Above: Left to Right:
Klaus Abildgaard & Eva Abildgaard, 1982

Dansk, Danish

Om tegnsprogskrift
Mine 2 børn, Klaus og Eva, 13 og 11 aar, har sammen med mig deltaget i kursus i tegnsprogskrift. Der var mange ting og bevægelser vi skulle huske fordi systemet bestaar af 65 forskellige symboler. Klaus og Eva kunne godt følge med selv om kurset var for voksne.

Klaus, som stadig er usikker i dansk, kunne allerede paa 3. dag læse en hel sætning paa tegnsprogskriften. Han kunne gengive de forskellige tegnsbevægelser, haandstillinger nøjagtigt fra amerikansk tegnskrift. Det morsomme var at han ikke vidste hvad det betød. Amerikansk tegnsprog er anderledes end dansk tegnsprog.

Jeg skriver ikke her for at vise hvor dygtig Klaus var, men for at vise, hvorfor jeg tror at døve børn kan lære at skrive tegnsprog hurtigere end de kan lære at skrive dansk.

For at kunne bruge tegnsprogskrift i breve f.eks., skal man kunne tegnsprog ...ligesom man for at kunne skrive breve paa dansk skal kunne det danske sprog. Klaus kan ikke saa godt skrive breve paa dansk.

Han er ikke saa dygtig til dansk grammatik...og han kan ikke nok danske ord. Men han kan allerede nu skrive tegnsprog, efter at han har lært tegnsprogskrift.

 Engelsk, English

About SignWriting
My two children, Klaus and Eva, 13 and 11 years old, have, together with me, taken a course in SignWriting. There were many things and movements we were supposed to remember because the system consists of 65 different symbols. Klaus and Eva could easily follow along, even though the course was meant for adults.

Klaus, who is still unsure of his Danish, could already by the third day, read a whole sentence in SignWriting. He could repeat the different sign language movements and handshapes exactly from the American SignWriting. The funny thing was that he didn't know what it meant. American Sign Language is different than Danish Sign Language.

I am not writing this to show how smart Klaus was, but to show why I believe that deaf children can learn to write sign language faster than they can learn to write Danish (spoken language).

To be able to use SignWriting to write letters, for example, you have to know sign language...just as to be able to write letters in Danish, you need to know the Danish language. Klaus cannot write letters in Danish that well. He is not that skilled with Danish grammar, and he doesn't know enough Danish words. But now, after he learned SignWriting, he can already write sign language.