THE THEATRE INTERPRETER INITIATIVE IS ENABLED BY NLB BANK
Because of their disability, access to cultural events is often hard for the deaf and hearing impaired. The Theatre Interpreter initiative, enabled by NLB bank in cooperation with Ljubljana Association of the deaf and hearing impaired, is enabling the deaf to visit regular theatre performances on the stages of the biggest Slovene theatres, that were until recently exclusively available only to the hearing public. Sign language experts and actors in one interpret the storylines and dialogs into sign language directly from the stage, thus making it possible for the deaf to have a unique experience of watching the plays together with the hearing audience.
THE THEATRE INTERPRETER INITIATIVE SUPPORTED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA
The Theatre Interpreter initiative received honorary support of the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Borut Pahor, who is strongly aware of the immense importance of true integration of the deaf into society.
In 2019 the Theatre Interpreter initiative has reached an important milestone for the deaf and hearing impaired: signing a pledge, all biggest Slovene national theatres have joined the initiative, which is bringing twelve new interpreted plays to the stages in the year 2020/21.
MEET THE THEATRE INTERPRETERS
ABOUT SLOVENE SIGN LANGUAGE
Slovene sign language is the mother
tongue of the deaf
In Slovenia around 1000 deaf people are using sign language in every day communication. Instead of using their voice, the deaf are speaking through their hands, their whole body, their facial expressions, their lips and their head. Signing in sign language is what words represent in the spoken language.
The grammar of the sign language is not the same
as the grammar of the spoken one
The assumption that the deaf use the same mother tongue as the hearing is wrong; the grammar of the sign language is substantially different from the grammar of the spoken one in the same geographical area. That is why solutions in the form of subtitles are not optimal for the deaf. Here also lies the importance of the Theatre Interpreter initiative.
Sign language on its way to become one of the
official languages in Slovenia
In November 2018 The Slovene Association of the deaf and hearing impaired has put an official request to the Slovene government to amend the constitution and give the sign language the status of one of the official languages in Slovenia. In April 2019 the government has approved the motion, which means Slovenia is soon to become the fifth European state with sign language written it its constitution.