AimeeM137

I am a hearing teen and I am trying to learn ASL because I think ASL and deaf culture is very cool and a great thing to learn. I don't know if this is supposed to be only for deaf people or not( I if i shouldn't be just let me know and I will delete my account) but I have some questions and more to follow if someone could help me out and answer some.

1) I am learning off of the website LifePrint.com and it is very use full but when signing ASL do you really use a different word order than in regular Englilsh? For example when asking how long you have lived in a certain area the instructor signs "you live here how-many year" could you sign "How-many year you live here"?

2) When you are a child in school do you call your teacher by just a name sign or do you use a sign infront of the name sign to make it more formal?

those are the 2 off the top of my head, but I may think of more. Thank you for your help!! It's greatly appreciated.


...by the way these ------> <------ soo cool lol

Deafness

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KristinaB

ASL has it's own grammar. It is totally different than English grammar. You have to learn a whole new way of thinking to get it down and that's what I am trying to do. This thread has a fantastic explanation to help with ASL grammar.

You can solve a lot of ASL syntax problems, if not most, using five simple tricks.

Now, as to calling your teacher, I will have to let someone else answer as I never went to a school that used ASL.

Good luck with your lessons on Lifeprint. I am doing those as well and I am total deaf. I used to have some hearing, but no more.

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Taking life one day at a time.

AimeeM137

Thank you!! That's pretty helpful but when you are asking a question, how do you know when to put you at the end? I noticed on lifeprints bill will sometimes put the sign for you at the end and sometimes he won't. Is it just a preference thing where you can put it but it's not 100% necessary or is it just certain types of questions?

AimeeM137

Also, I was looking at the sign for ugly and it happens to look a lot like the sign for cereal. Is there a difference between the two signs other than facial expression? Also is there a variation of one of these signs to make them less similar. I mean, I wouldn't want to accidently ask someone for a bowl of ugly in the morning. lol

GrendelQ

Hi! My daughter attends a school for the deaf -- the practice at that particular school is to use the teacher's name sign or less commonly to finger spell the first name, I've never seen them suggest Ms. or Mr. or Teacher in front of the first name. Not certain if that's typical.

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Reba

Check out the lifeprint site for a further explanation of the two signs. Watch the video for CEREAL. You will see the difference.

Anij

Cereal and Ugly are signed in entirely different locations - cereal at the lips, ugly across the face/nose area. I'd suggest looking at aslpro.com for the two signs and comparing them there instead of lifeprint.

Personally, I much prefer the style and accuracy of aslpro.com ... honestly I've never been impressed with LifePrint and I find the lifeprint dictionary to be only moderately accurate for learning.
The dictionary is mostly still photos, which don't give an accurate flow of signs the way watching a video of the sign does. Also I've found dozens of signs in the dictionary which are clearly very regionalized and thus not what would be used in the general ASL community - even the "cereal" sign is different... most of us form the sign as a single directional movement ("x" pulling across the lips), however the lifeprint sign shows it as a bidirectional sign ("x" moving from dominant to nondominant, then reversing)

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English & ASL ...PAH!!


Ignorance is NOT Bliss

Reba

The reason I suggested lifeprint this time is because it did include a video that made the movement a little more clear.

Personally, I much prefer the style and accuracy of aslpro.com ... honestly I've never been impressed with LifePrint and I find the lifeprint dictionary to be only moderately accurate for learning.

The dictionary is mostly still photos, which don't give an accurate flow of signs the way watching a video of the sign does. [/quote]
I usually compare aslpro, lifeprint, and signingsavvy to get the most variations.

The benefit of lifeprint is that he gives some description and explanation that the other sites don't.

The advantage of aslpro is the additional section with religious signs, and the section with specialized vocabulary and idioms.

For even more specialized vocab, I use theinterpretersfriend.org, David Bar-Tazur. I just wish it included more video clips.

The regional variations are always a problem. My Signs Across America book shows 12 different CEREAL signs. I'm willing to bet there are more. Honestly, I've never used any of the CEREAL signs show at those sites. (I'm in grits-or-gravy-and-biscuits-for-breakfast country.)

MissLady

^ Smile. Gotta love you and your great resources. I was reading this and thinking I don't think I know that sign for cereal, sounds a lot like DRY to me.

The sign for cereal around here is an open B coming from non-dominant bowl-shaped palm up to the mouth, like scooping cereal up into your mouth.

I would be wary of LifePrint, as well as learning on your own. Ask a Deaf person for signs or enroll in classes. ASL is not a good subject for being auto-didactic. It's the equivalent of teaching yourself Chinese from a book. Just ain't happenin

Bottesini

You understand Reba is a long time interpreter and knows what she is telling people?

She gives good advice.

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Reba

I've never suggested that people learn ASL from websites. I've always encouraged people to seek out live instructors wherever possible.

I don't see anything wrong with using online resources to supplement live instruction and real life association with deaf people.

Even hearing people (myself included) use spoken language dictionaries and thesauruses on a regular basis. I'm always open to new ways to express myself, and to also recognize vocabulary that is used by people outside my local circle.

Reba

I just noticed that I left out a "quote" tag on my previous reply, which might make it confusing. I hope this is clearer:

The reason I suggested lifeprint this time is because it did include a video that made the movement a little more clear.

I usually compare aslpro, lifeprint, and signingsavvy to get the most variations.

The benefit of lifeprint is that he gives some description and explanation that the other sites don't.

The advantage of aslpro is the additional section with religious signs, and the section with specialized vocabulary and idioms.

For even more specialized vocab, I use theinterpretersfriend.org, David Bar-Tazur. I just wish it included more video clips.

The regional variations are always a problem. My Signs Across America book shows 12 different CEREAL signs. I'm willing to bet there are more. Honestly, I've never used any of the CEREAL signs show at those sites. (I'm in grits-or-gravy-and-biscuits-for-breakfast country.)