■Pointing

I think most people were told not to point at other people when they were young. As a child, I often pointed at people and my relatives slapped down my hand. My Deaf parents never said anything about pointing so I learnt from this experience that I must not point directly in the presence of hearing people.

However, pointing is an integral part of sign language, functioning as pronoun or end-of-sentence pronoun.

Quite a few Deaf people have the experience of being hit without warning by a hearing stranger. It may happen more often to men. You are joking in sign language with Deaf friends and get punched all of a sudden. The assailant must have thought that you were laughing at him (or her) when seeing you pointing.

The mishap can develop into a criminal case, so cautious Deaf people try to avoid pointing at hearing people.

When you sign with hearing people, it sometimes happens that they suddenly turn their eyes away. You turn to see what happened and you discover that they were just looking in at the direction you pointed. In fact, you were not showing them anything but you pointed to express a pronoun or end-of-sentence pronoun.

Hearing people tend to use pointing less frequently than the Deaf when they sign. In particular, they often omit the end-of-sentence pronoun, which makes conversations difficult to follow, as you cannot know which is the subject and which is the object in their sentences.

Pointing helps to distinguish subjects from objects. For example, a 4 year-old Deaf child can differentiate between the subject and the object by pointing.
(PT=pronoun expressed by pointing)
(-pt=end-of-sentence pronoun. It is expressed phonologically linked to the previous word and it agrees with the subject of the sentence.).

A: PT1 PT3 love -pt1
B: Really?
A: Yes. PT3 PT1 love-pt3. Don't you? (Asks C)
C: ...

In the above conversation, PT1 is I and PT3 is He. We can see here that a 4 year-old child knows how to differentiate between a subject and an object by agreeing with the end-of-sentence pronoun and subject.

This conversation could be translated as follows:

A: I love C
B: Really?
A: Yes. And C loves me. Don't you?
C: ...

This is an actual conversation that took place in Tatsunoko Gakuen, a Deaf free school they are attending (the above conversation is also recorded on video). We see that Deaf children have the same kind of conversation as hearing children; I still find she is a precocious little girl though...

* Translated from the e-magazine of May 9, 2007 (# 083)

■Wipe (sign language interpreter) in TV commercials

I believe Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) is currently the only company that broadcasts TV commercials with a sign language interpreter in wipe. Recently, the sign language interpreter has changed. The new person looks like a young mother. It is quite obvious that they looked for “someone who looks good on TV and who can do sign language interpretation as well.”

A sign language interpreter is added on screen in a small separate frame. But I have always wondered, “Why don’t they assign a Deaf, native speaker?”

I can immediately see that the new sign language interpreter is a hearing person, because her signs are different from that of the Deaf. The word order follows that of Japanese. You don’t need to observe carefully to notice that her signs are unnatural both grammatically and phonologically.

I heard that several TV commercial strips are produced according to the time span available. TV commercials are made in advance, so you don’t need to use a hearing person.

If the condition is to be a woman who looks good on TV, you can just search for a native signer (=Deaf) who meets that condition. All you need to do is to sign the promotional message in the time span allocated. You don’t need to interpret the recorded spoken Japanese, but to show sign language restructured to carry the meaning of the spoken Japanese message that they want to promote on the TV commercial within the time available.

This method could have a bigger impact to the Deaf, sign language users, and works better as TV commercial.

The idea that only “hearing” sign language interpreters bring various information to the Deaf, the users of sign Language, is really out of date.

The Deaf often take charge as sign language interpreters (ex. American Sign Language →International Sign, Manually Coded English → American Sign Language etc.) even in the simultaneous interpretation in the US and some parts of Europe. It’s up to their ingenuity.
I suppose that the difference is “in the perspective” that the US and European countries have, and we don’t have in Japan. Maybe Japanese people have this fixed idea that only “hearing” people give and transmit information to the Deaf.

Tokyo Electric Power Company makes their TV commercials with sign language interpretation. That in itself is wonderful. But if they can move one step further and get into a pioneering spirit and understand that using a native signer as a sign language interpreter is only natural, I am sure their company image will be boosted.

*Translated form the e-magazine of May 1, 2006 (# 074)

■The Wide Gap between Manually Coded Japanese and Japanese Sign Language

Let me share with you something that happened to a Deaf friend of mine.

When my friend visited a welfare department for people with disabilities at a local public office, she happened to be dealt with by an official who could use sign language. However, the signs the official used were so-called Manually Coded Japanese, which lacks the non-manual signals (NMS) that convey the grammar of sign language and are mostly shown by facial expression.

The friend’s experience was as follows: When she asked a question in sign language, she did not understand what the official said in response. So she asked him to sign again but was met with an utterly blank look. It was quite obvious to her that the official was not happy to be dealing with a person who could not understand him.

My friend said, “It’s the official’s fault, not mine, that I couldn’t understand his signs. His signs are incomprehensible to the Deaf. I wonder why a Deaf person like myself has to be deferential toward him. As long as he remains laboring under the delusion that his sign language is correct, I could not get through to him in Japanese Sign Language even if I tried to complain about his attitude. I got kind of frustrated.”

There are many similar stories like this. We must be careful about hearing persons such as sign language interpreters, sign language learners and teachers at deaf schools, who don’t think twice about their way of signing and say, “So, I told you that . . .(Haven’t I told you that . . .).” These people never think that there may be problems with their sign language.

It is most troublesome when their Manually Coded Japanese seems to be understood, but is not actually getting through to a Deaf person.

A Deaf person tends to reconstruct a message in Manually Coded Japanese from a hearing person according to his/her own convention (or according to his/her interpretation). As a result, superficially it can look as if they are holding a conversation. However, there are hearing people using Manually Coded Japanese who say, “So, I’ve told you that . . .” when they find out that there has been a misunderstanding and that they were not understood correctly.

Even when they don’t dare say, “So, I have told you . . .” either they may be in doubt or even underestimate the Deaf person’s signing ability.

The simple fact is that those using Manually Coded Japanese (mostly hearing people) and those using Japanese Sign Language (mostly Deaf people) do not really understand each other. How could that come about?

Firstly, it seems to be the case that those using Manually Coded Japanese do not in essence understand the linguistic structure of Japanese Sign Language. They may recognize that the sign language of hearing persons differs from that of the Deaf, but they do not possess an in-depth knowledge of the differences.

The second reason may be that a Deaf person overestimates the ability of the hearing person and has the habit of adjusting the other party’s message to his/her own way. For a long time and throughout their education in deaf schools, Deaf people never get into the habit of straightforwardly saying, “I don’t understand” when they ought to.

That is to say, a Deaf person who was educated using oral methods was forced to understand what the other party was saying using little pieces of information (such as mouthing and background information when a message was conveyed). He/she acquires the habit of adapting the message to his/her own interpretation unconsciously. If he/she honestly says, “I don’t understand”, he/she would be scolded by teachers or parents saying, “Why not?” That’s why he/she repeatedly tries to understand what the other party says with limited information. As a result, he/she probably ends up reconstructing Manually Coded Japanese messages according to his/her interpretation.

How can we bridge the gulf? The answer is simple: A hearing person learns Japanese Sign Language and a Deaf person tries to be aware of the habit of reconstructing messages and tries to avoid it.

However, it is not easy. That’s why the gap remains wide.

Though that may be the case, I still believe that someday we will manage it. That is why I keep writing an e-magazine and sending out these messages.

* Translated from the e-magazine of February 27, 2006 (#070)

■What does it mean “to be together”

The other day I attended a party to celebrate the end of a sign language course.

In that sign language course, Japanese Sign Language (JSL) is taught by natural approach, but it is difficult for learners to use JSL without any influence from their first language. The so-called first language interference occurs, and learners try to eliminate the inter-language (the language which is interfered with, by the first language) by trial and error, being aware of the existence of the inter-language.

Getting back to the party topic, we found out that one of the students in the course was getting married in April and bombarded her with questions related to her marriage. Let's just call her Ume-san for now.

There were eleven people at the party: four Deaf people including myself and seven hearing learners including Ume-san. Of the four Deaf people, all but me were either married or divorced.

A variety of questions were thrown at her, such as “How long have you known him?”, “Where are you going on your honeymoon?”, “Where will you hold a wedding ceremony?” and “How did you get to know each other?” I don’t know why, but only Deaf people asked such questions. Even a close friend of Ume-san, who has known Ume-san since her high school days was like a dying duck in a thunderstorm uttering “Really!” when listening to what Ume-san answered.

I wondered if the above questions were too impolite to ask among hearing people who only meet each other several times a month.

Finally Ume-san was asked about the heart (?) of the matter.

Deaf: Who proposed?
Ume-san: My partner.
Deaf: Really! What were the words of his proposal?
Ume-san: He said, “I want to be together with you.”
Deaf: What? Does that mean he wants to marry you?

The above conversation was carried out in JSL, of course. A Deaf one-time divorcee watching the conversation close by said, “It doesn’t make much sense to say to be together. I’d wonder what we would do together. How do hearing people know if it was a proposal?”

The Deaf people at the party were all except me either married or one-time divorced. I asked each of them about their experiences concerning their partners’ marriage proposals. Their answers were straightforward. “Would you marry me?” However, there was one exception who said she had long forgotten because it was such a long time ago.

The proposal of marriage by the Deaf is verbalized in JSL after all, and consequently straightforward. Deaf might not have exquisite phrases of proposal as hearing people do. I suspect, however, there are perhaps bright and smart phrases of proposal in JSL. We simply don’t know them because they are not recorded.

Maybe there ought to be a website glossary of proposals in JSL (of course in movies).

* Translated from the e-magazine of March 20, 2006 (# 071)

■Word /like/ in Japanese Sign Language (JSL)

“Tatsunoko School” is a Deaf free school that is conducting bilingual Deaf education (first language: JSL; second language: Japanese mostly through reading and writing). Deaf children coming to this school can speak and hear what other people say in the same way as hearing children do, perhaps because they have a solid base in their first language.

The only difference between the two is that Deaf children speak and hear in the manual mode while hearing children speak and hear in the oral mode.

