My name is Rebecca Donovan.  I belong to several groups on here: Westies, Shelties, Caravan's End, Yah Yah Yah Sisterhood...candles, etc.  I know a bit of sign language, but would like to learn more.

Dear Rebecca

 Welcome to the group learning sign language is great it is wonderful language if you want to learn a wonderful book I found is the joy of signing.  You can also go to the libraries and a lot of times they have some vhs or dvd on the subject.  You can also go on google and type in sign language and it will give you many resources. Good luck and have fun Darin List

I am so glad to see a recent post here. I joined a couple of days ago and was waiting patiently that someone would show up. I would have hated to think this was a closed group due to non participation.

Due to progreesive hearing loss I am just now beginning my journey to learning and understanding sign language and need all the help and hand holding in the world. LOL Like the others I also belong to a few groups and even host a few Christian Groups. I just got a copy of the most amazing Christian signs language book and am anxious to put it to good use.

I look forward to becoming friends with my fellow signers.

God Bless!   

Dr. Angel Koerner Ph.D

Hi Guys! Welcome to the club...  It's so nice to see you here!!

I, too, have been perplexed with the silence in this group, however it is something that many of us seem to understand in other ways...

Looking forward to getting go know all of you better, however I am still getting better from a horrible bout of strep  and bedtime calls...

How would you like to see the group structured?  Any feedback would be welcomed...  We are a diverse and interesting group of people with a common interest, let's get this group rolling again!

*Auricle

Dear Auricle and Angel

 welcome to the group I know sign language even I am a hearing person.  I enjoy learning new signs and communicating with the deaf community.  I had studied in California before I came to Dallas for about five semesters.  The people I have met in the community have been so patient and nice with me and my signing.  I do welcome comments and be interested in any websites you come across with test.  I need the practice I look forword to hearing from you.  Auricle I am sorry to hear about the strep throat feel better Darin from Dallas

Thanks Darin Feeling better already… I think…

How did you become interested in sign language?  I have had the same great experience with the Deaf community, and have welcomed the patience and the teaching I have been given so freely when (attempting to) communicate with so many different folks.  It is always a trip to see the surprise on their faces when I introduce myself in sign, and this person has figured that they had to go in and communicate in an office full of ‘hearing’ people.  It really should not be such a rarity, sign language is such a gorgeous and expressive language, I think it would be great to consider it a main ‘2^nd’ language for students… Or if all classes were ‘team-taught’ with both an oral and a signing instructor… hmmmm… ok, I’ll admit, I must be dreaming – it has been a long day..

G’night everyone….

Auricle

 I got interested in sign language in Calilfornia becauase I was pursuing a career as pre-school teacher.  I lived around a residential school for the deaf many students use to ride the bus from Hollywood to Van Nuys where I lived and the school was located.  I would watch them communicate and it was such a beautiful language to watch.  By the way I learned in my classes that watching and staring is considered rude in the deaf community so now I let them know that I understand some of what the are signing and join in or let them continue there conversation.  My goal then was to be teacher at a school but now plans have changed since I moved out here to Dallas.  It is good to hear you are feeling better and I will talk to you later Darin

My interest in sign language began a very long time ago.  My second cousin is deaf.  One day, he was at my grandparents and wandered next door and tried to get on the neighbor's snowmobile.  I went over to bring him back--wishing I could talk to him.  Unfortunately, it was the only and last time I ever saw him.

I then became interested in learning more about Helen Keller. If I could meet anyone dead or alive-she is one of the people I would like to meet. Just imagine what obstacles were placed in her path, but she did not let it deter her in any way! What an inspiration to others!

I also enjoy watching TV shows when they feature a storyline with a deaf person.  I try to pick up a sign here or there.  I also have the book, "Joy of Signing".  I have also take a few non-credit courses, but I have never learned enough to carry on a conversation in sign.   That is my goal! One day, I would like to go to my Church in the deaf community, but I would like to wait until I can at least understand.

Dear Rebecca,

It certainly seems that signing has been a big part of your life!  I, too, became interested in Helen Keller – to the point of obsession – in my childhood.  I tried to learn Braille too, and my parents blindfolded me once to show me what it was like to be blind. (then I had to do something like make a simple breakfast, or put peanut butter on bread… I don’t remember exactly what I did, just that it was so different to rely completely on another sense (touch) to complete what I normally did with my eyes.  Imagining being completely robbed of both senses is very mind boggling. 

For the tv shows and movies, wouldn’t it be neat to be able to turn on, not a closed caption, but an interpreter – that way we could watch and learn just about any time?

