The sign language translator who stood by the podium while dignitaries paid their respects at Nelson Mandela’s funeral apparently did not know sign language.

South Africans fluent in sign language who witnessed the performance were understandably outraged; it appears this guy was just gesturing randomly, his translation was pure gibberish.

I don’t sign myself, but I couldn’t help noticing his dead-pan hand-waving just didn’t look right. I simply assumed that he was signing in some local dialect of the language.

In the US, signers educated at Gallaudet University have an “accent” that is instantly recognizable to those fluent in the language; and I don’t know if Ameslan is used in other countries, or to translate foreign languages.

My theory is it was an elaborate practical joke, a sort of Rosie Ruiz on a global scale, although certainly in bad taste at the funeral services for a universally respected world leader. One reporter described it as “vintage Andy Kaufman.”