I learned the sign language alphabet when I was in grade school, but since then I have not invested more time in it.  I don´t actually know any deaf people, so I guess that´s my justification for not having learned it.  However, I have worked several jobs for which knowing sign language would have come in handy.  I have worked in restaurants, a bank, and a clothing and shoe store and had deaf customers at all of them.

While I believe knowing a foreign language gives one a slight advantage even in understanding a deaf person sign, I wish I would have made it easier for the customer.  Especially at a bank, it is very important to understand all details, so the customer always ended up writing down his or her requests.  Of course that works just fine, but I feel badly that people who were born without the ability to speak have to cater to the rest of us who have it.

When I looked into tegnspråk (sign language) in Norway, I found it interesting that Norway and Madagascar share the same movements. Tegnspråk has been in use in Norway since 1815 and just 10 years later, the first deaf school was established in Trondheim.  There are 2 major dialects and one minor dialect of NSL (Norwegian Sign Language) in Norway with differing alphabets.  Trondheim´s tegnspråk dialect is similar to ASL (American Sign Language) in that it is one-handed.  The other major dialect is from Oslo and it is a two-handed tegnspråk.  Most people use the Trondheim one-handed dialect, but the Oslo dialect is becoming more popular.  Just as speaking Norwegians can communicate quite easily with Danes (especially in writing) and Swedes, a Norwegian døv (deaf) person can understand døve Swedes and Danes quite well also.

There are approximately 12,000 døve in Norway.  Every year there is a big party where they gather for cultural events including plays, poetry readings, concerts, a dinner, and time to hang out and just chat.

A committee is working hard to make norsk tegnspråk an official språk of Norway.  Despite the fact that it is not yet an official språk, Norwegian society is quite progressive.  The law requires that signed interpretation be made available to college students, to the courts, and in the mental health industry.

Click here to see the norsk tegnspråk alfabet.

Click here to see nummere (numbers).

See here to see a woman sign hundreds of different words!