Foreign Sign Languages Essay

Introduction

Exploring the unknown, going to places where no one went before, and hearing beautiful sounds of the world are among the most primeval human desires. We all grow up on the greatest stories of exploration and adventure, we gain the same knowledge and experiences, but the world of hearing and deaf people are completely different. The world of deaf is unique and rich, multifaceted and complex, thus they have an amazing language and wonderful culture. Deaf people are the same as hearing society, they both are easy to understand and explain, but in the real world, deaf people are the most mysterious and misunderstood community.

Today, deaf society defines themselves as a cultural and unique community that uses a different language as do hearing people. Deaf community reflects their rich culture, social norms, cooperation and unique behavior. The culture of hearing people and deaf people are completely different, but it does not mean that deaf people are less talented, skilled or enthusiastic. They do have passion to life. We, as hearing society, value our language, and, as human beings, we want to hear sounds and voices. They, as deaf society, value their culture and language that intertwined within their community and “sign” form of communication drawn on the content of each situation or experience. Because of the sign languages and their visual nature, it is often possible for deaf people from different countries to have an easy conversation using signs and gestures, even through foreign sign languages are not similar around the world.

Is sign language the same over the world? 

One of the components of deaf society is sign language. Deaf community has unique skills and methods, approaches and talents for production and quality of their language. Sign languages are not the same as spoken languages, and almost all countries have their own sign language. Countries can have the same spoken languages but different sign languages. For example, Britain and the United States of America both speak English, but British Sign Language (BSL) and American Sign Language (ASL) are completely different. ASL is completely different from Chinese Sign Language (CSL), too. There are a variety of sign languages as spoken languages. 

But within sing language categories there many variations and not many people use the same sign language method, grammar, syntax, sentence structure, and visual approach. Every sign language is not universal or primitive. Sign languages around the world are completely abstract and difficult to understand. For example, ASL is a language with rules, syntax, grammar, and it is a complete natural language that is used for international communication in some academic institutions, due to the influence of the only liberal arts university in the world for deaf students – Gallaudet University.

Statistics shows that there are just 130 deaf sign languages, although there are more known but undocumented sign languages. 31 sign languages have been documented in the European Union. There are sign language families just as there are spoken language families. ASL and Irish Sign Language are not mutually intelligible. Australian Sign Language and New Zealand Sign Language are similar enough for a person who is familiar with any one of them to be able to understand deaf community who use one of the others (ucl.ac.uk). 

However, as the international deaf society is a highly mobile society, there is a contact variety of sign – International Sign Language (ISL), a method of communication which explains on the context of each situation and the language backgrounds of the individuals involved in the contact. Named as “gestuno”, it is devised sign language that consists of vocabulary signs from different sign languages that deaf community chose to use at the international meetings and events (handspeak.com). ISL has been developed in order to communicate between nations.

Although ISL is not a standardized international language, it gives an opportunity to deaf people from different countries to communicate using signs and gestures. The approaches to communication differ from situation to situation, depending on who is communicating with whom, and what the theme is. Unfortunately, ISL does not have the same depth of the meaning and detail as interpreting into a sign language.

The “Big-Three” Sign Languages (Spanish, Chinese, French)

Spanish Sign Language (SSL)

Just like how Spanish is completely different from English, SSL is completely different from ASL. This language is the same across Spain, except for Catalonia and Valencia, which use their own sign languages. It was influenced by Mexican, ASL and FSL, but it may lack historical richness and sophistication of other European sign languages. 

In Spain, deaf schools left in the past, and most deaf students integrated in hearing institutions. Travelling deaf people tend to understand the other sign languages but use their own. Thus, this language oozes a life and character that, given the opportunity to work its magic, cannot leave any deaf person indifferent.

SSL belongs to the FSL family. Its elegance and the essence are in the life pulsing through Spanish streets. Fingerspelling system is similar to FSL. Statistics shows that there are over 100,000 Spanish sign language speakers, the fourth part of whom uses it as a second language. Thus, in no other European country will you find the city center so thronged so late into the night as here giving the opportunity for deaf community to share their culture, interests and personal experiences. 

