Irish Sign Language - Classes

Andy Rivers

Hi,

i'm looking to start a basic evening ISL course. I have looked at the www.lcfe.ie website (http://tinyurl.com/35qh22x) and they are running a class in January. Anyone know anything about the course is it any good?

They have exams as part of the course, L1 and L2, would these be useful to progress towards a higher qualification in ISL?

Any other places around Limerick or nearby that teach classes in basic ISL?

Cheers,

Andy ;-)

wheelybird

i wouldnt really bother with doing a course as they cost too much, what i did was i got in contact with deafhear.ie and i bout a sign language dvd from them and i've been learning language ever since, you could get in contact with deafhear if there is an office near you...or go to the website www.deafhear.ie and ask them how you could go about doing a course if you still wanted to do the course

Mysticvean

I was wondering why this thread was posted in the accessibility-mobility-disability forum when it should be, in my opinion, be in the languages forum. Irish sign language is a language like any other. Just wondering.

the best way to learn any language is to practise as much as possible.

DeafHear is one good place. As the original poster is from the Limerick Area, I recommend you contact the Deaf Community Centre.

http://www.dcclimerick.eu/


Learning from a DVD without meeting the language users will only get you so far, and you'll probably miss out on so much when it comes to grammar. It's all too easy to sign the words using English Grammar, which is analogous to Learning French from a dictionary and using English Grammatical structure.

Having said all that, wishing you all the best.

Aishae

are you just looking to learn the language for your own use or with a view to becoming a qualified interpreter?
as was said you can get a dvd - and books too - from deafhear. you can also youtube and google isl for practice.

if its for a qualification then id also recommend deafhear as they can give you information on the various ways of doing this. or if there is no deafhear near you there should be some sort of deaf assosciation that may help

Mysticvean

that's very true. However, the OP specifically asked for classes in Limerick.


In Limerick, Deaf Hear is not the place to go.(It is good for advocacy services, but not for language classes.) DCC is. It depends on the part of the country where to go and which organisation to contact. Yes, it's confusing!

Learning ISL from books and dvds without classes is not recommended.

In order to get qualifications, the only place in the whole country to get qualifications in
- sign language interpreting
- sign language teaching
- Deaf Studies http://www.tcd.ie/slscs/undergraduate/deaf-studies-bachelor/index.php
is through the Centre for Deaf Studies, at Trinity College, Dublin. http://www.tcd.ie/slscs/cds/

Youtube is very much hit and miss. Some channels that provide ISL clips actually do more harm than good as they very obviously do not have someone monitoring that they are actually signing the signs correctly. some signs are simply not signed properly. When Deaf people watch these clips, they actually cringe. If you were to depend on some channels, and not go to classes, you would end up signing in

1. English word order. (ISL has its own grammatical structure which includes spatial grammar.)
2. signing incorrectly. (enough said)
3. focusing on the hands when signing. (70% of the meaning is conveyed through the face and shoulders, and NOT in the hands.)

This is all wrong, and a waste of time as Deaf people would simply look at you. It's the same as someone learning French, and speaking in English word order, pronouncing words incorrectly.

There is an organisation called SLAI (Sign Language Association of Ireland) which provides classes and qualifications throughout the country, but they tend to ofgfer classes in Signed English, which is largely NOT what deaf people use, only elderly deaf people.