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MB, on my old team @ Microsoft our documentation person is deaf. Whenever she was at our meetings she had the interpreter as well. She's super chill. I think she reads lips, but then I talk fast & mumble so that doesn't work so well, d'oh! So most of the time we end up chatting via Messenger or just using good old Notepad biggrin

 

But big props to you for being able to do the interpretter thing. Half the time I'm not sure what I'm saying let alone someone else!

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There's deaf and there's deaf!

 

I have continuous tinnitus (ringing in the ears) 24/7 and significant loss at certain frequencies. Whilst I can hear most people OK when they are talking AT me (and I can see their lips moving), as soon as they turn away even slightly, I loose the words. And, those radio announcers with super deep voices might as well not bother (same for many of the West Indian cricketers, as it happens!).

 

People don't seem to understand that, even though I wear an aid, I cannot hear as well as most others do. I find myself often asking people to talk at me, and to speak up a little, so I can stay in touch.

 

The stupid aid has the mic facing to the rear! That causes a slight disorientation.

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You also lose the ability to triangulate location when you use an aid because the amplification puts the sound IN your ear rather than out there in the location it originated at. Must be a huge frustration! And speaking of frustration - tinnitus - ai yi yi - JA! I have short lived episodic tinnitus and even THAT sucks!

 

Papa has some age/pub loudness related deafness, and I have noticed one of my friends who is pushing 50 is really struggling with it as well. But this kind of deafness is deaf with a lower case d (hee hee - really...that's how it is described within the community!) as opposed to Deafness (with a capital D). The difference is more of an identity thing than it is a decibel loss thing. Most Deaf are signers, even if they can manage with aids.

 

SantaCruz MSN, Mobile phone text messages, internet, email, video skype etc have all been a HUGE boom to the Deaf community. It really has leveled out the playing field a bit. Even just 15 years ago it was a very different world for them....a much more dependent world - and no grown man or woman wants to be dependent.

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Originally Posted By: Mamabear
Most Deaf are signers, even if they can manage with aids.


How do Japanese Deaf people manage with the signing? Is there a JLAN? (Asking because I am having more than a little difficulty with learning "normal" Nihongo - at 60+ my time for easy language learning is well and truly past!
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There is absolutely a Japanese Sign Language.

One of my very dear Deaf friends' partner recently got back from an Deaf Surfing tour in Japan. He really enjoyed it. (She is a snowboarder).

 

Sign Languages are different all around the world, but there is an iconic base that allows for simple communication to be easily managed between Deaf people world over. It is not an 'international' language, but it is fairly easy to communicate basic concepts very quickly - more complex interaction requires some time learning each others languages.

But interestingly Sign Language is different in England, Australia and America - even though they all speak English. In fact - American Sign Language more closely resembles French SL than it does Australian SL!!

 

Sign is a great option for people losing their hearing - heck it is a great option in a night club - it is a great option for communication across a crowded on mountain restaurant - who wants to shout! And I have never had too much trouble making myself understood - not matter which country we are in.

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We managed to get by for a couple of visits to J-land with minimal Nihongo and the "universal pointing language" - especially in restaurants.

 

We're currently studying the menu language so we can tell what might be in a dish, but not enough to be classed as fluent, that'd take more lifetimes than I have left!

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Originally Posted By: gareth_oau
TB, Ive worked for a Japanese company for 21 years and I'm amazed at how 'hard' they work, just a shame the net output for all those hours isnt anything to write home about


Exactly. The long hours they put in rarely mean there's actually that much work to get done or that they are working anything like efficiently. They just hang around the office so long because either they think it's expected or they really don't want to go home to their wives...
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  • 11 months later...
Originally Posted By: Mamabear
There is absolutely a Japanese Sign Language.
One of my very dear Deaf friends' partner recently got back from an Deaf Surfing tour in Japan. He really enjoyed it. (She is a snowboarder).


So he wouldnt be able to hear the Brazilians in the water in Indo? - Bliss.
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