Sora is a smart boy, who has been popular with girls since his preschool days. However, the girl he likes shows little interest in him. I heard that he was very depressed to hear her say, “You are the second person I like. The boy I like best is X”. Isn’t Sora a bit precocious? Or is it how they are these days?

Sora’s mother is a hearing person who is learning JSL. When talking with her son, she has noticed the difference between /like/ in JSL and “like” in Japanese.

Mother: Do you have friends you like in Y Deaf School?
Sora: No.
Mother: Who is the teacher you like?
Sora: None.
Mother: Then, do you like Ms. Z (the teacher’s name) at Tatsunoko School?
Sora: Nope.
Mother: (Surprised) You don’t like your teacher?
Sora: /better/(somewhat better)
Mother: What do you exactly mean by /better/?

Although Sora’s mother is quite good at JSL, they talked past each other, because she wasn’t aware that the way she used /like/ in JSL ought to be different from that of Japanese. In order to make herself understood by her son, she should have signed “the friend he likes” as /nice/friend/ or /good/friend/ and “the teacher he likes” as /nice/teacher/, /okay/teacher/ or /acceptable/teacher/.

The sign /better/ is a tricky one. When asked if he didn’t like his teacher, Sora replied /better/. By this reply, he meant to say, “I don’t like her as an object of love, but she’s OK as a teacher.” Please note that, he didn’t mean to say, “My teacher (Ms. Z) is somewhat better than the teacher I don’t like.”

Sora’s mother deserves credit for having noticed the difference in the usage of JSL and Japanese. After repeating her questions to Sora, she found out that the only girl he likes is A-chan (the girl’s name) at Y Deaf School. Revealing this episode to me, she added that she, as a mother, felt disappointed that she had no place in his world of love.

Mother: Who do you like?
Sora: Well.
Mother: Ms. Z (the teacher’s name)?
Sora: No.
Mother: Then, A-chan (the girl’s name) at Y Deaf School?
Sora: mm-hmm.

When the word /like/ is phonologically connected to a verb, its meaning changes to “would like to do ….” If not phonologically connected, it means “like doing ….” You should keep this difference in mind. (Differences at non-manual signals level are omitted here.)

・To eat, to like　→　like eating
・To eat = to like →　would like to eat (=: phonologically connected)

When Sora was four years old, the teacher in charge of his class in Tatsunoko School is said to have pointed out that Sora used the word /like/ incorrectly.

Sora: I want to sit next to A (the girl’s name). Hey! I do want to sit there. (Peevishly)
* He repeated /like/, pointing at the seat.
Teacher: I wonder what Sora means to say by using the sign /like/.
Mother: He is expressing his “wish”.
Teacher: …?
Mother: He seems to want to say, “I’d like to …”, if translated into English.
Teacher: … .

It’s really heart-warming to see Sora making steady progress in learning JSL. His mother is also praiseworthy in that she talked so convincingly about her son that the teacher was lost for words.

In this issue of e-magazine, I’ve taken up Sora as a case in point. I should say in conclusion that most students in Tatsunoko School and their parents are accumulating such experiences on a daily basis.

*Translated from the e-magazine of December 12, 2005 (No. 066)

■Though the Kanji character chosen for most representative of the year 2005 was “Love”… (from the newspaper column "Vox Populi, Vox Dei")

The kanji most representative of the year 2005 was “ai” (love).

The announcement was made by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, which sponsored the poll. There were 85,322 entries last year and 4,019 voted for the kanji character for “love,” which won first place.

We could say that the year 2005 was a year when we realized the necessity for love and its scarcity.

“Love” was the theme of the World Exposition in Aichi and became a big topic with the wedding of Princess Sayako, while many brutal incidents such as the killing of children in horrifying manners took place. We wonder where parents’ love towards their children, “love without compensation” has gone. Child abuse has increased these days and it might have been a year when we felt the lack of “love.”

Under these circumstances, did you notice that the column "Vox Populi, Vox Dei" in the "Asahi Shimbun" newspaper took up the topic of the Japanese Sign Language (JSL) twice? Here are some excerpts.

December 1st, 2005: Vox Populi, Vox Dei (Asahi Shimbun/Herald Tribune newspaper, appeared in the English version on Dec. 2nd)
In sign language, a child is indicated by a hand movement that resembles patting a child on his or her head. Specifically, you bring your right hand to your chest, palm-down, and move it horizontally in small circles. The gentle gesture describes the tenderness we feel for children.
The 7-year-old first-grader who was murdered on her way home from school in Hiroshima's Aki Ward last month was about 120 centimeters tall. She would have come up to a little below where your hand would be making the "child" sign.

The girl's body was found stuffed into a cardboard box that had held a gas home cooking stove. (end of excerpt)

December 3rd, 2005: Vox Populi, Vox Dei (Asahi Shimbun)

(~ omitted) A recent column referred to sign language, which expresses “a child” by a gesture of stroking an infant’s head. A letter from Kyushu reads as follows: Drawing a circle on one hand supported by the other hand means “love,” “cherish” in JSL sign. As we rub our hands together when it is cold, can’t we, regardless of whether we have small children or not, keep “security watch” on them hand in hand?

I agree with the gist of Vox Populi, Vox Dei to cherish children and install a security system in the community to shield them, but I felt some uneasiness when I read those articles.

Although it is not easy to explain what made me feel unsettled, I can point out the parts of the article which gave me an uncomfortable feeling. There are two parts, which I can pinpoint; one is “The gentle gesture describes the tenderness we feel for children” and the other is “Drawing a circle on one hand supported by the other hand means “love,” “cherish” in JSL. As we rub our hands together when it is cold.”

Deaf people, who actually use the sign might perhaps have never thought of signing /a child/ as a gesture of stroking a head. For those who use JSL as a language, signing /a child/, /love/ has already become lexicalized, for example, /a child/ in JSL doesn’t have a movement of a “stroke” as is explained in Vox Populi, Vox Dei.

I think the columnist of Vox Populi, Vox Dei tried to explain the process of the formation of the sign /a child/, /love/ and wanted to say that “Let’s watch children in the same manner as this sign, representing its kindheartedness.” I bet when those who are not familiar with JSL read this part of the sentence, they might consider it heartwarming and absolutely right.

The columnist of this Vox Populi, Vox Dei probably doesn’t know much about sign language. The example of the sign language, which was mentioned in the column was perhaps quoted from a letter of a reader (a hearing person) who is learning sign language. What is important is that the viewpoint of the Vox Populi, Vox Dei’s columnist represents a most common perception and viewpoints towards JSL.

The columnist of this Vox Populi, Vox Dei virtually considers sign language as a complementary means for a spoken language, which has only concrete expressions.
The columnist looks at signs through its “etymology,” and epitomizes the general concept that sign language is understood to be only “gestures, movements of hands and body.”

The sad thing about this is that the columnist of Vox Populi, Vox Dei didn’t write it with malicious intent. It is exactly “the mask of Benevolence” mentioned by Harlan Lane.

*Translated from the e-magazine of January 2, 2006 (#068)

■Is the sign for /like/ used by hearing people misunderstood?

The word “like” exists in both Japanese and Japanese Sign Language (JSL). However, we have to be cautious in using the sign /like/. For example, in sentences such as, “I like chocolate” or “There’s someone I like,” the word “like” is acceptable in both Japanese and JSL.

However, in Japanese, “like” is sometimes used differently from that in JSL.

For example, in Japanese, someone may say to a senior who, with good timing, buys them beer, “That’s why we like you.” Also, someone may say to a co-worker Mr. A, who kicked their hateful manager when drunk, “You did it! We like you, Mr. A.”

In Japanese, someone may say “I like Mr. B because he works hard without complaining.”

The students at my College sometimes say to me /I like you/ in sign language.

Case 1
Me: Today, it’s on me!
Student: Wow! I like you!
Me: ……

In this case, I wonder if the student is in love with me.

Case 2
Me: I’m leaving soon. Get ready to clear out of the building.
Student: Oh no. I still have so much to do.
Me: (Trying to read his/her mind in the manner required in the hearing culture, I guess the student wants to remain at school.) How long will it take to finish?
Student: Well, about thirty minutes or so.
Me: All right. I will stay a bit longer then.
Student: Thank you very much. I really like you!
Me: ……

Of course the above conversation is held in JSL.

When I’m told /I like you/ in sign language, I start wondering if the student has long been in love with me and grabbed this particular moment to confess? Possible?
Obviously, that suspicion doesn’t hold, so I switch my mind to Japanese mode and I rethink the above conversation.

The Japanese word “like” seems to be used to cover what JSL users may call /cool/, /excellent/, /good/ (with thumbs up) and /respect/.

There may be more than a few Deaf people who misunderstood /I like you/ signed by hearing people to mean they were given true words of love.

Attention, every hearing JSL learner! The JSL /like/ is different from that of Japanese. If you carelessly signed to a Deaf person /I like you/, you might have put the person in a very perplexing situation.

* Translated from the e-magazine of Dec. 6, 2005 (# 065)

■ Oil and abura (oil in Japanese)

I participated in the American Sign Language Teachers Association (ASLTA) conference held in Las Vegas from November 6th to 8th, 2005.

As it was ASLTA’s 30th anniversary in 2005, the conference was turned into a major commemorative event.

ASLTA’s president is Leslie C. Greer, a German-American who has given lectures in Japan on several occasions.

I first met Leslie at asign language linguistics convention in San Diego in 1992. In those days I couldn’t use American Sign Language (ASL) at all, but she was really considerate and took good care of me, giving me information by gestures.

The following year I met her again in a workshop camp for Deaf researchers in Denmark. We stayed together for about a week, so my ASL improved a little. In 1994, she gave a lecture in Japan for Deaf-Day 94 (organized by D PRO). The topic was “Deaf Culture”, which was virtually unknown in Japan at the time.

I cannot forget the following experience. We both went to a young Deaf leader training camp in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture. Just as we were about to start a barbeque, an interesting mutual confusion arose between Leslie and me over oil and abura.

How did it all begin? I signed barbeque cooking oil as /oil/ in Japanese Sign Language (JSL).

