ESWS - European SW Symposium

[Shane Gilchrist Ó hEorpa]

Geoffrey,

I ll suggest that you go and learn BSL - as ure based in England and ure
English ;)

Shane

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu [mailto:owner-sw-
> l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu] On Behalf Of Geoffrey Hunt
> Sent: 03 August 2005 18:03
> To: SignWriting list
> Subject: [sw-l] ESWS - European SW Symposium
> 
> Stephan wrote and asked me to contribute my impressions of the European
> SignWriting Symposium.  I'm a little reluctant to do this, because I am
> probably the least competent person to do it.  Let me explain why...
> 
> I am a member of SIL International, an organisation that in one way or
> another is associated with work in over 1,300 languages worldwide, almost
> all of them spoken languages.  For twelve years I worked in Ghana as a
> linguist/translator and, since then, have mostly been involved with the
> use
> of computers for language work, but always for spoken languages.  Then,
> two
> and a half years ago, my then boss asked me, as an additional task, to be
> involved with coordinating work in sign languages for the SIL Eurasia Area
> (the whole of Europe, the former Soviet Union and parts of Africa and west
> Asia).  I decided I needed to find out what he was talking about, so set
> about gathering a list of all the sign languages for which I could find
> details.  For the Eurasia Area I have a list of 70 SLs, of which 7 are
> extinct or nearly so.  So which one of these 63 SLs should I attempt to
> learn in my part-time role?  At my late stage in life, it does not seem
> practical to start learning any of them, because I could not do it well.
> (Let me know what you think.)  So you see why I feel particularly
> unqualified to contribute.
> 
> One thing that does interest me is how computers could be used to serve
> the
> Deaf community, either for use by the Deaf or for use by those working
> with
> the Deaf.  So I came to ESWS because I wanted to link up with those
> already
> involved in writing such software.  We in SIL are starting such software
> development using the Python programming language, so it was particularly
> useful to meet Lars, whose own development work is using Python.
> 
> The best thing about ESWS was meeting the participants.  Obviously, I
> could
> not communicate with everyone, but I appreciated the general camaraderie.
> I
> learnt a lot, particularly about SW and Deaf culture.  And I made new
> friends and look forward to meeting you at future events.  A few of us
> tried
> to decide on a sign for me, but it doesn't seem quite right, so perhaps I
> will have to wait for another time.
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Geoffrey (Hunt)
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stefan Wöhrmann [mailto:stefanwoehrmann at gebaerdenschrift.de]
> Sent: 28 July 2005 22:38
> To: 'Geoffrey_Hunt'
> Subject: AW: [sw-l] ESWO
> 
> Hello Geoffrey,
> 
> I am so happy to know you on the list - very welcome!!!
> Of course - I will send some pictures -;-)
> 
> Can you post your ideas , impressions, ?
> What happened in your group from your point of view?
> 
> I am very interested in any comment - just as we concluded at the end of
> the
> meeting.
> 
> Stefan ;-)
> 
> Just btw  what was your name sign ? I forgot my notes in the restaurant. I
> am sorry!
> 
>