Deaf cultures and Sign Languages of the world: Thailand (Prathes Thai)

Created 10 April 2000, links updated monthly with the help of LinkAlarm.

Thai flag David Bar-TzurThai flag

map of Thailand

Flag: World flag database.
Map: Maps.com - "search" for country, then "Digital Map Graphics").

For a quick, interesting resource for facts about this and other countries,
try Mystic Planet - The New Age directory of Planet Earth.

Note: A flag next to a link shows what language the website is in. If it is followed by this icon: (video camera: This links to a video), it is a video in that spoken language. If it is followed by this icon: Sign Language icon, it is in the sign language of that country. If a globe is followed by this hands icon, there is an animated text in International Gesture.

Deaf culture Deaf education Deaf film Deaf history and current events Deaf humor General interpreting issues
Religion & Deafness แบบสะกดนิ้วมือไทย (Thai Sign Language) แบบสะกดนิ้วมือไทย (Thai Sign Language) dictionaries

Deaf culture

Monaghan, L, Nakamura, K., Schmaling, C. & Turner, G. H. (Eds.) (May 2003). Many ways to be Deaf: International variation in Deaf communities. Twenty-four international scholars have contributed their findings from studying Deaf communities in Japan, Thailand, Viet Nam, Taiwan, Russia, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Great Britain, Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil, Nicaragua, and the United States. Sixteen chapters consider the various antecedents of each country1s native signed language, taking into account the historical background for their development and also the effects of foreign influences and changes in philosophies by the larger, dominant hearing societies. ISBN 1-56368-135-8

Deaf education

DeafTODAY.

mcssrsp. (2007, February 7). Students in Redemptorist School for the Deaf.video camera: This links to a videoBritish & American flag

Mortimer, A. A. (2006, January 23). Disabled learners in Karen refugee camps, Thailand. UNHCR guidelines on refugee education emphasise the importance of providing education for disabled children, and UNESCO’s Guidelines for Education in Emergencies clearly state the right of all refugee children to education. Moreover, the fact that refugee education is usually not under the control of any government ministry creates an opportunity to develop inclusive practices.

Ratchasuda Yüksekokulu, Mahidol Üniversitesi: Bachelor of Arts Programme in Deaf Studies.

Suwanarat, Kampol: Deaf Thai culture in Siam: The land of smiles. In: Erting, Carol J. et al (eds): The deaf way : perspectives from the International Conference on Deaf Culture. Washington, DC : Gallaudet Univ. Press (1994) - pp. 61-64 .

Wallis, S. (2002). Inclusion for the excluded - a pipe dream or practical necessity? Including children with learning difficulties in refugee camp schools on the Thai/Burma border. The report that follows describes an Early Intervention programme piloted in a large, well-established refugee camp on the Thai/Burma border. The camp is home for one of the ethnic groups forced to flee from Burma as a result of military oppression. The programme, funded by Consortium (a US-based NGO) and Voluntary Service Overseas (partly funded by DFID in the UK) is in its infancy but seems to be an excellent model for inclusion practice. I visited the camp in February 2002.

Deaf film

TouryaOthman. (2008, January 7). LOUD SILENCE. Be sure to click "(more)" in the grey box to see the information that is there.

www.disabilityfilms.co.uk. Bangkok Dangerous. Film (1999) Thailand, 105 min, Thriller. A stylish thriller about Bangkok's crime scene in which a hit man is deaf. Apparently he is unable to speak rather than chooses not to. There is little dialogue in the film and when people speak to the deaf hit man they do so very slowly. He appears to be able to hear unless he's lip-reading. His condition may result from being stoned by other children.

Deaf history and current events

DeafTODAY.

Keim, D. (2005, June). California News. Scroll down to "Dr. Klopping presents a check for $1,200 to the Foundation for the Deaf, Thailand. Articles byDavid KeimPhotos byVanessa Sandez

Needs in Thailand: Phuket Deaf Club--Tsunami damage. From the Phuket Deaf Club..."Eleven deaf people who owned their shops in Patong sub-district, Phuket province have been suffered from the Tsunami disaster. Ten deaf people need to repair their destroyed shops. Another deaf people's shop has been crashed down and was unable to reopen which caused he/she with no income and jobless.

Deaf humor

Deaf Thai. coffee nescafe.Thai flag,Thai flagSign Language icon

General interpreting issues

KansasCity.com. (2008, January 31). Nose Means New Thai PM in Sign Language. Sign language interpreters in Thailand have run afoul of some ruling party supporters by holding their noses to refer to the new prime minister. Samak Sundaravej, chosen in Parliament on Monday as the first elected prime minister since a September 2006 coup, has been nicknamed “Mr. Rose Apple Nose” because many claim his nose resembles the fruit.

Religion & Deafness

Deaf Ministries International. Thailand.

แบบสะกดนิ้วมือไทย (Thai Sign Language)

Ban Khor Sign Language: A language of Thailand.