Leslie was beginning to learn JSL and she already knew that the sign for gasoline had three patterns, /car + CL pour/, /car + oil + CL pour/, and /oil + CL pour/.

She was astonished to see my sign /oil/ for cooking oil and asked “Gasoline for barbeque?” At first I couldn’t understand why she was so astonished, so I said, “Don’t worry, it’s just cooking oil, not gasoline.” Then she answered, “No, that’s not the point. I mean the problem is with your sign.”

I suppose she was surprised because we use the same sign /oil/ for both cooking oil and gasoline. In JSL this is perfectly acceptable, but in ASL they have separate signs for cooking oil and other kinds of oil. If you see it from the Deaf American ASL user’s point of view, it must be awkward to find that we use the same sign for cooking oil and gasoline.

Each language has its own lexical system.

We use the same sign /oil/ for both cooking oil and gasoline in JSL, but not in ASL. Which is right or wrong is not an issue.

Leslie knew it only too well, so we laughed it off.

But we shouldn’t forget that the same thing happens not only between ASL and JSL, but also between Japanese and JSL.

For example, the semantic domain of JSL /finish/ doesn’t completely agree with Japanese“finish”. But hearing sign language learners try to understand the meaning of JSL /finish/ by applying it to the Japanese language system, which is their own mother tongue. They acquire the wrong usage of JSL as a result.

That’s not all. Some learners even point out that the usage of JSL is wrong based on the Japanese lexical system.

Like Leslie, you should be ready to step out of your own language system to understand other languages correctly.

*Translated from the e-magazine of November 14, 2005 (# 064)

■Etymology of Japanese Sign Language (2)

In this week’s mail magazine, I’d like to write about why etymological knowledge is useless when learning the Japanese Sign Language.

Let me quote a classic example of the prefectural name /Akita/. There are two ways of expressing this word: one is to literally express /“aki” (autumn) + “ta” (field)/ in Chinese characters, and another is to use what derives from “fuki” (butterbur), a noted edible plant in Akita. The latter /akita/ is more commonly used locally.

When teaching this word in sign language courses, we first explain that its origin is “fuki,” and then give a supplementary explanation that the thumb of the dominant hand / (ta) of the Japanese finger alphabet/ (a thumbs up, the same as the internationally common gesture meaning “good”) refers to a butterbur stalk, and that the shape of an open non-dominant hand /“B” of the American Sign Language finger alphabet/ represents a butterbur leaf.

Moreover, students are instructed to move the upright thumb of the dominant hand (representing the stalk of butterbur) to the back of the upward facing non-dominant hand. Thus they end up forming a shape representing a butterbur.

However, we find some students and even interpreters who, although they have already studied the JSL for several years, fail to read such a basic sentence as “I come from Akita” included in the beginners’ course. Some of them do not even realize that people are talking about where they come from.

In sign language, this sentence “I come from Akita” is constructed as /I – born/ - /Akita/. The palm of the non-dominant hand expressing /Akita/ here is not directed straight upward, and /(ta) of the Japanese finger alphabet / expressed by the dominant hand looks like the common gesture “good” placed sideways. Since this is different from the hand shape of /akita/ explained in sign language courses, it seems like a totally different sign.

In addition to explaining the origin, how to form the hand shape continues as follows:“Make an image of a butterbur leaf using the non-dominant hand. Extend five fingers with the palm facing upward. This shows a butterbur leaf. Then put the thumb of your dominant hand under the back of your non-dominant hand. This thumb is a butterbur stalk, so it should be upright. Move the thumb up a little as though to push up the back of your hand so as to finish the sign of /akita/. There, you have it.”

In reality, however, it is wrong to set and teach every hand shape and movement in detail so that the word origin can be so faithfully expressed as described above. No matter in which direction the palm of the non-dominant hand forming the sign /akita/ is faced, Deaf people whose mother tongue is JSL can grasp the sign /akita/ so long as they can see the movement of putting the thumb tip of the dominant hand onto the back of the non-dominant hand.

On the other hand, students in the sign language course are instructed to make the sign /name/ by moving the thumb tip of their dominant hand to press the palm of their non-dominant hand, after explaining that its origin comes from the movement of making a thumb imprint on a document.

Actually, /name/ and /akita/ have a relationship of being a (phonological) minimal pair. Roughly speaking, a differentiation between /name/ and /akita/ is made only according to whether the thumb tip of the dominant hand touches the palm or the back of the non-dominant hand. Here it is not phonologically important in which direction the palm of the hand is faced. In other words, in the process of lexicalization, (when /akita/ is established as a word in sign language), differentiation by direction of the palm of the hand is lost, and a shape greatly different from its etymological origin is produced.

This shows that a word in sign language loses its etymological shape when it is established as such; therefore, it would be useless to learn the sign language based on etymology.

In the next mail magazine, I will write a little more about the etymology of the Japanese Sign Language including readers’ experiences and thoughts on this topic.

* Translated from the e-magazine of August 9, 2005 (# 060)

■About the Etymology of Sign Language (3)

Let me share with you a few stories about the etymology of sign language that came from readers of this e-magazine.

One reader initially felt uneasy when the part “HARA” of the surname “HARADA” was signed as /abdomen/, when the written character “Hara” means “field.” In spoken Japanese, “field” and “abdomen” have the same pronunciation. As he/she got used to JSL, it ceased to bother him/her whether “hara” was expressed as “field” or “abdomen” because there is no need for the expression to be different in sign language and there is no problem even if they happen to share the same expression in sign language.

Another similar example is, the part “KATA” of the surname “KATAOKA.” When written in Chinese character it means “piece,” but it is signed as /shoulder/ in JSL. So when a Japanese word is signed (lexicalized in sign language) based on its pronunciation, the signed expression of /shoulder/ no longer means either “piece” or “shoulder.”

Well then, you may wonder how to sign when you do wish to refer to “abdomen” or “shoulder.” In those cases, it is correctly understood when they are signed with NMS (Non-Manual Signals) that indicate the body parts referred to in sign language.

Going back to the previous subject, people say that those teachers who could explain the etymology of the sign language enjoy better reputation among sign language learners.

Another e-magazine reader sent me an e-mail about a hypothesis on why a sign language learner dwells so much upon the etymology of the sign language and why the learners repeatedly ask about the origin of signs.

Quote - When it comes to English, nobody asks, “Why is it called a “desk?” when an English word “desk” is taught, while Japanese Sign Language learners tend to ask about the word’s etymology. That’s probably because most people assume, wrongly, that JSL is a coded language replacing written Japanese by hand expressions.
That’s why a beginner of sign language learning is dissatisfied if JSL and written Japanese are not linked to each other ･･･ On the contrary, he/she feels assured if he/she asks a question about the etymology of the word in JSL and finds its link with that of Japanese. - Unquote

That explains it. This theory really gets to the point. The mentality of the sign language learners: As a means of not forgetting what they have learned, they seek knowledge about the origins of signs, receiving assurance from the link between Japanese Sign Language and written Japanese. That is understandable. However, I must stress that the knowledge of the derivation of the signs does not immediately follow through to developing the capability of understanding sign language.

Playing with words helps you to remember the particular year when an important historical events happened. For example, the year of 1192 when the Kamakura feudal government was established can be memorized as a Japanese sentence: “IIKUNI TSUKURO KAMAKURABAKUFU” in Japanese (1192 can be pronounced as “IIKUNI” which at the same time means “a good country” + “TSUKURO” which means “let’s establish” + “KAMAKURABAKUFU” which means “Kamakura feudal government”). In this same way some people say that it is better to remember the etymology because the etymology would remind you about the signs later, in a way such as, “How is it signed ? Well that must be signed this way…” because you can recall it from the memory of the etymology.

Memorizing the year of a historical event by playing with words may be useful to recall memories stored in the drawers of the brain. However, can we really expect to recall the meaning of the signs that we cannot understand when carrying on a conversation in sign language, merely because we knew its etymology? If anything, the signs may be so far in meaning from its explained etymology and archetype that the origin may be hardly recognizable. Therefore, the knowledge of the etymology would not make communication with a Deaf person any smoother.

I don’t think it is an overstatement to say, “Learning sign language with a focus on its etymology is totally harmful and of no use.”

*Translated from the e-magazine of August 29, 2005 (#061)

■Etymology of Japanese Sign Language (1)

I was in the second year of university when I first became involved in a sign language study group and a course of sign language in the local community. In those days here’s what the learning situation was like: a hearing person taught the course while the Deaf, including myself, helped the hearing teacher in the class.

In one of the sign language classes, the teacher (who was a hearing person; from now on, a “sign language teacher” refers to a hearing person) showed a Japanese sentence to a Deaf woman and asked her to translate it into sign language. However, being not very good at reading Japanese, the woman seemed unable to grasp the meaning of the Japanese sentence so she ended up producing a word- for- word translation in sign language, which was an awkward sentence in both Manually Coded Japanese and JSL. The teacher then laughed and commented, saying something like, “After all, it seems impossible for someone who doesn’t have a good command of Japanese to teach sign language.”

That teacher actually didn’t understand what Japanese Sign Language was, but I was not able to explain the awkwardness I felt then.

To tell the truth, before I took up the current job at our college as a faculty member, I had no experience in teaching sign language (independently, all by myself). I only worked as a teaching assistant helping about ten sign language teachers. I had experience as a teaching assistant for five or six years in the courses in the local community and specialized courses and training courses for interpreters in Tokyo.

There was one thing sign language teachers had in common. They all had abundant knowledge of the etymology of sign language lexicon (the origin of each sign). It seems as if it were impossible to become a sign language teacher unless they knew the origin of each sign.

It is not detrimental to be acquainted with the origin of signs. However, whenever I observed those classes of sign language, I found that they spent most of the class time on the explanation of the origin or derivation of the sign. Consequently, sign language learners seem to have established a habit of asking automatically, “What is the origin?” whenever they come across a new sign.
When a sign language teacher explained the origin of the sign “name”(which is widely used in the eastern part of Japan), saying it is derived from the very gesture of making a thumbprint, I was somewhat impressed. However, when the origin of the sign expression “for example” was explained by another sign language teacher, I wondered whether this way of teaching sign language, focusing on the etymological explanation, was appropriate, thinking “Isn’t it a bit too farfetched?”

