Hands up if you’re ready to sign with us?

Learn a daily ‘sign of the day’ with staff or watch our in-library screens for some videos to learn New Zealand Sign Language.

Monday 6 May: My name is....

Tuesday 7 May: How are you?

Wednesday 8 May: I'm good | tired | busy

Thursday 9 May: Nice to meet you

Friday 10 May: Do you want help?

Saturday 11 May: Where is the book?

Our Toddler Time sessions this week will also feature a couple of songs using New Zealand Sign Language.

 

What is NZSL Week?

NZSL became an official language of Aotearoa New Zealand in 2006 when the NZSL Act passed into law. In 2007 we celebrated NZSL Week for the first time. The aim of NZSL Week is to raise awareness of NZSL and to encourage all New Zealanders to learn and use our language. The week is also an opportunity to learn about the New Zealand Deaf community and our Deaf culture. NZSL Week adds to the rich and diverse identity of Aotearoa New Zealand.

 

Things to know about NZSL

There are over 300 different Sign Languages in the world. NZSL is one of them.

NZSL has its own grammatical structure and linguistic features, different from English. NZSL is not a version of English ‘on the hands’.

NZ’s 2018 census showed that over 20,000 people use NZSL, with an estimated 4,500 Deaf users of NZSL.

NZSL is part of a language family which includes British Sign Language (BSL), and Australian Sign Language (Auslan). These three languages are still different from each other! However, American Sign Language (ASL) is very different from BSL, Auslan and NZSL.

You can read more facts about NZSL at the Online NZSL Dictionary website: nzsl.nz/nzsl/