www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Ukrainian Deaf Sign Language--Need Help

The school district I work with just got a student from Ukraine who is deaf and uses Ukrainian Sign Language. They plan on teaching him American Sign Language as he continues his schooling here in the USA. The student does not yet know any English.

Does anyone know of or could direct me to some information on Ukrainian Sign Language? What we'd like to eventually get is some listing of signs used by Ukrainian Deaf (website or dictionary) that hopefully would help us be able to communicate more efficiently and help him more quickly learn American Sign. Of course, if the resource is entirely in Ukrainian we would need someone to translate the Ukrainian into English also.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Dave Brown leoignatius@msn.com

I am afraid I do not know of a website for UKL, but perhaps if no one here can answer it, you might call or write to one of the schools for the deaf in an area like Pittsburgh or Parma where there are many Ukrainian speakers and ask them for resources. Odds are, they have encountered SOMEONE who knows where to find UKL material.

Gaudior, who wishes you the best of luck

Thanks for the idea.

Does anyone here have contact with educators in Ukraine?

Dave,

Ukrainian Society of the Deaf, Central Board,
74 Krasnoarmeiska ya st.
KIEV 5, 252005, Ukraine.
Tel: (007) 044 2271550 voice
(007) 044 2275316 Fax.

Try also:

Yelaina Kripkov
Language Coordinator
Russian & East European Studies Center
University of Oregon
ykripkov@oregon.uoregon.edu

Department of Communication Disorders & Sciences
Yamada Language Center
University of Oregon
ylc@uoregon.edu

Gallaudet University
800 Florida Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20002-3695
(202) 651-5000 (V/TTY)

Short-term, there is an on-line site that displays the characters of the Russian Manual Alphabet; it may be of some help, at least as an interim measure.

See: Russian Manual Alphabet [deafblind.com]

The following are resources who may have access to something more specific:

James@DeafBlind.com (webmaster of the site on which the Russian alphabet - and many others - but not Ukrainian - appears)

jkautz@stanford.edu (Special Languages at Stanford University Language Lab, who put together the Russian alphabet graphic)

Yuri Kramar, Director
Maria Pokrova School for the Deaf
Lychakivska,35
Lviv 290010
Ukraine
Tel/fax (0322) 75-50-71
no e-mail addy
(they are English-speaking)

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
10801 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20852
actioncenter@asha.org

An individual who operates a site devoted to Sign Language at Handspeak.com [handspeak.com]
jolanta@handspeak.com

You might also pm SPDundas here at the forum. He may have some additional suggestions.

Many years,

Neil

Many thanks, Neil!

A couple of those are close to home! I'm wondering if Russian Sign is related to Ukrainian Sign? I would think so but that's just a guess.

I'll make a couple of contacts and if anyone else would have any more suggestions please pass them along.

Many thanks again!

This topic is always dear to my heart.

I have met many Deaf people from other countries and sign totally different from ASL. But we always manage to learn new words.

So the best advice is to work with the student and point at things or showing him things and sign a word in ASL like show him a cup and sign the word CUP.

It's the same as hearing people teaching other people to speak. But Deaf people will pick it up quite rapidly because it's a visual communication.

Also, ironically enough, I spoke with a priest just earlier this evening before I saw this post (he's Ruthenian in Ohio that knows ASL and signs at every Pilgrimages every year in Pennsylvania), he said that the language structure between Russian and ASL is very similar in matter of fact.

I would LOVE to hang around this kid because I have been wanting to LEARN Russian Sign Language! (RSL).

Last Summer, I went to a wedding in New York City (it's a Deaf wedding) and there I met one Deaf guy from Russia and another guy from Ukraine. So they both were signing to each other in either Russian or Ukrainian (of course this Ukie Deaf guy is a friend of mine..and he was acting superior than this Russian guy! HEH! I thought it was funny. This Russian guy was extremely nice, not so stand-offish as my Ukie friend).

I think Russian and Ukrainian are the same (of course with different variations just like ASL is all over the United States...some signs are different up north than it is in the south, and so forth just like accents/dialets).

So it is quite interesting to see conversations in RSL.

You are welcome to send me a Private Messages and if you want, I can give you my personal email if there is any problem or need any advice, etc.

Also, there is a video relay cameras now being offered by Soresen or Sprint. It is FREE FREE FREE for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. One must have either DSL or Cable modem connection. So it'd be a great way for this kid to communicate with the Russians and learn ASL from them perhaps?

Let me know how it goes.

WOW! How exciting.

SPDundas
Deaf Byzantine

PS, Is he Byzantine?

SPDundas,

I don't know if he is Byzantine or not. I was told that when offered materials in Russian the family replied they were Ukrainian and not Russian. I think the method you mentioned for teaching ASL to him is a good one.

The video relay system you mention is great! We purchased the dlink system and I use it to video phone my folks in Arizona. My folks say they spend a lot of time chatting in ASL with friends all over the USA. I don't know if there are deaf from other countries using it yet.

DTBrown:

Are you a CODA?

SPDundas
Deaf Byzantine

Yes, I am. For others here, CODA refers to "Children Of Deaf Adults."

My Mom and Dad are in their 80's, living in Arizona. They both met at the State School for the Deaf and Blind in Tucson, a residential school. Mom went there as a little girl with no knowledge of what was going on...no one could explain to her what the school was all about. She says she still remembers being distracted by another kid with some toy and then turning around and her Mom and Dad were gone. Initially, she hated being apart from them but once she learned how to communicate with sign language she hated going back to the silent world with hearing people.

Dad has been deaf since infancy also but was taught the oral method (lip reading, heavy emphasis on speech)in Michigan. At the schools he went to kids were punished if they used sign. His family moved to Arizona when he was about 15. He was sent to the school in Tucson but knew no sign. As the story goes, my Mom spotted this handsome new student and decided she'd teach him sign language. They soon fell in love. My Mom's folks were a bit overprotective and didn't think deaf people could marry and raise a family and they opposed the relationship. Once Mom reached the age of majority she and Dad got married. Last month they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary!

What a wonderful story! May God grant them many years!

Gaudior, who is tired of marriages lasting less than 60 days...

Dear Friends,

We saw a good example of Ukrainian sign language during the demonstrations in Kyiv last week . . .

The Yanukovych supporters were pointing with their index finger at Yanukovych.

The Yuschenko supporters were also pointing at him . . . but with quite another finger . . .

But I guess they were using different languages . . .

Alex

Tsk Tsk Alex

I see that tonight has already gone to your head :p

Anhelyna

Dear Anhelyna,

And what a nice evening it was!

The flowers pleased "She who must be obeyed" to no end . . .

Dinner was fabulous(ly expensive ).

Let me give you an indication of what dessert was like . . .

Hot quince soup with cinnamon, cranberry mousse on a lemon poppy-seed wedge together with a poached pear topped with chestnut mousse.

My motto is: "Life is short, eat dessert first!"

Then we went home and watched the Papal Mass for the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Everyone was happy . . .

Alex

OOOOOOOOOOH :DROOL: :DROOL:

Why do we always get on the subject of fabulous food in fast periods ?

Anhelyna