Originally Posted by sallylou

This is the key. In order to be fluent, a person has to be able to sign without translating from English into ASL. It takes time and practice but it happens.

A hearing women came to my class and was very rude to me because I would not speak while signing. I patiently explained to her that I could not speak while signing because I was not thinking in English. Speaking while signing messes me up. This woman has the whole hearing world and she complains at the deaf center that she can't understanding something (without even trying). She has a adult deaf daughter and she was at class by her request. Sound familiar? She only made it a couple of classes before she bailed. Very frustrating!