Translating a song from English to TRUE Asl.

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Ciera2005

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I have been learning ASL for a couple of months now with some friend of mine. We don't have a teacher, we watch lots of videos for the library and read lots of books on ASL from there too. We have learned a lot of vocabulary do we are having a little trouble with the grammar of this beautiful language. The best way that we found to learn sign language is to learn it in a song. But many people on youtube are not using true ASL, most of them are using S.E.E.(Signing Exact English). I can tell the difference when it's S.E.E. and when it's ASL. I was hoping someone here could help me and my friends translate a song so we can learn it. We would like it to be in true ASL. I will leave the lyrics and and space on the right side of each line for to translated sign to go. Thanks for your help in advance. The song is about how it feels to be bullied; it's called "Mean girls" and it's by Rachel Crow.

Do you ever go to lunch with no one by your side [ ]
Cause the moment you arrive they leave the table [ ] Calling me everything but my name [ ]
Need I remind you again just call me Rachel [ ] How would you feel if you running home crying [ ]
Lock yourself in your room, don't want anyone to see ya [ ]
While everyone's having fun outside, and you're telling yourself [ ]
I won't let it get to me no more [ ]
I don't wanna feel this way [ ]
I can't believe I let it go so far [ ]
No no, it's not okay [ ]
What do you know about me? [ ]
Do you wanna know what I think? [ ]
Mean girls, mean girls [ ]
I'm a just comb you outta my curls [ ]
Mean girls, mean girls [ ]
You no longer run my world [ ]
Mean girls, mean girls [ ]
I'm a just comb you outta my curls [ ]
How would you feel every time you go to school [ ]
Someone's looking at you weird calling you a loser [ ]
All these girls wearing bubble-gum pink [ ]
Guess I didn't get the memo [ ]
Cause they're laughing at my blue shirt [ ]
Well I hope you feeling good about you treating [ ]
someone you know like a perfect stranger [ ]
Cause it's easier than standing by my side [ ]
Who do you think you are [ ]
Loud mouth, cafeteria star [ ]
Maybe somebody was cruel to you [ ]
So you think that's what you're supposed to do [ ]
One day, it might be you [ ]
When you need a friend, but you no longer cool [ ]
When everyone leaves when you walk in the room [ ]
I just hope they forgive you [ ]
I won't let it get to me no more [ ]
I don't wanna feel this way [ ]
I can't believe I let it go so far [ ]
No no, it's not okay [ ]
What do you know about me? [ ]
Do you wanna know what I think? [ ]
Mean girls, mean girls [ ]
I'm a just comb you outta my curls [ ]
Mean girls, mean girls [ ]
You no longer run my world [ ]
Mean girls, mean girls [ ]
I'm a just comb you outta my curls [ ]
Mean girls, mean girls [ ]
You no longer run my world [ ]
 
welcome to AD. as for learnign signs - that cool- just reemember, IMHO, you cant be in true ASL until you find your style of signing. this comes with time and experience. You mentioned watched alot of videos so I assumed you mean on youtube?
 
Show us your effort: How do you think it should be signed?

What specific research have you done towards this specific project?

Also, when posting on a forum, removing the repeating lines is a good idea to save on time & space for forum users. You could also sort the sentences into what is easy, intermediate, or difficult for you so that it is easier for users to pick what they want to address.

This forum can help you with a few words and a few brief sentences, but this project is yours: You have to do a lot of the work. 8)
 
Been at it for a couple of months.....and no teacher......okayyyyyy
 
Tousi said:
Been at it for a couple of months.....and no teacher......okayyyyyy
Click to expand...
I would add, been at it for a couple of months and attempting songs???

Howzabout learning the language first. :giggle:
 
I would like to thank everyone who replied to my post and now to clear some things up and answer some questions. But some of them made me a little upset, maybe I didn't explain my question well. I don't know why I have to explain myself at all but here it goes. To... Radioman, thanks for welcoming me here. The point of translating the song is to study the sentence structure and ASL grammar. I whole heartily agree with what you said about not being true to "ASL until you find your style of signing. this comes with time and experience." but this is not the purpose of having someone translate the song for me. You also asked a question about what kind of videos I watch and if I watch them on YouTube. I try not to watch many on YouTube because I find that they are inaccurate, and that they are not done in "True ASL" but in S.E.E. Like I said must on the videos I watch are from my local library. I do watch 3 people on Youtube who I feel do "True ASL" here are the links below.

