Let’s Exchange Greetings in Sign Language!

There are many different languages in the world today. Over seven thousand distinct languages are spoken and there are only one hundred and ninety-five countries. It means that multilingual countries are in the majority. For example, Switzerland and Singapore have four national languages and Kenya where various ethnic groups exist has more than sixty languages besides national languages. Monolingual countries like Japan are a minority and account for about thirty percent of the whole. However, whether countries are multilingual or not, every language itself is highly diverse and has a variety of aspects. Speaking of diversity of language, we may think of local dialects, written and spoken language or archaic words. Now, I’m going to write about the other side of languages which has own attractiveness and functions: Sign Language.

 

Do you regard Sign Language as one true language?

Surprisingly, it was in the 21st century that most countries recognized Sign Language as a true language in legislation and Japanese Sign Language gained its legal status in 2011 as well. However, when we try to trace the history of Sign Language in Japan, we can date back to the late 19th century. In 1862, The First Japanese Embassy to Europe visited schools for deaf children which spread from France to Europe after 1760. Then, sixteen years later, the first school for deaf people (京都聾唖院) was founded in Kyoto, whereas Sign Language had suffered from images of second-rate language and had not been officially recognized as a legitimate language. In the late 20th century, there was a marked turn of the environment surrounding Sign Languages. By virtue of a linguist, named William C. Stokoe, Jr., who asserted that Sign Languages are true languages and promoted a better understanding of them, its status rose in academic and educational circles. Also, in Japan, Sign Language finally appeared in public when a TV drama, which a deaf person was set as a leading character, was broadcast. This led to Sign Language being wildly recognized among hearing people. More than a hundred years have passed since the first thirty-one students enrolled in the school for the deaf and as long last, it can be said that sign language and the deaf people have been free from prejudice.

 

What is Sign Language in Japan like?

There are two types of Sign Language in Japan; Signed Japanese (日本語対応手話) and Japanese Sign Language (日本手話). The former is just equivalent to Japanese, so the signs are applied to it singly. It is mainly used by post-lingual deafness and hard-of-hearing people and often learned by people who belong to sign language clubs. On the other hand, the latter is a little bit different from Japanese in its grammar. It has almost the original structure and expressions of face and movements of eyes and eyebrows have grammatical meanings. It is often used by people with congenital deafness. In fact, the pidgin of these two Sign Languages also exists, but it is classified as Signed Japanese because of its similarities. Each Sign Language shows its own characteristics, so we had better treat them fairly because one is just as good as the other. The most important thing is that we use them at will to communicate each other, deaf and deaf, deaf and hearing people.

 

International Sign Language

Every language usually has its own Sign Language and it improves communication with each other. However, what shall we do to communicate by Sign Language with foreign deaf people and hard-of-hearing people? One of the best ways is using International Sign Language, which was announced by Commission of Unification of Signs in 1973. It is officially used when deaf people and hard-of-hearing people have international exchange. In fact, it might be hard for Sign Language signers in Africa and Asia to learn and make full of use of it because it was made by adopting much from American and European Sign Languages. Fortunately, though, it can be said that language is a living thing. International Sign Language will be even more advanced by absorbing something from various Sign Languages and become more familiar language while people use it all over the world.

Currently, not many people have learned and used International Sign Language yet. However, it will definitely be popular as the connections between people on a global scale become strong. How about remembering one simple phrase in International Sign Language to exchange greetings as a first step? I would like to continue watching over the growth of it, which has tremendous potential.

 

An interesting video and a website

 

http://is.npojass.org/about.html

 

References

http://www.dge.toyota-ct.ac.jp/~kamiya/syuwagaku.html

https://www.eud.eu/about-us/eud-position-paper/international-sign-guidelines/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_recognition_of_sign_languages

 

 

 

 

 

New Year’s Celebrations in Europe and Asia

How do you spend your time during New Year holidays? In Japan, it is famous that people clean the house, eat soba noodle on New Year’s Eve; and people pound steamed rice to make rice cake, eat osechi-ryori and visit a shrine on New Year’s Day. These are Japanese unique tradition. Then, how do people do over the New Year holidays in the world?

