How many ASL numbers should I be able to “receive” in a row?

Jazzberry

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At this web site: asl.bz I’m having trouble “receiving” numbers that are 4 digits or longer correctly. Up to 3 digits I usually have no problems.

I’m doing much better with “receiving” fingerspelled words at asltrainer.com. I think that's because I’m sounding off the letters to myself as I see them, so I can remember the sounds long enough to get the word. I still have trouble with letter combinations where the individual letters don’t sound like their combination like “ght” or “ought”, but I seem to be getting there.

But I’m still having trouble with long numbers. I can type them in as I see them and get it that way but would it be a good idea for me to be able to remember the entire number after its been signed? If the tool gives me the number 9, 874 and I sound it off to myself saying thousand and hundred, I fall behind the tool. If I just try to sound off the numbers sometimes I sometimes type them in a different order than they were sent. If the number is longer than 4 digits sometimes I still get an individual digit completely wrong.

Is this a goal worth trying to go for? IRL, when I ask for a phone number I usually ask people to write it down or put it into my cell phone themselves. And when I'm at work I usually get the numbers I need from an e-mail or a hard copy. So, practically speaking, is being able to read off a max of 3 numbers correctly good enough?

Hope this post makes sense! :) TIA :ty:
 
9,874.

for hearing people - some says it as "nine thousand eight hundred seventy-four" or "nine-eight-seven-four" or some other variations.

you can sign it similarly too. I think I'd sign it as "nine-thousand.... 8-7-4". I'm curious what other people would sign it as... :hmm:
 
I just did "max" and am doing fine at "deaf" speed.

360116374 just now,.

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Well, I've been using mostly the Bill Vicars' (lifeprint.com) web site -- so I would sign it back with the thousand and hundred signs. It's his tool (I think) and the tool does sign the thousand and hundred sign also.

But I'm trying to work on my reception ability and I can't keep up with the tool on asl.bz if I fully sound out 9 thousand 8 hundred and seventy four in my head.

If I skip saying the thousand and hundred sign to myself, I can keep up but I don't always get the number correct anyway. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to improve my short-term memory so I can do this better.

And also how important it is to be able to read long numbers in sign? I mean would even a fluent signer just jot down the number on a piece of paper and give it that way to another fluent signer?

FWIW, if a number is 3 digits or less, I can usually read it correctly.
 
:ty: I switched from medium to fast and it seemed to go a little better. Deaf speed was too fast for me though.

I don't know why that helped but it did! Seems counterintuitive :confused:

I'll report back in a few days -- I usually drill myself on numbers for about 10 mins a day. ( I practice signing them for a few minutes, then go to the asl.bz web site. Sometimes I watch a deafie or asl teacher go through the numbers on a youtube video. )

So thanks again PFH! Do you have any more tips? :D
 
:ty: I switched from medium to fast and it seemed to go a little better. Deaf speed was too fast for me though.

I don't know why that helped but it did! Seems counterintuitive :confused:

I'll report back in a few days -- I usually drill myself on numbers for about 10 mins a day. ( I practice signing them for a few minutes, then go to the asl.bz web site. Sometimes I watch a deafie or asl teacher go through the numbers on a youtube video. )

So thanks again PFH! Do you have any more tips? :D

when you sign fast - just sign it at your own style
 
when you sign fast - just sign it at your own style

You can have style? Neat. I thought there is only one way to do a sign. Sometimes more than two, but usually one is preferred over the other.

I'm not ready to watch ASL videos or have watched enough people sign their signs, so...
 
You can have style? Neat. I thought there is only one way to do a sign. Sometimes more than two, but usually one is preferred over the other.

I'm not ready to watch ASL videos or have watched enough people sign their signs, so...

Just so you know, Jiro's style makes everyone want to hug him. He's so gentle with his signing.
 
You can have style? Neat. I thought there is only one way to do a sign. Sometimes more than two, but usually one is preferred over the other.

I'm not ready to watch ASL videos or have watched enough people sign their signs, so...

sure. it's no different from people having their own writing/talking (lingo) style :)
 
<snip> I'll report back in a few days <snip>

OK -- reporting back. :wave:

This is really strange. When I practice fingerspelling at asltrainer.com it does help me if "sound off" the sounds in my "mind's ear" as I see the letters appear on the screen. (And I did get this idea from a thread at alldeaf.com so :ty:) My accuracy rate seems to be OK considering that I've just been practicing fingerspelling for a little while.

But, for whatever reason, it has not been helping me to sound off the numbers in my "mind's ear" as I see them appear at asl.bz Instead -- what's helping is if I say each digit in my mind's ear as I write the number in my "mind's eye" with a placement comma as needed. While I'm doing this I can't hold the image of numbers that I've already seen in my mind's eye while I'm reading off the number from the web site. But when the program has completely signed the number and is waiting for me to type the entire number in -- that's when I see the entire number, in my mind's eye.

So for example -- let's say the software program is signing the number 9,874 to me, including the signs for thousand and hundred. It doesn't help if I say in my mind's ear "Nine thousand eight hundred seventy four " as I see the number being signed to me on the web site.

It does help if I say in my "mind's ear" '9' while in my "minds eye" I write the number '9" with a comma after the number
then say in my "mind's ear " 8 while in my "mind's eye" I write 8 with a comma before it
then say 7 while I write 7
than say 4 while writing 4


Than I look away from the computer screen and in my mind's eye 9,874 just shows up.

Weird, huh? But it seems to work for me. :)

(And in case anyone's wondering my imaginary pen is a big black marker and my imaginary pad is white with blue lines. ;) :D )

So ... just in case this helps anyone else, I'm passing it along.
 
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I remember reading something a long time ago, in the context of developing the U.S. phone system, that most people can remember 5 numbers easily. Since more numbers than that were needed for city phone networks, the decision was made to go with words to represent the first 2 numbers. So we had "Beechwood 4-5789" (you know you're old if you remember that song!), and such things.

Now it seems people can remember 7 numbers easily enough, since we finally did away with the initial word for phone numbers.

Interesting how you're doing it, Jazzberry. Wonder if it will start to get easier and easier for you.
 
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