Edina Lancz, Hungary

PhD Sign Language

University of Bristol 

"My way of thinking about deaf issues was transformed thanks to experiencing how people in the UK dealt with deafness in everyday situations."

As a fresh graduate, I was the first linguist in Hungary who ventured into the field of sign language research. There was no one I could learn from, no experts, university departments or literature. But I went ahead anyway, as I felt that there was an enormous need for my work: I had to show that Hungarian Sign Language (HSL) was a real language with a grammar and vocabulary of its own, so that deaf people could finally have those linguistic rights they had been deprived of for so long.

I had been working as a researcher for the Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and was busy compiling the first dictionary of HSL when I received the Chevening scholarship in 1999. Before I applied, I had already known that the UK was substantially ahead of Hungary in this field, so I expected my stay to be a very useful experience, and it was indeed.

Apart from my PhD work at the University of Bristol, my way of thinking about deaf issues was transformed thanks to experiencing how people in the UK dealt with deafness in everyday situations. For example, a defining moment was when I first met a colleague who was the mother of a deaf child. She told me it was natural for her and her family to use sign language at home, as the happiness of their deaf child was more important for them than trying to communicate in speech. Some other encounters proved just as important in my life. I met deaf professionals who amazed me with their intelligence and self-confidence. I saw interpreters use real sign language, unlike their Hungarian counterparts who were constantly mixing it with spoken Hungarian, claiming that pure sign language was simply “not developed enough” for effective communication. Well, it was, I could see it with my own eyes.

I learnt a lot about the training of interpreters, which proved useful for my work in developing a similar programme in Hungary. As a scholar, I attended courses in Bristol, the most important of which was Sign Linguistics. Presented in British Sign Language, it provided me with most of the knowledge I am using and teaching these days. The British Council helped me become a proper sign linguist, and through my involvement, it gave the Hungarian deaf community an insight into a future full of equal rights and opportunities.’

This story was provided by the British Council's 75th anniversary First Hand project, an anthology of accounts from British Council programme beneficiaries. To read this story and more, please visit:

http://www.britishcouncil.org/new/en/about-us/75th-anniversary/British-Council-First-Hand/