I'm Half Deaf and Could Disturb My Future Job. HELP!!

Beach girl said:
The MLAT has been used by the U.S. gov't and military for several decades now. I had to take it after I entered the Foreign Service, to determine if I was a candidate for one of the so-called "hard" languages. (I was. In my case, I took Serbo-Croatian, and used the language for four years. I also studied and used French, Spanish, and Portuguese, all considered "easy" languages.)

Michael, do you know for a fact that your hearing loss will be progressive? You said "Just imagine (this is gonna be dramatic) a teenager who has just found his aptitude, interest, ability, and realized he will miss it all slowly?" Do you know for a fact that you will "miss it all slowly?"

You mentioned that your mother said you had been "half-deaf" since childhood. Do you know if your hearing has remained roughly stable since childhood?

What sort of career do you have in mind? Deafness is more of an impediment in some areas than others. Being hard-of-hearing (which seems to more accurately describe you, is that correct?) doesn't have to be much of an impediment at all.

You could focus, for instance, on careers that call on your ability to do written translations from one language to another.

Are you in college now? Do you have an idea of what you're going to major in?
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Good description, but that still doesn't address reliability and validity or population it was normed on.

Deafness doesn't have to be an impediment, either.
 
jillio said:
Good description, but that still doesn't address reliability and validity or population it was normed on.Deafness doesn't have to be an impediment, either.
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If you had read the link, you would have seen:

"The data used to calculate the statistical norms for the MLAT were collected in the fall of 1958. The MLAT was administered to approximately nineteen hundred students in grades nine to twelve and thirteen hundred students from ten colleges and universities. For adult norms, the MLAT was administered to about one thousand military and governmental enlisted persons and personnel. The test was given to the subjects before starting a language course or intensive training program. Their performance in the language program was later compared to their score on the MLAT to calculate the predictive validity of the test...

"The age of the test along with its norms is another area of concern. The test was developed in 1953-58 and the norms were calculated with data collected in 1958. The audio-lingual teaching methods used with the norming subjects have been replaced by a more communicative teaching method. In 1998, research conducted by Madeline Ehrman, the Director of Research, Evaluation and Development at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute, produced validity coefficients at approximately the same levels as the original validity coefficients from 1958. Research from Leila Ranta (Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at University of Alberta) as well as Harley and Hart (with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto) has shown an association with good language analytic ability and good language learners in a communicative learning environment (2002)."
 
Michael, do you know for a fact that your hearing loss will be progressive? You said "Just imagine (this is gonna be dramatic) a teenager who has just found his aptitude, interest, ability, and realized he will miss it all slowly?" Do you know for a fact that you will "miss it all slowly?"

You mentioned that your mother said you had been "half-deaf" since childhood. Do you know if your hearing has remained roughly stable since childhood?
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Yes I guess it is progressive, "half-deaf" I guess it's a non-medical term, but you got it, it means my hearing has remained roughly stable since childhood (on my right ear). here's the the problem: I FOUND MY RIGHT EAR HAS BEEN TOTALLY DEAF these days, this is not normal, the "half-deafness on my right ear" has become to a "deafness". And am afraid I will be the same on my left ear.
 
Well, get yourself to an ENT to deal with both that pain in your ear and the recent more severe hearing loss, and get a hearing test as well.

Then you'll have a better idea of what you're dealing with.
 
What sort of career do you have in mind? Deafness is more of an impediment in some areas than others. Being hard-of-hearing (which seems to more accurately describe you, is that correct?) doesn't have to be much of an impediment at all.

You could focus, for instance, on careers that call on your ability to do written translations from one language to another.

Are you in college now? Do you have an idea of what you're going to major in?
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what if the "hard-of-hearing" will slowly become a "deafness" that's why I'm here, at least until I meet an ENT doctor.

hmmm :( yes I'm in college, I'm taking int'l business and communications in Singapore. The curiculum is all about speaking, hearing, negotiating, meeting int'l ppl, etc. I think Japanese, English, are the most important ones. With German language I have another plan with it. I guess I will try to get a scholarship next year, but yeah Ive told everything here guys, dreams are now just dreams.

