green427

Be honest. Why do you want to learn ASL?

Because it is a cool fad these days?

Or because it is just another "foreign language" option that sounds more fun than Spanish, French, etc?

Or you really want to get to know that deaf person you have your eyes on?

Deafness

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LoveBlue

Because I have progressive hearing loss (started in my mid-30's) and now have the time & $$ to take the classes. My daughter is taking the class with me. In addition to learning it to communicate with me, she expects to find it handy in her career choice (medicine). Her friend is taking the classes with us. She thinks it will come in handy for her career choise too (social work, I think). They're both seniors in H.S.

We're taking our classes as DSD and are now in Step 3.

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green427

Cool. I work about 4 miles from DSD, so if you are in the area during lunch hour, we can meet and chat in ASL. PM me if you are up to it.

sparrow2

I had a deaf friend who introduced me to signing. I thought it was a beautiful language that opened the door for me to communicate with everyone.

Pythias

I'm taking ASL classes for many reasons:

1. I've been HOH since early childhood, but raised orally. Listening and sometimes speaking is quite an effort, so I avoid situations with friends and family that aren't 1 on 1. I thought making Deaf friends and using ASL might be a nice change. I must say that, despite my not being quite fluent, I can sit in a room full of people I"m communicating with for hours - voice off & HA off - and not be exhausted or frustrated or lost: Exactly what I was looking for.

2. Sometimes friends, co-workers, people I volunteer with, some waiter at a restaurant (no joke), etc come get me to help in a situation if there is a Deaf person having trouble communicating (I probably sign, right? I mean, I wear hearing aids :-P). Usually, all the person wants is a piece of paper to write on (obvious?), but still, only having the ability to fingerspell, I have felt stupid in that sort of situation the few times it has happened. Knowing ASL would be nice for next time.

3. Having poked around (mostly due to my Oral-HOH/what-else-is-out-there curiosity), I've seen that ASL is a beautiful language and Deaf Culture goes right along with it. It's interesting and I'd like to learn more for that reason, too!

4. I intend on having children in the next few years, and children who are raised multi-lingually store language in a different way than people who learn only one in their early years, so I would like to have all of my kids learn ASL from birth. For that, I need to learn it first

5. Children can sign before they can speak, so it will afford our family more effective communication early on.

6. My husband and I are looking into adopting, and since we will have a bilingual household, anyway, there is definitely the possibility of adopting a Deaf child.

Hmm... I think there are more good reasons that I've thought of, but those are the ones that popped into mind right now.

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Pythias' Stories

DeafCaroline

I'm learning ASL so I can finally have a complete language in which I am comprehensively fluent in not only expressing but receiving.

purplewowies

Other:

Well, I was 12, and I was watching TV. Saddle Club Sundays on Discovery Kids had just ended, so I started channel surfing. I turned it to PBS, thinking nothing would be on (because that timeslot had previously been showing something like Sewing with Nancy). An episode of Signing Time was on, and I watched it. Now, I didn't want to learn ASL because of Signing Time, it's just that Signing Time was really my first introduction to any aspect of the language (in this case, the vocabulary aspect) on a somewhat deep level. I had been interested in ASL before ST.

My high school had an ASL class, so I signed up for it for 9th grade. Sadly, I switched schools before I could take the third level. I managed to keep what I already knew fresh in my mind, though, even without interacting with ASL users.

I've always wanted to be a teacher (except for that brief stint when I wanted to be a pediatric endocrinologist until I realized it would take, like, 12-13 years of school). I started out in elementary school, wanting to be an elementary school teacher. Then I briefly wanted to be a special education teacher. Finally, I realized I really wanted to go into Deaf ed.

Now, I'm an undergraduate college student majoring in Deaf ed. I'm currently taking ASL 2 for a second time (first time was in HS, the college doesn't offer an opportunity to test out). I've signed up for the second-year residential practicum/internship thing my college offers, so I should be spending next year at ISD.

