One of the interesting people I met at the General Assembly was a woman from Finland called Minna. We got talking about language. (In English of course!) Minna had originally trained as a teacher but according to Minna herself Finnish people when talking are usually not very animated. (She described what she meant by putting on a blank expression and keeping her hands firmly by her sides.) She reckoned this was not good for effective communication - something she felt essential for teaching. (Mind you, it has to be said that the Finnish education system is already reckoned to be about the best in the world.) Anyway, she decided it might be a good idea to learn sign language.
Now, having had an uncle who was born deaf and a sister who currently signs for the deaf, I began to get very interested and made the observation that as there is British Sign Language and American Sign Language, I guessed there must be Finnish Sign Language too.
"Yes" she said "but it's a bit more complicated than that. In Finland people speak either Finnish or Swedish, so there is Finnish Sign Language and Swedish Sign Language but the Swedish Sign Language used in Finland is quite different from the Swedish Sign Language used in Sweden."
That 'Finnished' it for me, and I decided it was time to change the subject...
The language of signs, however, is a fascinating area for exploration.
I love this shop sign in Byers Road, Glasgow. It is above a Florist's Shop which also sells (quote) "unusual gifts."
How aptly named, for isn't grace an unusual, but priceless, gift in our world?
Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me recently when I passed a Gents' Barber's Shop above which hung the sign:
DAN DRUFF'S THE BARBER!
2 comments:
It turns out there are many different sign languages, people are discovering them all the time, and the boundaries don't necessarily correspond to spoken language boundaries.
How strange that our hands speak different languages. I guess I just never thought about it, but perhaps it makes sense.
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