A great book on the origin of signs “Wit of Sign Language---Focus on Etymology” was published in 1987. This book is significant in the sense that it shows the wisdom of previous generations in their efforts to spin out new signs. The author, Mr. Shozo Ohara himself explains that there are cases where more than one etymological explanation is possible.
Mr. Ohara writes in Chapter one, “It is not a discredit to the Deaf not knowing the etymology of signs in the Deaf society. It is the same as with hearing people. There are few hearing people who know the origin of the Sumo terms such as “Maku-uchi” and “Maku-shita,” though most of us can make a distinction between them. It is unfair that people expect the Deaf to know the origin of every sign.”

I guess that he wrote the above description lamenting over the fact that sign language training heavily focuses on etymology. As a result, sign language learners tend to rely more on those teachers who can give detailed explanation of the origin of signs rather than on the Deaf who have less knowledge of the etymology.

Although Mr. Ohara is deceased, the perception that the etymological explanation is indispensable for sign language learning continues.

Specifically, the degree of aptitude and capability as a sign language teacher are assessed according to the knowledge of the etymology of signs. Hearing sign language teachers study the etymology of signs and they know it better than do the Deaf.

There are many Deaf people who are tired of being asked not only, “What does the sign you just used mean? What is it?” but also, “Oh! That’s what it means. What is the origin of it?”, whenever they talk with sign language learners.

There are some cases where Deaf persons decline a job offer as a sign language teacher due to their insufficient knowledge of the etymology of sign language. An extreme example is that of a Deaf person who was reluctant to attend a sign language learning group since she was belittled when a hearing sign language learner said that she didn’t even know the origin of signs.

Is it true that from the learner’s point of view it is easier to learn and memorize signs when their origin is explained?
I’m intending to write, in the next issue, about how useless it is, in learning sign language, to have an etymological explanation.

Reference: Ohara, S. 1987. Shuwa no chie ~ sono gogenn wo chuushinn ni~
Japanese Federation of the Deaf. 3,800 yen (excluding consumption tax)

* Translated from the e-magazine of August 1, 2005 (#059)

■“SUMIMASEN”（Excuse me, I am sorry, etc.）

When my deaf colleague, Mr. Osonoe and I were alone in the instructors’ room, we kept the door open as usual. I sensed that someone was at the door, so I looked in that direction to find one of the employees of the college, who I know is able to communicate in sign language, a little.

While neither Mr. Osonoe nor I had noticed, the employee had been standing there saying “Sumimasen.” (Excuse me.) repeatedly in sign language, knocking at the door.

I “………?” Mr. Osonoe also blinked his eyes, perplexed.

I invited the employee into the instructors’ room, and what I really actually wanted to tell the employee was: “Since both Mr.Osonoe and I are Deaf, your act of knocking at a door would not be an effective method in order to gain our attention, and also saying Sumimasen, (Excuse me.) would not be the correct stimulus in order for us to notice your presence.”

It is said that there are eight functions in the Japanese expression, “Sumimasen.” The first function of “Sumimasen” is used when getting someone’s attention or upon entering a room, as the above. It is not meant for an apology.

When a sign language user calls somebody’s attention, first he or she waves to get attention, and then says “Sumimasen.” (Excuse me.) After eye contact, which also contains the feeling of an apology, having drawn somebody near oneself, for the sake of their convenience, and asks, “Is it all right to speak to you now?” (A Japanese speaker tends to say “Sumimiasen,” before or without the eye contact.)

The other day, since the unsuitable manner in which my younger coworker (a hearing person) asked a question, ( in the Deaf culture), I said to her, “Your question is not to the point and by the way you asked, we cannot understand what you want to say. I gave her advice on how to communicate to sign language users. Then she replied, “Sumimasen,” (I am sorry.) which was not what I expected. “Now I see. Thank you,” was what I expected.

Since I gave advice on how to ask questions to sign language users, pointing out again what went wrong, I couldn’t understand why she apologized to me, again, saying “Sumimasen.”

When my younger coworker says “Sumimasen,”(I am sorry), to me, I feel uneasy about the apology, especially when I am not even angry (for her unsuitable manner of asking questions to sign language users.). I feel as if I were really mean.

Would a Japanese speaker say “Sumimasen,” when given a caution and yet again when that person offers an advice after that? Two “sumimasens”?

In the sign language user’s case, the proper manner to receive advice, especially after being cautioned, is to offer word of gratitude.

If a sign language user gives you only a caution, without advice, you may find that he or she is quite angry with you. In such a case, the proper manner is to say “I understood and won’t let it happen again,” and add “Sumimasen.” after that. (A Japanese speaker tends to say “Sumimasen” at the beginning, while a sign language user does so at the end.)

By the way, a hearing person (a sign language learner or something) who has received some cautions from a Deaf person merely tends to say “Sumimasen,” without first saying “I understand.” like a Deaf person. So from the viewpoint of a Deaf person who has given a caution to a hearing person, I cannot avoid suspecting whether he or she really understood the meaning of the caution. I’m afraid the person who has been cautioned may not really understand, but just simply says “Sumimasen” superficially.

It is said that the expression “Sumimasen,” has an almighty function for Japanese speakers.

I looked it up in a Japanese dictionary “The Comprehensive Dictionary of the Japanese Language” (Kojien) (Iwanami Shoten; the fifth edition).

The Comprehensive Dictionary of the Japanese Language (Kojien) defines “sumimasen” as the polite form of “sumanai” (having no excuse).

That is not helpful at all: (with cold sweat).

I also looked it up in “Genius Japanese-English Dictionary,” (Taishukan Publishing Co., LTD.) which explains it as “I apologize, I beg your pardon, sorry and thank you”. I see…. The word “Sumimasen” contains two different meanings of both “I am sorry” and “Thank you”. How about that!

The “Dai-ji-sen” dictionary explains the expression “sumimasen” as used to convey an apology, gratitude, or to make a request. “I am sorry for my delay in communication.”, “Thank you for your kindness for giving me a present for early recovery.” and “Excuse me, but could you lend me the book, please.” (Partly quoted)

Sign language users never say “Sumimasen” when they express gratitude, however, sign language interpreters and learners tend to do so. When they say “Sumimasen,” to a Deaf person in sign language, they usually get a reply like “No problem and it is all right. (He or she expresses “Kamawanai. /doesn’t matter/” in sign language.)”, wondering why they are so apologetic when he or she is not angry with them at all.

Both spoken Japanese and JSL have the expression “Sumimasen” in their vocabulary. This can cause misunderstandings which can be unduly extended to misunderstanding a person’s personality, leading to a collapse of human relationships, unless we remain conscious of the difference in the usages of the expression “Sumimasen” in each respective language.

* Translated from the e-magazine of July 11, 2005 (#057)

■The Word /Unnecessary/ (hitsuyonai) in Japanese Sign Language

Japanese Sign Language (JSL) makes frequent use of the word /unnecessary/. It’s also one of the words with a semantic coverage quite different from that of spoken Japanese.

The word /unnecessary/ is introduced intentionally as part of the ‘breakfast’ syllabus to JSL beginners taught using the natural approach method.

If hearing Japanese people are asked whether they usually have breakfast or not, they would reply, if they are breakfast skippers, they don’t have it, or they seldom have it. But sign language users would reply that it is /unnecessary/.

Maybe because ‘unnecessary’ is frequently used to mean ‘to not have to do something,’ in Japanese spoken language, hearing Japanese people seem to take ‘Breakfast is /unnecessary/’ to mean ‘We don’t have to have breakfast.’

Therefore hearing people may feel like disagreeing when we (Deaf) answer breakfast is unnecessary. There are those hearing Japanese people who will reply ‘You shouldn’t think like that. It is very important to have breakfast.’

Finally, JSL learners (hearing Japanese people) notice in the next context that the sign /unnecessary/ is different from that of spoken Japanese.
/At home/breakfast/unnecessary/but/have/breakfast/at DOUTOR/near/the office/.
So a Deaf person doesn’t have breakfast at home, but certainly does have one at a café called ‘DOUTOR’ near the office.

Also, ‘Sugar is /unnecessary/ for my coffee’ means ‘I don’t put sugar in my coffee.’

JSL learners may even begin to worry about the meaning of their existence in the following situation.

Scene: A pregnant staff member (A) whose baby is due says at a camp executive meeting that she would like to participate in the camp with her baby.

Staff A: I think I can take part in the camp because it will be three months after the baby’s birth.
Staff B: What! Your participation is /unnecessary/. I think it’ll be impossible to take part in the camp with a three-month old baby.

In the above dialogue, staff member B worries about A’s condition, so B says that A ‘doesn’t have to’ push herself to participate in the camp. But JSL learners (hearing Japanese people) tend to interpret it as meaning that staff A is told that she’ll be useless at the camp.

Scene: A person has to attend a meeting, which will be held a few hours later, but she has a cold with a high fever.

A: I have a fever and feel sick, so I would like to be absent from the meeting. *
* A hearing Japanese person would omit the part ‘I would like to be absent from...’and stop at ‘so…’
B: Your attendance at the meeting is /unnecessary/. You should go home immediately. If you are sick tomorrow, your coming to work is /unnecessary/.
A: OK. Thank you.

This is similar to the situation mentioned above. B is worried about A’s poor condition, and B says that A shouldn’t attend the meeting or come to work by pushing himself/herself the following day. But in the same situation, JSL learners (hearing Japanese people) interpret that as ‘they don’t need to attend the meeting’ and they are not even needed to report in the following day, so it must mean they are not counted as an essential member of the team.
So they may question the meaning of their very existence.

Other examples of misunderstanding are as follows.

I guess many JSL learners (hearing Japanese people) have been shocked by Deaf people responding /unnecessary/ to a hearing person’s offer of assistance. (For example, ‘Shall I help you?’ ‘Shall I borrow it for you?’ or ‘ Shall I ask for you?’).

