How do you feel.......

[Reba]

If one person doesn't know i usually ask another, and if they are unsure but give me an answer, i will ask another person and so on....

Yes, I do that. But sometimes there are terms that simply do not have signs, especially technical terms or occupational jargon.

 

[Reba]

I would be hesistant on making up signs for new words just because there is no sign for it. It's sometimes a good idea to contextualise what you are talking about in ASL and to go from there....

In the classroom setting, we usually do discuss the meaning and concept of the term first, then negotiate a sign. Sometimes it's just an abbreviation that we use. When we're using an important polysyllabic technical term over and over, every day of the semester, we're not going to spell it each time. No one wants to watch a dry two-hour lecture with lots of fingerspelling every day, and no one wants to interpret that way.

 

[Reba]

Well that is something I definitely don’t have a problem with! LOL when I am telling a story if I need props costumes pyrotechnics I use them! LOL well not really but I am very animated anyway and sometimes things are just funnier or serious or heart touching when you are more physical with in, instead of just telling a story. I am very very expressive. ...

Sorry, that just doesn't work when interpreting classes in business law and finance, HAZMAT training, statistics, macro and micro economics, web design, safety and sanitation, microbiology, etc.

 

[Southern]

I meant with my friends, I wouldn’t be like that in a business conference at my current job. When with hearing friends though I am very animated, always have been. When I am with my Deaf friends I am the same way. When I am talking about something it is easy for me to tell the story visually because I tell stories that way anyway. Also I am not an interpreter, (yet) only in ASL 1. You can’t “spice up” a lecture on the digestive tract of dung beetles. You have to look at the situation and give it the proper approach. Besides if I did try to animate something like the digestive tract of a dung beetle the class would be paying attention to me, not the teacher. People would be laughing and I would be a disturbance to the class. That in turn would bring unwanted attention to the Deaf person I am interpreting for possibly embarrassing them. I’m funny, goofy, and animated when the time and situation calls for it and it is warranted. If it is not the time nor the place then I am quite serious.

 

[Kuifje75]

In the classroom setting, we usually do discuss the meaning and concept of the term first, then negotiate a sign. Sometimes it's just an abbreviation that we use. When we're using an important polysyllabic technical term over and over, every day of the semester, we're not going to spell it each time. No one wants to watch a dry two-hour lecture with lots of fingerspelling every day, and no one wants to interpret that way.

In my medical classes, the interpreters remember the picture and show a classifier version of the picture, then spell different parts if the teacher said it, then from there on, the interpreter just points to that area on his classifier picture. It really helps a lot and I appreciate it very much. It is sometimes hard to watch both the interpreter and the powerpoint display at the same time. if you establish the classifier representing something, then it can be used from there on. The only minus is that I sometimes don't know the English words that the teacher specificially used, so sometimes I interrupt the interpreter after class to ask for certain words with the professor.

 

[Southern]

In my medical classes, ....The only minus is that I sometimes don't know the English words that the teacher specificially used, so sometimes I interrupt the interpreter after class to ask for certain words with the professor.

WOW medical terms are generally in Latin if not then Greek. I am an awful speller in English, through in Latin and some of those words are so long! WHEW!!!

 

[Interpretrator]

Is that make up sign usually called "home sign"?

No, home sign and nonce signs are two different things, though somewhat similar. Home sign is used in households where there is a deaf family member but the rest of the household does not use a natural sign language like ASL. So signs are made up that are only used among the family for the sake of usually very basic communication. And it's different from name signs or that kind of thing; I mean signs for things and concepts are invented that do exist in ASL, but the household doesn't know much or any ASL.

Nonce signs are also used in a small population, say an interpreter and the deaf students in a classroom. The difference is, they are usually made up when there is no standard sign for them (as opposed to home sign), and they are not used once the assignment is over, be it a one-time assignment or a repeating one like a class.

I am an awful speller in English, through in Latin and some of those words are so long! WHEW!!!

You might want to get started on improving your spelling now. Crosswords are a great way to do it, also those word-a-day calendars. I believe spelling is an important skill for an interpreter, although I've seen wonderful interpreters who were bad spellers.