[sw-l] Please translate into sign writing...

[Valerie Sutton]

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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