Chiangmai Sign Language: A language of Thailand.

Collins-Ahlgren, Marianne: Spatial-locative predicates in Thai Sign Language. In: Lucas, Ceil (ed): Sign language research. Theoretical issues. (Proceedings of the International Conference, Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research, II, May 18-21, 1988 at Gallaudet University). (International Conference on Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research) Washington : Gallaudet Univ. Press (1990) - pp. 103-117.

Deaf News around the World. (23 May 1999). Thailand officially accepts Thai Sign Language. Click on article title.

DeafTODAY. (2003, June 29). Learning sound of silence. Although Saturday's class was conducted by 12 deaf sign language experts, the class was not for the deaf. Instead, the more than 60 students who turned up were just normal people of working ages whose lives have been involved with the deaf and wanted to learn to better communicate with them.

-->International bibliography of sign language. --> Click on "T", then on "Thai Sign Language".

Krairiksh, K.: Why manual language is necessary for the Thai deaf. Bankok 1956.

Thai Sign Language: Books and articles.

Nonaka, Angela M.: The forgotten endangered languages: Lessons on the importance of remembering from Thailand's Ban Khor Sign Language. In: Language in Society 33: 5 (2004) - pp. 737-768 .

Rungsrithong, Vilaiporn: Presentation of Thai Sign Language. (Presentation of the International Workshop for Deaf Researchers Hamburg, July 21-24, 1989). Hamburg : Signum 1991 (Video 30min) .

Sign Media Inc. (ed): Signs around the world. Thailand. Burtonsville, MD : SMI 1990 (Video 30min) . Individual country videotapes feature native Deaf male and female signers from that country. Each tape is separated into three sections which include personal introduction, vocabulary, and narrative.

Sombunsukho, S. et al: The development of a Thai sign language dictionary program for pocket PCs. In: World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education 4: 2 (2005) - pp. 297-300 .

Suwanarat, Manfa / Wrigley, Owen: Sign language research in Thailand. In: Edmondson, William H. / Karlsson, Fred (eds): SLR´87: Papers from the Fourth International Symposium on Sign Language Research. Lappeenranta, Finland July 15-19, 1987. (International Studies on Sign Language and Communication of the Deaf; 10) Hamburg : Signum (1990) - pp. 276-278.

Thai Sign Language: A language of Thailand.

Wikipedia. Ban Khor Sign Language (BKSL) is a sign language used by about 1,000 people of a rice-farming community in remote areas of Isan (northeastern Thailand). It developed about 60-80 years ago due to a high number of deaf people. Preliminary observation has tentatively suggested it may be a language isolate, independent of the five other known original sign languages in Thailand (Huay Hai Sign Language, Plaa Pag Sign Language, and Na Sai Sign Language from the Nakhon Phanom Province, Old Bangkok Sign Language, and Old Chiangmai Sign Language), as well as the national Thai Sign Language. However, TSL is increasingly exerting an influence on BKSL.

Woodward, James: Modern standard Thai Sign Language, influence from ASL, and its relationship to original Thai sign varieties. In: Sign Language Studies 25: 92 (1996) - pp. 225-252 .

Woodward, James: Sign languages and sign language families in Thailand and Viet Nam. In: Emmorey, Karen / Lane, Harlan (eds): The signs of language revisited : an anthology to honor Ursula Bellugi and Edward Klima. Mahwah, NJ : Erlbaum (2000) - pp. 23-47 .

แบบสะกดนิ้วมือไทย (Thai Sign Language) dictionaries

Bar-Tzur, D. Indigenous signs for cities: Thailand.

Chiangmai Sign Language: A language of Thailand.

Cooper, D. Thai Linguistics and Computational Linguistics Bibliography. See [Collins90] and [PraneeXX].

-->International bibliography of sign language. --> Click on "T", then on "Thai Sign Language dictionary".

NECTEC's Web Based Learning : Learn on the Internet by NECTEC - Thailand.Thai flag,Thai flagSign Language iconThai Sign Language. Click on links: แบบสะกดนิ้วมือไทย ก - ฮ, แบบสะกดนิ้วมือไทย สระและวรรณยุกต์, แบบสะกดนิ้วมือไทย - ผลไม้ || กระท้อน || กล้วย || ขนุน || เงาะ || ชมพู่ || แตงโม.

Signs around the world: Thailand. Individual country videotapes feature native Deaf male and female signers from that country. Each tape is separated into three sections which include personal introduction, vocabulary, and narrative.

Suwanarat, Manfa / Reilly, Charles B. (eds): The Thai Sign Language dictionary. Book One. Bankok : Thai Wattana Pahanich Press 1986 - 384 p.

Wrigley, Owen et al (eds): The Thai Sign Language Dictionary. revised and expanded edition. Bangkok : NAD in Thailand (NADT) 1990 - 1382 p.

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