So why should hearing people learn sign language? It’s definitely not an international language, what you learn is probably only applicable within your local deaf community. Quite simply, social integration; the finest way to bring out the best in the deaf is to talk to them in their own language. Also, it is the right of the deaf community to have interpreters. But you hardly see people learning sign language for reasons other than if you have a deaf family member or if your job involves their community.
The Deaf Are Not Disabled
While the deaf may seem like the most able of disabled peoples, they look normal, they act normal, but the only time you get the hint that they’re deaf is when you talk to them. Nevertheless, they faced a lot of adversity throughout their lives even to the extent of oppression.
It was after the class drama that one our teachers, Karen who was hearing impaired kept asking us how we felt especially trying to communicate without our natural voice. She asked “Was it awkward trying to talk but not knowing how to say it? Did you feel shy about it?”
She was trying to explain to us that for deaf people, their first instincts in a speaking world were to cower in the fear of social rejection. She told us how some parents would get so frustrated with their deaf children; they would chide them into behaving normally, and consequently avoid sign language and gesturing altogether. The deaf community find strength in groups forming a distinct deaf culture. Sign language is a tool for deaf empowerment as it turns out.
Deaf Digest of the USA has summed up a few misconceptions hearing people believe in:
- Every hearing person speaks perfectly
- Every deaf person is skilled lip-reader
- Deaf people don't need interpreters because of lip-reading
- Deaf people don't need TV captions because of lip-reading
- Every deaf person is unemployed
I acknowledge that my church’s almost free sign language classes have a higher purpose to train much needed deaf interpreters for the churches. But like all religious related services, it requires a higher calling and a commitment of hours per week. In this case you are basically joining the deaf community as a peripheral member. That idea is totally the opposite of what I had when I first signed up. And so like one of two travellers who met on the road, I have to say, “Take care, this is where we part ways”.
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