[sw-l] im a very poor salesman of the SW!

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
March 5, 2005

Hello Everyone, and Shane...Thanks for this message...You are not a 
poor salesman! It usually takes three times before a person becomes 
interested...The first time they hear about SignWriting they are 
against it. The second time they hear about it, they wonder, why would 
anyone want to do that? And the third time, they start to think about 
it and begin to see why and they become interested...so give it 
time...and don't try to sell anyone...just share the idea and say that 
some people enjoy writing signs now, and then they won't feel like you 
are asking them to change...some people get frightened if they think 
someone is trying to sell them on an idea...but if they see it from 
afar...like...oh some people like that, huh? then they don't feel 
pressured and that helps...

Shane Gilchrist Ó hEorpa wrote:
> What's the general attitude towards sign-writing in Finland (if any)?

As far as I know, Finland is no different than any other country. There 
are small groups of people who use SignWriting, and I can give you a 
few contacts I have, but as a whole, most people have never heard of 
SignWriting...They will in time!...

By the way, have you visited our web pages....

SignWriting in Finland
http://www.SignWriting.org/finland/finland.html

and did you know that we have a Finnish Sign Language version of 
SignWriter DOS?..with Finnish words on the screen and the Finnish 
Fingerspelling Keyboard in SignWriting? Your friend can download it...

Finnish Computer Program
http://www.signwriting.org/forums/software/sw44/download/

You and your friend might be interested in this story on the web:

Fond Memories by Paulette Sottak (Deaf)
http://www.signwriting.org/deaf/fond/fond01.html

Written by my Deaf co-teacher Paulette Sottak, after teaching a 
workshop on SignWriting in Copenhagen in 1990...You will see pictures 
of me, and Ingvild Roald, and some Finnish participants...

And there have been several Finnish members of the SignWriitng List 
from time to time...

Why not ask your friend to try to add some Finnish signs to our Finnish 
SignPuddle on the web?

You can teach her Shane...go to:

Finnish SignPuddle
http://www.SignBank.org/signpuddle/sgn-FI


> As we Europeans know, deaf education in Finland is very superior 
> compared to
> other countries in the EU - they really focus on SVK (Finnish Sign 
> Language)
> as a teaching language in Finland's deaf schools.

Is that right? That is excellent!!! ;-)


>
> I was explaining to my Finnish guest (who is over in Belfast staying 
> with me
> - poor lass!) - I was explaining to her about the SignWriting etc - 
> and I
> had to explain that there are 3 main systems: SignWriting, Stokoe and
> HamNoSys - her eyes widened in horror.

That isn't true! I would explain it differently. I would start like 
this...

"Did you know that some Deaf children are learning to read and write 
their own Sign Language now, in schools in different countries...such 
as Germany, the US, Belgium and others? Sign languages are becoming 
written languages in some classrooms around the world...

Then she will say...."No. I didn't know that"...what is the name of the 
system?..." And I would answer...

"SignWriting. It is designed as a daily writing system for any sign 
language in the world, and it has made it possible to write Sign 
Language Literature and Deaf poetry directly in the movements of signed 
languages, without any spoken languages...no need to gloss words any 
longer, because we can write the movements the way the signs look...

And maybe she would then ask..."Are there any other systems?"....and I 
would answer..."SignWriting is the only one for writing Sign Language 
Literature, and because of that fact, it is used in Deaf Education and 
in Bi-lingual schools for writing children's stories and newspaper 
articles in Sign Language etc...

There are other research-oriented linguistic-based notation systems 
developed by linguists for their research labs, but those systems, such 
as HamNoSys, Stokoe...and maybe 50 to a hundred others...are not used 
on a daily basis by Deaf children...they are not writing systems. They 
are notation systems. There is a big difference.

And Shane, let me explain. Did you know if you tried to write a 
children's story in HamNoSys or the Stokoe system, that it would be 
very hard to read and write?...That is why the only system used to 
write Sign Language Literature is SignWriting...

Take a look at this comparison.... Can you imagine writing a complete 
children's story in HamNoSys or the Stokoe system? Did you know that 
HamNoSys and Stokoe cannot write Facial expressions? or if they can, 
people don't seem to know how to do that in their systems...

  And did you know that there are many more notation systems for 
linguistics than just those two others?! I could list around 50....But 
NONE of those 50 are used to write Sign Language poetry and Literature 
except SignWriting...That is because none of them are daily writing 
systems designed for sign language literacy...they are for linguistics 
research and that is a different world...

ironically, SignWriting is now used for linguistic research too...but 
that is because SignWriting is spreading and the researchers have no 
choice but to study how Deaf people and signers choose to write...



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