wouldn't want to make friend with someone who's not good with grammar english...

Well, this past weekend I asked my sister to tell me what the heck talkin in ASL is like and she told/showed me. I can say that if someone has bad 'grammer' and talk in ASL, then saying they have bad grammer is not a fair statement. A native speaker of ASL may not have all the flowery stuff when writing but I totally understand. I think ASL written is fine - - it's a LANGUAGE. Like, mexican people speak mexican or chinese speak chinese, etc. The nice thing about ASL is that it is lean. If an interpreter has to flower stuff up or do things 'proper' they may never catch up w/ the speaker and the person watching the ASL would get easily confused if everything was all drawn out.

I could be wrong but the above makes sense to me - - hoh.

Almost certainly correct. I was told specifically by native ASL speaker to drop the extra written words.
 
I agree with liebling that is so ignorant and snobbish and meanie. I would not care if a person have bad grammar or excellent grammar. No one is perfect. But, Yes, I would make friends with a person who don't have great grammar. But it also can't hurt to help a person with bad grammar to do better in a postive way to help a person.
 
wtf

do these people have grammar tests stuffed away in their pants and hand them out to all potential friends to complete?
 
wtf

do these people have grammar tests stuffed away in their pants and hand them out to all potential friends to complete?

Of course. It is a favorite activity where I live.
 
wtf

do these people have grammar tests stuffed away in their pants and hand them out to all potential friends to complete?

I guess when they communicated with each other via IM or email, he/she could not understand what other saying for a short while so yea - I guess he/she ceases to be friend w/ her.
 
yea but we're not really friend yet, we barely see each other at college. we hang out first time at starbuck few days ago. but my class and her class soon will be finish next week. we're both going to different college next fall. i told her that she can always free to email me if she ever had problem with her grammar english or she needs help for new words. i asked her if she ever heard word, "vain"?, she says, "no" and never heard of it. i'm like, 'what!'.
i explained what "vain" is. she learned new word "vain".

oh, well. you know i've experienced many rejection. and her too. i wish i was toooooo smart with english grammar at least i tried my best. anyway, i can't explain why my grammar english is not good. it's a long story. and her too, she told me everything.


We all never stop learning anything new. It's always a great experience for all of us. No one should be ashamed for having a bad grammar, as long as we keep learning and improve ourselves with the grammar. :)
 
jiro 123-> You can read and write, right? :cool2: You tried your best but did you do your best of the best? beyond the best?

meyag2-> yes i can read and write but writing is not easy.
i do the best i can.
 
Last edited:
I guess when they communicated with each other via IM or email, he/she could not understand what other saying for a short while so yea - I guess he/she ceases to be friend w/ her.

no, i don't cease to be friend with her. she asked me if i have VP, i told her that i don't have VP and VPAD, i already sign up for OJO a few weeks ago. i have TTY and of course internet. so we could see each other on VP, VPAD or OJO.

i told her that we could hang out sometimes and also help each other. i explained it wrong. sorry.
 
Last edited:
yes i can read and write but writing is not easy.
i do the best i can.

oh no no - it was a rhetorical question haha. I'm just saying - as long as you can read and write, work hard on it. There are many many many sources to read and learn ESPECIALLY editorial sections of prestigious sources like - NY Times, Wall Street Journal, TIME, etc. Editorial Section is the best place to practice your critical thinking skill and to articulate the point. You'll pick on pretty quick.
 
I don't let a deaf person's grammar bother me. But if it does get to a point where it interferes with that person's views and way of life, then I don't want to associate myself with that person.

I've dealt with people whose grammar was so bad that communication was nearly impossible. There was one girl I saw at a local Taco Bell who had difficulty ordering her food. She didn't understand "without". So, she would use "no with" instead. She also didn't understand half of the menu because it was written in English, not ASL.

When the worker wrote down "what would you like to order?" She got mad and said, "no order. want eat." The worker was puzzled, but got the idea. She then wrote down "5 no with tomato." The worker rang her up for Combo #5 with tomato included. When her food arrived, she yelled at the worker for giving her tomato. Since I was behind her, I happened to see the whole argument. I got tired of seeing the argument and decided to help out. She showed me the paper and I had to sign to her a few times before I could figure out what was going on.

She was trying to say "Combo #5 without tomatoes." The worker saw "5 no" and thought she meant "Number 5" since "no" also means "number". If she had said "5 no tomato", he would have understood it. But she included "with", it made the comment more confusing.