Even it's hard for me to listen people speaking in english fast. My parents are far away from me, idk what to do. hahah
 
Deafness doesn't have to be an impediment, either.
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idk, maybe someday this quotation is gonna be useful for me
ps: don't forget, my little sister has the same problem with me. i admit, i'm just too late, but I dont want this happen to my little sister
 
For the meantime, keep up with your studies. You're in a good field that will call on a lot of talents.

Don't worry too much at the moment about "what will happen if..." See what the ENT says.

Look into all the technology that can help you, from hearing aids (for starters) to cellphone captioning, to things like tablet computers that have voice-to-text programs. There are other solutions too. Take it one step at a time and you will find a lot of answers to meet your needs as you go along.
 
thx beach girl :) and everyone for the support

of course, I never give up on my studies. :D

I hope I will meet an ENT doctor in this week
 
Beach girl said:
If you had read the link, you would have seen:

"The data used to calculate the statistical norms for the MLAT were collected in the fall of 1958. The MLAT was administered to approximately nineteen hundred students in grades nine to twelve and thirteen hundred students from ten colleges and universities. For adult norms, the MLAT was administered to about one thousand military and governmental enlisted persons and personnel. The test was given to the subjects before starting a language course or intensive training program. Their performance in the language program was later compared to their score on the MLAT to calculate the predictive validity of the test...

"The age of the test along with its norms is another area of concern. The test was developed in 1953-58 and the norms were calculated with data collected in 1958. The audio-lingual teaching methods used with the norming subjects have been replaced by a more communicative teaching method. In 1998, research conducted by Madeline Ehrman, the Director of Research, Evaluation and Development at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute, produced validity coefficients at approximately the same levels as the original validity coefficients from 1958. Research from Leila Ranta (Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at University of Alberta) as well as Harley and Hart (with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto) has shown an association with good language analytic ability and good language learners in a communicative learning environment (2002)."
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In that case, it is not very generalizable. And telling me that the reliability coefficients are approximately the same as those from 1958 doesn't tell me anything, because the original coefficients are not stated.

In other words, predictive value or correlation is limited to a specific environment. That does not address overall predictive value.
 
michael13 said:
idk, maybe someday this quotation is gonna be useful for me
ps: don't forget, my little sister has the same problem with me. i admit, i'm just too late, but I dont want this happen to my little sister
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Much worse things could happen to your little sister. There are deaf people on here who have achieved master level degrees even though they have been deaf since birth. There are many deaf in the U.S. with doctorates. And there are Deaf all over this country that are living happy, productive, successful lives. If you look at it from a relational standpoint, there is probably a greater degree of life satisfaction in the Deaf community than in the hearing community.
 
jillio said:
Much worse things could happen to your little sister. There are deaf people on here who have achieved master level degrees even though they have been deaf since birth. There are many deaf in the U.S. with doctorates. And there are Deaf all over this country that are living happy, productive, successful lives. If you look at it from a relational standpoint, there is probably a greater degree of life satisfaction in the Deaf community than in the hearing community.
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It's important that you do not let a little thing like deafness hold you back. (Most of us here do not consider going deaf to be the worst thing that could happen. Life changing and a very emotional roller coaster ride - yes, but not the end of your life.) Keep coming back here, we will do our best to hold your hand and walk you through your process. I don't want you to feel like you or your sister are alone. I went through the process alone, I don't want you to.
 
jillio said:
Right. Some people just have a natural talent for languages. But if you are deaf, and have that talent, think how many different signed languages you could learn. You don't have to be limited to spoken language as a foreign language.
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Or Michael13 could do the translation works online like Free Translation and Professional Translation Services from SDL and I have often use this link to get a rough translation when doing my genealogy.
 
See your ENT, I had kinda the same problem and it ended up being continuous nerve damage that can NEVER be fixed. All I can tell you is see your ENT and if you love learning diff languages, learn ASL if you have not already.
 
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