More on BSL

Continuing yesterday’s sign language theme, I’ve been looking for information about British Sign Language (BSL) and have found a number online lessons and courses, as well as some information about the language. I’ve even learned a few signs.

BSL is used by over 70,000 deaf people, and also by some 100,000 hearing people. It was recognised as a language in it’s own right by the UK government on 18 March 2003, but it has no legal protection, so is not an official language of the UK.

According to Wikipedia, BSL is very similar to Australian Sign Language (Auslan) and New Zealand Sign Language, and also to Northern Ireland Sign Language (NISL), though differs significantly from Irish Sign Language (ISL), which, like American Sign Language (ASL), developed from French Sign Language (la langue des signes française / LSF).

There are some BSL lessons here, here, here and here.

I find it fascinating to watch sign language being used and would like learn it one of these days.

Science and Sign Language

What do you do if you want to discuss scientific matters such as photosynthesis or magnetism in sign language?

Well, most users of British Sign Language have to spell out the such words using finger spelling, which is quite cumbersome and time consuming. Recently however, the Scottish Sensory Centre at Edinburgh University‘s School of Education started to develop a collection of new signs for mathematical and scientific terms which will not only be more convenient, but will also help students to understand the scientific concepts with gestures which make intuitive sense.

According to an article in The Herald, the new signs are being developed by a BSL expert from the School of Education with help from teachers and others who help deaf students, and also from deaf scientists at the University of Durham.

Objazd / Diversion

Polish sign in Cheshire, UK

Where might you see a sign like the one on the right?

The answer, according to an article I found last week, is in Cheshire, England. The sign reads “DIVERSION A49 for Whitchurch and nearby places” and was erected by the Cheshire County Council, who claim that it is needed due to the large numbers of Polish people in the area.

The local police have received many complaints about Polish drivers getting lost and disrupting traffic, and the council believe the signs are a practical measure to improve road safety. Other people complain that the signs are a case of the council “pandering to political correctness”, and the local MP is quoted as saying that the signs are “It’s absolutely bonkers”.

Newyddion

Es i i’r côr meibion am y drydedd tro yr wythnos hon. Yn raddol dw i’n mynd yn fwy cyfarwydd gyda geiriau ac alawon y caneuon ac gyda chleff y bas. Gartref dw i’n ymarfer chwarae’r alawon ar y gitâr ac yn canu ar y un pryd. Bydd y côr yn perfformio mewn llawer o gyngherddau eleni – o leiaf unwaith y mis – ac bydd ein cyngerdd cyntaf ar yr 2 Chwefror yn Seaford. Ddydd Mercher mi brynais siwt ginio, crys gwisg a thei cwlwm coch fel y ddraig ar y fanner Cymru i wisgo yn y cyngherddau. Mi ges i ostyngiad mawr ar y preis – pumdeg y cant – oherwydd y seliau mis Ionawr.

Ddydd Iau ymunais â’r Gerddorfa Werin Sussex, grŵp o gerddorion gwerin sy’n chwarae cerddoriaeth o bob cwr Brydain ac Iwerddon dwywaith y mis yn Worthing. Maen nhw’n chwarae ar gyfer dawnsiau sgubor a digwyddiadau tebyg o bryd yw gilydd hefyd. Er enghraifft, neithiwr chwaraeon nhw yn nghinio Burns, ond chwaraeais i ddim achos dim ond newydd ymunais â nhw yw i.

Nuacht

Chuaigh mé chuig an cór ar an tríú uair an seachtaine seo. De réir a chéile tá mé ag éirí níos aithnidiúil leis foclaí agus foinn na hamhráin, agus ar an dord-eochair. Sa bhaile bím ag cleachtadh na foinn ar an giotár agus ag canadh ag an am ceanna. Beidh an cór ag seinn i go leor ceolchoirmeacha i mbliana – uair amháin gach mí ar a laghad – agus beidh an chéad cheolchoirm ar an 2 de Mhí Feabhra i Seaford. Dé Céadaoin cheannaigh mé culaith dinnéir, léine feisteas agus carbhat cuachóige dearg mar an dragan ar bhratach na Breataine Bige, agus caithfidh mé iad ag na ceolchoirmeacha. Fuair mé lascaine mhór – caoga faoin gcead – de bharr díolacháin Eanáir.

