Sign Language in Spain - Essay Example

s Sign Language in Spain Introduction Sign language in Spain is used by the people who are unable to communicate verbally in Spain and other countries where the majority speaks the Spanish language. Spanish sign language is used in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico and other adjoining territories. Spanish sign language is common in all the countries where Spanish language is spoken with some slight differences. As it is observed that there a number of cultures and language variants within a single country, similarly there are variants of the sign language used in different countries where Spanish language is used. These variations are due to the difference in cultures of the countries. Such differences keep evolving over time and they become part of the sign language used in the territory. Deaf History and Culture in Spain In the United States there is a full history of deaf culture that goes back to fifty years or so, and it is traceable if one looks through scholarly and academic sources. Such a thing is not present in Spain, where the period of history is just around fifteen years. Besides that, in Spain it was not very long ago that there was an attempt to give an official status to their sign language (which could be Spanish Sign Language [LSE] and Catalán Sign Language [LSC]). It was in 2005 that they drew up a law that supported sign language; later on the language was at long last supported by the Spanish senate by the year 2007. In the United States deaf culture was actually the basis on which research had been started, more so in the groups of deaf people, universities, and in certain related courses such as linguistics and anthropology. On the other hand, in Spain the issue has just been debated a lot all this time. The biggest clash in this seemingly never ending history can be succinctly put in this manner: the attribute of oralism in deaf education during the early times is noteworthy as it broke with long believed philosophical thoughts regarding deafness and language. It is possible that this assimiliationist representation had a positive goal of including deaf people in society. There were materially important social advantages for people who could learn to talk. For example: people who were deaf and did not speak either were not allowed to inherit property, while on the other hand, people who took pains to learn to speak were given permission to inherit. Though the past of generous paternalism concerning the deaf people in Spain may have had its share of advantages, but indisputably it has not permitted the complete addition of the deaf population in society. Today’s point of view has a consensus stating that sign languages are proper languages and not just particular codes. The oralist concentrates on teaching the deaf pupils to speak, which shows the prejudice present for most of the people with the hearing ability. Whether it has a positive aim or not, it uses its social and cultural influence in manners in which there was great discrimination against the deaf people of that time. The difficult way the deaf people were treated merged with the other cultural ways of bias. In the mid sixteenth century when oralism had barely started, only the deaf people from fortunate families could take help from the lessons. A few readings show that some time later, Spain was comparatively slow in building public schools for the deaf pupils. Even when they were finally founded, they shut down too quickly, quite frequently. Also, the students coming to these schools would have to pay the tuition and this problem was not properly talked of as an issue of the bigger hearing society. In recent times, the assimilationlist tried to include the deaf into the hearing part of the society. Many documents prove that they were only partly successful regarding the education and their employment. The truth is that oralism had long term consequences in Spain: they signed television shows and public interpreters made an appearance on them only in the years 1984 and 1986, the country fated to see the legislative support for sign language only after another two decades. Ultimately, the fight between the deaf people and society in which they get their education, find a job, make social relationships, etc. still continues to be a matter of worry in Spain as is the same in the other countries. Deaf Education in Spain There are myriad beginnings to deaf history, such as in 16th century Spain where a hearing monk named Pedro Ponce de Leon taught two deaf brothers to speak, read and write. Their tale, like many other beginnings discussed in this book, embodies the themes of education and literacy. As the recording of past events, history often connotes literacy (Eric Wolf invoked this usage in his ironic title Europe and the People without History, the source of my opening quotation). De Leon is remembered not only because he trained the Velasco brothers to speak but also because people wrote about his work. In this period, it was thought that finger spelling and signing are most important in order to teach the deaf students. Bonet had made up a manual alphabet which consisted of hand shapes that represented each of the twenty six letters. Not all these hand shapes were unique in their own sense; some were even just a replica of other sign languages used around the globe. 18th century saw the opening of the first education institutions for deaf people. Prior to that the deaf gained education individually and the primary objective of them receiving education was for them to be able to use the language that would allow them to be administered their inheritances (Belle´s, 1995). Bonet’s work had a great influence on the Institute of Paris, managed by the famous abbot L’Epe´e. Here children from important European families came to receive education. After having completed their education these same students went back to their home towns and helped the other deaf individuals by starting up schools for them and organizing educational activities. The Institute of Paris started getting reputed in the whole world and Bonet’s treatise was similarly treated. The beginnings of deaf history are not only varied but also are deeply rooted in local politics and culture. For example, oralism, the teaching of speech to deaf children, was known as the German method and manualism, teaching deaf children through signing, as the French method. The fate of these methods in the 19th century reflected the ongoing battles between these two European powers. When European influence spread to North and South America, Africa, and Asia, so did deaf education. Fascism, post colonialism, and civil rights movements have all had their impact, for worse or better, on the lives of deaf people. Sign bilingual education in Spain In the year 1993, the advantages of bilingual educational projects for the deaf children started to be considered. After going through certain requests of families as well as professionals, the sign language interpreters started to perform their tasks in secondary education classrooms. Though this experience began with deaf young people who could