How to learn sign language? This question has long worried people, because the deaf and dumb have been at all times.
It is more difficult for such people to adapt in society, it is more difficult to lead a full life. In the old days, in many European countries, people with hearing and speech impairments were not considered normal. They were sent to psychiatric hospitals for compulsory treatment. Society treated them negatively.
Before answering the question "how to learn sign language?", let's consider how the state of affairs has changed over time and find out the background of the emergence of deaf pedagogy and fingerprinting.
Bonet system
Fortunately for the deaf and dumb, there were also positive-minded people who felt sorry for them and wanted to help. Such a person was, for example, the priest Juan Pablo Bone. He lived at the beginning of the 17th century. Once Bonet was hired as an assistant in a we althy family, the head of which was an important official. The son of this gentleman suffered from deafness, no one couldteach him to write or count.
Soon the priest created his own training system for this boy. He came up with a special designation for each letter in the alphabet. The question of how to learn sign language did not even arise with this deaf-mute boy, Bonet began to study with the child with enthusiasm and great enthusiasm.
Very soon the boy learned the whole alphabet. After that, rumors about the Bonet system spread throughout Spain. The priest released a book detailing his method.
School of Michel Charles de Lepe
Michel Charles de Lepe became famous for organizing and opening the world's first school for the education of deaf and dumb people. He took the book of Juan Bonet as the basis for his method. By the way, in Paris at that time there was already a kind of sign language in Old French. However, Michel de Lepe adapted this similarity to modern French, and communication between the deaf-mutes began to consist not just of individual words. Now people could really communicate, build a smooth and coherent "speech".
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet School
Thomas Gallaudet, after attending the de Leppe school, returned to the States and opened his own educational institution. The method was borrowed from a French colleague. The Thomas Gallaudet school had real "lectures" on how to learn sign language adapted to English.
And again, this method was very successful and popular.
Against such a system of education wereoralists. According to their beliefs, such a technique separates deaf people from hearing society, and there is really no benefit from it.
Alexander Graham Bell and his school of oralists
Here they taught writing and reading in a completely different system. Each speech sound (depending on the position of the lips) was marked with a written symbol. Initially, this method was supposed to be used to correct diction. But in the process, Bell taught the deaf in the same way.
The first deaf pedagogical schools in Russia
In 1806 in Pavlovsk (not far from St. Petersburg) the first school of deaf education was opened. They taught here according to the French system.
In 1860, such a school opened in Moscow. In the capital, the German method was taken as the basis for teaching how to learn the sign language of the deaf and dumb.
Gradually, researchers and scientists began to appear in our country, who were interested in such a system of education.
Lev Semenovich Vygotsky
At first he did not really believe in sign language, he considered it very limited. But some time later, in one of his works, he called sign language an extremely complex and diverse linguistic system. The scientist considered it richly developed, recognized its undeniable benefits for deaf and dumb people.
Rachel Boschis and Natalia Morozova
We studied the works of Vygotsky. In their work on the development of speech, they concluded that the grammar of simple Russian andsign language is different.
It was mistakenly believed that deaf people cannot learn sign language on their own, as well as learn verbal speech at the same time.
Viktor Ivanovich Fleury
He was a teacher, worked as the director of a school in St. Petersburg. He conducted a deep analysis of "deaf-mute speech" and came to the conclusion that the sign language, Russian, can be learned by every person with a hearing or speech impairment. In addition, he noticed that in certain companies and societies of the deaf, sign language has its own characteristics, differences and subtle patterns inherent in this particular society. As in "our" (verbal speech) there is jargon and specific words, so in "speech" the mute is also present.
He wrote the book "The Deaf and Dumb". In this work, the teacher collected all the gestures and signs known to him.
There were other people who contributed to Russian deaf education: I. A. Sokolyansky, L. V. Shcherba, A. Ya. Udal.
So how do you learn silent sign language?
Let's analyze this issue in more detail. Below is a step by step guide.
Introduction to fingerprinting
First you need to get acquainted with dactylology. This is the name of a special form of speech. Dactylology includes the dactyl alphabet. In it, each letter of the alphabet has its own designation - a sign made up of fingers. These signs are called dactylems.
Many people are deeply mistaken in that sign language and the dactyl alphabet are one and the same. There is a difference: dactylems transmitwords by letter, and sign language - whole words.
There is also manoral speech. With this form of communication, words are read on the lips, gestures only focus on hard and soft, deaf and voiced consonants.
Fingering technique
When studying the dactyl alphabet, one should not rush. It is necessary to memorize and work out the technique of setting fingers well. At first, the hand will get tired. But after two or three workouts, the fingers will start to get used to, bend better.
Fingering speed
Having perfected the technique of forming dactyls, we move on to the speed of placing fingers. Proper names, surnames, geographic names are shown letter by letter in deaf pedagogy.
The fingertip alphabet can be found in the form of a picture or use a more visual video tutorial. By the way, sign language and dactylology are different in each country. Unfortunately, there is no single language for the deaf and dumb.
Practice
Having mastered all the dactylems, you should practice. Memorize basic words, names or titles. Videos, films can help with this, there is even a special application for Android.
Counting and numbers
When there is a little practice, it is worth mastering the count. It is advisable to immediately learn to show at least the simplest numbers. This will greatly advance the study of sign language.
Study Sequence
Let's move on to the sign language itself. It contains about 2000 different designations. How to quickly learn sign language with such a volume of signs? It's actually not as hard as it seems.
Studying gestures should start with simple words "hello", "goodbye", "sorry", "thank you". It is worth memorizing them gradually, not chasing quantity. It is better to learn a small number of gestures in one workout.
And the last recommendation. If you are seriously thinking about learning the language of the deaf, you might want to look for such courses in your city. They are not widely distributed, but you can still find them. Such courses are good because here you can get the practice of live communication, hone your skills and language skills.