Déardaoin chuaigh mé chuig Ceolfhoireann na nDaoine Sussex, grúpa daoine a bhíonn ag seinn ceol as gach coirnéal Breataine agus na hÉireann dhá uair sa mhí i Worthing. Bíonn siad ag seinn ag damhsaí scioból agus gníomhaíochtaí cosúla ó am go ham fosta. Mar shampla, sheinn siad ag dinnéar Burns aréir, ach ní sheinn mise mar ní mo ná go bhfuil mé téigh iontu agam.

News

This week I went to the Welsh choir for the third time. I’m gradually becoming more familiar with the words and tunes of the song, and with the bass clef. I practise the tunes on the guitar at home and try to sing them as well. The choir will be performing in quite a few concerts this year – at least one a month – and the first one will be on 2nd February in Seaford. On Thursday I bought a dinner suit to wear at the concerts. It came with a dress shirt and bow tie that’s red like the dragon on the Welsh flag and I got a big discount – 50% – thanks to the January sales.

On Thursday I joined the Sussex Folk Orchestra, a bunch of people who play folk music from every corner of Britain and Ireland a couple of times a month in Worthing. The also play at barn dances and for similar occasions from time to time. Last night, for example, they played at a Burns Night dinner, though I didn’t play as I’ve only just joined them.

Word of the day – luthier

A luthier is someone who makes or repairs stringed instruments. The word comes from the French luth (lute). Luthiers are often divided into two categories: those who deal with plucked or strummed instruments, such as guitars, banjos, mandolins, etc, and those who devote themselves to bowed instruments, such as violin, violas and cellos. The latter are also known as archetiers, from the French arch (bow).

Do you know if there are special names for makers or repairers of others kinds of musical instruments?

Radio Lingua

A useful site I found this week is Radio Lingua, which offers podcasts to help you learn Spanish, French and German, or the basics of Polish, Irish, German and Russian in one minute chunks. The one minute podcasts are also available here.

Learning languages a little at a time like this seems to be quite a good way to get started. Most of the language courses I’ve tried tend to throw you straight into quite complex dialogues, which are often about subjects that are of little interest or relevance. However, one of my Irish courses, Irish On Your Own/Now You’re Talking, includes a lot of short dialogues and I found it much more useful.

Word of the day – Arbejdsglæde

Arbejdsglæde is a Danish word meaning literally “work gladness/joy”. There are apparently similar words in the other Scandinavian languages, and also in Dutch (arbeidsvreugde) and German (Arbeitszufriedenheit). The closest equivalent I can find in English is job satisfaction, though this doesn’t seem to have quite the same meaning as the Danish one.

I found this word on Alex Kjerulf’s blog, Chief Happiness Officer, in a post where he discusses some of the differences in work cultures between Scandinavia and Japan, where there’s a word meaning ‘death by overwork’ 過労死 (karōshi).

Do you know if there’s an equivalent to arbejdsglæde in other languages?

Devanagari Fonts

Namaste,

Simon agreed that I’ll occasionally post reviews about Asia, India and devanagari, typography and some font & linguistic software related matters as well.

I’m a young man, born in Riga and spreading the Sanskrit message around the world. Working as a Sanskrit Reader in Russia, teaching at the Russian State University and writing a PhD about Sanskrit verbal roots. I’m planning to publish several Sanskrit manuals and reprints of old books in the near future. I’m an editor as well of the Sanskrit section of the Open Directory and http://nagari.southindia.ru. So you can download some dictionaries there, etc.

It is strange that 200 years after the first Nagari typefaces where cast in iron in India, we’ve got no fine Devanagari fonts at our disposal. Ok, we have quite a few Hindi fonts. But, hey, there are many differences. No Devanagari fonts at the moment supports the four variants of “la” or the northern (Varanasi) and southern (Mumbai) variant of the letter “a”. Ok, some may say that who cares about Nagari font, but you do know and notice the difference, if you’re a teacher – students get stuck seeing a letter they’ve never seen before and have no reference chart to look upon.

None of the True Type Unicode fonts have a precoded ligature for “sthva” (which means the “va” should be under the “sth” and not beside it) as it was in the good old times when Harvard Oriental Series was printed (even they have lost the type in the latest editions, e.g. the 50th edition was printed in transliteration only). All the letters in Windows fonts are written without even the slightest break, though it is well known that in the manuscripts and books printed before 1914 in Europe, Devanagari letters are separated buy 1-1.5 mm. Maybe it is not very good from the point of view of grammarians, but, sure, it looks much better. Devanagari font differences like these can be continued.
That’s it for today, next post will be in a while. Is there anybody who’s interested to hear about Unicode Devanagari font matters?