New Zealand Sign Language

New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) is unique to New Zealand and is one of our official languages.

NZSL is the natural language of the Deaf community in New Zealand and unique to this country. As a result, it contains ideas, sayings and words that are not found in other sign languages, including signs for Te Reo Maori words and ideas, which can not be found anywhere else.

Over 29,000 people in New Zealand use Sign Language and over 220,000 people identify themselves as being Deaf or have a hearing impairment (NZ Census 2006).

There are also regional variations, just as there are with the spoken NZ dialect. People in Christchurch, for instance, may sign something slightly differently to those in Wellington.

So why aren't other languages "recognised" in the same way? Other languages - Samoan, Tongan, Mandarin, Cantonese etc - have recognition in their country of origin. Like Maori, NZSL is strictly home-grown.