The advantages of sign language
Sign language isn’t just a random collection of gestures… it’s an entire language in its own right, complete with its own grammatical rules. Each country or region has its own sign language, as different from each other as English is from Spanish. Each version of sign language is somewhat tied to the language spoken in its region. For example, American Sign Language shares similarities with English, even though it is its own language.
Sign language is not based on sentences like English, but on sentences and ideas. When translating sign language into English, for example, some words will have a direct translation. Others do not find a proper translation for the true meaning, just like translating from Japanese to English or from English to Arabic.
The written history of sign language begins in France in the 18th century. Charles-Michel de l’Epee founded the first public school for deaf children. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, America’s first school for the deaf in 1817, and his son, Edward Miner Gallaudet, founded the world’s first and only liberal arts college for the deaf in 1857. In 1864, its name became Gallaudet University, and it remains the only higher education school of its kind in the world today.
In any sign language, words are made up of gestures and expressions, rather than sounds and letters. Expressions are just as important as gestures. They rely on the meaning of gestures to convey more information than gestures alone.
In some ways, sign language is better than the spoken word… communication can occur in areas where speaking is not appropriate (in places of worship or while hunting), is not allowed (in recording studios or other places where speaking is disruptive) or physically impossible (underwater, or in places that are too noisy to hear speech).
The advantages of knowing sign language in addition to the spoken language are many. Communication is made possible on many levels with the deaf community, with other hearing or non-hearing people in any of the above situations, as well as many more.
Being able to serve the deaf community can also increase your business. Approximately 22 out of 1,000 people are deaf or hard of hearing.
You may even meet a new best friend that you never tried to communicate with before learning sign language.
Teaching your baby sign language can decrease frustration for both you and your baby and increase parent-child bonding. The possibilities are endless when you increase your media.
