I’ve been thinking about which language(s) to focus on this year. My studies of Russian petered out before Christmas, partly because I haven’t any pressing need to learn it. Since then I’ve been trying to decide whether to continue with Russian, to learn a new language, or to work on a language I’ve already studied.
As I was given Teach Yourself British Sign Language for Christmas, I’ve decided to have another go at it. The book and accompanying DVD seem to be clear and well put together, and cover not just signs, but also grammar, Deaf culture and etiquette. I might also learn some more Spanish.
In other sign language-related news, it is now possible to learn Icelandic Sign Language (íslenskt táknmál) online on SignWiki, if you already know Icelandic. Icelandic Sign Language developed from Danish Sign Language (Dansk Tegnsprog) and was officially recognised in Icelandic in May 2011, according to the IceNews website.
I can’t get the IceNews link to work and I’m interested in the source. Do you mind also posting the link here?
I’ve fixed the IceNews link.
There’s a fascinating little book at the National Library of Wales by a young 12 year old girl, Eliza Pughe of Clynnog in Gwynedd, north west Wales.
It’s a picture book with the words of different objects in both Welsh and English. It seems she may have copied the (English) words with pictures and then added the Welsh. As Clynog in the mid 19C would have been effectively a monolingual Welsh-speaking area, maybe she was teaching herself English too?
http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=583