There are many interesting New Year in the world. In Europe and north America, people enjoy the New Year’s Eve countdown. Fireworks are set off when a new year begins. It is more flamboyant than Japanese, isn’t it? However, they don’t have New Year holidays. Western have a different way to spend the New Year from Japanese. Let’s see other countries.

In Spain and a part of Latin America, when the clock strikes midnight, people eat 12 grapes (one on every strike). It is said that if people can eat all 12 grapes, their wish will come true. Does it sound easy? Actually, it is fairly difficult because the clock strikes every 3 seconds. However, it seems to be fun and you want to challenge Spanish traditional lucky grapes, don’t you?

In Denmark people save unused dishes until December 31th and throw them at the front door of family’s and friends’. The more broken dishes the happier. However, it seems to be hard to clear them on New Year’s Day…

Besides, it is Danish traditional custom to jump the moment a new year begins and welcome the new year in the air. That sounds interesting!

Asian countries, such as China and Korea have also interesting traditions. Chinese New Year is called “Spring Festival”, which is written as “春節” in traditional Chinese.Since it is based on the lunisolar Chinese calendar (太陰暦), the first day of the new year is not January 1st. During the time, in cities they hold festivals, and at home they celebrate new year with a feast with their family. They do calligraphy for celebration like Japan, but they use red papers which stand for good luck.

In Korea, people celebrate New Year for three days. It is “Seollal” and the New Year’s Day is the first day of the Korean lunar calendar (陰暦). They have the traditions which are similar to that of Japan. In Korea, they are taught to be kind and polite to their family, relatives, superiors and elders, so they give some gift with each other like Japanese “oseibo”(お歳暮), and exchange New Year greetings. One of the most famous special dishes for celebration is called “Tteokguk”, which consists of soup and rice cakes.

Each country has its own special tradition of New Year. Some are sort of close to Japan, and others are quite different. We hope you will enjoy this article and have good New Year holidays!

References

https://news.infoseek.co.jp/feature/newyearsday/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_New_Year

 

 

Merry Christmas

Christmas in Russia

The Christmas in Russian is quite different from most of other countries. Surprisingly almost all Russian people do nothing on the 25th of December! If so, don’t they celebrate Christmas? The answer is “No.” Their Christmas is on the 7th of January. It is because Russia was ruled by the Julian calendar before the Russian Revolution, while most European countries’ calendar has been the Gregorian one. Moreover, because of the history that Soviet banned Russian Orthodox Church and celebrations of the religion were also forbidden, Russian people are likely to regard New Year’s Day as more important. So it often happens that they hold a party for both of New Year’s Day and Christmas at the same time. But the mood to celebrate lasts until Christmas and that’s why they keep on enjoying themselves for about 2 weeks from the end of year to their Christmas. Therefore Christmas is like a part of New Year’s event.

Let’s look at actual ways they spend the special time. They greet the New Year with the members of their family and close friends and they hold a feast in which they eat salmon roe, caviar and pork. And champagne is essential to them. As for present, Children in Russia get gifts for New Year’s Day, not for Christmas. Towns in Russia are filled with many decorated Yolka which are very similar to Christmas trees. The trees are mainly also for New Year’s Day and on the trees are the message “Happy New Year!” Finally I want to note is two popular Christmas characters.

Both the man on the left side in red and the man in blue are called “Ded Moroz.” His name means Old Man Frost or Grandfather Frost in English. He is said to give presents to children on the New Year’s Eve like Santa Claus of European countries. Originally he was a dark wizard in folk tales, but as time goes on, he changed to a good person to give presents. As a unique feature of him, different from Santa Claus, as you can see from these pictures, their colour are various. In addition, to our surprised, he usually has a magical stick and he visits every houses in one day on foot!! The girl on the left side is “Snegurochka.” Her origin is also in a folk story. She is a granddaughter of Ded Moroz and made of snow. Though she was a supporting role first, she got popular among children and became a main character of Christmas. You cannot go to Russia in the season, without seeing them.

