Reading Fingerspelling, please help!

Helene

Helene

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I'm so frustrated at trying to read FS, on my DVD (signing naturally) I'm on the "where do you live" section and they spell so fast!

Also in class I get maybe 25% of what my fellow students sign for their stories.

Hand signs, no problem.
Is there a way to boost my fingerspelling reading?

I'm half way into my 10 week class and have a test on Tuesday as well as homework.
And I'm working so hard, but there's times I go "don't know what you just said"
:hmm:

Thank you!
 
I can not spell to save my life, but I have noticed that if you understand what they are talking about and you can catch the first and last part of the word you can normally put it together. So in the where you live part, if you see san and sco as where they live you could say San Francisco. I know a lot of of people who have a hard time spelling and so FS is harder for them, but on the other hand I have friends that are amazing at spelling and can catch ever letter. It all depends on how your brain works. Another thing that my teacher taught me was to FS in front of a mirror so you can see how the hand signs look. Or teach a friend or find a friend from class. With my husband who I taught 3 years ago, we would FS EVERYTHING. My hands wanted to fall off but by the end of 1 and half months of doing this he could read anything I FS. Sometimes you will need them to resign the word. Good luck on your test. :D
 
but I have noticed that if you understand what they are talking about and you can catch the first and last part of the word you can normally put it together.
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This part I find to be true for me as well...I tend to fill in the gaps if I have to. Sometimes I can figure out what it is by the context of the rest of the conversation. The harder part is when you get names as in "Hi my name is ______" but it's not a problem if you are respectful and ask for repeat and to slow down a little- most people will be happy to.
 
I have been learning signing for a few years, but finger spelling is still a huge obstacle. I am of course improving over time, but can't read or finger spell anything at full tempo. All teachers say it just takes a lot of practice. I have never learnt how to lip read, but apparently lip reading is an important component of finger spelling. In Swedish sign language you sometimes cheat and omit a vovel from the finger spelling to make it faster to spell, because the omitted vovel is clearly visible on the lips. Fluent finger spellers have no problem with this. They watch hand and lips at the same time, and know the rules for when it is ok to omit a letter. It's a little like speech, we don't articulate every single letter in every word clearly.

Practice by finger spelling anything you see, road signs, names, newspaper headlines, and so on.
 
There is a great video to help with this published by the same company that makes the Signing Naturally Curriculum called "Fingerspelled Word Recognition through Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP)." http://www.dawnsign.com/RSVP. It is a great instructional video. I tried it and even without completing the entire program I noticed a huge jump in my word recognition.

It is a three part lesson in sequence - read the book in its entirety, go through the word list lessons (in English) (~220 exercises with 20 words per exercise), then and only then should you watch the DVD of signing.
 
DeafNerdMommy said:
I can not spell to save my life, but I have noticed that if you understand what they are talking about and you can catch the first and last part of the word you can normally put it together. So in the where you live part, if you see san and sco as where they live you could say San Francisco. I know a lot of of people who have a hard time spelling and so FS is harder for them, but on the other hand I have friends that are amazing at spelling and can catch ever letter. It all depends on how your brain works. Another thing that my teacher taught me was to FS in front of a mirror so you can see how the hand signs look. Or teach a friend or find a friend from class. With my husband who I taught 3 years ago, we would FS EVERYTHING. My hands wanted to fall off but by the end of 1 and half months of doing this he could read anything I FS. Sometimes you will need them to resign the word. Good luck on your test. :D
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Same here , I would be dead by now if I had to spell to save my life ! LOL!
 
I figured out my "problem" I look at faces. I need to look at hands closer.
I have a finger spell app and that's hands only and I do well with that.
 
Just remember that if you watch someone's hands they will find you kind of dumb and disrespectful. I learned that the hard way. Most people keep eye contact while signing just like in verbal conversation

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using AllDeaf App mobile app
 
DeafNerdMommy said:
Just remember that if you watch someone's hands they will find you kind of dumb and disrespectful. I learned that the hard way. Most people keep eye contact while signing just like in verbal conversation

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using AllDeaf App mobile app
Click to expand...
wow...

I certainly hope that they don't have that kind of an attitude toward deaf-blind. There are some who have tunnel vision so they almost HAVE to focus on the hands (depending on the degree of loss). Other types of vision loss- depends on the type and if one is able to focus on both the face/body and hands/signing.
 
ASL might be different, but I have never heard a sign language teacher or a Deaf person say you should focus on the hands. On the contrary, everyone has been repeating how important it is to look at the face and have eye contact. One teacher said it is not even possible to read finger spelling at full speed by watching someone's hands exclusively.
 
Preferred technique is to watch hands and face at the same time. You can focus more on the hands if you must but at least keep the face in your peripheral vision.
 
BSL but same problems I crap speller and my fingers have problems i same DNM many deaf are or we. Be perfect spellers and defiantly not.Going fast don't mean they spelling it right you think they are bc you concentrating on getting spelling right..I use be quick but unlikely I get 25pc spelling right.When you passed alephbet stage you be able shorten as DNM Say only need a few letters and you get the meaning...
You can't have full class people who all perfect spellers don't get disheartened
 
I would often see people having difficulty with fingerspelling. They'll see that I can fingerspell properly. They would look to me when they need help with spelling some words.
 
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