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Norwegian Sign Language Posted by on May 28, 2011 in Culture, Language

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!

 

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About the Author: kari

I attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where I majored in Norwegian and History. During college, I spent almost a year living in Oslo, Norway, where I attended the University of Oslo and completed an internship at the United States Embassy. I have worked for Concordia Language Villages as a pre-K Norwegian teacher and have taught an adult Norwegian language class. Right now, I keep up by writing this Norwegian blog for Transparent Language. Please read and share your thoughts! I will be continuing this blog from my future residence in the Norwegian arctic!


Comments:

  1. Stacie:

    Maybe you could be of a bit of help to me – I was excited to see this topic!

    I am a sign language interpreter here in the states, and my husband is a Norwegian. We talk about moving to Norway and I would love to work towards becoming a sign language interpreter there. Here in the states there are lots of easy to find rules and regulations for becoming an interpreter but I have had no luck finding the same in Norway. Likely I don’t know where to look.

    Do you have any knowledge of or suggestions that could lead me to where to find some information regarding 1) what the requirements are to be an interpreter and 2) where a person can go to learn NSL?

    Thanks in advance! Contact me through the blog or at stacie.valle @ gmail.com.