[sw-l] Please translate into sign writing...
Valerie Sutton
sutton at SIGNWRITING.ORG
Wed Nov 3 16:34:44 UTC 2004
SignWriting List
November 3, 2004
Signuno wrote:
> I just read a call for more translations! Please help
> raise the prestige of sign languages and sign writing
> by translating your language version of
> http://lingvo.org/2/3 (the English version is
> http://lingvo.org/en/2/3) into sign language using
> sign writing.
Dear SW List, and Signuno!
Thank you for thinking of this project!...smile... ;-)
I hope someone can consider it...It is a big project. Translating
around 2 pages of spoken language, into any signed language, and then
typing it in SignWriting is no small task. I personally cannot do it,
because I do not know ASL well enough...
Here is the English version Signuno mentions above....
> http://lingvo.org/en/2/3)
We, members of the worldwide movement for the promotion of Esperanto,
address this Manifesto to all governments, international organizations
and people of good will; declare our unshakeable commitment to the
objectives set out here; and call on all organizations and individuals
to join us in working for these goals.
For more than a century Esperanto, which was launched in 1887 as a
project for an auxiliary language for international communication and
quickly developed into a rich living language in its own right, has
functioned as a means of bringing people together across the barriers
of language and culture. The aims that inspire the users of Esperanto
are still as important and relevant as ever. Neither the worldwide use
of a few national languages, nor advances in communications technology,
nor the development of new methods of language teaching is likely to
result in a fair and effective language order based on the following
principles, which we hold to be essential.
DEMOCRACY Any system of communication which confers lifelong
privileges on some while requiring others to devote years of effort to
achieving a lesser degree of competence is fundamentally
antidemocratic. While Esperanto, like any language, is not perfect, it
far outstrips other languages as a means of egalitarian communication
on a world scale.
We maintain that language inequality gives rise to communicative
inequality at all levels, including the international level. We are a
movement for democratic communication.
GLOBAL EDUCATION All ethnic languages are bound to certain cultures
and nations. For example, the child who learns English learns about the
culture, geography and political systems of the English-speaking world,
primarily the United States and the United Kingdom. The child who
learns Esperanto learns about a world without borders, where every
country is home.
We maintain that education in any language is bound to a certain view
of the world. We are a movement for global education.
EFFECTIVE EDUCATION Only a small percentage of foreign-language
students attain fluency in the target language. In Esperanto, fluency
is attainable even through home study. Various studies have shown that
Esperanto is useful as a preparation for learning other languages. It
has also been recommended as a core element in courses in language
awareness.
We maintain that the difficulties in learning ethnic languages will
always be a barrier for many students who would benefit from knowing a
second language. We are a movement for effective language learning.
MULTILINGUALISM The Esperanto community is almost unique as a
worldwide community whose members are universally bilingual or
multilingual. Every member of the community has made the effort to
learn at least one foreign language to a communicative level. In many
cases this leads to a love and knowledge of several languages and to
broader personal horizons in general.
We maintain that the speakers of all languages, large and small, should
have a real chance of learning a second language to a high
communicative level. We are a movement for providing that opportunity
to all.
LANGUAGE RIGHTS The unequal distribution of power between languages is
a recipe for permanent language insecurity, or outright language
oppression, for a large part of the world's population. In the
Esperanto community the speakers of languages large and small, official
and unofficial meet on equal terms through a mutual willingness to
compromise. This balance of language rights and responsibilities
provides a benchmark for developing and judging other solutions to
language inequality and conflict.
We maintain that the wide variations in power among languages undermine
the guarantees, expressed in many international instruments, of equal
treatment regardless of language. We are a movement for language
rights.
LANGUAGE DIVERSITY National governments tend to treat the great
diversity of languages in the world as a barrier to communication and
development. In the Esperanto community, however, language diversity is
experienced as a constant and indispensable source of enrichment.
Consequently every language, like every biological species, is
inherently valuable and worthy of protection and support.
We maintain that communication and development policies which are not
based on respect and support for all languages amount to a death
sentence for the majority of languages in the world. We are a movement
for language diversity.
HUMAN EMANCIPATION Every language both liberates and imprisons its
users, giving them the ability to communicate among themselves but
barring them from communication with others. Designed as a universally
accessible means of communication, Esperanto is one of the great
functional projects for the emancipation of humankind -- one which aims
to let every individual citizen participate fully in the human
community, securely rooted in his or her local cultural and language
identity yet not limited by it.
We maintain that exclusive reliance on national languages inevitably
puts up barriers to the freedoms of expression, communication and
association. We are a movement for human emancipation.
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