Report from Portugal (Long)

[SignWriting]

SignWriting List
September 15, 2009

Hello Adam!
Thank you for this great report...What a wonderful trip to Portugal!

And a big thank you to everyone in Portugal for your hospitality....

I am now preparing a web page with photos from Lisbon, and I will  
place a shortened version of this report on the web too, documenting  
Adam's trip...

So I will write again when that is posted...

Val ;-)

--------


On Sep 15, 2009, at 1:37 PM, frost at signwriting.org wrote:

> I just wanted let you all know what happened in Portugal the past  
> week that
> I have been there. I arrived in Lisbon, Portugal on Sept 7. I had a  
> nice
> relaxing time on the beach while we waited for others to arrive for a
> lunch, which became a dinner. The people there were those that would  
> be
> giving presentations at conferences that were connected with the  
> workshop
> that would be given by me. We had people from Brazil, Washington DC,  
> and
> from Israel. So we had ASL, English, Portuguese, LIBRAS, and a  
> couple of
> hearing people who had been learning LGP (Língua Gestual Português),  
> ISL
> (Israeli Sign Language), and ABSL (Al-Sayyid Bedouins Sign Language: a
> newly found nomad tribe who had a high population of deaf people).  
> Of that
> group, I was the only one that was Deaf, but it was a nice relaxing  
> dinner
> from long flights that we all had.
>
> Then I stayed the night over at Ana Mineiro's beautiful home with her
> daughter and son. Ana was our contact and the main reason that this  
> was
> made possible for me to go to Portugal. She and her children are not  
> deaf,
> but they have been learning LGP (Língua Gestual Português). They tried
> their best to communicate with me and I feel that they did a good job.
>
> The next day, we went to the University that Ana works at  
> (Universidade
> Catolica Portuguesa, Instituto de Ceincias da Saude) and was the one  
> that
> paid for me to got there. There we had a conference where those that  
> I had
> met including others from Lisbon who gave different presentations  
> related
> to Sign Language Linguistics. It was nice to see that there was a  
> large
> group of Deaf people who were in the audience. It was interesting  
> that they
> had interpreters who would interpret from English (I don't know, but  
> it
> seems that the academic language in Portugal is English) to LGP.  
> Then from
> there Amilcar, who is Deaf and was sitting next to me, mirrored the
> interpreter to Claudia who then translated it into the best ASL she  
> could.
> Claudia, who is also Deaf, was born in the US and when to a school  
> for the
> deaf until she was 11 after which her family eventually moved back to
> Portugal. She mixed ASL, international signs, and LGP together.  
> Because I
> knew the subject well, I could pick up the signs that she was using  
> that I
> didn't know from ASL. That was the whole day with lunch being  
> provided for
> in a really nice faculty area for those that we presenting/ 
> interpreting or
> anything related.
>
> I then meet with Amilcar and Isabel, his Deaf sister who I would be  
> staying
> the rest of the time with. The three of us then went to Ana's home  
> for a
> dinner. There we talked some more and communication between myself  
> and Ana
> went a little easier since Amilcar and Isabel both know fairly good  
> amount
> of ASL. Then the three of us went to Isabel's home where I met her  
> husband,
> also Deaf, and their 10 month old son. They gave me their son's  
> future room
> when he would be old enough to sleep in a separate room to sleep in.  
> Jorge,
> Isabel's husband, joked that I was there just to break in the room  
> for the
> baby.
>
> Wednesday came for me to give the first day of the workshop. I was
> surprised that there was such a big group, most of whom were Deaf,  
> is the
> average size class room. It was an adventure getting the room set up  
> to
> make it so that everyone could see each other as well as have the same
> setting up for the three interpreters. I was also surprised that  
> this was
> only the first half of two groups. I thought that I would be giving  
> a four
> part workshop to one group. It turned out that it would be a two day
> workshop to two different groups, 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours  
> in the
> afternoon.
>
> The first day I gave a very brief history of SignWriting, and then  
> went
> right into asking them for signs to write. Then I would explain the  
> symbols
> that were used. I also was able to pick up LPG that way. The two  
> groups
> were amazed that I could write various signs without even really  
> knowing
> what they meant. They would also ask questions about a symbol here and
> there, or why something was this way and not that -- the normal  
> questions
> that people ask when they are learning.
>
> The Thursday workshop was when I took signs from the ASL puddle that  
> I knew
> that they had in their Sign Language, and I would ask them to read  
> them.
> Many of them would try to tell me the signs from reading the  
> English, but I
> knew that the signs meant something different in LGP. After they  
> finally
> understood that I wanted them to read the signs written, they  
> realized that
> the meanings were not the same. It also lead to some interesting  
> comparison
> of the two languages. Then once they started reading each signs fairly
> well, I moved on the sentences, which were ASL sentences. That was a  
> little
> difficult since they didn't have the language knowledge to backup  
> their
> reading, but they were able to get very close. Then of course they  
> wanted
> to know the translations. Then I showed them where to go online to use
> SignPuddle as well as lessons on the SignWriting website and join  
> the list.
> I even showed them my blog in SW. They were amazed with all of the
> information that was online. The last group was a little quite, so I  
> even
> got them to come up and write first "D" and then Portugal without my
> touching anything. I did help them remember what symbols meant what,  
> but
> they collaborated as a group to get it written correctly. There were
> several suggestions that were made that I helped them realize they had
> choices because they meant the same thing.
>
> Then Friday was a "free" day from workshops and presentations, so I  
> went
> with my new Deaf friends to the school for the deaf, a second  
> opportunity
> center for deaf/blind/and deaf-blind people to find jobs, and then  
> to the
> Deaf Association where I met several more Deaf people. It was very
> interesting to see that they were very similar to the deaf groups  
> that I
> know here in California. I almost forgot that I was in a different  
> country
> with them.
>
> Saturday was a half day with presentations for a different  
> conference, SLE
> at the Universidade de Lisboa, that was "Listening to Silent  
> Languages" for
> that day in that one room. The presentations were mostly the same as  
> the
> ones that were given on Tuesday with a few new ones. By this day, I  
> was
> very tired since I was going almost non-stop, and so were my Deaf
> Interpreters. Deb Chan and Diane from Gallaudet interpreted for me  
> from ASL
> to English so that there would be less lag time as well as less errors
> since all of the attendees were hearing at the conference. They  
> asked the
> typical what is it for, why use it, and such. I answered them all  
> with such
> clarity that they were amazed mainly because they thought I knew very
> little of their topic since I am not a linguist. Then I was asked  
> how they
> can learn it, which I showed them how. So it was left on a very good  
> and
> supportive note.
>
> Ana had wanted to have another meal with everyone, but we were all
> exhausted, so she canceled much to my delight even though I would have
> loved to been able to see everyone again one last time. After a  
> relaxing
> nap, Jorge and I sat in his living room adding more signs into  
> SignPuddle.
> I was so great to see his eagerness as well as the light turn on  
> when he
> understood something.
>
> Then Sunday morning I left missing all the new friends I had made and
> arrive back to California Sunday evening. I would love to go back  
> again for
> a longer time to see everyone again as well to be able to see more  
> of the
> beautiful country. It will be an experience I will never forget. And  
> not
> just because it was my first time out of the US.
>
> Adam
>
>
>
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