Hey look, more questions!

[cayisgreat]

When signing M and N, do you care/is it important if you sign it with lowered fingers, or raised fingers? (does anyone know what I'm talking about? Will provide link if not.) -- My hands are pretty small, and sometimes I think it's hard for others to catch my M sign.

Sentence structure: I've read over and over to start signing how you would in English, then, later, when you get a better grasp on ASL grammar (I don't see how you could if you're signing in English order, but anyway), switch over. I've mostly heard of the time/topic/comment structure. I've been told there are numerous ways to sign things, though, and that often times, it doesn't matter WHAT order the signs are in. True, false?

Would any of these be considered "incorrect," "too english," or just "too dang weird"?

"Tomorrow me go school"

"Tomorrow school me go"

"School tomorrow me go" (?)

"School me go tomorrow"

Does the structure change depending on the topic?

Last but not least:

You're minding your own business, when someone comes up to you and asks you if you know where something is. They realize you're deaf/hoh, and instead of backing away all awkwardly, they still try to ask you. It isn't going very well, maybe they don't know fingers pelling or ASL at all, or maybe their signs are just really hard to comprehend.

Would you still be irritated if they said, "oh, never mind" after a certain amount of time? Or would you rather them just keep on trying.

I'm so afraid I'm going to severely waste someones time/bother them/make them late, if I can't be understood. Once I had a deaf client, and I didn't know how to ask her if she knew sign (I only knew three words at the time, and didn't know if it would be rude to ask) and I got so anxious, I was shaking and stuttering, because she was getting really annoyed that I wasn't understanding her. To make matters worse, her written English wasn't easy to understand, either, and my handwriting was horrid. I felt so bad.

 

[deafbajagal]

When the N and M are raised, it makes fingerspelling more smooth on the hand (and on the eyes of the observer).

The standard syntax of ASL is TIME ...TOPIC...(Say whatever is happening with the topic).

And the last question is interesting. You are implying that the communication breakdown is because the hearing person doesn't understand the deaf person. Communication is a two-way street. Maybe the hearing person needs to find a different way to meet the communication needs halfway.

There's ALWAYS a way to communicate, no matter who, what, when, where. Everyone has something to say, but everyone has a different way of expressing themselves. Communication breakdowns often happen because one party refuses to adapt their style to fit someone else's.

 

[BecLak]

There's ALWAYS a way to communicate, no matter who, what, when, where. Everyone has something to say, but everyone has a different way of expressing themselves. Communication breakdowns often happen because one party refuses to adapt their style to fit someone else's.

Well said!