Most people in Australia speak Englisch.
Many would agree that ENGLISH is hard to learn.
If these two sentences felt a little strange to read – the first one because it is misspelt (Englisch), the second because it is unnecessarily capitalised (ENGLISH) – then welcome to Auslan where this happens all the time.
All.
The.
Time.
Auslan is written as you would most other languages: English, Spanish, Korean – with a capitalised first letter.
It is not spelt Ausland. And it is not written AUSLAN.
While many other world sign languages are written as acronyms (ASL – American Sign Language, NZSL – New Zealand Sign Language, BSL – British Sign Language), Auslan is NOT.
Auslan is not an acronym; it’s actually a portmanteau which means it’s a blend of sounds that come together to make one word.
In this case: Australian Sign Language = Auslan.
I’m always thrilled and impressed when I see people use/write this properly, and I wince internally when I see it written Ausland or AUSLAN.
When writing about Auslan, please remember this: Auslan.
Thank you.
Hope you found this handy and keep up your Awesome Auslan!
Disclaimer This information is entirely subjective and based on my personal experience, interpretation and understanding of the subject matter.
As a Deaf person who has used, loved, and continued to learn Auslan throughout my life, it was when I started studying the Diploma of Auslan (Deaf cohort 2018) that I was awestruck by how beautifully complex Auslan is.