The sign Language of the Deaf and Dumb: How is it learnt from a mother who is not deaf and dumb?

Question

Or is it learnt from a Teacher in shool?

At what age the child starts learning this sign language which is used at an amazing speed by them while interacting with one another?

Is the sign language a global language or a local language? Do the deaf and dumb learn different languages as the normal persons do in reading writing and 'taliking'?

If they do, do they differentiate different languages and interact accordingly? How do they cope with their kind of people who talk a foriegn language? Do they find it as much difficult as the normal persons do?

Finally in which language their thoughts come in their mind before they 'speak' , read and write? In Mother Tongue's?

Answer 1

First of all, dumb is a derrogatory term, and although you do not mean it as a lack of intelligence, and mean it as "mute", the fact is most Deaf people are not mute. As a matter of fact, there are more hearing mute people than deaf-mutes.

90% of deaf or hard-of-hearing children are born to hearing parents who don't know sign language, or the Deaf culture, so language is very hard for the child to acquire. In order to learn any language (whether spoken or signed), you need to be exposed to it constantly, and since a deaf child is unable to be exposed to spoken language, they need someone to show them sign language. Parents should (but sadly, some don't) learn sign language and use it with their kids constantly. It has actually been shown that children who have deaf parents (whether the child is deaf or not) will pick up sign language 3 months before hearing children learn to speak.
Many children are sent to a special school, or go to a public preschool that has been established for special needs children. There they will be exposed to a language they can understand so that they can do better when they reach school-age. Once a child is exposed to sign language they pick it up quite quickly. This is because they are at the same cognitive level as children their age, they have just been language deprived, so they devour this new language. The sooner they are exposed the better.

Sign language is not a global language. Almost every country has its own sign language, and many have different alphabet (in fact, Britain and American sign languages, although the written alphabet is the same, have different sign alphabets...American sign language is actually more closely related to French sign language). Yes Deaf people do learn different languages, in fact they are raised learning 2 languages (ex. deaf children in America learn American Sign Language and written English...so really, all Deaf people are bi-lingual). They can also learn to write in different languages and sign in different languages, just as anyone else can.

If a Deaf person travels abroad, it wouldn't be much different than living at home. Deaf people live in a world where they are a cultural and linguistic minority. Everyday they deal have to deal with not being able to understand people and people not understanding them, so when they travel abroad, it really is no different. If they can write in another language, or can find someone who can read their written language, they will be just as fine as a hearing person travelling. Many Deaf people also arrange to meet or stay with Deaf people of that country. Sometimes they may not even know the sign language of that country, but they can teach signs to each other. Deaf people love to communicate, especially with other Deaf people.

Finally, Deaf people think in their native language. If you are raised speaking Chinese, you think in Chinese. If you are raised speaking English, you think in English. If you are raised using ASL (American sign language) you think in ASL (and sometimes written English). Whatever you know best is what you think in.

Wow, I didn't realize how long this was. Hope it answered all your questions.

Answer 2

Number one people who are deaf are NOT dumb at all. ASL or known as American Sign Language is taught around the world. People who are deaf and their families learn this language from a variety of schools, if a child is in a school for the hearing impaired it is taught there. If the parent knows that their child is deaf when they are born they can attend school to learn ASL so that they can teach it to their child as a normal child learns to speak. The rate that a child learns this language depends on the child like any other type of learning. People who are deaf learn this language at a variety of ages as anyone who learns a second language, and people who learn this language are not limited to the hearing impaired many people learn this language to improve themselves.
The main thing that you need to understand is that you need to stop using the phrase deaf & dumb, would you like someone to call you that? Hearing impaired or deaf will suffice, just because a person can not hear does no make them dumb. Any person with a disability is not dumb because they are differently abled a matter of fact most of them are more intelligent than so called normal people.

Answer 3

1. find out what sign language is spoken in your area. There are hundreds of sign languages. There are two in use in the U.S. and most other countries in the world have their own.

2. If you want to teach your child you would first have to learn it yourself. I would recommend you learning it so you have a common language with your child, but if you don't speak it fluently, I recommend you not try to teach the child. Find out about schools in your area that will teach you both together. Also, find out if your local public school has a program for the deaf. In most states of the U.S. it is required by law.

A person who learns sign language as their first language will think in sign language.

Answer 4

There are books that give the teachers the hit on how to approach the process of teaching a child.

Sooner the batter.

You should start with Braille also. say 1/2 of sign and 1/2 hour of Braille and then increase it slowly.

I thing the child learns the language and thinks in that language(the most used language).

Answer 5

Deaf children have a capacity for language similar to that of those with normal hearing. Children of between 6 months and 1 year old tend to babble, making nonsense noises that first start with vowels then vowel consonant combninations. Think "aaaa", "iiiii" then "baba" "googoo".
Children that are born unable to hear also have been observed to babble, but the difference is that they do it with their hands.

While the capacity for learning language is thought to be an innate ability that we are all born with, we need outside stimulus from other speakers in order to develop into speakers of any langauge. In the case of hearing children born to hearing parents and non-hearing children born to non-hearing parents there is no shortage of linguistic stimulus. Non-hearing children born to hearing parents will have much more difficulty in getting the linguistic stimulus that they need. This means that the parents will often need to learn sign language to work with their child in sign language.

Sign language is like spoken language in that there are different sign languages throughout the world. American sign language is a differnent language from Japanese or Chinese sign language. Two people signing using different sign languages will be just as likely to understand eachother as speakers of Hindi and German are to be understood.

Non-hearing signers generally have difficulty with reading and writing using the grammar of their country's language since spoken language is linear. Every word is spoken or written one after the other and word order is often important to meaning. Signing is not as linear since several hand motions can be concurrent.

Answer 6

anyone can learn sign language, all you need is a book of sign meanings for letter and gestures which convey a particular meaning. the language you learn to sign is based on the normal speaking language in which you sign, whether it uses the alphabet of the person's country or another. you can sign in any language by studying the language and the meanings of the sign for that language, as well as any written word sign such as our alphabet, or the chinese glyphs or thegreek alphabet or the arabic written language.

Answer 7

Good question! It takes a while before a mother could realise the shortcomings of her child and at that time she seeks professional help to deal with the situation!

Answer 8

recent study has shown that babies use hand signals for birth, and that sign language is the easiest for them to learn.

Answer 9

it may seem complicated, but can be learned in a relatively short time. this is a very good question. hope others can help.