Viewing page 20 of 20

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Transcription: [00:46:41]
[[inaudible audience question]]
{SPEAKER name="Jo Radner"}

The question for those of you who couldn't hear her, is: is sign language international, or is, can a foreigner speaking or signing a different sign language understand an American?
[00:46:57]
Would one of you like to answer that? How about the linguistics specialist? [[laughs]]
[00:47:02]

{SPEAKER name="Barbara Kannapell/John Ennis (interpreter)"}
You both can add to anything that I have to say here. Many hearing people ask me the same question.
[00:47:15]
I'm always happy to answer this question because many people believe that sign language is universal, that it's gestures, and that the world all over should understand each other. But that's not true.
[00:47:25]
For example, the spoken language all over the world in different countries is different. You've got Spanish, French, and so forth. And that's true with sign language. Each country has their own sign language.
[00:47:39]
I've found myself more comfortable in signing with deaf people who are from France than with deaf people who are from England, which is strange, because I grew up in America and I know English, and deaf people in England, they know English.
[00:48:02]
The deaf in France, they only know really French, but we can communicate far easier through our signs, you know why?
[00:48:10]
Because the first deaf teacher was from France, and he came to America and brought the sign language here, and that really influenced the sign language that we have. Really deaf people have their own sign language in America before the man came but seemed like the sign language here and the French have now merged.
[00:46:41]