not sign their names properly, the results which came out at first were positive and played a role in trying to get rid of the discrimination about teaching in sign language. The first few bilingual projects were built in 1994 for primary education in Madric and Catalonia. In the year 2001, kindergarten and prekindergarten levels projects commenced. Nowadays, the primary education of the bilingual students has ended and they are now in the process are working towards the secondary school. These projects are somewhat weak due to the deficiency of tradition of the educational administration and the teachers. When these began, because of the economic problems, the administration decided to continue to keep working with the professions who were then working in monolingual schools rather than looking for new professionals as most of the experts had a little bit of concept of how low sign language works when studying. The teachers at many of the schools were not native signers. The linguistic setting could not be thought to be bilingual in these circumstances. Additionally, a few children entered and some still came despite the bilingual education and not even knowing anything of the language. Solutions to the problems are being tried to solved by the educational system by employing the new kindergarten bilingual projects with the deaf bilingual teachers and by championing sign language learning in the deaf children’s families. Since the year 2003, the families of the deaf children have had the chance to be educated in sign language with a particular amount of economic aid from the government authorities. Appropriate teacher training is a key factor in the implementation and eventually in the success of the sign bilingual education method. Lacking this opportunity, the teaching staff working in the bilingual projects studied have been left with the task of attaining competence in sign bilingualism and sign bilingual education by learning from their own experience, their few exchanges with professionals working in bilingual schools abroad, and the little information on this matter provided in their continuing education. Bilingual education needs to be based on a clear concept of how language contact is to be modelled in the classroom. In this context we will see that the definition of sign language as the language of instruction represents a fundamental step in the implementation of sign bilingual education. Difference between Spanish and American Sign Language People living in the Spanish countries can communicate through Spanish sign language with each other. Small differences may cause a little problem but most of the language is the same therefore inter-cultural communication is possible. However there is a significant different between the Spanish Sign Language and the American Sign Language. As Spanish and English are two completely different languages, similarly the Spanish and American sign languages are also completely different. People who use Spanish sign language cannot communicate with people who use American Sign Language because they are just as different as the verbal versions of the languages. Spanish Sign Language was influenced by American, Mexican and French Sign Languages. There are some signs in Spanish Sign Language which may resemble those of American Sign Language because it is the origin of the Spanish Sign Language however a fully fledged communication between people using these two sign languages is not possible. Sign languages consist of body gestures, facial expressions and iconic signs which are made with hands. One of the differences between Spanish Sign Language and American Sign Language is the proportion of the above mentioned means used to communicate. American Sign Language consists 60% of the Gestural body language and facial expressions while the rest of the language consists of hand signs. Another difference between Spanish and American Sign Languages is that of characters. Just like in spoken languages, the characters of sign languages are different. Sign languages can also be translated amid each other just like spoken languages. Both the sign languages are fully developed and anything that is communicated in spoken languages can also be communicated in sign languages without any loss of the context in which the communication takes place. For example; philosophy, religious views, political views can be communicated in sign language as well. The sign languages keep changing over time as mentioned before therefore the differences between American Sign Language and Spanish Sign Language keep changing as the languages develop further. Conclusion The alterations that have taken place in the deaf children’s education are a good enough reason to compel us to think over future alterations within the legislation. The primary and secondary schools have been provided with approved curricula together with legislation; now the important thing is to give a thought to introducing sign language in bilingual schools for the deaf. Since this is a novel area it needs more regulations than the others. Since several decades there had not been any requirement of new teachers having any proper competency in sign language. As of today, the bilingual schools clearly require actions for the regulation of the teachers’ competency regarding this discipline in order to be wary of the children’s rights and also to make sure about the reputation and morals of the school. There has never been any kind of analysis of the actual part that the deaf advisors and sign language interpreters play. As already mentioned, the deaf adult models in bilingual and bicultural project schools have a great deal of importance. There should be regular checks made by law on the professionalism and the actual background of the teachers and professionals in this area. Since there has been a regular increase in the number of secondary schools offering the sign language interpreting service, the regulations made by the law should also be increased simultaneously. For there to take place changes within the educational policies there has to be legislation in their favour. Because of this issue there is a requirement on the part of legislators, educators, administrators and evaluators to work together and cooperate with each other, having the sole aim of making sure that every citizen is treated equally. In the words of Federico Mayor Zaragoza (1994, pp. iii–iv): “In our world, full of differences of all kinds, it is not the disabled but society in general that needs special education to become genuinely a society for all.” Works Cited Belle’s, R. (1995). Modelos de atencio´n educativa a los sordos. Infancia y Aprendizaje, 69–70, 5–18. Bonet, J. P. (1930). Reduccio´n de las letras y arte para ensen˜ar a hablar a los mudos ( J. Garrido & L. Gasco´n adaptation). Madrid, Spain: Francisco Abarca de Angulo. (Original work published 1620). Mayor Zaragoza, F. (1994). Presentacio´n. Paper presented at Conferencia Mundial sobre Necesidades Educativas Especiales: Acceso y calidad, Salamanca, Spain. Timmermans, Nina., Council of Europe. The Status of Sign Languages in Europe. Council of Europe. Print. Read More