Learning Chinese Sign Language

Por Simon Wefer — The Diplomat

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There are multiple different sign languages – some of which are not easily intelligible to deaf people.

Learning Chinese Sign Language is a bewildering experience. To begin with, Chinese Sign Language (CSL) is in itself best understood as an umbrella term rather than a well-defined language. 

You have Signed Chinese, shoushi hanyu , which is one-to-one transcriptions of the written standard Chinese into signs, replete with interpuncation such as signed question marks. Then there is Natural Sign Language, ziran shouyu , the language that is actually spoken between native deaf signers in China. It has syntax and grammar markedly different from Chinese, makes extensive use of abbreviations and, like all natural sign languages, incorporates facial expressions. 

Besides these, there are yet other types of CSL described in the academic literature, such as Literary Sign Language ( wenfa shouyu ) and Society Sign Language ( shehui shouyu ). All the more confusing is how these terms often seem to overlap or even are used interchangeably.

Since 2018, the government has been actively promoting a type of sign language titled Guojia Tongyong Shouyu , sometimes translated into English as Chinese General Sign Language (CGSL). According to the Chinese Ministry of Education, CGSL can be seen as the sign language equivalent to Standard Mandarin. Having moved away from a standard based on spoken or written Chinese, CGSL incorporates elements from the natural sign languages and thus appears to be less alien to native deaf speakers. While this standardized variety has been described by some Chinese academics as a “natural sign language,” it is, however, uncertain if it is viewed as such by deaf Chinese themselves. 

For the prospective learner, there is a surprisingly user-friendly app based on the official CGSL lexicon. There are daily quizzes, signed demonstrations of the words, targeted tests, themed glossaries, and other useful tools for learning. Unfortunately, all of this does not compensate for the staggering lack of lexemes in the dictionary. Basic and commonly used words such as “curious” or “already” are missing. 

Sometimes the all too familiar top-down perspective of Chinese officialdom shines through with its clear political priorities: while there is an entry for “Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League,” the arguably far more useful word “weekend” is not listed. Even more striking is how words pertaining to sexuality or “taboo” body parts are missing altogether. For example, how would a sign language interpreter fare at a client’s gynecologist visit when the CGSL has no official terms for a woman’s genitalia? 

A couple of years ago, I was myself trying to learn Chinese Sign Language. I began by signing up to an online class, taught for free three nights a week. The teacher, however, was of the old-school, pre-CGSL era. Each lesson he stiffly taught us how to sign Chinese words and characters, without any facial cues and without teaching any grammar. Knowing enough about sign language to recognize that this was not the way deaf Chinese actually speak to each other, I quickly abandoned this approach and figured that the best way would be to befriend native speakers and simply learn from them. 

What I had not foreseen was how the natively spoken natural sign languages not only vary from region to region, but seemingly even from speaker to speaker. Without classroom instruction and with different speakers signing in different ways, it soon became hard to know which was the “correct” way to sign. Apparently, I was not the only one with this problem: one of my deaf acquaintances said he would often not understand what other native deaf speakers were saying. 

In fact, not only do deaf Chinese sometimes have a hard time understanding each other, but most of them struggle to understand the sign language used in official Chinese media. In one study exploring this issue , up to 84 percent of the deaf participants reported having trouble understanding the signed Chinese in television programs. 

Phenomena such as these – official use of sign language that is unintelligible for actual deaf persons – might, in some part, be ascribed to what in Chinese is called xingshi zhuyi , or pointless formalism. The 2008 Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Disabled Persons stated that there should be sign language available for television shows, and state-owned broadcasting companies might simply want to check that box – without bothering to produce content that is relevant for or even comprehensible to a deaf audience. 

With this said, there is an apparent growing interest among Chinese academics, and clear signs of growing awareness of sign language issues in Chinese society in general. My experiences with learning Chinese Sign Language might already be outdated. In 2023, a long article with the title “ The Sign Language Used by Interpreters Is 90 Percent Incomprehensible to Deaf People ” ran in the well-renowned Shanghai-based publication The Paper. According to state media, a national standard for proficiency and testing in CGSL has been implemented since March last year. Things are looking up. 

Some of the most exciting developments, however, are taking place on social media. On platforms such as WeChat and Xiaohongshu (RedNote), there are countless content creators discussing the differences between different types of sign language, teaching sign language to others, or poking fun at the stiff, unnatural mimicry of hearing learners. 

Surprisingly enough, some deaf users are also openly discussing governmental policies, seizing a rare opportunity for a marginalized group to talk about the political reforms directly affecting them. That these topics apparently have a low level of political sensitivity might, however, not be something to view entirely as a positive. Perhaps it simply speaks to the level of neglect of the deaf community. 

Nevertheless, the days of “Signed Chinese” seem to be numbered, and younger generations of media-savvy deaf Chinese might quickly become a force to be reckoned with. One could venture to say that the future is looking bright for new learners of Chinese Sign Language. 