Christmas in the UK

In the UK, people mainly spend Christmas together with their family at home. They decorate  their houses with a big Christmas tree, and it is now very common to see the Christmas tree all around the towns and the cities in the UK. I am sure you have seen it everywhere! However, this culture has not long history. The origin of the Christmas tree is just back to the middle of the 19th century, in the reign of Queen Victoria. Her husband, Prince Albert, who was German introduced the culture of Christmas tree from German Confederation. Originally, this culture takes root in the German noble families around 17th century. This culture was gradually brought to the UK when Hanoverian Dynasty established in the early 18th century, which was, to some extent, derived from the Holy Roman Empire, today’s Germany. The introduction of the Christmas tree in the royal family was reported as a heartwarming family story in the press in 1848. After this, the custom was built up in the UK citizens that people ornament a Christmas tree with colorful decoration at their home.
Actually, Christmas was not well celebrated before Victoria’s era, for the bank holiday was not firmly determined until 1871. The holiday was made due to the great development generated by the breakthrough in the Victorian era. Middle class people became able to afford to celebrate two days holiday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, 25th and 26th of December. Moreover, the famous Christmas story written by Charles Dickens published in 1843, Christmas Carol inspired upper class people or wealthy middle class people to present their wealth to working class people. This is one of the Christmas custom started in the UK and now it is spread through many countries in the world, especially which was the part of the British Empire. Therefore, the celebration of Christmas in the UK was mainly established in Victorian era, Pax Britannica, and it lasts till today.

Christmas in the Netherlands

The Christmas in Holland is very solemn and people usually spend the day praying. Sounds boring? Don’t worry, we have parties too to celebrate the holiday spirit. It’s just not on the 25th! But before any further explanation I need to take you back about 1700 years, to the 6th of December 343A.D, the day a man died. The man who died that day was called Nicholas of Myra, a bishop. While he lived, it is said that he performed many miracles such as saving a village from famine by multiplying sacks of grain on a freight ship and giving it to the villagers and saving a poor farmer’s daughters from prostitution by throwing coins to them (which is disturbing in our modern values) so he became a saint. Soon people started commemorating him one day before he died in their own individual way: some cities even when out of their way to portray him on their coat of arms. Jumping forward in time, I now take you to the the year 1850A.D. when a Dutch poet Jan Schenkman published a book for children about St. Nicolas. It is this very book (and a couple of folk songs) which standardized the practice of the commemoration event in Holland which is still present to this day. It is said in said sources that he comes from Spain in a steam boat with a sack full of presents accompanied by his two servants Zwarte Piet and gives good children presents but takes bad children back to Spain and turn them into licorice. Just in case you were wondering, the sack resembles the lore of him saving the village and the servants are a product of colonial Holland. On a different note, throughout history this legend gets adapted over and over in different regions such as making the hat cuter, changing the animal he rides to a reindeer and changing his assistants to little elves. It is also said that the image of the Norse god Odin merged with this tradition (since Odin was celebrated in a different festival in winter) giving Sinterklass his white beard. All that remains from the original story 1700 years ago is his name and the sack of presents (St. Nicolas→Sinterklaas→Santa Clause). Returning to 2017 3weeks before the 5th, children put carrots in their shoes for Sinterklaas’ horse and in the morning they “magically” change into sweets. On the 5th a family member dressed as St. Nicholas (Sinterklass for short) and barges through the front door throwing pepernote (a kind of cookie) all over the house. The cookie throwing represents the anecdote of him saving the farmer’s daughters. People used to add coins to the mix and through them together but it currently has been replaced by a piece of candy. This tradition has recently been facing problems. Since the servants have dark skin, some concerned people of Holland are protesting against this tradition saying it is racist. This protest has been met by a counter protest by conservative people and There already has been a couple of clashes between the two. So much for a nice peaceful family event.

