[Sw-l] Japanese Translation for Signwriting? (Also, an Introduction)

[川音リオ]

Dear Valerie Sutton,

...I still cannot believe I am talking with the creator of this writing
system, encoded in Unicode...
And not just *any* writing system, but one of the greatest, most
groundbreaking system ever to be invented since the creation of Hangul, the
great script.

As a grammatologist, most of the popular alphabets and writing systems are
usually invented by great minds from centuries, if not millennia ago, and
more than often it is portrayed as a gift from divine beings like Angels
and Gods.
>From innovators like Sir Issac Pitman to John Robert Gregg, from great
kings like Sejong of Korea to Ashoka of India, from Deities and Gods like
Thoth of Egypt to Nisaba of Sumer; the study of writing systems are usually
studies of the past.
Never have I expected, in my life, to actually talk with a *living legend*
through an email before!


I find it quite amazing that you found out about SignWriting from a book
> entitled "The World's Writing Systems by Peter T. Daniels and William
> Bright” published in 1996. I did not know about this book. I'm so happy to
> know that SignWriting was mentioned there and you found it in the book. I
> am going to order a copy from Amazon today. Thank you ;-)
>

There was a time in my life where I said to myself: "It would be nice if I
can write down body motions and whatknots" and so I was reading this book
and found your name along with the list of others. Although your name is
just briefly mentioned among other lovely inventors of various other
writing systems, I had looked up all of the movement notation systems
mentioned in the book and found out what the system actually looks like and
immediately fell in love with it (the diagram was not listed in the book
for Signwriting so I had to look it up. The book itself is a definite bible
for all grammatologists out there. Highly recommend it if you enjoy writing
systems of various different languages).
At the time though, I did not know I was living at the same time as you!
You cannot imagine the look I had last year when I found out that you were
still well and active on *Matrix* (gitter.chat) of all places!

Recently a new book went to press in South Korea. A South Korean
> SignWriting user translated a whole SignWriting textbook into South Korean
> spoken language and also South Korean Sign Language. I don't know if this
> would be helpful but we can talk to the translator who has chosen to have
> it published by a publisher and the book is not ready yet but I do have a
> PDF of the document and I can find some of the terminology in South Korean
> spoken language if that would help you? I am aware that South Korean is a
> different spoken language than Chinese and Japanese but it's one book I can
> point to from Asia.
>

The spoken languages are indeed different from Korean to Japanese unlike
the Signed one. However, both the Korean language and the Japanese language
had a huge influence from Chinese loanwords and, more recently, foreign
influences from western languages like English. Not to mention that Korean
Sign Language, or KSL for short, was historically derived from JSL, the
Japanese Sign Language. Pointing me to the documentation in Spoken Korean
Language would give me clues on how to deal with loanwords from English
(whether by using Chinese loanwords or making a new word from native
language) and having documentations on Korean Signed Language will help me
understand how things *could* be signed in JSL as well!


On Mon, Jan 31, 2022 at 1:29 AM Valerie Sutton <sutton at signwriting.org>
wrote:

