Miss-Delectable
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DePaul embraces American Sign Language as foreign language - Opinions
Some universities have been debating whether or not American Sign Language (ASL) should be counted as a foreign language requirement.
The argument these institutions have offered is that ASL is a non-written language indigenous to the United States and, therefore, does not entail the same level of cultural immersion and cannot draw from a literary history.
The problem with this argument is not only that it consists of misinformation and arbitrary biases about the tradition of ASL, but it also doesn't take into consideration the truly distinctive nature of deaf culture.
Jennifer Briggs is the ASL coordinator for the modern language department at DePaul, and she puts together a number of sign language-oriented activities that shine a light on the unique cultural customs of deaf individuals.
Briggs herself is deaf and spoke with me over the phone via a sign language interpreter. She says there are many things about living as a deaf person of which people with hearing may not be aware.
"If you were to put a hearing person in a deaf environment, it's a culture shock," she says. "And it's pretty much the same experience for a deaf person to be put in the hearing world, as well. So it's kind of like a [way to] learn to put yourself into our shoes and to experience what we go through."
There is also an undeniable practicality to the mastery of sign language. As I spoke with Briggs on the telephone, I was able to communicate with her because she has a phone equipped a video-conferencing feature that connects her with a sign language interpreter.
The interpreter translated my words into sign language and then translated her signing into spoken English. Apart from being an impressive adaptive tool, the interpreter also found employment from having a certain level of skill in ASL, and Jennifer could make phone calls in her first language-sign language.
The argument that ASL does not constitute a "foreign" language is flawed for more than one reason.
For one, Briggs says ASL largely has its origins in France. Additionally, a claim that an indigenous language can't be considered foreign would deny the unique character of the many Native American languages with roots in the lands that are now called the United States. Many of these languages do not have a written literary history either (a point addressed by a professor of language in a Chicago Tribune article on the subject of sign language in universities).
While these languages are native to our home soil (something that can't be said of English, actually), they still provide insight into a culture unfamiliar to many people who spend their lives in a predominantly English-speaking society.
All this aside, there is still the matter that it is more or less an arbitrary point to frame the language requirement with distinction between "foreign" and domestic.
National boundaries shouldn't determine whether or not a cultural tradition can offer an insightful alternative perspective on a manner of living and communicating in the world.
I give credit to DePaul for maintaining an ASL program and offering a variety of sign language studies options and activities, but we need to remember not to undermine the legitimacy or tradition of ASL or other languages sometimes overlooked or written off because they don't adhere to certain guidelines ascribed to the popular notion of language or cultural tradition.
Some universities have been debating whether or not American Sign Language (ASL) should be counted as a foreign language requirement.
The argument these institutions have offered is that ASL is a non-written language indigenous to the United States and, therefore, does not entail the same level of cultural immersion and cannot draw from a literary history.
The problem with this argument is not only that it consists of misinformation and arbitrary biases about the tradition of ASL, but it also doesn't take into consideration the truly distinctive nature of deaf culture.
Jennifer Briggs is the ASL coordinator for the modern language department at DePaul, and she puts together a number of sign language-oriented activities that shine a light on the unique cultural customs of deaf individuals.
Briggs herself is deaf and spoke with me over the phone via a sign language interpreter. She says there are many things about living as a deaf person of which people with hearing may not be aware.
"If you were to put a hearing person in a deaf environment, it's a culture shock," she says. "And it's pretty much the same experience for a deaf person to be put in the hearing world, as well. So it's kind of like a [way to] learn to put yourself into our shoes and to experience what we go through."
There is also an undeniable practicality to the mastery of sign language. As I spoke with Briggs on the telephone, I was able to communicate with her because she has a phone equipped a video-conferencing feature that connects her with a sign language interpreter.
The interpreter translated my words into sign language and then translated her signing into spoken English. Apart from being an impressive adaptive tool, the interpreter also found employment from having a certain level of skill in ASL, and Jennifer could make phone calls in her first language-sign language.
The argument that ASL does not constitute a "foreign" language is flawed for more than one reason.
For one, Briggs says ASL largely has its origins in France. Additionally, a claim that an indigenous language can't be considered foreign would deny the unique character of the many Native American languages with roots in the lands that are now called the United States. Many of these languages do not have a written literary history either (a point addressed by a professor of language in a Chicago Tribune article on the subject of sign language in universities).
While these languages are native to our home soil (something that can't be said of English, actually), they still provide insight into a culture unfamiliar to many people who spend their lives in a predominantly English-speaking society.
All this aside, there is still the matter that it is more or less an arbitrary point to frame the language requirement with distinction between "foreign" and domestic.
National boundaries shouldn't determine whether or not a cultural tradition can offer an insightful alternative perspective on a manner of living and communicating in the world.
I give credit to DePaul for maintaining an ASL program and offering a variety of sign language studies options and activities, but we need to remember not to undermine the legitimacy or tradition of ASL or other languages sometimes overlooked or written off because they don't adhere to certain guidelines ascribed to the popular notion of language or cultural tradition.
