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</div> </div></div><div class="gmail-sics-component__app__content"><div class="gmail-sics-component__news-page"><div class="gmail-sics-component__news-page__container"><div class="gmail-sics-component__headline"><h1 class="gmail-sics-component__headline__title">Tammy Goddard: the sign language mortgage broker </h1></div><div class="gmail-sics-component__byline-wrapper"><div class="gmail-sics-component__byline"><span class="gmail-sics-component__byline__author">Rob Stock</span><span class="gmail-sics-component__byline__date">10:54, May 26 2018</span></div><ul class="gmail-sics-component__sharebar"><li><a class="gmail-sics-component__sharebar__button gmail-sics-component__sharebar__button--facebook">Facebook</a></li><li><a class="gmail-sics-component__sharebar__button gmail-sics-component__sharebar__button--twitter">Twitter</a></li><li><a class="gmail-sics-component__sharebar__button gmail-sics-component__sharebar__button--googleplus">Google +</a></li><li><a class="gmail-sics-component__sharebar__button gmail-sics-component__sharebar__button--email" href="mailto:?subject=Tammy%20Goddard%3A%20the%20sign%20language%20mortgage%20broker%20&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stuff.co.nz%2Fbusiness%2Fmoney%2F104210436%2Ftammy-goddard-the-sign-language-mortgage-broker">Email</a></li><li><a class="gmail-sics-component__sharebar__button gmail-sics-component__sharebar__button--comments" href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/104210436/tammy-goddard-the-sign-language-mortgage-broker#comments">Comments<span class="gmail-sics-component__gigya-comments-count">0</span></a></li></ul></div><div class="gmail-sics-component__story"><span><div class="gmail-sics-component__story-video"><div class="gmail-sics-component__story-video__video"><div class="gmail-sics-component__story-video__video gmail-sics-component__story-video__video--responsive-16-9"><div tabindex="-1" class="gmail-sics-component__story-video__video gmail-sics-component__story-video__video--element gmail-video-js gmail-vjs-mouse gmail-vjs-paused gmail-vjs-controls-enabled gmail-vjs-workinghover gmail-vjs-v5 gmail-vjs-user-active gmail-bc-player-Syx4Zr1Keb_default gmail-vjs-dock gmail-vjs-ima3-not-playing-yet gmail-vjs-vpaid-controls-disabled gmail-vjs-ima3-html5 gmail-ima3-loading-spinner gmail-vjs-plugins-ready gmail-vjs-ad-controls gmail-vjs-contextmenu gmail-vjs-contextmenu-ui gmail-vjs-player-info gmail-vjs-errors gmail-not-hover" id="gmail-video_1q1shb" style="width:100%;height:100%"><div></div><div class="gmail-vjs-poster" tabindex="-1" style="background-image:url("https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/q/1/s/f/m/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x350.1q1shb.png/1527213545448.jpg")"></div><div class="gmail-vjs-text-track-display"><div style="margin:1.5%"></div></div><div class="gmail-vjs-dock-text"><div class="gmail-vjs-dock-title" title="" id="gmail-vjs-dock-title-1">Financial sign language</div></div><div class="gmail-vjs-dock-shelf"></div></div></div></div></div></span></div></div></div></div><span><div class="gmail-vjs-ima3-ad-container" style="width:100%;height:100%"><div style=""></div></div></span><span><div class="gmail-vjs-countdown" style="visibility: visible;"></div></span><span><div class="gmail-sics-component__story-video"><div class="gmail-sics-component__story-video__video"><div class="gmail-sics-component__story-video__video gmail-sics-component__story-video__video--responsive-16-9"><div tabindex="-1" class="gmail-sics-component__story-video__video gmail-sics-component__story-video__video--element gmail-video-js gmail-vjs-mouse gmail-vjs-paused gmail-vjs-controls-enabled gmail-vjs-workinghover gmail-vjs-v5 gmail-vjs-user-active gmail-bc-player-Syx4Zr1Keb_default gmail-vjs-dock gmail-vjs-ima3-not-playing-yet gmail-vjs-vpaid-controls-disabled gmail-vjs-ima3-html5 gmail-ima3-loading-spinner gmail-vjs-plugins-ready gmail-vjs-ad-controls gmail-vjs-contextmenu gmail-vjs-contextmenu-ui gmail-vjs-player-info gmail-vjs-errors gmail-not-hover" id="gmail-video_1q1shb" style="width:100%;height:100%"></div></div></div><figcaption class="gmail-sics-component__caption"><div class="gmail-sics-component__caption__top-line"><span class="gmail-sics-component__caption__icon-text"></span><cite class="gmail-sics-component__caption__producer">Chris McKeen/Stuff</cite></div><div class="gmail-sics-component__caption__caption">Financial sign language</div></figcaption></div></span><span class="gmail-sics-component__story__body"><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__intro gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph">Tammy Goddard is a mortgage broker from Tauranga building a national client base of deaf people.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph">
Goddard, who grew up in a deaf household is building a client base in
the roughly 9000-strong deaf community using Skype and Facetime.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph">
A long-time property investor, she joined Mike Pero Mortgages a year
ago, and has found a personal mission in making it easier for deaf
people to take control of their own finances, without having to use
translators, or "support" people.</p><figure class="gmail-sics-component__story-image"><div class="gmail-sics-component__story-image__image-wrapper"><img class="gmail-sics-component__story-image__image gmail-sics-component__story-image__image--standard" src="https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/p/s/k/s/9/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x350.1q1lac.png/1527288861446.jpg" alt="New Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr celebrated sign language week with a few signs as he delivered his first monetary policy statement."></div><figcaption class="gmail-sics-component__caption"><div class="gmail-sics-component__caption__top-line"><span class="gmail-sics-component__caption__icon-text"></span><cite class="gmail-sics-component__caption__producer">ROBERT KITCHEN/STUFF</cite></div><div class="gmail-sics-component__caption__caption">New
Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr celebrated sign language week with a
few signs as he delivered his first monetary policy statement.</div></figcaption></figure><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph">
Sign language, which is one of the country's three official
languages, was a flexible language that coped well with financial
jargon, Goodard said.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph"> <strong>READ MORE:<br> * <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/103625276/pm-jacinda-ardern-launches-video-campaign-for-nz-sign-language-week?rm=m" title="">PM Jacinda Ardern launches video campaign for NZ Sign Language</a><br> * <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/103795741/eightyearold-with-deaf-parents-teaching-sign-language?rm=m" title="">Eight-year-old with deaf parents teaching Sign Language</a></strong></p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph"> But then Goddard is a master of the language as she could sign before she could speak.</p><span><div class="gmail-sics-component__ad-space gmail-sics-component__ad-space--storybody"><p class="gmail-sics-component__ad-space__caption">Advertisement</p><div class="gmail-sics-component__ad-space__content gmail-sics-component__ad-space--desktop-story-body-1 gmail-sics-component__ad-space--300x250"><span><div id="gmail-bling-2"><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_/6674/onl.stuff.business/money_1__container__" style="border:0pt none"></div></div></span></div></div></span><figure class="gmail-sics-component__story-image"><div class="gmail-sics-component__story-image__image-wrapper"><img class="gmail-sics-component__story-image__image gmail-sics-component__story-image__image--standard" src="https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/q/2/6/n/g/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x350.1q1lac.png/1527288861446.jpg" alt="Tammy Goddard from Mike Pero Mortgages grew up in a deaf household, and learnt to sign before she could speak."></div><figcaption class="gmail-sics-component__caption"><div class="gmail-sics-component__caption__top-line"><span class="gmail-sics-component__caption__icon-text"></span><cite class="gmail-sics-component__caption__producer">STUFF</cite></div><div class="gmail-sics-component__caption__caption">Tammy Goddard from Mike Pero Mortgages grew up in a deaf household, and learnt to sign before she could speak.</div></figcaption></figure><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph"> "It's my first language. I've been signing since I was seven, or eight months old," she said.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph">
By seven she was the family translator, particularly for her mother,
who had been raised in times less respectful and inclusive of deaf
people.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph"> "My mother's deaf, and my father's hearing. I'm the youngest of six children, three deaf and three hearing," Goddard said.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph">
Her mother was part of a generation which was not particularly well
educated. She lacked confidence to engage with the world in the way
everyone expects to nowadays.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph"> Goddard would be the one sent to the Post Office to pay the bills.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph"> "There was no support then," Goddard said.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph"> She joined Mike Pero Mortgages a year ago.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph"> "I bought my first house when I was 19. Becoming a mortgage broker was a natural step for me."</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph">
Buying a home was a first in her family, and she encouraged her
siblings into property as well, which had helped them establish
prosperous lives.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph"> Most of her clients were in Christchurch, where she is from, but that was changing as she became known nationally.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph">
Deaf people wanted the same level of control over their communications
as hearing folk, Goddard said, including in their financial lives.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph">
Translators were available to deaf people, she said, but nobody really
wanted their experience filtered through the voice of another, guessing
whether their words, and those of the people they were dealing with,
were being translated accurately.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph"> And having a non-deaf "support person" could also pose problems.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph"> "They may not be particularly financially capable," Goddard said.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph"> Skype and Facetime were technologies deaf people had adopted, enabling them to more easily get financial advice remotely.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph">
Financial jargon was a challenge for everyone, deaf or hearing. But
sign language coped well with the challenge of tongue-twisting,
highly-specific finance terms, including the introduction of new words
to the lexicon.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph">
In some cases, signers could spell out jargon words, but for the more
common terms, sign language generated signs in a similar way that spoken
language created them.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph">
The word for KiwiSaver, for example, is the combination of the sign for
Kiwi (hand indicates long beak) with the sign for saving.</p><p class="gmail-sics-component__html-injector gmail-sics-component__story__paragraph"> Fixed rate mortgage combines the motion of twisting a screw with the word for mortgage.</p></span>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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