Signing in english

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meoww

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Hello!

I'm currently learning ASL and had a question, I've asked my teacher before but I've never really gotten a good answer..

For our final project we have to gloss a song. I've looked up some YouTube videos of the song I picked and noticed that every video is signed in English. My teacher wants it signed in ASL form. The book we use in class comes with a DVD to help learning and even in the video it's all signed in English, she recommends we never watch it. We even have a deaf boy in our class who is there because he signs in English and needs to learn to sign in ASL form.

So here is my question..

Is signing in English basically frowned upon? If I were to have a conversation with a deaf person and signed in English would they think I'm wrong or that it's weird? Obviously I believe it's easier and my teacher always has to correct me and tell me to sign it again correctly. With the deaf boy in our class he has an interpreter with him for when our teacher is speaking and when I watch her sometimes she is signing in English.

Could anyone help give me some insight on the difference and what is right or wrong?

Thanks!
 
No signed exact English is not frowned upon, but it is not asl. a lot of deaf people will switch over to SEE or easier signs when talking to someone new at asl. I think your teacher is blowing it out of proportion. it is also hard to interpret a song that is written in English into asl and be signed side by side which is why most people use SEE
 
Sigh . . . why are sign language instructors still using "gloss a song" assignments? It makes no sense.

A better assignment for ASL skills would be a story telling assignment.

After all, which one relates more to real life? Story telling.

Glossing songs is more for advanced interpreter training, not language learning.

ASL versus English preference depends on your local deaf community. Keep in mind though, ASL is a true language where signed English is not.
 
When I took a college "ASL" class <not really, it was more SEE-PSE continuum but I didn't know better when I signed up>, we had to sign a song at the end of the class too - that was in the mid-90's. I didn't really like that class much and got very little out of signing a song...and of course my "signing" was not good anyway <not that it's great now>. My later experience is that Deaf people told me to sign less English. I'd prefer to learn the actual language<ASL> that is reflective of the community, not a hearing amalgam of sign.
 
My own experience (it will vary person to person as seen by above posts) is that the deaf I've encountered over the years there was a mix of ASL and MCE/PSE... I'm sure SEE is used but I've not seen it in years- not since grad school at least as part of a course I had to take.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone! I definitely get what everyone is saying.

I think one of the main problems is my first ASL teacher basically taught from the book and the DVD (which is all signed in English) and rarely would correct us. And now this teacher is basically anti-book except for teaching signs and never lets us use the DVD.

And I agree, I would much rather tell a story then glossing the song. In all honesty I would rather just completely skip this assignment altogether because we are so behind this semester that our teacher has ran out of time and isn't teaching us the last 3 chapters of the book. I'm afraid because of that that I'm gonna fall behind and not know what I should for my next ASL course. But I guess at least I'll know the song!

Thanks for answering my question everyone!
 
I agree with this instructor's strong emphasis on what is and is not ASL. I think it is important for students to learn the difference between Signed English and ASL. New signers often do not recognize that they are mixing them.

As it has been pointed out Deaf people do code switch between ASL and Signed English in the presence of hearing people and/or new signers. I think someone needs to be fluent (or at least advanced) in ASL in order to appropriately know when and how to switch back and forth.

Personally, I am not big fan of signed songs. Storytelling or ABC stories that are more culturally relevant to the language of the eyes and hands. I think these assignments are better lessons than the songs of the hearing world.
 
zephren said:
I agree with this instructor's strong emphasis on what is and is not ASL. I think it is important for students to learn the difference between Signed English and ASL. New signers often do not recognize that they are mixing them.

As it has been pointed out Deaf people do code switch between ASL and Signed English in the presence of hearing people and/or new signers. I think someone needs to be fluent (or at least advanced) in ASL in order to appropriately know when and how to switch back and forth.

Personally, I am not big fan of signed songs. Storytelling or ABC stories that are more culturally relevant to the language of the eyes and hands. I think these assignments are better lessons than the songs of the hearing world.
Click to expand...

I'm part of a signing choir and we sign our songs in BSL. Recently we went to a competition and the judge (Deaf) critiqued some of the choirs for their use of Sign Supported English. It can be done and done well, but probably not by new signers at at least in BSL you need a wide vocabulary in order to use the contextually/grammatically correct signs rather than the literal ones.
 
Asl is about your own in interpretation so feel the song words use them and use asl ..
 
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