'The language more beautiful than words' | Hacker News Reader

'The language more beautiful than words'

bbc.co.uk

37 pointsCarolineW8 comments

It would be great to teach SL in schools. For the children, it would really funny to be able to "speak" a wordless language, so they will be willing to learn. And I am quite sure that learning a new language always is very beneficial for a child, and in the case of SL it has the added benefit of helping with inhibition. Being able to communicate with deaf people and maybe (hopefully) children with other native languages make it even more interesting.

It'd be great if a universal sign language became the world's lingua franca. No more accent issues, much less loss of meaning in non-native exchanges. I'm sure some technology will replace language-learning before that has the chance to happen.

I believe accent issues are just as much a problem if not more in the communities around the world that use sign language. After all, signed languages can be as different from each other as spoken languages are from each other. I know you had in mind a hypothetical universal sign language and probably weren't mistaking "sign language" as being the same everywhere, but I'm just saying I don't think we would escape the issue of accents so easily.

I used to think the same as you, but you should know that your just changing the medium, using your hands instead of your mouth. The language still evolves with its culture and its users on a local level. They tried to make a universal sign language which is based on American Sign Language, but after traveling in different continents I can tell you that people using sign language, use the local version, and I don't think I met anyone who knows the universal one.

Personally I think using English as a linga franca is good enough, as most people already know it, and so there is no reason to do difficult about it.

It's not the first time people try to invent a new universal language, and see it never reach that goal.

Any language is bound to develop accents over time. Even the way we speak in our household has some eccentricities that the standard language of our country lacks.

What a moving piece. Yes, schools should teach sign language. How can I read this and disagree?

Now I can see a future where everybody understands and speaks sign. Deafness is a disability but it need not be so disablin. I will begin learning today.

I was particularly brought to tears by the image of a leader, the truest kind, addressing the deaf "How could I ever expect to lead you if I cannot speak your language? How could you ever look to me when you can't speak to me?", with disgrace at the idea of not knowing sign. We need, I think, more public leaders like this.

Most people never get to speak directly to the leaders of their countries, I strongly doubt that leaders knowing sign language would make much of a difference. And it's not like there exists an insurmountable communication barrier today; the deaf can send an email as well as anyone.

Yes, Sign language is very beautiful than words. When i see people talking in sign language, it gives pleasure to me.

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