TuxthePengwin

Like when some sings their name fast. My mind can put it together well. i can only understand if they do it realy slow. can you guys give me some tips or some exercises to help

Deafness

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ayala920

Practice, practice, practice. Everyone I know who has learned ASL as a second language has said that fingerspelling is the thing with which they struggle most. I've been signing for 16 years now and I still often have a hard time with fingerspelling, especially with a name, when you can't really use the context of the conversation to help you.

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~Ayala~


"Most English-speaking people...will admit that cellar door is 'beautiful', especially if dissociated from its sense (and from its spelling). More beautiful than, say, sky, and far more beautiful than beautiful. Well then, in Welsh for me cellar doors are extraordinarily frequent, and moving to the higher dimension, the words in which there is pleasure in the contemplation of the association of form and sense are abundant."

TuxthePengwin

Ya o you think that just signing words and watching my hands would help me. I only haev a chance to sign with some one once a week

Riptide

I wouldn't worry about it. Those things come with time, and since you are hearing and do not actually DEPEND on ASL or fingerspelling, it is not actually a "need".

TuxthePengwin

Well if i am taking a class and i get quizzed on it alot. ya i do need to worry about it

Riptide

All decent ASL instructors understand the problem. Trust me.

Why are you interested in ASL/Fingerspelling? Your reasons for learning have a great deal to do with how well you progress.

Heath

It will come naturally with good time, just enjoy ASL and making new friends.

Interpretrator

The best tip I ever got was not to try and read the fingerspelling by letter, but to think of it phonetically. So if someone fingerspells W-A-S-H-I-N-G-T-O-N, don't try to remember all the letters because you'll have forgotten "W-A" by the time you get to "O-N." Think:

"wwwaa...sshhh...inngg...tonnn"

if that makes any sense. In other words, make every letter a sound. When I read fingerspelling I know my lips move because I'm subvocalizing, but it makes it MUCH easier to understand.

Also I agree with the others who have said that this is a common problem. It's one of the hardest things about learning ASL. There are videotapes and DVDs out there specifically for practicing receptive fingerspelling, if you don't get enough practice socializing with ASL users.

Sweetmind

You are not the only who has some trouble reading on spelling the fingers. We all have the problem that we need to ask them repeatly. No big deal! Some people spell it too fast that is impossible to catch. (LOL)

Just relax and enjoy ASL. Dont get too uptight for nothing. Just allow yourself relax and view the whole body not just hands itself only.

I feel interpreter need to use their facial expression and body language that is showing all kind of emotional that relates to any conversation issues. It would be nice for interpreter to move around a little bit as much as you can.. Dont just interpreting itself only that strains our eyes on the one same area.

Use your ears/voices to depend on thats when you have a hard time to learn ASL. So I recommended NO more using ears or voices or think English while you are learning that is the best way to learn. However, make sure your lip movement to be useful. Thats all to it!! Actually, it s all depends on your motivation that will takes you farther before you know.

People need to mingle with other deafies to practice and practice by natural that you can enjoy to learn how to use the receptive eyes and facial expression and body language.

If it is me, I wouldnt used my deaf voices that will interfere your learn processing with ASL. I know you can do it with no doubts.

Wish you a good luck!
Sweetmind

1purple_panda

Dunno if anybody's ever seen in email or wherever on internet talking about as long the first and last letters are correct. . You dont need to worry about whats in between. .

There'll be chances of misspelled words anyway. . So as long you caught the first and last letters then understand what they're trying to fingerspell, you will be fine. .

Or even some ppl including me would sometimes fingerspell a word quickly and actually skip couple letters on purpose and the other person will still understand anyway. .

Your best tip is to keep practicing and keep socializing with people communicating using sign language then you will improve. . It's all up to you & just believe in yourself it can be done.

Mizzou

Well, i am deaf and having trouble reading the fingerspelling, too. I have ask them spell again slowly. Sometimes, they spell fast and I have to think what they saying after the sentence completely. here.

Interpretrator

I agree with this in all areas of ASL except fingerspelling. Hearing and deaf people learn fingerspelling very differently. Deaf people who are native ASL users tend to see the shapes of letters and not each individual letter. That's why natives will "blur" letters together and can still understand each other.

However, hearing people growing up with English will tend to try and focus on every letter, as though we were reading. So first we have to learn to try and see shapes instead of individual letters, like native ASL users do. (For example, T, N, M and A are all in the same "family," as opposed to I and D.) If we could do that perfectly, then we wouldn't have to think about sounds when reading fingerspelling, but most hearing people can't do that like a native right off the bat. That's why it's best to "sound out" the word.

Fingerspelling is a part of ASL but it's still connected to written language, so it's one area where retaining your English skills is necessary. Crosswords are also a great way to improve receptive fingerspelling because you learn to look at a word with missing letters (the ones you don't see or the ones that aren't spelled) and figure out what it is.

ayala920

That is brilliant. I'd never thought of that. I can now also make a connection between my distaste for crosswords and my not-so-good fingerspelling capabilities (receptively).

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~Ayala~


"Most English-speaking people...will admit that cellar door is 'beautiful', especially if dissociated from its sense (and from its spelling). More beautiful than, say, sky, and far more beautiful than beautiful. Well then, in Welsh for me cellar doors are extraordinarily frequent, and moving to the higher dimension, the words in which there is pleasure in the contemplation of the association of form and sense are abundant."

gnulinuxman

I'll have to agree with Interpretrator here. I get so darn confused if I try to read it letter by letter.