Scene: B is busy preparing for a meeting. A offers to help B make photocopies.

A: Shall I help you make copies?
B: No thank you. /Unnecessary/.

I guess JSL learners (hearing Japanese people) interpret it in either of the following two ways.
1. It is unnecessary to make copies.
2. You are /unnecessary/ for making copies. (‘I’ will do that.)
The person who gives it the second interpretation may be extremely shocked by the B’s response or feel rejected. However, that doesn’t mean the first interpretation is correct.

The correct meaning is ‘Well, I’m fine.’

If you receive the response /unnecessary/ to your offer, all it means is ‘ I’m fine.’

We have many other meanings for /unnecessary/ in JSL. I introduced here some that are likely to cause misunderstandings between JSL learners (hearing Japanese people) and the Deaf.

I would like JSL learners not to interpret sign language words as they are used in the spoken language. I hope you accept our sign language as is and swim across the vast ocean of signs without being weighed down by spoken words.

* Translated from the e-magazine of July 18, 2005 (# 058)

■Mouthed Sign Language

A language changes as long as people use it. If its users die out, a language will too. You can say that a language lives through those that speak it.

It is not only hearing people who are lamenting the messed-up language spoken by young people today, which some call a corruption of the Japanese language. Deaf people also complain about the same thing.

To put it more precisely, elderly Deaf people deplore the recent deterioration in signs used by young Deaf people.

They seem to be saddened by two kinds of sign language corruption and it is necessary to make a clear distinction between the two. One is the so-called 'mouthed sign language' and the other is the so-called 'funny signs'.

What is the mouthed sign language? When mouthing is overused while signing, some interpreters and students regard it as Manually Signed Japanese (MSJ), but it is in fact overly mouthed Japanese Sign Language.

The reason why mouthed sign language is a kind of Japanese Sign Language (JSL) is that it uses Non-Manual Signals (NMS), the central pillar of JSL grammar. It is true that it has many loan words and phrases from spoken Japanese, but it is essentially JSL in its structure with NMS present.

(If your sign language follows the grammar of spoken Japanese, it should be called MSJ, instead of mouthed sign language. MSJ usually doesn't accompany NMS.)

Let’s take a look at this sentence. (The capitalized words are written in katakana, the script used to indicate loaned words of non-Japanese origin.)
"My DREAM is to eat a lot of very DELICIOUS cakes in France. But as the air MONEY is high, I settle for JAPAN's cakes."

'Very delicious cakes' may sound strange in English. The word 'delicious' means very tasty, so 'very' is somewhat redundant.

'Delicious' is an adjective. In Japanese, some adjectives take inflectional ending before a noun and some do not. The word for delicious in Japanese doesn't require one. So, 'DELICIOUS +inflectional ending + cakes' is a bit funny, but it is acceptable from the viewpoint of Japanese grammatical structure. Concerning 'JAPAN's cakes', the same can be said. `JAPAN's cake’ in Japanese means 'a Japanese cake' in English, so we should perhaps say JAPANESE cakes?

'Money for plane' means 'cost of buying an air ticket’, or 'airfare' in English, not 'air money'. If you translate it as 'air money', native English speakers may be a bit perplexed.

Though it has many loan words from English, this particular katakana-heavy example is no doubt Japanese in its structure. The same can be said between mouthed sign language and JSL.

"I will tell you what I dream of. It is to go to France and to eat very delicious cakes. But because the money for plane is high, I settle for Japan's cakes. " (Underlined parts are loan words from JSL with NMS and mouthing at the same time)

'What I dream of is ...' is a common JSL sentence pattern. Hearing people say 'My dream is ...'. Likewise 'to go to France and to eat very delicious cakes' is a JSL pattern, while in spoken Japanese you would say' to eat delicious cakes in France'. How to express 'in Japan' in JSL is unique in that it literally says ‘I say here in Japan.’ It looks like MSJ, but actually it is JSL with heavy use of mouthing.

From both objective and subjective perspectives, it is true that mouthing is popular among young Deaf people in their early 20s. But as they get older, they use fewer loan words and become good speakers using sophisticated JSL.

Let me go back to the first point about lamenting young Deaf people's incorrect usage of sign language. With regard to mouthing, there is no need to worry. After they graduate from their schools for the Deaf, they will become good JSL speakers through coming into contact with older Deaf people, which will awaken their dormant language ability.

In addition, the funny signs that the elderly are lamenting will also be inevitable, because language is by its very nature dynamic. Current spoken Japanese can provide us with large numbers of examples. There are complaints about the so-called strange Japanese usage, such as the shortening of the phrase 'can eat' (taberareru to tabereru) or another strange expression for 'in my case'. JSL also has funny expressions that older Deaf people deplore such as signing ‘11’ by using the forefinger and little finger or using 'over' incorrectly. In my opinion, let them be. They will probably take root in JSL as they have in spoken Japanese.

* Translated from the e-magazine of June 13, 2005 (#054)

■ How to Carry Out a Conversation

What often becomes a topic in sign language education is that the way hearing people carry out their conversations is different from that of Deaf people.

When hearing learners of sign language are asked if they have siblings, most of them immediately answer how many brothers and/or sisters they have before answering yes or no.

A (teacher): Do you have any siblings?
B (learner): (Yes.) I have two brothers and a sister.

That answer gives us, Deaf people, the impression that they take the liberty of explaining without being asked. Therefore, expert Deaf teachers correct the answers as follows.

A (teacher): Do you have any siblings?
B (learner): Yes, I do.
A (teacher): How many do you have?
B (learner): I have four.
A (teacher): Four siblings! You have a lot, don’t you? Who are they?
B (learner): They are two (elder) brothers, a (younger) sister and me.

【Note: In Japanese there are separate terms for each sibling according to whether he/she is older or younger than the speaker .】

You may have noticed when hearing people are asked the number of siblings, they seem to count themselves out.

A (teacher): Do you have any siblings?
B (learner): Yes. I have one (elder) brother.

In the case of Deaf people, we count ourselves in.

A (teacher): How many siblings do you have?
B (learner): I have two. One (elder) brother and me.

In the hearing culture, “reading people’s minds” is key. Therefore, if they are asked something, they seem to be required to answer after thinking over what the speakers really want to know.

The other day, the following dialogue took place in a class of the Sign Language Interpretation Course at our college.

I (Deaf person): Would you like to add something to the explanation given by Ms. S?
Ms. T (hearing person): Well, according to Ms. S’s explanation…

I interrupted her utterance and instructed her to answer in the Deaf people’s manner.

I: Do you have some comments about Ms. S?
Ms. T: Yes.
I: (I indicate with non linguistic signals to encourage her utterance)
Ms. T (hearing person): Well, according to Ms. S’s explanation…

In the Deaf people’s conversation, if you are asked a YES/NO question, you always answer with a yes or no and should continue your utterance only after watching the speaker’s response. If you can’t answer with a yes or no, first of all, you should say that you cannot answer with a yes or no.

The other day, my colleague Mr. Satoshi Osonoe complained, “I can’t see what hearing people really want to ask.”

Mr. Osonoe is a student in an evening college class. The following conversation took place when he made a report presentation in a developmental psychology class.

One of the students asked him, “Do you find Deaf babies also show development in their sign language?” He answered, “Yes” and was waiting for the next question. Then there was an uncomfortable silence. During that silence, the student seemed to be uneasy.

As he knew that student from before, Mr. Osonoe asked if it was all right to explain the development in detail, though it felt a bit imposing.

I think Deaf people would carry out the conversations as follows.

Student　A : Do you find Deaf babies also show development in their sign language?
Student　B : Yes.
Student　A : Is that right?(Positive reaction) Please do explain how they develop.
Student　B : OK. In the case of Deaf babies…

In the case of hearing people, I suspect the conversation may go as follows.

Student　A : Do you find Deaf babies also show development in their sign language?
Student　B : Yes. In the case of Deaf babies…

In Mr. Osonoe’s example where the student looked uneasy, the yes-only-answer might have misled the student into thinking that the question offended Mr. Osonoe .

That is to say, among hearing people, the reaction with just a yes or no to a YES/NO question seems to indicate that they are uncomfortable with the question or do not wish to answer it. That is just the“culture of reading people’s mind.”

I realize such conversation methods of hearing people exist, but am a little uncomfortable engaging in these conversation methods myself.

I take part in classes and seminars at a postgraduate school. Participants there are all hearing people. I always try to answer in the hearing people’s manner but sometimes my brain doesn’t work that way. Sometimes there are unintended silences when I happen to answer in the Deaf manner. When that happens, we each make efforts to fill up the space, which is quite interesting.

At any rate, I would like sign language learners to learn Deaf people’s conversation methods. Even if the learners have acquired sign language, as long as their way to carry out conversations is that of the hearing people, I think conversations will not be smooth between hearing and Deaf people.

Learning a language means learning the culture of the speakers of that language as well.

* Translated from the e-magazine of May 30, 2005 (# 052)

■Complimenting parents on unattractive babies

In hearing culture, giving compliments to parents on their little children seems to be considered good manners no matter how unattractive the baby looks.

Not all babies are as cute as those appearing on TV commercials. There are also babies with round or wrinkled faces, who look like the champion sumo wrestler Asashio (a former ozeki, big and strong but far from handsome by general standards, meaning no offense to him or his fans).

Hearing people start their conversation with compliments such as “Oh! What a cute baby!” even in the case of these unattractive babies. By no means everyone does, but hearing people generally say “how cute!” They may just be being diplomatic though.

Instead of the term “What a cute baby,” a small number of hearing people may say: “Ah, what a round face!” or “Oh, how many months old?”

Under no circumstances do they make a slip of the tongue and say the baby “looks like a pig,” “looks like Asashio,” or “has a monkey face.”

Mr. T, a hearing person and course graduate, visited the school after a long absence. He showed a photo of his dear child to part-time Deaf teachers who happened to be around, expecting to receive words of compliment, like “how cute.” Contrary to his expectations, however, nobody complimented him on his cute baby.

