Sign language is the main tool for hearing-impaired people to communicate with others, but the teaching of this verbal communication is inadequate and does not meet the requirements of these unfortunate people, impeding their integration into society.

Unable to hear since he was born, Nguyen The Son used to live a quite isolated life as he could not communicate with others. Since he joined a sign language class, he has had more friends, both those like himself and normal people.

Son confided that before learning sign language he was unable to talk with others and after attending classes for two months he now can communicate with his peers in the class.

The families and friends of deaf people also want to learn sign language as they wish to better understand their unfortunate beloved.

Nguyen Thi Thu Ha said she has a relative who is unable to hear so she is taking the class to learn sign language to talk with her.

Alexander Garza, who is studying at Hanoi National University , has been learning sign language for four months so that he is able to talk with his hearing-impaired friends in Hanoi .

According to statistics, Vietnam has more than 1 million hearing impaired people, including over 400,000 children of school age. The country has only 70 schools or centres that cater for people with hearing problems, and these are mainly found in big cities.

President of the Hanoi Deaf Association Le Van Anh said sign language is the only means for deaf people to communicate with the community. There is a growing demand to learn the language, but there is a shortage of centres and teachers.

To resolve the situation, the Hanoi Deaf Association has opened sign language classes and built a library of sign language books and electronic resources.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Le Van Tac, Director of the Special Education Research Centre, the Ministry of Education and Training is building a national teaching system for sign language. In the coming time, sign will become a common language for everyone.

Without sign language, deaf people lack means of communication. Therefore, the development of a system to teach sign language will build a society with no barriers. It also gives hearing impaired people more opportunities to access cultural and entertainment activities and integrate into the community.-VNA