Sign Language: Irish or British?

MrMagoo

My 7 yr old daughter is hard of hearing and getting worse. It has really impaired her learning of spoken language so we are considering teaching her sign language. Looking at the web, there seems to be several "versions" of sign, including Irish (ISL), British (BSL), American and so on.

Is there a huge difference between these? There seems to be loads of resources on the web for BSL. If we started some beginners stuff with this, am I wasting my time because ISL is that different?

Any advice appreciated

Amz

I'm not particularly au fait with the exact differences, but there are differences between ISL and BSL. I would imagine that living in Ireland it would be most practical to begin learning ISL.

My dad is currently learning ISL and he recently got some software to teach him the alphabet and words etc. He finds it quite useful.

The best people to contact would probably be at the National Association for Deaf People, or another relevant association as they would be better able to advise you on what resources are available to your daughter and to you as a parent.

Your local library may have books and CD ROMs to teach ISL, that's where my dad got his.

MrMagoo

Amz wrote:

I'm not particularly au fait with the exact differences, but there are differences between ISL and BSL. I would imagine that living in Ireland it would be most practical to begin learning ISL.

My dad is currently learning ISL and he recently got some software to teach him the alphabet and words etc. He finds it quite useful.

The best people to contact would probably be at the National Association for Deaf People, or another relevant association as they would be better able to advise you on what resources are available to your daughter and to you as a parent.

Your local library may have books and CD ROMs to teach ISL, that's where my dad got his.

Thanks for the information Checked my local library online and they seem to have some stuff. I'll take a look. Think you are right about ISL. May as well start as we mean to go on...

Amz

Best of luck with it. Let us know how ye get on.

Talliesin

MrMagoo wrote:

Is there a huge difference between these? There seems to be loads of resources on the web for BSL. If we started some beginners stuff with this, am I wasting my time because ISL is that different?

Completely different languages. ISL is closer to the French sign language than to the British - like any other language ISL has languages it came from and languages it has influenced, but the history of this is completely different to that of either spoken Irish or English as spoken in Ireland, having it's roots in French Sign Language and having influenced the (mainly BSL-derived) Sign Languages of Australia and South Africa.

ISL is the predominant sign language in Ireland, though NISL is used in the North (NISL is derived from BSL with a heavy influence of ASL from America, generally it's considered a dialect of BSL).

Not much in the way of practical advice here, beyond being able to say that BSL and ISL are indeed different languages. A lot of people say that it's easier for someone who uses one sign language to learn another than it is for those who use spoken languages to learn another spoken language, but this is as far as I'm aware based only on anecdotal evidence without any real study (would be interested to know of any studies done, and their findings).

Moonbeam

Maybe find out which one is used in the schools?

GAA widow

MrMagoo wrote:

My 7 yr old daughter is hard of hearing and getting worse. It has really impaired her learning of spoken language so we are considering teaching her sign language. Looking at the web, there seems to be several "versions" of sign, including Irish (ISL), British (BSL), American and so on.

Is there a huge difference between these? There seems to be loads of resources on the web for BSL. If we started some beginners stuff with this, am I wasting my time because ISL is that different?

Any advice appreciated

Firstly, do not start teaching BSL. It's like teaching a child to speak in French instead of English. Different language completely.

If your daughter is hard of hearing and of school going age I assume you have been spoken to by a home/school liaison teacher who specialises in the teaching of the deaf. (If not I suggest getting onto the department of education and enquiring about it).

As your daughter is hard of hearing, is she using a microlink in school?

With regards to sign language, ISL is used here. Get onto http://www.irishdeafsociety.ie/. They should be able to recommend night courses etc.

However, prior to teaching your daughter sign it is important that you should discuss this with a professional who specialises in this area (e.g. home/school teacher for the deaf or your audiologist) as they can recommend what is best for your daughter - she may not need sign if her language is reasonably coherent, and there is also the possibility that she may become too dependent on sign and not use her voice.

If a professional recommends that your daughter should learn sign, perhaps it may be worth considering sending your daughter to a mainstream school with a deaf unit, so that your daughter can be instructed in sign in the best possible way by teachers of the Deaf.