My Sign Language Learning Voyage

Menaga V

I am Menaga working at WinVinaya. I am happy to meet you all through my first blog. I work with people across disabilities. Here, I present my journey how I learned to communicate with the Deaf through their special language.

Self-Learning through WinVinaya Website

3 years back, I joined as a trainer in WinVinaya, Tirupur.

At first, when I met people with hearing impairment, I was not aware that they communicate through sign language.

I am a curious person who is eager to learn new things. During my initial days, I learned sign language with the help of the WinVinaya website (https://winvinayafoundation.org/learn-sign-language/). Initially, I learned sign language basics like the alphabet, greetings of the day -Good Morning, Good Evening, and Good Night, and common phrases like How are you, I am fine, where are you from? Etc…

I encourage you to see the video and give it a try by signing “Good morning”.  Thumbs up means Good. Open your hand and imitate the flowers growing and blooming.  That represents Morning in Sign Language. What a wonderful expression!

I hope you can try learning it now, just like I learned by myself. While this is a good first step, it isn’t enough to communicate with the deaf.

Learning Journey with Deaf Candidates

I moved to Bengaluru after a few months and joined as a BFSI trainer in 2020. In my first deaf batch, fifteen students were there. I only knew the signs whatever I learned through the website. But I was not aware of the signs for financial-related concepts. I learned a few from my colleagues and tried a few signs on my own. The deaf candidates corrected my mistakes and helped me in learning new technical signs. I was open to learn from my students and that’s how I started my journey with Persons with Hearing Impairment.

Learning Journey with My Colleague

Because of covid, we were at home. But we conducted online classes through WinVinaya Academy which is an online learning platform. Continuously, I took classes for BFSI/BPA course with the help of my colleague Mr. Ayyappan. He is an interpreter and a person with Hard of hearing; Whatever I spoke in Tamil, he interpreted through sign language. He helped me to learn different technical signs and interpreted for me when I took MS Excel, MS word, Banking, Power Automate, and Power BI to deaf students. Later, I got the confidence to do the signs myself with Ayyappan watching me taking the class. Ayyappan corrected few of my mistakes. Through multiple iterations, I learned sign language experientially.

Learning Journey with Sign Language Course

After a few months, WinVinaya arranged for structured sign language classes. Our Sign language interpreter and English Trainer Ms. Sharon along with Gayathri (deaf colleague) took the class for all our trainers. Here, I learned sign language, deaf culture, and about the deaf community. During the class, she told all of us to do the demo in Sign Language. Everyone took general topics. But I took a technical topic – Introduction to Microsoft Power Automate and I explained it to everyone through sign language.  I was proud of myself.

Learning Journey with Friends

After covid, I came to Bengaluru. I and my colleagues Ms. Gayathri, Ms. Vaishnavi stayed in the same room in a PG. Gayathri is deaf and knows only sign language. Vaishnavi is Hard of hearing who can speak and do sign language also. During our free time, I communicated through sign language with Gayathri. At that time, I wasn’t familiar with sign language in general communication. Whatever Gayathri signed; Vaishu gave the voice. And hence it was quite easy to understand and learn. I also tried to do the signs with Gayathri. Whenever I did mistakes, she corrected me through WhatsApp messages or chat.  Now, I communicate with Gayathri through sign language comfortably.

My Perspective about Sign Language

I believe Sign Language is a Universal Language.  Even though there are 100+ sign languages in the world with variations – ISL (Indian Sign Language- where we use both hands), ASL (American Sign Language – where we use one hand), Singapore Sign Language, etc… there are many signs which are common across these languages.

I think if you know sign language you can communicate with people from all over the world. India has so many languages. But since I know sign language, I can easily communicate with a deaf person in Delhi or Kolkata or Hyderabad, or Bengaluru even without knowing their Mother Tongue.

What Next?

From learning sign language and doing the signs slowly – I have come a long way. Today, I help many colleagues to communicate with the deaf. I do the sign language interpretation for IT and BFSI classes, mock interviews, and valedictory functions with decent speed. I am a constant learner, and I am learning new signs every day through my friends and students.

I hope everyone learns sign language. It is Inclusive. It is Universal.  It is a great learning goal for the New Year!