Originally Posted by VamPyroX

I had an interpreter friend at RIT who told me this...

She said that interpreting students are encouraged to not mouth or talk while signing in ASL. The reason for this was to separate English and ASL since both don't follow same grammar structure.

While some skilled interpreters can do both at the same time, it can be difficult when that person is a student or is learning to use ASL. The mind has to think about proper English structure when speaking/mouthing, but also think about proper ASL structure when signing. So, it becomes difficult to sign ASL when you're used to speaking English.

In order to sign ASL well, it's encouraged to not speak or mouth. That way, you can focus only on your signing.

That's what I was told.