Report from Portugal (Long)

Wed Sep 16 11:56:32 UTC 2009

Adam,

Excellent - many thanks for sowing some more seeds in Europe for us! :-)

I do look forward to more Europeans knowing SW :-)

By the way, most academic conferences in Europe - the working language is
usually English (if its not their national language) - especially in the
linguistics world - most stuff are printed in English i.e. in the
Netherlands, most Dutch (if studying Linguistics) would write their PhD
theses in English rather than Dutch. More and more universities in
non-English speaking countries (in Europe) are turning to English rather
than their local language - however a lot of people still publish in English
and their national language which is a good sign.

Shane

2009/9/15 SignWriting <signwriting at mac.com>

> 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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