[sw-l] LESSONS in SignMaker

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
January 22, 2005

Lucyna Dlugolecka wrote:
> Yes, but is it that the sign is Polish, and not German? I seemed the
> German sign for Poland was the same as the Dutch one...

Although every Sign Language has their own unique signs for different
countries, it is a trend now, in the linguistic world, and in Deaf
Education, to make sure that we all are using the sign for the country
that the residents of that country use...In other words...The Polish
sign for Poland and Polish should be respected as the official signs
around the world, no matter what other Sign Language we are
using...This means that the names of places are becoming
internationally recognized. For example, the sign for Germany in the
old American Sign Language (ASL) is quite different than the sign for
Germany in German Sign Language, but here in the US, those who are
educated to this trend, are now signing the sign they use in Germany
instead...so that is why your sign for Poland can be in the German Sign
Language dictionary, and their old German sign can be the second entry
in the dictionary, to show how it was signed before...We have two signs
for every country in our ASL dictionary in SignWriter DOS...the old ASL
sign and the international one...

No matter what, all these signs can be written in SignWriting and it is
your choice what you choose to write! So you can set your own policies
for your Polish SignPuddle!  ;-)

Val ;-)