You'll still need that universal translator, Mr La Forge
April 2, 2018 5:52 AM   Subscribe

Tom Scott introduces Rikki Poynter explaining why sign language isn't universal [SLYT] [4:31] [subtitles]
posted by Juso No Thankyou (2 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Thanks for this. I know shamefully little about the history of signing (I can flail my way through a bit of rudimentary ASL as well as fingerspelling with difficulty in BSL). I knew about the ASL-LSF connection but didn’t realize that Quebec had a different system than both France or English Canada. It has occurred to me in the past that signing might be a little more prone to regional variations — accents, I guess — than spoken language because people signing get a different ratio of broadcast communications to personal conversation than spoken language users do. Is this the case?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:41 AM on April 2, 2018


That's neat, I didn't realize Canada used ASL (outside of LSQ), I just figured they'd also had their own CSL.

I had a Deaf friend growing up so I picked up a little ASL, and although I've lost basically all of it except "thanks" and fingerspelling (and "pizza" -- look, we were 8, pizza was important), I try to at least practice the fingerspelling regularly so I don't forget it. I moved to the Netherlands a few years ago and was delighted to find that the Dutch fingerspelling alphabet is only slightly different from ASL's, so I don't have too much to learn to maintain my bare minimum. (And if GIS isn't lying, "thanks"/"bedankt" are the same.) I was thinking about taking a class, just because I already knew ASL was not really English so I figured NGT (Nederlandse gebarentaal, Dutch sign language) was also not really Dutch and so hey, no real pressure due to my imperfect Dutch. But I don't really have a good reason to learn GBT other than my generalized interest in languages so I haven't gotten around to it.

(And then I found a Dutch/Flemish sign language dictionary (e,g, "Brussels" in VGT), and learned about SignWriting and unfortunately, "pizza" is totally different in Flemish but that Limburgse variant is great and I think ASL speakers should make that happen.

Also, looks like German fingerspelling is pretty close to ASL too. Although having SCH the same as ASL's S isch going to lead to schome schillinesch if I ever have to usche it.

(Man, I should really sign up for that class.)
posted by sldownard at 8:42 AM on April 2, 2018 [2 favorites]


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