French Sign Language (FSL) 

Today, ASL and FSL are very different, but there are still some ASL signs that come from France. One online web resource informed that: 

Abbe Sicard, the director, and the teachers at the Institute Royal des Sourds-Muets in   Paris, France used FSL at their school; legend has it that on the ship back to America,     Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet taught Laurent Clerc English while Clerc taught  Gallaudet sign language. After setting up the American School for the Deaf in 1817, they incorporated many of the signs that were already being used in America (gallaudet.edu).

FSL is documented as one of the oldest sign languages in the world, dating back to 1600s. In the early 1760s, Charles Michael de l’Épée founded the Paris School for the deaf which was the first free school for the deaf population in the world (vidhyalya.in). He believed that FSL was incomplete and primitive, thus l’Épée wanted to implement methodical signs to reveal the connection between French Sign Language and spoken French for hearing people, but his methods were too complicated and ineffectual. Nevertheless, l’Épée showed to the humanity that deaf community was able to think and reason. It was very important to prove this fact, because deaf people were able to obtain human rights and defend themselves in court.

FSL uses a one-handed manual alphabet, which is used to spell words while signing. Sometimes FSL is necessary not only for deaf individuals, but for people around them, their teachers, relatives and friends. For them, this sign language approach seems unplanned and grubby, but it is a part of its appeal. Approximately one out of 961 people in France know FSL.

Chinese Sign Language (CSL)  

CSL has been developing mostly since the late 1950’s and its signs are like written Chinese characters. The sheer level of energy is the most striking aspect of both of this country and its sign language. In 1887, Mills established the first deaf school using CSL, and from that time it was spreading by schools for deaf individuals. Today, the larger picture of CSL can be somewhat complicated and incomprehensible, but it is just its success developments in action.

Deaf community in the USA established the Chinese National Association of the Deaf in order to increase the quality of living for the deaf in China, improve the welfare, promote the deaf community, and encourage the education of deaf individuals using sign language. ASL and CSL are similar in some ways; signs in CSL look like written Chinese characters which is similar to how the ASL manual alphabet looks like the written English alphabet. Approximately, 550 institutions for deaf use an alphabetic spelling system in addition to signs and can signify tones with facial gestures. Elizabeth Yeh in her article Chinese Sign Language (2004) writes:

It may be easier for the Chinese to become knowledgeable in CSL   than for an American to learn ASL. This could be because a Chinese person already knows a  language based on pictorial characters. Consequently, the translation to the equally pictorial CSL is easier than what an American has to deal with: translating the alphabetized words into pictures and relating those to the sign language (lifeprint.com).

 Conclusion 

More than anything else, any foreign sign language is a language where the urgent rhythms of deaf culture collide with the quieter moments that linger from older traditions. As human beings, deaf people value that essentially all their experiences take place in sign language, which at once enables and reflects all their deaf culture, both unique and amazing. Any foreign sign language displays patterns which have evolved over the centuries. Sign languages of the humanity are more similar than written or spoken languages. But the goal of any language is to communicate with one another representing the culture and the nation. Nowadays, the world has completely changed causing difficulties and pressure especially for deaf community. Thus, deaf people of any country should appreciate their sign language, its knowledge, and history intertwined with strong feelings.

Works Cited:

American Sign Language & French Sign Language. Web Gallaudet University, 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.  <http://www.gallaudet.edu/dpn-home/sign-language.html>

Charles Michel de l’Épée. Web Vidhyalya, 8 Apr., 2015. Web. 20 Nov. 2015. <http://www.vidhyalya.in/NewsDetail.aspx?Article=720>

International Sign Language. Web Handspeak, 2015. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.  < http://www.handspeak.com/study/index.php?id=50>

Is Sign Language the Same over the World? Web Deafness Cognition and Language Research   Center. 2015. Web. 20 Nov. 2015                                                <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dcal/faqs/questions/bsl/question6>

Yen, Elizabeth. Chinese Sign Language. ASL University. Web. lifeprint.com.  October 28, 2004. Web. 20 Nov., 2015.                                                              <http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/topics/chinesesignlanguage.htm>

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

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freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]
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