Interested in learning Auslan

[robbo1172]

I don't know why, but for many years I've had an interest in learning Auslan.

Has anyone learnt this language?

Newcastle Uni run a course but only during the day.

I've joined a WEA waiting list and there doesn't seem to be much else around Newcastle.

Robbo...

[Scolers]

I started to learn it but stopped after a while. Make sure it's not signed English .. Auslan is the official language for the deaf.

[kylarama]

Good luck, I admire you for wanting to learn.
My brother in law and his partner are both deaf.  He became deaf as an infant from meningitis and his partner was born deaf.

My partner and her family all know signed english, but not Auslan.  My signing is very very average, but I can still communicate with them very well thanks to lip reading!
Their 2 little boys are amazing, both are hearing and could sign Auslan before they could talk. 
Growing up in a silent household my inlaws spent allot of time with them teaching them to talk.  Inlaws are retired english teacher and lawyer, so these little boys speak beyond their years and have to interpret for their parents.

[macca]

My daughter learnt Auslan a few years ago,  she did a full time course before going back to uni and becoming a teacher, she    says it was worth it and has used it quite often, what did you want to know and I can ask her

[gronk]

What's the difference between signed english and auslan ??

[kylarama]

Signed english is word for word english as we know it, Auslan has its own grammar and vocabulary.  1 sign can mean a sentence or saying?  I think??

[Scolers]

Signed english is word for word english as we know it, Auslan has its own grammar and vocabulary.  1 sign can mean a sentence or saying?  I think??

Yup! It can mean a SHORT sentence and can mean a phrase ... Signed English is a pain. The full language is much more creative and fun.

[timmyh80]

Our oldest child is non verbal, and we have used a combination of makaton and auslan over the years through his schooling. He is now using a novachat device. But here is a couple of ideas.

In the Sale, vic area there is a small school that teaches auslan as its language other than English, and the teacher runs a 6 week beginers introduction course for the public.

A couple of web sites that are handy; www.auslan.org.au www.sigbplanet.net

There is a couple of apps you can get to help learn/ look up words.

The local deaf community  may have a regular catch up/ morning tea etc. I am sure if you would be welcome to join in with them.

Good luck.

Sent from my SM-G360G using Tapatalk

[timmyh80]

Meant to be www signplanet.net

Sent from my SM-G360G using Tapatalk

[gronk]

So when you see a signer on a tv broadcast, they are an english signer ??

So if you are deaf and only learnt auslan, you wouldn't understand the person on tv ??

[Scolers]

Good bloody question!!!

Now-a-days is it in Auslan (or if in America it is Amslan ... think that's the write spelling).

Years ago you could only learn signed English 'cause the powers that be decreed that for both the Deaf community and the English speaking to learn to integrate they needed a 'middle' language to converse in.  Huh?  So up to about the mid 90's all you could learn was signed English.  To learn Auslan you needed to be part of the Deaf community ie. have a family member who is deaf or work within the deaf community for eg. as a Counselor.

I'm profoundly deaf ... total loss in right ear and 20% residual loss in left ear as the result of a work related injury.  So in order for me to 'integrate as a deaf person' it was decreed for me to learn signed English ... bloody useless that was as I THEN needed to learn Auslan to integrate into the Deaf community.  Irony was (and still is) I stopped learning sign language for the simple reason that it is such a minority of people who know sign that I am better off just plodding along with my lip reading skills and asking people to  write down what it is they wish to communicate.  Mildly humiliating but I've grown beyond that. 

I guess I got caught in the middle of policy change but now I'm heading north of 50 I really can't be arsed learning a new language all over again.

My youngest sister is also deaf (Mum had German measles when she was pregnant with her) and oddly enough she (sister) is now an audiologist and signs very fluently in Auslan.  She also has a cochlear implant (something I can't use).  She was born on the 'right' side of the policy change.

So I am trusting that those who ask for our vote once every 3-4 years are aware of the trouble they cause when they stuff said policy up. 

OK ... minor rant ... my apologies ... so it is  Auslan you see on the tv broadcast as signed English is not a 'true' language ... thank bloody goodness!!

 

Scol.

[gronk]

That cleared it up.......or did it