Okay, enough with the puns (just in case you didn't get the reference: Lips Are Movin' by Meghan Trainor). I can't wait to start talking about more things I learned about Deaf culture and how my hands have been forming beautiful signs!
That Deaf Guy
I'm gonna start out with this amazing comic strip I found, called That Deaf Guy. This was created by Matt and Kay Diagle, and they draw a family with a Deaf dad, Deaf mom who can hear and is an ASL interpreter, and a young C.O.D.A. (Child of Deaf Adult). I suggest you start out by reading the first cartoon and going from there. You can follow Matt and Kay Diagle on Facebook. My favorite comic strip is below, and I think it explains the beauty of sign language very well.
That Deaf Guy
I'm gonna start out with this amazing comic strip I found, called That Deaf Guy. This was created by Matt and Kay Diagle, and they draw a family with a Deaf dad, Deaf mom who can hear and is an ASL interpreter, and a young C.O.D.A. (Child of Deaf Adult). I suggest you start out by reading the first cartoon and going from there. You can follow Matt and Kay Diagle on Facebook. My favorite comic strip is below, and I think it explains the beauty of sign language very well.
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| More awesome strips on thatdeafguy.com! |
Word Concepts
I briefly talked about this in my FYI post that you absolutely should read if unfamiliar with Deaf culture and/or ASL. If not, I will find you...and I WILL (not) kill you! Seriously, just read the post. Anyways, a sign in a sign language does not represent a single word but rather a word concept, like the sign for "smart" can also mean genius, brilliant, etc. I've learned about 20 "word concepts" per lesson, and I've done five so far. I tried to get a firm grip on what I have memorized by repeating every sign, everyday until I get it right from memory at least 3 times in a row. I've stayed up really late signing because of this, but it's a) SOOOO fun b) something I should do or else it's really easy for me to forget a sign. I try not to wake up family members, but being the klutz I am, I keep hitting my desk with my elbow and my hands, which makes a really loud noise at 1:00AM.
Memorizing What I Memorized
Another problem I've been having with memorization is not the memorization itself - but keeping track of which words I have memorized. When you learn a language, it's inevitable that your friend or someone just goes, "OOH, SAY SOMETHING!" Or in my case, "OOH, SIGN SOMETHING!" It was a bit annoying when I first came to America and people asked to me say something in Korean, but now I don't mind as much. When people ask me to sign something now, I take the advantage to go on a full spiel about how Deaf culture is awesome and blah blah blah. When I actually get to signing though, a thought hits me hard: "Wait, what can I sign?" I had 100 word concepts memorized yet all I could remember off of the top of my head is stuff like "Hi," "name," or "ASL." This told me that if I were to meet a Deaf person, I wouldn't be able to start a conversation with them.
I came up with a solution...or Dr. Vicars did.
At the end of a lesson, he has a video "story," in which he introduces some facts about himself composed of the signs from that lesson and the previous ones. I skipped those because they were at the bottom of the page (I guess scrolling just isn't my thing?). Since Dr. Vicars is a native signer, I'd be practicing watching and understanding sign (similar to listening exercises for foreign languages), and at the end, I could make a story about myself that's similar to his story. I won't be posting videos here (sorry!) though, because then I'd probably be spending more time closed captioning than learning ASL.
Pidgin Sign English
This is something I learned on lifeprint.com this week. ASL is a language with language strucutre and grammar rules on its own and distinct from English. ASL and English are not supposed to be done simultaneously; that's improper and would end up looking like a train wreck. Signed Exact English (SEE) is sort of a combination of the two; using English grammar rules and sentence structure, one uses signs to exactly sign English word-by-word. SEE can have positive effects when used to babies, but it's not an actual language and is frequently looked down upon by the Deaf community, as it is not "true" ASL. Pidgin Signed English (PSE) is a combination of ASL and SEE, and this is not an actual language either. PSE forms a bridge between the Hearing world and the Deaf world in a manner and is frequently used by interpreters, but this is not a real language either.
Facial Expressions
This is another vital element of ASL I learned this week. Since ASL is a visual language, you have to do everything that you'd normally do with noise, visually. When you talk while you're angry, your voice tends to start to get louder and when you talk while you're sad, you voice tends to get choked up or quiet and slow. With ASL, you use your facial expressions to express emotion. When signing angry, make an angry face and when signing sad, make a sad face. This seems funny to Hearing people at first, but this is perfectly normal in the Deaf community. Facial expressions also apply when asking questions. When asking a "wh-" question like "What is your name?" or "Where do you go to going?" that requires an answer that's not yes or no, then the eyebrows have to be "furrowed down." When asking a "yes/no" question, then raise the eyebrows up.
Wow, I'm really enjoying this project! I was never into Deaf culture when I was little; I've enjoyed books and stories with Deaf people but something must have taken over me because I now have almost a burning passion for ASL and Deaf culture. I hope my blog is inspiring you at least a little bit to further understand Deaf culture.