When Mr. T came to see me in a separate room with the photo of his baby to show me, I failed to realize that he might have suspected that none of the Deaf teachers gave compliments to him due to Deaf culture. I personally may have said something like “Hm! Your child resembles which parent?”

Several minutes later, Mr. T came back to my room to ask me with a serious face: “Isn’t my child cute?” This abrupt question came as a surprise. He wondered why none of the Deaf teachers had praised his child. What on earth did they really say? They had said: “Hm. Is this your baby?” “Looks like his dad. Poor little child,” or “Ah, so-so (meaning not particularly cute).

Poor Mr. T. He didn’t get any complimentary words like “cute” from me either. He ended up by failing to show that he was a doting father.

A Deaf friend of my parent’s once surprised me by saying, “Dear me. How big you’ve grown! When you were a baby, you looked like a pig with a round face.”

I did look like a pig when I was a child (laughter).

Mr. T. I hope you can just think of this matter as being part of Deaf culture, and do the best you can to bring up your dear child to be sound in mind and body.

I assure you that there are Deaf people who are so considerate of hearing people that they will be sure to say that your child is cute. Finding such tactful Deaf people is the hard part.

*Translated from the e-magazine of April 19, 2004 (# 006)

■Is Sign Language a Highly Transparent Language?

I often hear sign language learners say such things as, “It is easy for me to understand sign language because it feels like watching a movie.” and “though it has been only a short while since I have started to learn sign language, I seem to be able to understand it somehow just by watching.” and so on. They seem to mean well.

The above comments clearly show that they think sign language has TRANSPARENCY, which means that whoever sees sign language understands it as he understands mime. (I am convinced that those who commented as above don’t know what Deaf people are really saying.)

Now then, have you ever seen a skillful mime?

A mime artist is not considered great, unless anyone in the world can understands his performance. In other word, mime requires high transparency.

One of the most famous Deaf mime artists in Japan is without a doubt Koji Yoshimoto, who is in the Osaka Pantomime Group. He liked Charles Chaplin so much that he himself became a mime artist. He has performed abroad several times.

When I searched the Internet, using the keyword, “mime”, I found “sign language” listed as one of the advantages of being able to perform mime.

If a person were able to perform mime, would this person also be able to use sign language?

The answer is NO.

What about the reverse?

If the person were able to use sign language, would he be able to perform mime well?

The answer is also NO.

In other words, just because a person can sign, this does not necessarily mean that he/she will be able to mime well. Both sign language and mime use facial expressions, movements of hands and body. Sign language users tend to use movements similar to the movement a mime performer would use. As a result, he cannot mime well.

Alas, Deaf people don’t have any advantage in mastering mime just because they can sign.

The mime artist, Yoshimoto mentioned above must be switching off the part of his brain which controls sign language when performing mime.

Now to change the subject, I manage to communicate in the beginner’s level American Sign Language. It’s because the other party, American Sign Language signer grasps the level of my competence and communicates with me according to my level. However, I cannot keep up with a conversation among American Sign Language signers. I cannot understand what they are talking about at all. The only thing I can do is to catch words I can make some sense out of from the conversation and guess what is being talked about.

Therefore when a hearing person says “I seem to be able to make out the sign language of the Deaf.,” it is totally untrue.

Let me share with you a story from Rob Roy’s performance which was hosted by the Kansai-Shuwa-College.

Mr. Yano of the Kansai-Shuwa-College told me that he received comments from the hearing audience that they somehow understood Rob’s Deaf jokes, but could not understand their translation in Japanese Sign Language.”

Japanese Deaf people understand Rob Roy’s talk somewhat and understand it fully by the interpretation in Japanese Sign Language.

But with a hearing person, it’s a different story. Even when Rob’s talk is interpreted, he cannot understand it though he seems to be able to understand it without interpretation.

In reality, Rob uses International Sign when he tells Deaf jokes on stage. One can detect many words borrowed from American Sign Language, but since he basically uses the words which are established in International Sign and add some mime to it, it could be understood without interpretation if you are used to International Sign.

In short, since Rob basically speaks in International Sign adding some elements of mime which is highly transparent, even a hearing person who is at the beginner’s level in any sign language, is somehow able to understand him.

But when Rob’s talk is interpreted into Japanese Sign Language, they cannot understand the interpreted Japanese signs.

The above episode proves that a sign language as a language is not transparent and is different from mime.

The prevalent myth, that “A sign language is like mime” is untrue. But mime could be useful as one of the strategies to communicate among those who use different languages from each other.

It may be the case that hearing people are not good at expressing their feelings by face and body, or simply moving their hands and body. Then, using mime may be a good way to overcome such weakness.

However, in summary and to emphasize my previous point:

“Even if a person is able to perform mime, there is no guarantee that he will become able to sign, and vice versa.”

* Translated from the e-magazine of May 9, 2005 (# 049)

■Mr. Yonaiyama said “Hearing people should teach sign language to Deaf people.”

Akihiro Yonaiyama, who now manages the private limited company Shuwa-Bunka-Mura (the Village of Sign Language Culture) as a representative director, is one of the major actors in Japanese Deaf theater and has always insisted on the necessity of Japanese Sign Language (JSL).

Therefore I thought it incredible when I heard (or rather saw the sign language which expressed) that he said that hearing people should teach sign language to Deaf people at a certain lecture.

Though I wondered if there were any mistakes, a Deaf friend of mine, who had told me this episode, said “It is really unbelievable, but he certainly seemed to have said that hearing people should teach sign language to Deaf people.” My Deaf friend had such a sad face when he was telling me this.

We Deaf people, including Mr. Yonaiyama, who are the native speakers of JSL, have been campaigning to learn language teaching methods and trying to teach sign language in language education courses. We recognize that the reason why manually coded Japanese has become the mainstream of the sign language courses is because most of teachers of sign language are not Deaf but hearing people who cannot master JSL. So, if Mr. Yonaiyama had really articulated the opinion described above, he would be a “traitor to the cause” of Deaf society, though this may sound a bit exaggerated.

In addition, having heard that he had said hearing people should teach sign language to Deaf people who use JSL in daily life, I got quite angry. However, calming down and remembering that he is a person who would never speak in such a way, I asked the friend, “Who told you the story? ”

Then she answered she had heard the story from a hearing person who is the member of a certain sign language learners group, and that person had heard that story from another member of the group who had directly heard Mr. Yonaiyama’s lecture with only two years’ sign language learning experience.

“I guess that she had heard the story not directly from Mr. Yonaiyama, but through an interpreter,” I suggested. Then she seemed to realize my intention and we agreed that it might be an issue of interpretation.

After that, I met Mr. Yonaiyama at a certain meeting and asked him incidentally: “I’ve heard you had said the other day that hearing people should teach sign language to Deaf people at the lecture in ABC city. Is it true?” Then he answered bewildered, “What? Me? I said it is not hearing, but Deaf people who should teach the sign language, …”

Convinced that it must be the matter of interpretation, I asked him to reconstruct the story.

• /HEARING PEOPLE/ [neg] , /DEAF PEOPLE/, /SIGN LANGUAGE/ SHOULD/ TEACH/.

This is the sentence he signed. The literal translation is “Not hearing people, but Deaf people should teach sign language”.

But the sign language interpreter of that lecture had translated it as “Not Deaf people, but hearing people should teach sign language”.

Why was such a misinterpretation produced? It might be because the interpreter couldn’t catch the expression of negation (neg) expressed by NMS (Non Manual Signals), which is one of the parameters of sign language grammar: if we omit the part of (neg), the sentence would just become “Not Deaf people but hearing people should teach sign language”.

If the interpreter was unable to identify the grammatical distinction expressed non-manually (by NMS), I should hope she would have translated that sentence at least as “Both hearing people and Deaf people should teach the sign language”.

By the way, sign language sentences change their meanings depending on NMS, though they have the same word order.

In case there is parallel NMS between /HEARING PEOPLE/ and /DEAF PEOPLE/, the sentence means “Hearing people and Deaf people”.

• /HEARING PEOPLE /DEAF PEOPLE/, /SIGN LANGUAGE/ SHOULD/ TEACH/ .
(Both hearing people and Deaf people should teach sign language.)

When object marking NMS is put on /DEAF PEOPLE/ and /HEARING PEOPLE/ functions as the agent of the predicate (by role shift), the sentence will mean “To Deaf people hearing people should teach sign language”: in contrast, if object marking NMS is put to /HEARING PEOPLE/ and /DEAF PEOPLE/ functions as the agent of the predicate (by role shift), it will mean “To hearing people Deaf people should teach sign language”.

Anyway, I wonder if one could say that the above-mentioned interpreter disgraced Mr. Yonaiyama’s honor. She misled the audience, who could not understand JSL at all, into thinking “Well, after all, hearing people (created and) spread sign language to deaf people!” as if it were the conclusion of Mr. Yonaiyama’s speech.

*Translated from the e-magazine of April 25, 2005 (# 048)

■Have you gained weight?

I’ve been gaining weight recently. Though wanting to reduce it to that of seven years ago, I failed to carry out my intentions and have been gaining 1 kilogram a year. When my weight was about to reach the critical point, I received an e-mail of just two lines on my PC, as follows:

“How are you? I always enjoy your NHK Sign Language News. Harumi, you’ve gained weight, haven’t you? Well, see you!”

The person who sent me this e-mail is a Deaf lady who is quite advanced in years whom I met only once when I went to give a lecture. She seems to have taken a particular liking to me and since then has sent me a package of seasonal fruits once a year.

I sent her a return mail quickly, saying: “Yes, I am afraid so. Just watch me get thinner as I am trying so hard!”

Deaf people reading this might be wondering why I am writing all this in this e-mail magazine, because it is not unusual for them to say to someone whom they don’t know very well, “Oh, you’ve been putting on a little weight these days, haven’t you?”

But hearing people seem to refrain from saying such things unless they are quite close.

Three or four years ago, one of the new students on Sign Language Interpretation Course (a hearing person) put on a little weight after her admission, so I said to her, “Have you gained weight?”, which made her eyes grow wide and she was rendered speechless after she had gasped, “What!? No way!”

