Talk:Irish Sign Language

Extent of Differences with BSL
How different is Irish Sign Language from British Sign Language ? Is it akin to the difference between Hiberno English and British English or is it more analogus to Irish Gaelic v British English If a user of ISL met a user of BSL to what extent would they be able to communicate with resorting to other forms of communication ? Would either of them be able to communicate with a user of American sign language ? 213.40.218.200 (talk) 22:10, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Confusing
This doesn't make a lot of sense, as it is. If the first school was Claremont, and used BSL, why is ISL more related to FSL? I could understand if it had been introduced, say, by French Catholic educators, but there's nothing here to suggest that. Can anyone shed any light on this? Moonraker12 (talk) 12:55, 27 November 2011 (UTC)


 * You're right, the article doesn't mention the introduction of ISL to Catholic schools. If the (rough) notes I have in front of me are correct, two Irish Dominican sisters went to France to study FSL and adapted the language to suit spoken English. They then set up St. Mary's School for Deaf Girls in 1846. St Joseph's School for Deaf Boys followed later. The emphasis on the Claremont school appears to be misleading, as ISL and BSL have no relation to each other and are mutually unintelligible. I can only speculate at best as to the resons for the apparant disappearance of BSL from the Republic (noting that, along with ISL, BSL is an official language in Northern Ireland).Tomásdearg92 (talk) 23:14, 25 October 2012 (UTC)