 

References:
http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/sche039stni01_01
http://www.rosianotomo.com/mostoday/chiristmas.htm
http://matome.niwaringo.com/entry/2014/12/22/235821
https://www.madameriri.com
https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/uk.shtml
http://karibuchai.exblog.jp/17224302/

Authors
kittyloverh, hrk8631, borisjohnson

Japanese School Culture

Do you know about the school culture of Japan? There are uniforms, rules, events, and classes (I think are) unique to Japan. By reading this article, you may find out new information you did not know about Japanese schools!

Uniforms
In most Japanese schools, students are supposed to wear uniforms. There are uniforms for summer and winter. Boys wear what is called “Gakuran(学ラン)”, which is an uniform that has a stand-up collar, and blazer. Girls, on the other hand, wear blazer, as boys, and what is called “Sera-huku (セーラー服)”, which is an uniform similar to what the sailors wear. There are many purposes to wear uniforms. For example, since most students wear uniforms when they are junior and senior high school students, they feel they are still young, compared with university students. In addition, they feel unity and can be proud of their own school. There are some negative things about uniforms, such as the temperature not controllable or not many uniforms for change, but many students are satisfied with their uniforms.

Rules
There is a definition for school regulations on the website of the ministry of education, culture, sports, science and technology. It says it is the rule that each schools decide in order for the students to have a healthy school life and grow up in a good way. Therefore, each schools decide their own rules. The rules many schools have in common are ones such as not to run down the hall, not to use cell phones, to have the hairstyle properly, etc. In addition, for girls, they are supposed to have the skirts length long enough for their knees to hide, or to tie their hair if they get to their shoulders. Many students say that the rules for Japanese schools are strict, but what do you think?

Class Schedule
Most schools in Japan have the same rules for class schedule. There are many rules for the scheduling method and I will explain 3 of them. First, there are about 5 to 7 class subjects in one day. Students have to take all subjects assigned by school and cannot choose to skip one. Of course, they can sometimes select the subject they want to study, but there is no option for students in choosing when they take a break. Therefore, there is a fixed time for taking a break. That is the second rule I want to explain. In general, there are two types of break time in Japanese school. Short break and lunch break. Short break is usually a ten-minute break between classes. Lunch break is a one-hour break for having lunch. Students can stop studying only in those breaks. During break time, some students chat with friends, some go to teachers’ room to ask questions and some take a sleep. Every student makes the best of precious break time. Finally, the last rule I want to mention is an hour at school called “homeroom”. Japanese students always have a homeroom teacher and there is a fixed time the teacher or students tells something important every day. That is “homeroom”. It is usually before the first period or after the last class in a day. There are also greetings between a homeroom teacher and students like “good morning! ” or “see you tomorrow!”.

School Event
There are two major events in Japanese school. One is a cultural festival. Most students take part in the event. The student council usually starts to prepare for the festival since the previous year’s festival ends. Other students also spend half a year to plan and prepare for the festival. On the very day, they sell some food at the booth, perform dance or music on the stage, scare people at the haunted house and display their own works. The other event is a sports day. Generally, students separate in two groups, “紅組 (red)” and “白組 (white)”. They fight throughout many athletic events and judge which group win or lose. There are also minor events in Japanese school such as a choir contest and a marathon rally. Both types of students who are good at artistic and cultural activities and who are good at physical activities can be stood out in school events in Japan.

Did you find anything interesting in the school culture of Japan? If you know the different school culture in other countries, please let me know!

http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110004680931
https://vpngw.cc.sophia.ac.jp/+CSCO+0h756767633A2F2F70762E6176762E6E702E7763++/els/contents110004680931.pdf?id=ART0007413165
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/hakusho/html/hpba200501/002/002/0205.htm