I seemed to have said something cruel to her.

It seems all right to say to a hearing person “Well, have you lost weight?” while it seems unacceptable to say to him/her “Well, have you gained weight?”

Then, is it O.K. to say “You’ve gained weight.” to all Deaf people? Not really.

This also happened a few years ago. Of all things, one of our hearing graduates asked me, “Have you gotten fat?” While her sign itself meant “GAIN-WEIGHT”, her mouthing (*) expressed “GET-FAT”. If she were a Deaf person, she would never have used such a mouthing!

To express “HAVE-YOU-GAINED-WEIGHT?” in Japanese Sign Language, it is not sufficient to add an interrogative (YES/NO question) Non-Manual Signal to the JSL expression for “GAIN-WEIGHT”.

It may be acceptable to express “GAIN-WEIGHT” with an interrogative Non-Manual Signal plus nodding backward several times.

But if you express such a sentence with your chin up or with your head fixed, a Deaf person may get angry and say “You’re so rude!” So please bear that in mind, my dear hearing readers!

(*) Mouthing
There are two types of mouth movement in sign language: One is a mouth gesture, which is sign-language specific, the other is mouthing, which is derived from spoken languages and, in the case of JSL, is mostly borrowed from spoken Japanese.
(extracted from “Mouthing in Japanese Sign Language” by Sakura Tsuruta, a resume of the 13th graduation presentation of The Course of Sign Language Interpretation at the College of the National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, March 2004)

*Translated from the e-magazine of April 8, 2004 (# 003)

■Haven’t you grown fat? (2)

I received a message from a reader in the Kinki area which said, “When I meet someone after a long time, the first thing that catches my eye is whether he or she has grown fat or lost weight. I am quite tempted to mention that straight away. When I am careful enough, I say something like ‘You have a lot of presence.’ Similarly, I’d say to a person who used to be fat, ‘You are keeping quite fit’ in place of other greetings. But Deaf people tend to say things more straightforwardly...”.

That message reminded me of something personal. I have been a bit on the fat side since I was a little girl. A hearing lady in my neighborhood used to refer to me like this: When I was a child, she said, “You chubby little darling.” When I was a junior high or senior high school student, she would say, “Hi, Harumi, you’ve become plump.”

This is how hearing people would comment; that is the hearing culture I suppose. Since they cannot use words like “growing fat” for women, perhaps they resort to such indirect expressions as those above.

If you were speaking to men, would you say “You come to have a (good) athletic physique” or “Oh, you have an imposing figure”?

Japanese speakers (generally Japanese hearing people) prefer not to verbalize everything, while Japanese signers (generally Japanese Deaf people) prefer to verbalize.

Speaking from my personal experience, once when I met a deaf person for the first time in several months, the person had become so fat that I almost mistook him for another person. At that time, I could not say, “Haven’t you grown fat?”, which means, I was unable to verbalize it. Mmm…

Wondering how other Deaf people reacted, I mentioned this to a deaf friend of mine, saying “Mr. X became so fat that I could not say anything about it.” She said, “Me, too. As a matter of fact, Mr. X has become extremely fat.”

If someone grows fatter only a little, a Deaf person can say to him or her, “Haven’t you grown fat?” but if someone grows “extremely” fat and it is clear to anyone who sees him or her, a Deaf person seems not to be able to verbalize it.

If possible, I would also like to consider how this all connects to “sexual harassment” to ask “Haven’t you grown fat?” in sign language, which another reader pointed out.

■ Messages from readers

Readers have sent me some messages. When I find interesting ones, I may decide to share them with you in this mail magazine. The following two messages are regarding my email magazine No. 002.

Message from a hearing reader in the Kanto region

Page 9 of the Asahi Shimbun (Newspaper) on April 4 carried an article calling for participants in “The Model National Diet for Children”. Young Diet members of about 13-18 years old (children who made their own decision not to go to school or have difficulty in receiving education because their nationality is not Japanese and disabled children are particularly welcome). “The Model National Diet for Children” will be held at the National Olympics Memorial Youth Center in Yoyogi on April 23 and 24. I hope some children who are appealing to have their linguistic human rights to receive education in JSL restored will participate. Currently very few people are aware that sign language interpretation may be needed in the Diet as well.

Message from a Deaf reader in the Kinki region

I read your magazine No.002 with interest because it revealed how much or how little politicians knew about the sign language. It would be extremely interesting if we made and published a list of rankings by a political party, of the member politicians’ degree of knowledge about Deaf people and sign language. Then the politicians may start to study the issues in earnest. Reading this mail magazine, I thought the ways and means of enlightening politicians about the current situation of Deaf people needed to be seriously sought.

*Translated from the e-magazine of April 8, 2004 (#004)

■Non Manual Adverb / no problem /

There is a linguistic feature called "Non Manual Adverbs” which function as adverbs in Japanese Sign Language. They are not words, but Non Manual Signals (NMS) that have grammatical functions and are often used with verbs.

The NMS as adverbs are mainly expressed by facial movements: raised and/or lowered eyebrows, narrowed eyes, pursed lips, pushed out lower lip, tightly closed lips and so on...

A few years ago, I attended a monthly meeting of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) sign language newscasters. All the newscasters’ clothes order forms were ready except for one; mine, as it turned out. Then I realized the form was in my drawer but I hadn’t noticed. When I was filling in the form in a hurry, a newscaster who was then in charge of the secretarial work apologized to me, saying “Sorry, we should have seen to it that you found it in the drawer.” I started to say, “No, it is my own fault that I didn’t notice it”.

But, to my surprise, she repeatedly apologized while going so far as to explain how she put the form in the drawer, why she was so careless and that it wouldn’t be a problem if I was a few days late in submitting it.

I tried telling her every time she offered her apology, “No, it’s not your fault, but mine. I was the one who was careless not to notice it. You are not to blame at all.” But she was very apologetic all the way through.

When we finished the meeting, I was still wondering why she overreacted and looked as if I was angry with her.

Another time, I was in the teachers’ room in National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities College where I work. One student came to tell me that he was late for school because of a train problem. Though I replied that I understood the situation, he apologized to me “I’m very sorry. I’ll be more careful after this”, and left the room in low spirits as if he was reprimanded by me.

I was staggered by his reaction. The train problem was beyond his control. I didn’t have any reason to get angry with him. I meant to say it was no problem at all.

So I replayed the conversation with him by myself. Then it struck me that maybe he didn’t understand the expression /no problem /+/no mind /.

This /no problem/ is expressed by NMS. It involves a pouting movement.

This pouting movement is very similar to Japanese hearing people’s gesture for complaining.

Because I expressed /no problem/+/no mind/ in sign language, he might have misunderstood that I was not satisfied with his lateness but I would let it go.

That is why he left the room apologizing, “I’m very sorry. I’ll be more careful after this,” rather than the expected “Thank you.“

I also realized that the sign language newscaster from NHK had apologized to me many times because she got the wrong impression that I was angry with her when I repeated the expression / no problem /+/ no mind /.

When I talked of my experiences with a few Deaf friends, they said, “Now I understand why I was sometimes asked if I was angry” or “I wondered if a person had done something wrong when they repeatedly said ‘I’m sorry’ ” and . I realized that other Deaf people have had similar experiences.

Deaf people’s sign language is often said to be “expressive”. In sign language courses, they often tell students to be more expressive. But this “expressiveness” mainly refers to personal feelings and learners are not taught about facial expressions bearing grammar functions.

In the non-Deaf or hearing community, I usually try not to use /no problem/ NMS to avoid giving the wrong impression about my character. But if I want to bring hearing people into the Deaf culture and community, I gradually start using /no problem/ NMS.

* Translated from the e-magazine of March 21, 2005 (# 043)

■Japanese Sign Language “Not bad”

Today’s anecdote is of the expression “Not bad” in Japanese Sign Language.

In Japanese Sign Language “Not bad” has two variations: ordinary “bad + not” and an idiomatic expression “Not bad.” The former is used when “I haven’t done anything wrong,” while the latter idiomatic expression is used in a way which is difficult to understand (for hearing people).

Actually “Not bad” has a marked phonetic shift in Japanese Sign Language and it is almost impossible to distinguish the primary hand shape and its movement of “bad” and “not.” Therefore it is most likely few learners of Japanese Sign Language have come across this idiomatic expression “Not bad.”

Let me introduce an event, which Ms. M., one of the graduates of the Course of Sign Language Interpretation experienced.

The topic of the conversation at that time was Ms. M.’s husband. A part time Deaf teacher was looking at a photo and said in sign language “Ms. M.’s spouse is “Not bad.” Ms. M. could not grasp the meaning of “Not bad” in sign language, thus she didn’t understand what was going on at all.

Then the Deaf teacher slowly and articulately reproduced “Not bad,” however Ms. M. had a hard time understanding it due to the phonological continuation (or more simply: connected words). Another Deaf teacher expressed “bad” and “not” separately and explained that these connected words eventually become the idiomatic expression “Not bad” and Ms. M. finally seemed to be satisfied…

However, she appeared unhappy and said, “Does it mean my sweetheart is only a little better than an ugly man? What a blow!”

The Deaf teachers around her wondered about Ms. M.’s negative response.

“That is not what I meant. I dare not say he is super good looking, but he looks like a nice guy, that’s why I said “not bad.” Why did you get so upset?”

Ms. M. didn’t know that “not bad” in Japanese Sign Language has a different connotation from that in Japanese.

Let me share with you a couple of examples which show how “not bad” in Japanese Sign Language is used.

Scene 1
A is known as a good cook. When people taste dinner at A’s house, they say “Not bad.”

Scene 2
When B cooks, he seems to randomly use ingredients disregarding the recipe without measuring seasonings. When people eat what B cooks, they say “Not bad.”

Now, have you, the subscribers of this mail magazine who are learning Japanese Sign Language understood the “Not bad” in scene 1 and scene 2?

Let me translate them into Japanese!

Scene 1
“(The reputation is true.) What a wonderful cook he is!”

Scene 2
“(In spite of his randomness) It tastes good.”