So I guess you could say that my reasons have more or less evolved as I've become older and more mature.

Anij

Since there seems to be a number of people who could use it, is there a way to add a "I'm learning ASL because I'm Hoh/deaf" option?

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Ignorance is NOT Bliss

kellycat

I am a total language nerd. I started learning signs on my own as a kid. I studied Spanish...and Russian...and French in college, and ASL when I could take classes at local tech schools.

When I moved to my current job, teaching Spanish, the school offers ASL in my world language department. Two of the three ASL teachers are deaf. So I was motivated to be fluent enough to actually converse with them. (The only member of the department who has done that, btw). At faculty meetings I always watched the interpreters, then learned that one of them taught at the university in the summer, so I sneaked into his class. Well, he knew, but the university didn't, so I could do it for free!

Now I have met several other Deaf people that I hang out with, and am friends with some interpreters, and have even considered getting into an ITP if I can find one that will fit into my life (summers maybe?)

green427

I was thinking about that after I posted the question. I really set this up for the hearing students that keep popping up on this site asking the same questions.

Looks like I cannot edit the poll options now....

metalangel

It's all bad/selfish reasons unless you can explain otherwise?

I went to a school with a big HoH/Deaf department so I was around HoH/Deaf people and interpreters throughout high school. I'd like to think that the ones I knew in my classes (whatever your personal thoughts on mainstreaming) helped the rest of us see that deafness and indeed any other 'disability' actually wasn't, to social and/or scholastic achievement.

I'm now ten years since leaving university, unfulfilled in my career and the interest/curiosity from those days (I can't help that) made me wonder if I could maybe do something more useful for myself and other people by learning ASL and putting it to good use. I've also thought about teaching, perhaps in future. Being overseas is my big obstacle to all of this.

That's the honest answer. I don't have any intention of gawking at/'white knighting' the Deaf community, but I can understand why you would be wary of people doing that or indeed any of the other poll options.

KristinaB

Was never given the opportunity to learn while growing up to be prepared for later in life, so I am working on it now that I really need it. Being total deaf and relying on reading lips is not an easy life.

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gummybearthief

honestly, im doing it because i have this unquenchable desire to be able to talk to everyone plus i think its really cool!!! I love how universal it is!! (: sadly im not very good cause im just learning but ill get there!!

Anij

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

I'm just curious what you mean by "how universal it is" ?



Could you explain/clarify what you mean by that?

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English & ASL ...PAH!!


Ignorance is NOT Bliss

joycem137

When I started learning ASL, it was because I wanted to learn more languages to communicate with more people, and ASL sounded more enjoyable than trying to learn Spanish again.

In the course of my study, however, I discovered that I have CAPD and now am learning for my own benefit, so that I can communicate with my friends in environments where I can't understand speech well.

xc700

Because I want to contribute to society by interpreting and I care about people.

PowerON

Consider it as private communicate. bwhahaha

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Pythias

Another big reason for me was that when going to a conference or something where there are people speaking, I can hear the sound but not well enough to make out the words from my seat. Sometimes there is an interpreter for a deaf person, but, while I could see the signs, I didn't understand their meanings. As HOH, I'm usually the one sitting there with no idea what's going on. Now, I can use what I can of both!

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Pythias' Stories

newsbot

I'm considering taking ASL classes soon. My hearing is normal. Didn't know SL is currently considered cool, so that wouldn't have any bearing on it.

In fact, I've considered it more than once in the past few years. I dated a woman years ago who was born profoundly deaf and although she could read lips extremely well and we were together only about 6 months, the idea has stayed with me.

Are there reasons why I shouldn't learn ASL?

Edit: If I were deaf and knew ASL, I imagine I would feel a bit contemptuous of hearing people learning it. (How I really would feel I have no way of knowing.) SL is the deaf community's territory, and here come a bunch of amateurs who don't even need to know it.