When reading fingerspelling, try not to pick out the individual letters. Instead, try to recognize the words. For example, I had this interesting activity in Critical Thinking class in college that demonstrated how our brains work when reading text on a page. It had all the letters in each word messed up except the first and last letters (lkie tihs and all wrods wree srceewd up). The point of the activity is that we read each word as a unit, not letter-by-letter. Fingerspelling is no different. It is impossible to read it unless you try to read it like you do words on a page. Interpretrator's tip helps some hearing people get their minds to focus on the words rather than the letters.

Hope this helps.

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deafmedicalpoet

I agree with you gnulinuxman!!!

I love being deaf.

Deaflinuxgeek

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An author is also an artist; therefore, you must follow your heart on the truest path.

And every feeling you have in yourself needs to be released and not bottled up for any reason, we all need to let them out whether we want to or not.

gnulinuxman

Then why are you the slowest fingerspeller in the world?!

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deafmedicalpoet

I dunno -- I think it might have to do with my hands and brain trying to make sure I fingerspell the word right and also everyone has their own speed at fingerspelling

Deaflinuxgeek

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An author is also an artist; therefore, you must follow your heart on the truest path.

And every feeling you have in yourself needs to be released and not bottled up for any reason, we all need to let them out whether we want to or not.

DeafMonkey

I taught my youngest sister when she was about 2 yrs old that I taught her " A to Z" and later till about her age 4 or 5 or 6 that she getting know all A TO Z later she get too fast signs of a to z then I told her slow down please lol look like she sign like a flash! lol and she laughed. And my ex boyfriend told my youngest sister to said " WHOA WHOA slow down" lol lol .. now my youngest sister is 16 yrs old

Interpretrator

Well said. I still remember when starting to learn ASL and a native signer fingerspelled "Sigourney Weaver" -- totally out of context -- to me. I got it on the first try not because I saw every letter (are you kidding me?) but sort of in a "gestalt" moment.

Usually I still have to sound it out, though.

Ms. Jay

Stay Positive I Have Just Started To Learn Asl I Am 24 Now I Am Taking Classes At Galludet Univ And I Love It Already In Time You Will Be Able To Understand With Oone Eye Closed

Sweetmind

ha ha ha, You are so funny Ms Jay. I am glad you went to Gallaudet University that is the best place for you to mingle with many Deafies. Thats the best change you have now.

Interpretrator,

I rather to make sure I read the right spelling word that they spelled it out. Because I want to spell it right instead of mispelled words for the vocabulary. It s important to do this.

In other hands, some deaf people have the vision problem. So thats reasonable for them to repeat their fingerspells.

Thanks!
Sweetmind

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Interpretrator

Yes, that is also sometimes a problem in understanding fingerspelling. I have had students fingerspell what looks like complete gibberish to me and then get very frustrated when I don't understand them. It turns out they had the spelling completely, and I mean COMPLETELY, wrong. I'm pretty good at figuring out what they mean if a few letters are reversed, especially when there's context, but there's only so much I can do.

If it's desperately important that the fingerspelled word be understood, sometimes a good last resort is to fingerspell along with the deaf person, copying each letter. It may help make that word "click," especially if it's been misspelled. Certainly I really try to avoid this as an interpreter but in conversation it's sometimes necessary, especially if it's the name of a city I'm not familiar with. (If it makes you feel bad, consider that if it were an English conversation with a hearing person you might well ask that person to repeat what they said a few times and then spell it!)

EyesBlueDeaf

Three C's
Configuration
Understanding a fingerspelled word by shape.
Focus on seeing the word as a whole unit. For example, there's lots of shape change in the fingerspelled word LAWYER. It will be easier to read compared to the fingerspelled word SEAT, which does not have much shape change.

Closure
Understanding a fingerspelled word by filling in the missing letters.
We use our knowledge of the English language to fill in the blanks. An example of this is, if a person fingerspelled a word to you and you only caught the letters--elphnt, by using your knowledge of the English language you could make closure and fill in the missing letters, thus understanding the word "elephant". We do this all the time when we read misspelled English words. Our brain makes closure automatically. We tend to panic when we don't catch every letter, but every letter is really not necessary. Read the whole word as a unit, just as you read a printed word.

Context
Understanding a fingerspelled word by using conversational clues.
When you see a fingerspelled word always keep in mind the topic of conversation. This is what I call active fingerspelling. So, back to the earlier example, if someone was signing about their visit to the zoo, and you saw the fingerspelled word--elphnt, you could use the conversational clue of a visit to the zoo to help you make closure and figure out the word.


one last thing and it doesnt start with 'c' which is anticipation.

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Reba

Oh, yes! I know exactly what you mean.

Demise

Simple... If they signed their names too fast for me and my eyes to see, I'll ask them to repeat it SLOW.

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DeafInTX

I've resigned myself to the fact that I will probably never be a fast fingerspeller, expressively or especially receptively, because I could never spell quickly in English. I hated spelling bees and other times when I had to spell words out loud. I had to break the word down syllable by syllable, and try to spell it that way. "Continue" would come out "con, c-o-n-, tin, t-i-n, ue, u-e." And my husband could never spell things to me when we were trying to keep info from the kids; I'd get the first 2 or 3 letters, then everything would start getting jumbled together, and my brain would freeze. I'm an excellent speller as long as I write the word down, but my brain just isn't wired to allow for doing it mentally.

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gnulinuxman

I might do that with most Deaf people but probably not when practicing with my fiancee because I don't want to keep asking people to slow down.

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EyesBlueDeaf