> SignWriting List
> January 30, 2022
>
> Hello SignWriting List and では〱。
>
> Welcome to our new member from Virtual Japan! I am happy to meet you, では〱。
>
> You have successfully subscribed to the SignWriting List, では〱。That is so
> great ;-)
>
> I just checked the SignWriting List Archives on the web, and your message
> is in the Archives. So thank you for joining and for posting this
> introduction to you and your work.
>
> There are others in Japan who use SignWriting, or are learning or teaching
> SignWriting. And we do have written documents and Japanese fingerspelling
> fonts. I don't know if there are other Japanese SignWriting users here on
> the SignWriting List. We will find out ;-)
>
> Here are some links that might be of interest to you regarding SignWriting
> in Japan:
>
> Japanese Sign Language Dictionary & Literature in SignPuddle Online
> https://www.signbank.org/signpuddle/index2.html#sgn-JP
>
> Recently there has been more activity in JSL Literature in SignPuddle.
> Some beautiful SignWriting documents have been posted by a Japanese
> signwriter who lives in Brazil ;-)
>
> And recently I posted a video from Japan here:
>
> SignWriting in Japan
> https://www.signwriting.org/japan/
>
> Adam Frost, SignWriting and ASL professor, flew to Japan and taught
> SignWriting there years ago.
>
> I find it quite amazing that you found out about SignWriting from a book
> entitled "The World's Writing Systems by Peter T. Daniels and William
> Bright” published in 1996. I did not know about this book. I'm so happy to
> know that SignWriting was mentioned there and you found it in the book. I
> am going to order a copy from Amazon today. Thank you ;-)
>
> So now we need to learn about grammology and virtual reality. I look
> forward to the discussions!
>
> So shall we start new topics for new discussion threads? Such as:
>
> VRJSL, Virtual Reality Japanese Sign Language
>
> Chinese/Japanese Translations for SignWriting
>
> Recently a new book went to press in South Korea. A South Korean
> SignWriting user translated a whole SignWriting textbook into South Korean
> spoken language and also South Korean Sign Language. I don't know if this
> would be helpful but we can talk to the translator who has chosen to have
> it published by a publisher and the book is not ready yet but I do have a
> PDF of the document and I can find some of the terminology in South Korean
> spoken language if that would help you? I am aware that South Korean is a
> different spoken language than Chinese and Japanese but it's one book I can
> point to from Asia.
>
> So look for new messages with new titles. Or start new messages yourself
> with your own titles to get the topics started...
>
> Thank you so much once again!
>
> Have a blessed day -
>
> Val ;-)
>
>
> Valerie Sutton
>
>
>
> __________
>
>
>
> On Jan 30, 2022, at 6:43 AM, 川音リオ <rio.kawane at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> Uhh... I have never used maillists in my life before, so I hope I'm doing
> this right...
>
>
> So, um, hello to everyone reading this message. I'm 川音リオ＠KawaneRio, an
> ordinary grammatologist from Virtual Japan.
>
>
> Before I ask my question for the day, I just wanted to say, to dear
> Valerie Sutton,
>
> I Thank you. So much. For your extraordinary work on making a complete
> writing system for sign languages.
> I first found out about your work in a book called The World's Writing
> Systems by Peter T. Daniels and William Bright. Your name was mentioned
> just briefly among other inventors of various notations for symbols of
> signing, movement, dancing, et cetera. However, the exquisite writing
> system that you had illustrated definitely left a reverence toward
> you along with this fuzzy sentiment for what could be possible with this. I
> tried learning about your system when I was in gradeschool, but I did not
> have the resources nor the knowledge to understand everything other than
> the fact that such system existed.
> But recently, especially around 2021, my life has changed. I was spending
> more time on Virtual Reality than Real Life on some days, communicating
> with people around the globe as if they were right next to me (it's like
> the invention of telephone all over again🤣).
>
> In case you have not heard of Virtual Reality, it's a technology where you
> can communicate with others, but in 3D; almost like a video game with lots
> of players, except those players are real people and not a random character
> made by the game.
>
> The amazing thing about this "Virtual Reality", or VR for short, is that
> it allows you to see the hand and head movement of other people in real
> time! People Hard of Hearing, or even those who are deaf can play in VR
> given that they don't get headaches and eyestrains. However, there is a
> catch: most people are limited to just 7 handsigns with the
> game controllers available today. One of the most wellknown deaf
> communities in the Virtual World, known as Helping Hands, has proposed a
> way for Deaf/HoH users to communicate by using a special dialect of ASL,
> limited by just mere 7 handsigns! Thus, VRASL was created; not just by
> anyone, but by the community of deaf users and certified teachers of sign
> languages.
>
> Meanwhile, in Virtual Japan, there is a growing community of deaf/mute
> users, also known as 無言勢(mugon-zei). The thing with Japan though is that,
> even though there is a massive demand for Japanese Sign Language, also
> known as 日本手話(Nihon Shuwa, NS for short) in the growing community, unlike
> ASL, there are not many resources! When it comes to VRJSL; well, the
> resources are nonexistent.
>
> My mission here, as a fellow grammatologist, is to make a free and open
> dictionary for Virtual Reality Japanese Sign Language, or VRJSL for short,
> available for anyone to view and use for the Virtual World!
>
>
> Sorry that was a bit longer than I had initially expected. Now, for the
> question:
>
> Are there any Japanese or Chinese translations of technical terms used
> in SuttonSignWriting? Specifically, I am looking for Japanese translations
> of "Perspective View" and "Top View", but if there is a comprehensive
> glossary of technical terms (especially for each of the handsigns)
> translated in other languages already, I would love to know as it would
> help me immensely in making my dictionary!
>
>
> Thank you so much for your time reading this rather stilted loft about
> myself, but I would honestly appreciate any help on the Japanese
> Translation topic.
>
>
> では〱。
>
>
>
> ────川音リオ＠KawaneRio
> ________________________________________________
>
>
> ________________________________________________
>
> SIGNWRITING LIST INFORMATION
>
> Valerie Sutton SignWriting List moderator sutton at signwriting.org
>
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>
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________________________________________________


SIGNWRITING LIST INFORMATION

Valerie Sutton
SignWriting List moderator
sutton at signwriting.org

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