Kalistan

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Crown Prince begins to learn Sign Language
"An International Sign Language Convention may be needed" says Minister of Culture
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
June 12, 5589


HH Crown Prince Fredrick William Ananto-Sandoval with tutor Helen Miller at Wilson House

The Royal Family has retained the services of a tutor, Miss Helen Miller, who will work with the family to begin learning Sign Language.  Miss Miller, age 30, was previously employed in the languages section of G2 IBSI, where she worked as a signals analyst monitoring transmissions from Artanian and Majatran television and radio.  She is fluent in six languages, and can both make signs in four of the six and read lips in three of the six languages.  The Royal Family has welcomed Miss Miller to take up a guest house in the Wilson Hill Neighborhood of Kaliburg, and she will begin providing classes to both His Highness and the rest of the Royal Family starting in July.

"Her Imperial Majesty Empress Carolina I Ananto and His Highness the Prince Consort William Ananto-Sandoval were pleased with the search for a new tutor for the Crown Prince," said Her Imperial Majesty's Minister of Education and Culture, Mr. Omar Jackson.  "The list of candidates was extensive, but ultimately, the Royal Family chose a candidate who could easily learn languages, who could speak several and who could also instruct the Crown Prince in the techniques of lip reading in Vrassan, Egelian, and Dundorfian.  These languages, all of which Miss Miller speaks fluently, and reads lips in naturally, will come in handy for the Crown Prince as he grows up and slowly loses his hearing."

The Cultural Minister was on hand for the announcement, as her office, a newly creator Royal Tutor position, exists as part of his ministry.  "Miss Miller has never taught before, but she had a natural easiness around the Crown Prince that shows that they would work well together.  Many of the candidates failed in this regard:  Many of the failed prospective candidates were far too formal, but Miss Miller has an easy going way about her that puts the Crown Prince, who is otherwise very self-conscious about his hearing difficulties now that they have been identified, more at ease and willing to learn as people attempt to talk with him about the things he will face."

Mr. Jackson said that Miss Miller has already introduced him to the rudiments of the alphabet.  Luckily, His Highness the Crown Prince was not deaf from birth, so he has both heard and recited the alphabet hundreds of times and can read at slightly higher than grade level.  This will be an immense benefit as he begins to not only spell words, but also learns signs for whole words.  "Miss Miller also will give him practice lessons to learn to recite by rote, so that he gets to feeling natural about signing, and speaking with both his hands and his voice," said Minister Jackson.

By far the hardest part about the transition to sign language in the royal household will be to teach Her Imperial Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince.  "Adults are more difficult to teach"  said Minister Jackson.  "Children have malleable minds.  For example, after a couple weeks, Her Highness Princess Michelle, who is only 6, can already sign half the alphabet, just by watching the Miller teach her brother, but adults tend to be busy and don't have much time to practice, and picking up sign language is more difficult.  But Her Imperial Majesty and His Highness are both committed to learning for the sake of being able to communicate with their son, and will go through intensive education, both with Miss Miller and also with other tutors who specialize more in sign language for adults."

Minister Jackson also said, "Another issue with learning several languages is that, like the spoken language, signing is often different depending on where the speaker comes from.  The sign for House, for example is not the same in Kalistan as it is in a place like Dundorf.  This comes from each country developing a standard that works for them, but there is no international Convention for sign language--Something like that is badly needed, but nobody has developed anything close to a full language yet that allows for universal understanding.  So Miss Helen Miller will probably focus on teaching the entire family Vrassan, but will also work with the Crown Prince to speak Egelian, Dundorfian and Canrillaise in sign language.  These langauges should cover a good portion of the world.  And if, when he is older, he wants to pick up Jelbic in sign language, it is likely he will be able to find a new teacher.  Unless the world can work together to develop a common sign language alphabet and vocabulary, this might be the best that can be done for him."

Minister Jackson concluded his remarks by saying "The Family is optimistic about Miss Miller.  They believe that she will be able to help the Crown Prince retain the ability to effectively communicate into adulthood, when it is expected that he will be almost completely deaf, and expressed how fortunate they are that they can get help like this to assist the Crown Prince."  The the Minister Smiled.  "The side benefit is that the Minor Princess will also be invited to learn along with the Crown Prince and will be as fluent in all these languages as the Crown Prince will be."  The Minister noted that the sign language classes would not interrupt the Crown Prince's normal studies.