Tiffany T. Hill aka: tiffanythill
https://www.youtube.com/user/tiffanythill/videos?view=0[/url]

ASL Stephen aka: CaptainValor
https://www.youtube.com/user/CaptainValor/videos?flow=grid&view=0[/url]

KellyMGreer aka: kmklined
https://www.youtube.com/user/kmklined/videos?view=0[/url]
 
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I would like to thank everyone who replied to my post and now to clear some things up and answer some questions. But some of them made me a little upset, maybe I didn't explain myself. I don't know why I have to explain myself at all but here it goes. To... Shimo "Show us your effort: How do you think it should be signed?" Well... I don't know that's why I'm asking for help. I know over 700 signs so I have a pretty big vocabulary and I can sign the whole song but the problem is that I will be signing it in English which is basically the same as S.E.E. but I don't want to do that. I love ASL and respect it as a language all it's own and as such I know it has different rules regarding sentence structure. That what I'm having problem with not facial grammar, not vocabulary, sentence structure. I was hoping to learn to this song so that I could study each sentence and figure out how to sign in "True ASL."

As for your question to "what specific research have you done towards this specific project?"

I have tried hard to look for different websites that explain the rules of grammar when it comes to ASL. Here are a few that I have found.

TerpTopics: ASL GRAMMAR Introduction to ASL and Sign Language Interpreting
American Sign Language (ASL)
After reading these I can translate small sentences like.

"What's your name?" would be signed, "YOUR NAME WHAT?" with the what-question facial expression (eyebrows down).
Are your parents deaf? would be signed, "YOUR PARENTS DEAF?" with the yes/no question facial expression (eyebrows up).
"Can you fingerspell that again?" would be signed, "FINGERSPELL AGAIN?" with the yes/no question facial expression (eyebrows up). You can also add PLEASE to this phrase if you want.

But I have a hard time trying to translate thoughts, feelings, or expressions. Like "Look at the bright side," "Get lost," "Loud mouth, cafeteria star," or "I'm a just comb you outta my curls." I don't know how to translate that and have it make sense. Lots of site like aslpro and lifeprint teach vocabulary but few sites teach grammar.

I also wanted let you know I agree with your statement about removing the repeating lines, sorry about that. I do realize that this is a project but I would like some help. Even if it's just examples from a few of the lines of the song as to how the signed grammar should look. Thanks for you help and advice.
 
Reba said:
I would add, been at it for a couple of months and attempting songs???

Howzabout learning the language first. :giggle:
Click to expand...
To: Tousi & Reba. It's true I have no live physical teacher but I don't see what is so funny about it. I have been around ASL starting when I was 9 there was an older woman that lived on my street who had been deaf her whole and her family didn't sign. I liked her and would spend time with her and she helped me to learn a few signs now I'm 18 and I have a tight budget and don't have money to spend on a bunch of book and videos to teach me how to sign. So yes I am trying to learn with out a teacher, but I was hoping others would be kind enough to help me. I have been "seriously learning" for 4 months practicing 6 days a week. I do know the language to some degree do I would like to better understanding the sentence structure and grammatical rules. As for why I'm learning the song I'm doing it for two reasons. Because I learn and remember vocabulary better that way. If I read it from a book I may tend to for get the sign but if I can sign my favorite song I never forget that vocabulary. And the other reason is because I want see how thing are signed in "True ASL." I can sign the song but it would be in S.E.E. I want to do it in ASL.
 
Ciera2005 said:
To: Tousi & Reba. It's true I have no live physical teacher but I don't see what is so funny about it. I have been around ASL starting when I was 9 there was an older woman that lived on my street who had been deaf her whole and her family didn't sign. I liked her and would spend time with her and she helped me to learn a few signs now I'm 18 and I have a tight budget and don't have money to spend on a bunch of book and videos to teach me how to sign. So yes I am trying to learn with out a teacher, but I was hoping others would be kind enough to help me. I have been "seriously learning" for 4 months practicing 6 days a week. I do know the language to some degree do I would like to better understanding the sentence structure and grammatical rules. As for why I'm learning the song I'm doing it for two reasons. Because I learn and remember vocabulary better that way. If I read it from a book I may tend to for get the sign but if I can sign my favorite song I never forget that vocabulary. And the other reason is because I want see how thing are signed in "True ASL." I can sign the song but it would be in S.E.E. I want to do it in ASL.
Click to expand...


Point of clarification... If anything, you are using PSE, not SEE.
 
Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

The thing is, if you are trying to learn ASL - the Language ASL - song translations aren't a good idea anyway. You'd be much better learning from things like Keith Wann's story series, or other "books to ASL" versus songs.

Skip the songs, honest they'll do more "harm than good" from a learning language perspective.
 
I disagree with many of the responses on here to your post. I am an ASL teacher, and as extra-credit assignments my students can choose a song they like to work on with me. Learning ASL through song translation IS one of the best ways for "hearing" individuals to learn ASL.

WHY, you ask?

Learning ASL through song and lyric translation not only helps you identify the different meanings to the words, but what the actual meaning in the stanza's are. By doing this and learning through this technique, you can learn to translate emotions, feelings, metaphors, and idioms which cannot be taught in a classroom.

