Russian Braille and Sign Language Posted by Maria on Oct 15, 2015 in Culture, language
Today I would like to talk about a different kind of Russian. We have mostly been talking about the spoken Russian and its graphic representation in the Cyrillic alphabet. Let us look at the communication for the deaf and blind communities in Russia.
First, I must say that unfortunately the blind (слепы́е) /vision-impaired and deaf (глухи́е) /hearing-impaired people do not enjoy as much visibility and do not have as much voice in shaping public policy as they do in some other countries. Accessibility for people with disabilities on the whole remains low. However, developments in the field do exist, and I would like to highlight the Russian Braille alphabet and Russian Sign Language. I am not conversant in either (yet?), so additions and corrections are welcome!
Braille Alphabet
As you may know, the Braille alphabet (а́збука Бра́йля) is a tactile writing system developed by Louis Braille of France in the 19th century. It originally reflected the Latin alphabet but has been adapted to encode Russian letters.
Each character in Braille consists of 6 dots arranged in 2 parallel columns of 3. The dots can be flat or raised. Different permutations of flat and raised dots correlate to different letters.
Russian Sign Language
Russian Sign Language (ру́сский же́стовый язы́к) is a communication system said to have evolved from the French Sign Language, as is American Sign Language. According to Wikipedia, it is used in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, possibly Bulgaria, and Israel.
Russian Sign Language is its own communication system independent of the spoken Russian language. Signs are directional, meaning “I teach you” vs “You teach me” is determined by the direction of the sign. Verbs are often substituted by nouns. A lot of vocabulary was borrowed from the French or Austrian sign languages.
You can learn the Russian sign alphabet here and some of the basic phrases here.
One of the film that uses Russian Sign Language is “Страна глухих” (Country of the Deaf), here for your enjoyment!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo8_XhYv4no
I would love to hear from people who know sign/Braille in their language to see if the Russian versions are similar to what they are used to.
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About the Author: Maria
Maria is a Russian-born translator from Western New York. She is excited to share her fascination with all things Russian on this blog. Maria's professional updates are available in English on her website and Twitter and in Russian on Telegram.
Comments:
Yulia S.:
Мария, дополнительно к определению “слепой”, хочу добавить более “деликатные” наименования, которые будут уместны в зависимости от контекста: слабовидящий (hearing impaired), лишённый зрения, человек с потерей зрения (a person with vision/sight loss). Аналогичные по морфологии термины можно добавить к определению “глухой”.
Maria:
@Yulia S. Спасибо, Юлия, важные добавления. Я недавно, к своему удивлению, узнала, что в США сами глухие и слабослышащие предпочитают термин “deaf” термину “hearing impaired”: http://www.deaflinx.com/DeafCommunity/identity.html. Интересно бы узнать, как дело обстоит в России.
Anna:
I’ve just heard an announcement on a railway station stating that “маломобильные граждане”, which includes “люди с нарушениями зрения, слуха и работы опорно-двигательного аппарата” can arrange for a person to meet them and help moving about. So I think those are the current official terms.
A similar service is offered in Moscow underground: http://mosmetro.ru/about/mob_pass/
In fact, I often see people in that uniform, sometimes accompanied by guide dogs.
Maria:
@Anna Good additions, although the second one is quite a mouthful. I hope the first one catches on.