Hands Up for Coffee Trivia Quiz

Answer: True

Auslan has been around in some form for many years, though in printed form only since the mid 1940s. It has words and signs in common with the sign languages of the major English speaking countries of the world. Auslan was originally based on Irish sign language, and was one-handed.

Answer: British

The acronym stands for 'British, Australian and New Zealand Sign Language'. All three were developed from a deaf sign language used in Britain in the 1800s. Some common elements remain in all three languages, though each now has regional variations.

Answer: Scotland

John Carmichael was an engraver who arrived from Edinburgh and settled in Sydney in 1825. He was apparently a great story-teller, and enthralled the deaf community with his tales.

Answer: Languages Other Than English

Because Australia is one of the most multicultural countries in the world, with a vast number of languages spoken, most schools and universities run LOTE programs.

Both indigenous and Auslan are considered LOTE and are available for students to learn. Many languages are also taught in community centres, and for children of immigrant families, Saturday or evening cultural classes, which include native language acquisition, are held.

Answer: Anyone who learns it

Anyone can learn Auslan and it's a useful tool to have, the same as knowing any language other than your native tongue.

Many people who are deaf are also proficient at lip-reading, and generally use a combination of sign language and lip-reading when communicating. For this reason, it's important to form your words clearly, though not in an over-emphasised manner, and to stand where your face can be easily seen, when speaking to a deaf person.

Answer: 1989

Many of the early works were excessively technical and required background knowledge of other signs. It was not until 1989 that Trevor Johnston, the primary developer and advocate for Auslan, had a complete dictionary published. There have been revised versions produced since then.

Answer: Coffee

There is a separate sign for lovers of cappuccino, and another for tea drinkers. A sign exists for a can of drink too, where the action of removing the ring-pull of a can is mimicked.

Separate signs also exist for beer, lemonade and soup, while there is also a generic sign for drink.

Answer: Intercepting signals from the Mars Rover

'Smart Auslan' is a smartphone application that transforms museum, art gallery and other self-guided tour interpretations into Auslan with text captions. As the use of smartphone applications increases, is it anticipated that more uses will be found, particularly for emergency services such as bushfire warnings and extreme weather warnings at the beach.

Answer: True

Many deaf fellowships exist in Australia, with some denominations having deaf signing integrated into their regular services, and some conducting separate services for the deaf.

Answer: Bingo

Deaf Australia produces a game of Bingo as a means of learning and consolidating Auslan signing skills. It focusses primarily on single letters.

The website SignPlanet also has a number of excellent online games to increase Auslan knowledge of words and phrases.