With that said, learning through song translation is only effective if it is put into multiple layers of ASL. And like you said earlier, that is not very commonly seen on youtube.
 
Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

Mjs2889 - are you hearing ?
 
mjs2889 said:
I disagree with many of the responses on here to your post. I am an ASL teacher, and as extra-credit assignments my students can choose a song they like to work on with me. Learning ASL through song translation IS one of the best ways for "hearing" individuals to learn ASL.

WHY, you ask?

Learning ASL through song and lyric translation not only helps you identify the different meanings to the words, but what the actual meaning in the stanza's are. By doing this and learning through this technique, you can learn to translate emotions, feelings, metaphors, and idioms which cannot be taught in a classroom.

With that said, learning through song translation is only effective if it is put into multiple layers of ASL. And like you said earlier, that is not very commonly seen on youtube.
Click to expand...
Why in the world do they need a hearing ASl teacher in Rochester?? :crazy:
 
mjs2889 said:
I disagree with many of the responses on here to your post. I am an ASL teacher, and as extra-credit assignments my students can choose a song they like to work on with me. Learning ASL through song translation IS one of the best ways for "hearing" individuals to learn ASL.

WHY, you ask?

Learning ASL through song and lyric translation not only helps you identify the different meanings to the words, but what the actual meaning in the stanza's are. By doing this and learning through this technique, you can learn to translate emotions, feelings, metaphors, and idioms which cannot be taught in a classroom.

With that said, learning through song translation is only effective if it is put into multiple layers of ASL. And like you said earlier, that is not very commonly seen on youtube.
Click to expand...

Songs often lack proper grammar, sentence structure and present bizarre imagery that isn't reflective of actual English at all.

It's one thing to translate a paragraph from a book - or a children's story which IS reflective of the way English is actually used.

Having new ASL students attempt to translate songs is something hearing ASL teachers (ick) seem to LOVE to do because (being hearing themselves) they think it's "cool". It's a bit like giving a pre-schooler paints and asking them to paint the Mona Lisa.

If you think about it - it's also relies on all ASL classes being filled with hearing people (versus Hoh/ LD etc). To create an assignment for an ASL class that is RELIANT on sound and hearing ... is odd.
 
Ciera- why do you want hearing people help you learn your song? ASL isnt even their languagr ! Is it? No, it isnt. Thats same idea asking a Germany person who speaks german teach you Spanish. Hmm, if you want to learn my Deaf lang to sign a song, go to us Deaf people. We can be found at Starbucks. Deaf coffee chat night. Ask your local Starbucks which night the Deaf come and show up. If you want to learn my language , go to my people who know it well. You can learn a lot more from us Deaf than from a videotape, book, song, or another ASL student.
 
I'm curious. When students translate songs, are they working from printed transcripts of the lyrics, or from audio/visual recordings? Are deaf students in ASL classes also required to sign songs? What if they can't hear the songs?
 
Reba said:
I'm curious. When students translate songs, are they working from printed transcripts of the lyrics, or from audio/visual recordings? Are deaf students in ASL classes also required to sign songs? What if they can't hear the songs?
Click to expand...


Agreed - it's stupid!

I'm trying to figure out how the heck I'd actually DO the assignment lol (It's a bit ironic to have hearing accessibility issues in an ASL class!)
 
I think they just do it to improve their sign timing.
Beginners sign very slowly because they have very slow vocab recall and very very slow grammar recall.
With a song, you can't wait around a couple seconds to recall signs because you have to keep up with the beat.
Also, songs are easier, because they are short. Often fragmented and nonsensical, but still they're shorter than a book or a newspaper article.

OP, any news on the effort that you have put into interpreting this song?
 
shimo said:
I think they just do it to improve their sign timing.
Beginners sign very slowly because they have very slow vocab recall and very very slow grammar recall.
With a song, you can't wait around a couple seconds to recall signs because you have to keep up with the beat.
Also, songs are easier, because they are short. Often fragmented and nonsensical, but still they're shorter than a book or a newspaper article.

OP, any news on the effort that you have put into interpreting this song?
Click to expand...
Translating/interpreting a song isn't the same as conversing in another language. It's not going to help someone put her own thoughts into sign during a live conversation.

The first levels of ASL learning should be language acquisition, not interpreting. Interpreting is a whole different skill set. In the interpreting world, song interpretation is a skill by itself that requires specialized training beyond the usual ITP. Not every interpreter, even those who are certified, is able to do song/theatrical interpreting. It's certainly not something for beginning sign students to tackle.

Ironically, in church interpreting, most beginners start with song interpretation. That's really something that should be learned later. I think the reason it's done that way is because songs can be prepared ahead of time and practiced. If someone more skilled has prepared the text and teaches it to the newbie, that's a little different. Frozen text presentation is not the same as interpreting.

My two cents. :)
 
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