When I signed "So, you asked for Combo #5 without tomato?" She got mad at me because she said she didn't want tomatoes. That's where it was confusing for me cuz I did say "without". After a few tries, I pointed out that "without" is the opposite of "with".

At the end, Taco Bell apologized and gave her extra tacos WITHOUT tomatoes.

I also have some friends who don't have good grammar, but they're kind and patient enough to understand when someone else is frustrated and they're willing to try and work it out. Those are the ones I'm willing to put up with. :)
 
no, i don't cease to be friend with her. she asked me if i have VP, i told her that i don't have VP and VPAD, i already sign up for OJO a few weeks ago. i have TTY and of course internet. you know VP is easier to see on TV cuz of sign.

I wasn't referring to you - just that ignorant person who did not want to be friend with her.
 
I used to be around people like that at the deaf school where I attended. I didn't reject them for that reason, I did my best to be very patient with them. I am in contact with one of them, older than I on regular basis through E-mail and texting - she knows not to be afraid to ask me to make it easier for her.

I would rather be around people, deaf or not like that than to have to deal with non-English speaking people on daily basis. This is something I have to deal with now.
 
So, she would use "no with" instead. She also didn't understand half of the menu because it was written in English, not ASL.

Wow I did not realize ASL and written english are different. That is very interesting. However - I do believe ALL person including immigrants, disabled, etc. should AT least learn the BASIC language (verbally and written) to communicate with anybody on basic level of communication. You can even function well in public with english skill of 9th grade level.
 
Wow I did not realize ASL and written english are different. That is very interesting. However - I do believe ALL person including immigrants, disabled, etc. should AT least learn the BASIC language (verbally and written) to communicate with anybody on basic level of communication. You can even function well in public with english skill of 9th grade level.
Yeah, they're different.

The stronger ASL you use, the more different it is than English.

I've seen people who say they are fluent in ASL and sign different ASL than other people who are fluent in ASL. So, which ASL is the official ASL?
 
Yeah, they're different.

The stronger ASL you use, the more different it is than English.

I've seen people who say they are fluent in ASL and sign different ASL than other people who are fluent in ASL. So, which ASL is the official ASL?

ah-ha.... so that's what the other thread was talking about... I was puzzled why should a deaf child learn bi-bi (or whatever the term's called) - ASL + English since I thought they were same thing. :hmm: Thanks for clearing it up for me.
 
As everyone knows, English is one of the toughest language in the world but yet, we all use it one way or another. It is not meant to be for perfection. That's the best thing we can do with English because it always changes through time.

It doesn't bother me when I'm encountering a conversation with someone who does not have a good grammatical skill. However there are times I'd scratch my head and try to figure out what they are saying. It can be confusing but then, I try to reverse it and to put myself in that person's "mind" to work around it in order to understand them. If I didn't exactly understand what they meant, I'd make it clear and ask them to repeat their selves.

For instance, When a person is strongly into ASL and writes in ASL - That's when I try to read and to "sign" in my head in order to understand what he/she was trying to say. Also, it does not only apply to people who are into ASL. The same thing applies to people who are not native in English.

In overall, it takes 2 to tango in order to understand the communication. It's not easy but it can prevail if they are willing to work it around and to apply different logistics depending on which situation it is. These kind of people who are more than willing are the ones that I would not object to.

The bottom line is, I try to keep an open mind regarding to this and to try to understand where they are coming from.
 
Thats stupid, I have alot of friends who doesn't have perfect grammar or english but they are still my dear friends. I just be patient with them when we are talking thru written communication (emails, im pager etc) and try to figure out what they are saying. then go from there. Sometime I will help them fix that mistake. In fact all through high school and some of elementary, and even now, my friends still ask me to help them with their grammar or english or spelling. Often when she sees something that she doesnt get in the english language, she would keep it in mind til the next time she sees me to ask me to explain it to her. lol its cute, but i am always willing to help. But to reject them because their written language is bad that's just stupid.
 
Think about it...deaf people who can communicate using English whether it is perfect or not have accomplished than most hearing people in the US have. Most hearing people in the US are fluent in only one language but Deaf ASL users are able to use two languages and if their English is not perfect, it is better than not being able to read and write at all!

I have a good friend who is Deaf and her English is not that great but she is fluent in ASL and Spanish and her Spanish writing skills are impeccible according to my hearing friends who are also fluent in Spanish. I cant even write one sentence in Spanish so I would say that she is more literate than I am. Cant judge people based on their English grammar.

I wouldnt reject anyone because they dont have perfect writing skills.
 
Back
Top