JanatheShort

I, like Kellycat, am a total language nerd! I speak Spanish, I'm learning Arabic, and now I'd like to learn ASL.

Why do I love languages so much? Because when I know the language that a community of people speak, I can talk to all the members of the community! I love being able to talk to people who other people can't easily talk to. I love learning about cultures that other people can't/don't know about. For the other languages, in all honesty, I also love the food.

I have been to Guatemala, and knowing even crappy Spanish let me meet people there, connect with them, and make friends that I kept even after coming back to Indiana. Knowing Arabic, even though my Arabic that is beyond sucky, shows people that I at least value their culture enough to be interested and try to learn. And ASL? Well, I don't know how that will help me or help others... but I didn't know that learning Spanish or Arabic would help either, until wayyyyy after I started learning!

rolling7

Congratulations on learning so many languages. I really like your post.

I'm curious that if you were a profounded deaf person, as I am, would you feel the same way about language? Your point seems to be, the way I see it, is you want to be able to go into another culture and be able to communicate in that culture's language. So do you feel that the deaf need to learn to read and write (speaking would be hard/impossible) the language of another culture?

MsNikk

Hello. Are you in Delaware?

JanatheShort

Well... learning another language lets you communicate with more people. So, if I were profoundly deaf... I think I would still try to learn more languages. When I was learning Spanish, I learned more by making friends from Central America online and sending e-mails to them... in Spanish. I could still do that if I was deaf, because it is in writing. I could still chat on MSN or Yahoo with a friend in Spanish if I was deaf.

Also, interacting with people from other countries lets you get to know a person, and maybe you would have less discrimination. In person, maybe people would discriminate against me a lot. But over e-mail... I would be just like everyone else. I would make mistakes in Spanish, because I'm learning a new language. No one would say "Oh, your spanish is bad because you are deaf" they would say "oh, your Spanish is bad because you are American." Does that make sense?

So yeah... I think if I was deaf, I would still love languages.

dereksbicycles

I would only teach my hearing girlfriend so much ASL. I want to have time to do fun things instead of teaching this and that and correcting this and that. It can get tiring. I just want to enjoy doing things like a couple would do with their significant other.

My girlfriend talks about how intense her class is and how much effort she has to put in it. It's good for her because it makes her work hard to learn ASL.

kellycat

I think people should learn as many languages as the want to and are able. Language seems to really click in my brain, so I may have learned more than most people would want to. (Don't get me started on how most teachers try to teach languages in a way the human brain wasn't meant to work.)

Becoming fluent in ASL and Spanish, as well as the smattering of French, German, and Russian I have acquired, has greatly enriched my life and allowed me to get to know awesome people I wouldn't have interacted with as much if I only knew English. Heck, I am thrilled I know about 10 words of Chinese. So I think if you want to learn another language, DO IT. And, actually, it may be easier for deaf people than English might have been. Why? Because it will be explicitly taught to you using language learning techniques. Unlike English, which I would guess the world just expected many of you to pick up along the way, like hearing kids do. Native language STUDY doesnt usually begin until school, when hearing kids have already had about 10,000 hours of exposure to the language. But foreign language class expects students to come in with no exposure and then teach them the language.

green427

You asking me?

Yep.

Bebonang

Pfftt. Trying to speak in different languages in oral is not that easy as you think. If you can sign different sign languages from different country, then maybe that would be no problem. But orally, no, that is not that easy. You have to know what silence or deafness is like. Not hearing the sound of the voice with words.

I had to go through trying to speak oral in English from Speech Therapist in the elementary mainstream school and it was frustrating. I could not understand what hearing people say in the mainstream High School and I was all tense up and getting all frustration. After I graduated from high school, I went to the ASL class at the Deaf Lutheran Church many years ago and it really lifted my shoulder and chest that I was completely at home with ASL. I can communicate with Deaf people more easily better than with hearing people.