You may have noticed that “Not bad” in Japanese Sign Language is used completely differently from “Not bad” in Japanese. “Not bad” in sign language has a rather positive assessment.

How about in the following scenes?

Scene 3
When I learned that a friend of mine who crammed for more than 10 hours a day without going out for pleasure passed the entrance exams to Tokyo University, I say “Not bad.”

Scene 4
When I realized that Ms. C. is very good at sign language and her spouse is a Deaf person, I say “Not bad.”

These examples might be more difficult… They are translated into Japanese as follows:

Scene 3
“He deserves to have passed the exams to Tokyo University, since he worked so hard.”

Scene 4 “No wonder she is good at sign language, it is because she has a Deaf husband”

As you can see there are many other vocabularies, which have gaps in their meanings between Japanese Sign Language and Japanese. One example is “better” and “It doesn’t matter.”

The problem occurs when some hearing people say the usage of vocabulary in Japanese Sign Language is wrong based on the usage and its range of meaning in spoken Japanese.

I hope subscribers of this e- magazine do not belong to the above category.

*Translated from the e-magazine of April 26, 2004 (# 007)

■Do Deaf children learn sign language in schools for the deaf?

I expressed my opinion in the mail magazine No.002, regarding the question asked by Symbiotic Society Investigative Committee member, Ms. Takahashi (independent member of the House of Councilors, Japanese Upper House). She said, “I hear that they don’t teach sign language in schools for the deaf…,” but I feel it should be said that “they aren’t taught by sign language in schools for the deaf.”

Then I received an E-mail from a reader of my mail magazine, a hearing journalist. “You pointed out the same thing to me, when I wrote an article about a Deaf person. The reason why people say repeatedly that “they don’t teach sign language to the deaf” is that most hearing people believe that deaf children learn sign language at school for the first time”.

In addition, the journalist told me, “Hearing people believe that (deaf) children learn sign language from (hearing) teachers, “experts” and “authorities” in sign language. “This is A.” or “This is GOOD MORNING.” like children learning multiplication from a teacher for the first time, they assume that it is the way sign language is taught.

To tell the truth, in the Deaf community, nobody thinks he/she learned sign language from a (hearing) teacher. That is why we tend to overlook the fact that the misconception “they teach sign language at schools for the deaf” is prevalent in the hearing community.

Deaf children who have hearing parents see sign language for the first time in schools for the deaf. But they learn sign language not from the teacher but from their seniors, speakers of sign language, by mimicking and imitating them.

In schools for the deaf where children are not allowed to use sign language, they sign behind teachers’ backs. Sign language is handed down from old timers to new students. They use their hands in corridors, schoolyards and when going to and from school when the teachers can’t see them.

The Deaf must be reminded of something even more startling. Quite a few hearing people believe that “hearing people created sign language for the deaf.” Even sign language interpreters and experts in deaf education believe this.

It is said that ASL (American Sign Language) was created by a hearing priest, JSL (Japanese Sign Language) was created in the 11th year in the Meiji era (1878) when the first school for the deaf was built in Kyoto. But this isn’t true.

In the United States and Japan (and all other countries and areas in the world), sign language was first created by the deaf children who lived there. (The same might apply to any spoken language.) ＊

Whether it be in the United States or in Japan, deaf children everywhere in the world created (or invented) and brought together their own sign languages, and only after that hearing people adopted them into the educational system.

In addition, hearing people tried to improve it, because “sign language of the deaf is not systematized.” For example, the simultaneous sign method in Tochigi Prefecture is well known in Japan.

To “systematize” seems to mean that sign language should be able to visually represent the Japanese language according to the Japanese grammatical word order. They never realized that sign language of the deaf had its own phonemes, vocabulary and grammatical system.

After all, hearing people assume deaf sign language is merely a means of communication, they have no notion of it as a highly refined language that has as complex a structure as any spoken language.

At the end, I will review today’s topics for our mail magazine readers.

[misconceptions by the hearing people]

No. 1 Deaf children learn sign language from hearing teachers in deaf schools.

No. 2 Hearing people created sign language for the deaf.

＊ I will take up Pidgin and Creole at another time.

*Translated from the e-magazine of April 12, 2004 (# 005)

■Can whisky “ski”?

The other day a Deaf instructor was giving a sign language class to beginners. The theme of the lecture was “liquor”.

He was teaching how to sign such topics as kinds of liquor, classifier expressions of shapes and sizes of bottles and cans, frequency of drinking, where and with whom to drink, and what happens when we drink.

There are many varieties of liquor: sake, beer (bottled, canned, in a jug), wine, whisky, shou-chu (Japanese distilled spirit), brandy, vodka, to name just a few.

He depicted them on the whiteboard and showed their signs one by one.

The sign for shou-chu has regional variations, just like vegetables and colors. It demonstrates that everyday vocabulary for items such as food and daily commodities are the last to be standardized, and that locally based signs are still used.

On the other hand, fancy imported items (we, however, seldom come across this expression any more) like “whisky” reveal strong regional as well as generational differences.

My father signs /western + liquor/ for “whisky”.

Twenty years ago, when I first came to Tokyo to go to college, most deaf people in Tokyo signed /ski/, the winter sports activity, for “whisky”. At first I was surprised, but I accepted the expression and didn’t feel particularly uncomfortable. However, sign language learners and interpreters for the deaf seem to consider not differentiating “whisky” and “ski” rather hard to swallow.

Let me introduce a couple of other examples of coining in Japanese sign language: the family restaurant “Denny’s” and the electronics company “Sharp”.

“Denny’s” is signed as either “tennis” or “Disney” [Note the similarity of sounds].

Late one evening, several deaf people and a hearing person agreed to go for /tennis/ after a casual meeting. The same members happened to have played tennis before, which made the hearing person decide to join them although he wondered why tennis at such a late hour. He drove to the tennis court and found nobody there. While he was waiting, the rest of the deaf people, who drove in separate cars, didn’t show up. The deaf people who went to the Denny’s restaurant assumed that the hearing person, who never showed up, had gone home. This is not a joke.

The electronics company “Sharp” is signed as /jump/. [Note again the similarity of the sounds. If you don’t find them similar, try to read your own lips.]

Now, back to the theme, that Deaf instructor of the sign language class also used /ski/ for “whisky”. He applied the Natural Approach, one of the direct language teaching methods, to this class. In other words, the instructor doesn’t give any etymological explanations. Those who begin with the Natural Approach learn by watching other people without worrying much about the sign language’s etymology. Most of those in the class accepted /ski/ without difficulty.

Should we avoid words such as /ski (whisky)/ or /tennis (Denny’s)/ that were coined from Japanese mouthing, from the point of view of “a genuine Japanese sign language uninfluenced by Japanese spoken language”?

My answer to this is NO, because these signs have already been established. What’s more, there is no such thing as Japanese sign language that has had no interference from Japanese spoken language.

*Translated from the e-magazine of February 3, 2005 (# 040)

■You are far too kind to tell me.

A building "Sunshine City" in Ikebukuro is also called "Sunshine 60." Deaf people spell it /60 + building/ or /Ikebukuro + 60 + building/ in sign language. '60' comes before the /building/, while in Japanese it comes at the end.

Some meddlesome hearing people, however, insist that /60 + building/ is not in the correct order and that it should be /building + name(Sunshine=fingerspelled) + 60/.

The /building + name/ expression is popular among sign language interpreters. They also use /place + name/ or /country + name/ to distinguish proper nouns. However, it only discloses their incapability to handle NMS (Non Manual Signals) which are used by deaf people to indicate names of particular cities, countries and building names.

Of course, when deaf people want to know or need to inform others of a correct name, they sign /Sunshine + 60/, but usually it is OK to say /60 + building/ as it is commonly done. Some hearing people, however, want to correct the word order and put '60' at the end.

This is not the only example.

Let me tell you the experience of one deaf person. When he was asked about the style of the wedding ceremony he had attended, he answered in sign language, "It wasn't a Christian-style wedding. Well, they made vows in front of their friends and family." Reading his mouthing, one of his hearing friends corrected his pronunciation of "in front of people" to be 'JINZEN' (the Chinese reading of the characters), not 'HITOMAE' (the Japanese reading of the characters), thus throwing a dampener on the conversation.

[Note: In the Japanese writing system, Chinese characters (kanji) are used to represent meaning. Each character can be pronounced in at two or more ways, depending on the 'kunyomi' or the Japanese reading, and the 'onyomi' or the Chinese reading. In the case described above, each person is discussing the same characters, but each uses different readings.]

From that experience, the deaf person decided in his mind that he would never use mouthing in front of the hearing friend, because obviously the friend had a fixed image that the deaf always made mistakes in reading Japanese words, which compelled him to correct deaf people, even when not asked to do so.

Japanese is a 2nd language to deaf people. When they express something by borrowing Japanese words, they sometimes make mistakes in pronunciation. Of course, it is better to know the correct reading of the words.

I have sometimes noticed different pronunciations in conversations with other deaf people. In that case, I always talk of the mistake openly and cheerfully.

Between deaf people, neither becomes a wet blanket if one corrects the other's pronunciation mid-conversation.

When it happens between deaf people and hearing people, however, the matter becomes a bit more sensitive. Some hearing readers may share the experience that a deaf person was offended when he had his pronunciation corrected (or some hearing people may not notice that the deaf counterpart is in a bad mood after being corrected.) On the other hand, some of you may have experienced gratitude for the correction.

Any condescending way of speaking, such as 'I will kindly teach you…' will trigger bad feelings in deaf people.

The bottom line is to know how to express oneself properly in sign language. Unless you know the correct ways or manners to advise someone in sign language, you may be shunned by deaf people when you correct their pronunciation, contrary to your good intentions.

To complicate the matter, there are some cases in which the same mouthing is obviously wrong in Japanese pronunciation, but not wrong in sign language.

I didn't notice until Mr. Osonoe, my colleague, told me about this case. "The Sensouji Temple" must be pronounced as 'SENSOUJI', using the Chinese reading. I also read it as 'SENSOUJI' in Japanese and input it as such into the word processor. However, when talking abo