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Learning Chinese Sign Language is a bewildering experience. To begin with, Chinese Sign Language (CSL) is in itself best understood as an umbrella term rather than a well-defined language. 

You have Signed Chinese, shoushi hanyu , which is one-to-one transcriptions of the written standard Chinese into signs, replete with interpuncation such as signed question marks. Then there is Natural Sign Language, ziran shouyu , the language that is actually spoken between native deaf signers in China. It has syntax and grammar markedly different from Chinese, makes extensive use of abbreviations and, like all natural sign languages, incorporates facial expressions. 

Besides these, there are yet other types of CSL described in the academic literature, such as Literary Sign Language ( wenfa shouyu ) and Society Sign Language ( shehui shouyu ). All the more confusing is how these terms often seem to overlap or even are used interchangeably.

Since 2018, the government has been actively promoting a type of sign language titled Guojia Tongyong Shouyu , sometimes translated into English as Chinese General Sign Language (CGSL). According to the Chinese Ministry of Education, CGSL can be seen as the sign language equivalent to Standard Mandarin. Having moved away from a standard based on spoken or written Chinese, CGSL incorporates elements from the natural sign languages and thus appears to be less alien to native deaf speakers. While this standardized variety has been described by some Chinese academics as a “natural sign language,” it is, however, uncertain if it is viewed as such by deaf Chinese themselves. 

For the prospective learner, there is a surprisingly user-friendly app based on the official CGSL lexicon. There are daily quizzes, signed demonstrations of the words, targeted tests, themed glossaries, and other useful tools for learning. Unfortunately, all of this does not compensate for the staggering lack of lexemes in the dictionary. Basic and commonly used words such as “curious” or “already” are missing. 

Sometimes the all too familiar top-down perspective of Chinese officialdom shines through with its clear political priorities: while there is an entry for “Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League,” the arguably far more useful word “weekend” is not listed. Even more striking is how words pertaining to sexuality or “taboo” body parts are missing altogether. For example, how would a sign language interpreter fare at a client’s gynecologist visit when the CGSL has no official terms for a woman’s genitalia? 

A couple of years ago, I was myself trying to learn Chinese Sign Language. I began by signing up to an online class, taught for free three nights a week. The teacher, however, was of the old-school, pre-CGSL era. Each lesson he stiffly taught us how to sign Chinese words and characters, without any facial cues and without teaching any grammar. Knowing enough about sign language to recognize that this was not the way deaf Chinese actually speak to each other, I quickly abandoned this approach and figured that the best way would be to befriend native speakers and simply learn from them. 

What I had not foreseen was how the natively spoken natural sign languages not only vary from region to region, but seemingly even from speaker to speaker. Without classroom instruction and with different speakers signing in different ways, it soon became hard to know which was the “correct” way to sign. Apparently, I was not the only one with this problem: one of my deaf acquaintances said he would often not understand what other native deaf speakers were saying. 

In fact, not only do deaf Chinese sometimes have a hard time understanding each other, but most of them struggle to understand the sign language used in official Chinese media. In one study exploring this issue , up to 84 percent of the deaf participants reported having trouble understanding the signed Chinese in television programs. 

Phenomena such as these – official use of sign language that is unintelligible for actual deaf persons – might, in some part, be ascribed to what in Chinese is called xingshi zhuyi , or pointless formalism. The 2008 Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Disabled Persons stated that there should be sign language available for television shows, and state-owned broadcasting companies might simply want to check that box – without bothering to produce content that is relevant for or even comprehensible to a deaf audience. 

With this said, there is an apparent growing interest among Chinese academics, and clear signs of growing awareness of sign language issues in Chinese society in general. My experiences with learning Chinese Sign Language might already be outdated. In 2023, a long article with the title “ The Sign Language Used by Interpreters Is 90 Percent Incomprehensible to Deaf People ” ran in the well-renowned Shanghai-based publication The Paper. According to state media, a national standard for proficiency and testing in CGSL has been implemented since March last year. Things are looking up. 

Some of the most exciting developments, however, are taking place on social media. On platforms such as WeChat and Xiaohongshu (RedNote), there are countless content creators discussing the differences between different types of sign language, teaching sign language to others, or poking fun at the stiff, unnatural mimicry of hearing learners. 

Surprisingly enough, some deaf users are also openly discussing governmental policies, seizing a rare opportunity for a marginalized group to talk about the political reforms directly affecting them. That these topics apparently have a low level of political sensitivity might, however, not be something to view entirely as a positive. Perhaps it simply speaks to the level of neglect of the deaf community. 

Nevertheless, the days of “Signed Chinese” seem to be numbered, and younger generations of media-savvy deaf Chinese might quickly become a force to be reckoned with. One could venture to say that the future is looking bright for new learners of Chinese Sign Language. 

Simon Wefer is currently a Ph.D. student in Sinology at Uppsala University, Sweden. He previously worked for several years as a political officer at the Swedish Embassy in Beijing. All views expressed in this article are his own.

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Fonte: The Diplomat