Resources:
http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/yesnofacial%20expression.htm
http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/whfacialexpression.htm
http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/contactsigning.htm
Memorizing What I Memorized
Another problem I've been having with memorization is not the memorization itself - but keeping track of which words I have memorized. When you learn a language, it's inevitable that your friend or someone just goes, "OOH, SAY SOMETHING!" Or in my case, "OOH, SIGN SOMETHING!" It was a bit annoying when I first came to America and people asked to me say something in Korean, but now I don't mind as much. When people ask me to sign something now, I take the advantage to go on a full spiel about how Deaf culture is awesome and blah blah blah. When I actually get to signing though, a thought hits me hard: "Wait, what can I sign?" I had 100 word concepts memorized yet all I could remember off of the top of my head is stuff like "Hi," "name," or "ASL." This told me that if I were to meet a Deaf person, I wouldn't be able to start a conversation with them.
I came up with a solution...or Dr. Vicars did.
At the end of a lesson, he has a video "story," in which he introduces some facts about himself composed of the signs from that lesson and the previous ones. I skipped those because they were at the bottom of the page (I guess scrolling just isn't my thing?). Since Dr. Vicars is a native signer, I'd be practicing watching and understanding sign (similar to listening exercises for foreign languages), and at the end, I could make a story about myself that's similar to his story. I won't be posting videos here (sorry!) though, because then I'd probably be spending more time closed captioning than learning ASL.
Pidgin Sign English
This is something I learned on lifeprint.com this week. ASL is a language with language strucutre and grammar rules on its own and distinct from English. ASL and English are not supposed to be done simultaneously; that's improper and would end up looking like a train wreck. Signed Exact English (SEE) is sort of a combination of the two; using English grammar rules and sentence structure, one uses signs to exactly sign English word-by-word. SEE can have positive effects when used to babies, but it's not an actual language and is frequently looked down upon by the Deaf community, as it is not "true" ASL. Pidgin Signed English (PSE) is a combination of ASL and SEE, and this is not an actual language either. PSE forms a bridge between the Hearing world and the Deaf world in a manner and is frequently used by interpreters, but this is not a real language either.
Facial Expressions
This is another vital element of ASL I learned this week. Since ASL is a visual language, you have to do everything that you'd normally do with noise, visually. When you talk while you're angry, your voice tends to start to get louder and when you talk while you're sad, you voice tends to get choked up or quiet and slow. With ASL, you use your facial expressions to express emotion. When signing angry, make an angry face and when signing sad, make a sad face. This seems funny to Hearing people at first, but this is perfectly normal in the Deaf community. Facial expressions also apply when asking questions. When asking a "wh-" question like "What is your name?" or "Where do you go to going?" that requires an answer that's not yes or no, then the eyebrows have to be "furrowed down." When asking a "yes/no" question, then raise the eyebrows up.
Wow, I'm really enjoying this project! I was never into Deaf culture when I was little; I've enjoyed books and stories with Deaf people but something must have taken over me because I now have almost a burning passion for ASL and Deaf culture. I hope my blog is inspiring you at least a little bit to further understand Deaf culture.
Resources:
http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/yesnofacial%20expression.htm
http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/whfacialexpression.htm
http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/contactsigning.htm
I've really learned a lot from this article. I always thought that sign language was a language that was to make up for the inability to communicate or hear properly. However, now I do comprehend that there is a deeper reason behind it. I find it interesting that the facial expressions themselves depict something as well. I have a question though: Is there different jargon or dialect with sign language as there is for languages like English and such?
ReplyDeleteThere actually is! Certain signs are the same throughout the country, but certain word concepts are signed differently depending on region. I haven't seen jargon yet, but I'm pretty sure there is. For example, there's a lot of products that engineers use all the time, but since they're proper nouns, they don't have their own sign. I'd imagine they'll have a certain sign for "McMaster," (a compnay that sells stuff) that other people of the Deaf community don't use. Also, there are name signs, which is determined by your group of friends/people in your community, so if you have a long name like Annabella, your friends can have one distinct sign for your name instead of spelling out your name every single time.
DeleteWow, sign language is a lot more complicated than I thought. This post definitely opened my eyes up to things that I never saw before (thanks!). It also poses a couple new questions. If ASL isn't a direct translation of English, then why is it only American Sign Language? Can it be used elsewhere? Is it used else where? How does it contrast with other forms of sign language? (I'm sorry I have so many questions)
ReplyDeleteWell, first I'd suggest reading my FYI post if you haven't. (http://handydandygenius.blogspot.com/2015/02/fyi-basic-asl-knowledge.html)
DeleteThe question, "Why isn't there one unified form of sign language?" appears super often. If you were to compare it to spoken languages, it'd be like me asking you, "Why doesn't the entire human race speak one language?" Just like how French and Chinese is different, ASL is different from other languages. However, there are similar sign languages. ASL has origins from French Sign Language, just like how German and English are similar languages. However, similar to how French and Chinese is different, British Sign Language and American Sign Language has different roots and are extremely different. I talked about this in Jess's comment on my Week 0 post. Here it is again:
"http://handydandygenius.blogspot.com/2015/02/could-i-be-genius-week-06.html"