I was not happy having to go through oral but I was and still am completely happy with using the ASL so that I can understand what they said. If the hearing people can sign ASL to communicate with us, Deafies. It would be a much better way to open up for us to communicate with you. ASL is a language so that we can understand better when we can not hear the words. Lipreading is not accurate and not easy at all. Also that is why we need ASL interpreters to help us understand what hearing people say at meeting or public places like Doctor's Office or at court or even at Weddings, etc. That is all I have to say here.

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Pythias

Language informs culture (as ASL does Deaf culture) and vice versa, so I think if you are that interested in a particular culture, you could still learn to read and write that language, right? Then you could read their literature and news, and if you ever went there, you could read the signs and labels and write back and forth to one another.

If you aren't interested in another culture, and don't need it for work, then it seems like more effort that is is worth.

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Pythias' Stories

Bebonang

Deaf Culture always point to ASL completely. No oral.

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amylynne

I didn't know asl was currently cool either, until after I started approaching trying to learn. I was reading posts here and saw a few unhappy comments about people who are just infatuated with switched at birth, and I've heard comments about that program from students at the school where I take ASL.

I generally hate fads, don't like the idea of something that has its own reason for existing suddenly having more or less value placed on it because a bunch of people think they're more stylish for playing with it.

There is one positive thing, though, that I notice about the fad. I'm not saying it's a good thing that there's this fad. I definitely agree that the Deaf community belongs to the Deaf and the annoyance with what's currently happening strikes me as more than justified. (Not that how it strikes me is of any importance, but trying to get back to my point...) Anyway, the positive for me is that with all these people interested, maybe taking classes, or talking about deaf culture or having their own interest affect them in whatever ways it does, it drives more activity on the subject. If it creates demand for an ASL class where there wasn't one before, then that class is available to other people as well. (I mean people who are interested in ASL for reasons independent of the current fad.)

And that helps me. I have wanted to learn to sign for a really long time. I never knew how to start, who to ask, where to go, etc. For a variety of reasons, I have access that I didn't before, and I'm aware of access I have that may have been there but I didn't know about it. So I'm studying this stuff, and I'm so happy now that I'm finally getting to give it a try.

And why I want to? So many reasons, some of which I probably can't put words to. I've always been completely blown away when I would see people signing. I've wondered if I could learn, but couldn't begin to imagine that. I do think it's a beautiful language, especially the more I pick up. And the more I think about it, the more I feel this: if a Deaf person wants or needs to communicate with me, I'd rather have some of that be on me. I can study this stuff, and maybe he doesn't have to write so much down (I'm thinking now of a particular person I've met), and maybe we understand each other better, and he doesn't have to work so hard to have that happen, and I like the thought of that. I don't want to be part of a hearing world that makes no effort to learn/understand/think about what it's like. I don't want to have the attitude that people have to be like everyone else or, well, that's just too bad if they need to interact with a typical mainstream type. And it's not enough to avoid having that attitude. If I don't get myself some education, my lack of knowledge can function as detrimentally as if I didn't care. I want to be more than I am. I can do that best if I work on the things I'm drawn to.

So anyway, I was thinking about that. You're definitely dealing with an influx of people who aren't here for too thrilling a set of reasons. But then there are people who are arriving at the same time because the original influx facilitates their access/awareness. Easy to think we're all in the first group, I imagine.

Not that the rest of us are golden either. I'm sorry my interest in your language and culture maybe dilutes your world a little, via my presence? On the plus side, I can't imagine I'll *ever* get my receptive skills up to the speed of native signers, so you'll always be able to talk over my head, and I'll always know that.

I want to be respectful. What that means exactly is also part of my learning process.

In my own way, I live with the experience of not being like most people. Not having anything to do with hearing, but I think it helps me take in the experiences of people with analogous situations. Not the details. I have to learn those one at a time. But the frustration, sometimes anger, the need for one's own space and the urgency to be the one who defines the terms of one's own experience, these things I get.