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

[Shane Gilchrist Ó hEorpa]

Val,

What's the general attitude towards sign-writing in Finland (if any)?

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.

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.

She said "But they teach us to write in Finnish and sign in SVK - I think
it's cheeky of them to expect us to write in SVK!" - she failed to see the
point. I explained that it is important to have SVK literature - SVK
literature is not really prepared properly on video etc - whereas in written
SVK, it is possible so on.

She said "how can we benefit from that?"

"Better sign language skills - better understanding of how it works!"

She is still not impressed. Maybe I'm bad at it - so I ll prolly send her to
Kathleen and Sara - they are EXCELLENT - it was them who convinced me that
it works :-) - and of course, their charms... ;)

Shanex

p.s. everyone on this list, you're more than welcome to come over to Belfast
:D - my house is open to any SignWriters! :-)