# A forum for Sign Language speakers?



## newg

Hi, 

I was thinking.

Why don't we have a forum for Sign Language speakers/learners?


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## chamyto

Hi, maybe you could use this one: http://forum.wordreference.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20


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## swift

Salut, Gwen.

Wouldn't a sign language forum require uploading audiovisual material? I don't think the forums server has that capacity.


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## newg

swift said:


> Wouldn't a sign language forum require uploading audiovisual material? I don't think the forums server has that capacity.


Salut,

You are probably right.

Would make WordReference even better if we had one, though.


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## Gévy

Bonjour,

Je ne comprends pas l'intérêt de la chose puisqu'ici tout le monde écrit, qu'on soit bien-entendant ou sourd, ça ne change rien. Ou est-ce que j'ai mal compris la question ? (Je suis suffisamment nulle en anglais pour comprendre tout de travers. )

Gévy


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## swift

Il faut dire que 'Sign Language speakers' n'a pas l'air d'être un terme rigoureux. En anglais on parlerait plutôt de 'signers', il me semble.  Alors, je ne sais pas vraiment comment notre ami Gwen envisagerait la mise en place d'un tel forum.


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## newg

Gévy said:


> Je ne comprends pas l'intérêt de la chose puisqu'ici tout le monde écrit, qu'on soit bien-entendant ou sourd, ça ne change rien. Ou est-ce que j'ai mal compris la question ? (Je suis suffisamment nulle en anglais pour comprendre tout de travers. )


Hahaha, c'est vrai.

Non je parlais de la langue des signes: ASL, BSL etc.

Par exemple si je veux savoir comment on dire 'faire des bébés' en langue des signes, j'aimerais qu'on m'aide. Après je sais que c'est dur à mettre en place... mais pourquoi pas essayer ?


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## newg

swift said:


> Il faut dire que 'Sign Language speakers' n'a pas l'air d'être un terme rigoureux. En anglais on parlerait plutôt de 'signers', il me semble.  Alors, je ne sais pas vraiment comment notre ami Gwen envisagerait la mise en place d'un tel forum.


Signer, speaker of ASL, ASL speaker... c'est la même chose. On m'a compris, non ?


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## swift

Salut !

Oui, j'ai bien compris. 

Si le forum que tu proposes devait fonctionner comme celui-ci : http://aslstem.cs.washington.edu/, alors je crois qu'il existe déjà d'autres sites intéressants, des sites spécialisés et permettant l'insertion de contenu audiovisuel (des liens vers YouTube notamment).


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## amikama

newg said:


> Why don't we have a forum for Sign Language speakers/learners?


Hi newg,

As a deaf and sign language signer, I wish we had sign language forum here in WR. But unfortunately, according to the FAQ such a forum won't be created anytime soon.
However, you can ask SL questions in Other Languages forum, as chamyto suggested. SL are just like any other (spoken) language, so they are inside the scope of OL forum.

(I don't read French so I can't reply to the previous posts, sorry.)

By the way, I've compiled a list of sign language resources, which you may find useful.


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## newg

Amikama, 

Thank you very much for your message!  I'm glad to see that there are signers on this forum. 

I think I will ask my questions in the OL forum and I am looking forward to reading your answers. Do you speak ASL or ISL?


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## amikama

I speak Israeli Sign Language. I also know some ASL signs, but not enough to have a conversation in this language...


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## mkellogg

I would like to have a sign language or ASL forum here, and changing the rules to allow YouTube videos would make sense.

I had thought that signing had been added to Unicode and that it was now possible to "write" in sign language, but, from what I can tell, it isn't available yet in a way that would display correctly on most computers.   Hopefully, in a few years.  Correct me if I am wrong.

Mike


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## amikama

Several notation systems have been devised for sign languages, such as Stokoe Notation, SignWriting and HamNoSys, some of them have ASCII versions or downloadable fonts. But most of them are intended for academic research etc., and no one  really use them in "real life".

To describe a specific sign, we might choose one of the ASCII notation systems. 
To write down a signed sentence, glossing it (i.e. sign-to-word literal translation) would probably the easiest and simplest. E.g. CAR I WASH 'I washed the car'.


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## TheNymph

I think it wouldn't be difficult. It's hand gestures. Yes, it would be visual, but we could also describe how the hand moves.


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## danieleferrari

Good afternoon everyone,

Has anything changed since 2014 (as far as this matter is concerned, obviously)?

I owe you so much. Cheers.


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## amikama

danieleferrari said:


> Has anything changed since 2014 (as far as this matter is concerned, obviously)?


Unfortunately, no. 

If you have sign language questions, you can ask them in the Other Languages forum


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## Penyafort

Bear also in mind that the family relationship between the different sign languages is not the same one as with oral ones in terms of classification. Tags like "Sign Language", as if it is only one, wouldn't make much sense.


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