You know what really confuses me...

xNinjaxAshx

xNinjaxAshx

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Turning English into ASL gloss..

It confuses me sometimes..

Sometimes it's easy

Other times I'm like HUH?
 
hmmm I asked a friend who i IM all the time to start using ASL instead of English. She said, um okay i will try. (she is prelingual). Her English grammer is great. So she tried and kept correcting herself. (BTW her ASL is excellent as well) And she kept saying LOL after every sentence. So finally i asked why she was laughing so much she said it just looks weird. I have never written it before, never seen it written. "When i read i think English so this doesn't make sense to me." She asked if i understood what she wrote and i did. My Deaf friends all sign English to me rather than ASL and i wanted exposure to it. She did it the one time and never did it again. She said it makes more sense visually than written.
 
Too many teachers ask you to write English sentences in ASL syntax, and it's nearly impossible to do because of the conceptual differences between an auditory/verbal language and a visual/spatial language. ASL is not, never has been, and never will be a written language.
 
jillio said:
Too many teachers ask you to write English sentences in ASL syntax, and it's nearly impossible to do because of the conceptual differences between an auditory/verbal language and a visual/spatial language. ASL is not, never has been, and never will be a written language.
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Yea I agree with u. I couldnt do it if I tried. Maybe ASL in print is an ASL video? :giggle:
 
Usually when I try to do this I have to write alot of descriptions of signs because it's hard to write them with english words.
 
I'm just want to go out with you... *Exact English*
I want go out with you. *ASL*

What do you expecting writing exact English or ASL version ?
 
But to get ASL cemented into the minds of people learning it writing in English and the translating it into ASL is needed. Especially if they are going to be an interpreter since they have to change ASL to English and back again.
 
shel90 said:
Yea I agree with u. I couldnt do it if I tried. Maybe ASL in print is an ASL video? :giggle:
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Good comparison, shel. I never thought of that. But it makes sense. ASL has to remain visual in order to make sense and be understood. So if you record it in a visual spatial format, the language stays true and you still have a record without putting it in print.
 
Southern said:
But to get ASL cemented into the minds of people learning it writing in English and the translating it into ASL is needed. Especially if they are going to be an interpreter since they have to change ASL to English and back again.
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I understand what you are saying, Southern, but I disagree with you. I learned sign from Deaf adults and never once did I write anything in ASL syntax. The first time I encountered students being asked to write English sentences in ASL syntax was on the college campus where I work, and one of the teachers had her students translating English to ASL in writing. It really impedes their progress, because they continue to think of ASL as some sort of a manual representation or auditory/oral English, rather than understanding that it is a visual spatial language and must be perceived and understood as such. You have to learn to watch a signer, and see concept and meaning, not individual signs. To ask a student to put individual signs into writing in ASL syntax gives them a very incorrect idea of what the language truly is, and prevents them from ever becoming truly fluent because they remain locked into their English way of perceiving.
 
I know you are familiar with the term, it’s not what you said, it’s how you said it. In e-mails, or even in posts like this, a person can write something and the person reading it get a completely different meaning out of it. Some one can send an e-mail and the person reading it think, why are they mad at me when that is not the intent. If the person said it in front of them rather than the e-mail the meaning would have been clear. Even with two hearing people the written word can hold different means for the person writing it and the person reading it. Yes with ASL there are spatial concerns as well as mouth morphemes that are crucial to grammar. But when you have one class a week, and most of these people only contact with the Deaf community the professor, they need to see how the two languages relate. They need to see it try it out at home and make corrections. If your knowledge of sign is very limited you cannot do this effectively. But if you write down English, then translate it to ASL gloss you will be able, at the same time, to see the differences in the two. My Professor advised us that she will have us do that, but only one copy in English translate it, then throw out the English version. For the higher levels of ASL classes I don’t think this should be done. For beginners with limited to no contact with sign and the Deaf community I think it is an invaluable tool
 
ASL makes no sense to me when it's written on paper. Although, when the teacher signs it I understand it fully and know exactly what she's talking about. Is that one thing you guys meant by it's meant for visual?
 
Yeah it really is. And i agree with Jillio that it isn't best written but for beginners who have absolutely no experience with sign i do think it is best. Not only that if you are writing a paragragh and you make the same mistake in several sentences then the teacher can say, "see here you continue to make the same mistake." but if it is after you have finished signing this story the teacher tells you the mistakes you made you really don't fully remember it.
 
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