Ah, that would open a whole new job market, wouldn’t it!  I remember the book “Joy of Signing” however it has left me into a borrower’s hands Ah well.  The best practice is in the moment anyway….  I bet you will understand much more than you think you will at the church… Let us know how your experience goes!

Right now, sunshine beckons on a Saturday morning…. I must go outside….

   Auricle

Darin,

Your intro into sign sounds so fabu, it would be great to have such an opportunity to be so close to so many fluent signers… And that you were able to join in and learn so much… Have you modified your career goals due to your move to Dallas, or due to your love of ASL??? 

I wish that more movies or tv shows were actually IN sign language.  Is there an signed language television station anywhere??  It was irritating in some movies that have signed portions, and they cut off the hands so you don’t see what they are saying.

I am teaching my puppy some signs along with his standard 'sit' and 'stay,' he's learning quite quickly. He has both of the above words, plus 'round & round' and we are working on 'wait.' I think he understands 'good dog' and 'ok' as well.

he woofs back sometimes. heh. an unwilling student? Nah, not with food as an incentive, right?

*Auricle

Auricle

 To my knowledge there are no tv stations in sign language but if you want to check on more resources go on line and search on Galludet University in I belive it is in Pittsburgh.  They are the top residential schools in the nation and a good resource or you can look in your area for residential or communities.  The communities usually have book stores that are very useful.  As for me no I have not been back to school but I have had the oppertunity to use it at work and I know of a big deaf community here in Dallas.

Rebecca

 The one thing I learned is books are great resources but the best way is lots of practice.  You are right the fear of signing something wrong is very overwhelming but if you let the people know that you are a new signer they are usally very warm and accomidating.  You can also see where a deaf community in your area might be and see if they have a theatre of live productions that are signed and spoken.  The church is also a good resource for interpreters especially in the methodist faith Good Luck Darin

Hallo guys

I agree with you Rebecca, watching the interpreters at an event is better than the event itself...  At a play I saw, the interpreters 'tag-teamed' for interpreting the lyrics of the show.  It was amazing.  Such a beautiful language...

I just read an article in a local paper about someone (whom I happen to know), who is hearing impaired (which I did not know).  When she performs, she signs the lyrics to the audience.  She's more proficient in signing than I am (most anyone is more proficient in signing than I am!)

There is also another event I wish I could go to.  There is a play and one of the cast members is deaf, so they will be doing shows with interpreters on the end of the stage signing as well for the deaf/hard of hearing and the hearing crowd.  Should be awesome.  I can't go because I can't come up with the admission or get to where it's being performed.

Hi everyone

 I apologize for not making any entries but some how the group disappered from my list of groups.  I just realized it so to Auricle,Angel, Audio and Rebekah I apologize and say I am back.  How is everyone doing and have we been practicing I got dvd from the library last week of asl dictionary that was really ausome.  It through with signs from all sorts of catagories such as food, workplace, manual alphabet and sorts.  I could not imagine how much I still remember it was great.  I hope everyone is doing well love Darin

Hi all, have been learning (in small bits) AMSLAN for about 20 years, but have a hard time in my area keeping it "alive" (any language not used fades fairly quickly) in my brain.  I have had a few occasions to use it, but it is rare. Many in my area are more prone to attempt to read lips and get by other ways saddly.

Dear Mike

 I was looking at your profile and I see you work with computers and are in the Pa area.  This is great because close to you is the most famous Universities in the country Galludet.   They are in Masss. I believe but if you go on line and search on Galludet University you should be able to find it.  Let me know how your search goes Darin

Brenda! It is so nice to see you again.  It has been a crazy summer, sorry to hear that things aren’t running exactly smoothly in your life…  We will be thinking positive thoughts for you…

Hey all,

Being a newbie to the Group, I thought it best to do the full intro bit.

Long story short - I currently live in the UK, but my partner and myself are in the process of trying to emigrate to Canada (whole change of life thing).  For the last few months I've been playing at studying ASL with the hope of actually doing something constructive with it when we get over there.  Thanks to the courses I've found on the Internet (especially the ones on www.signingonline.com), I've really started to get into the language and am discovering what a fabulously expressive language it is. 

I should say that I'm a hearing person and have no friends or relatives who are Deaf.  Not that that would help me too much since we apparently have a different Sign Language altogether here (British Sign Language).  I’m also very aware of regional dialects in signing, so my first full conversation should be a whole world of fun – if not necessarily for me, then for anyone around me trying to work out what I’m saying.

Since the best way of learning anything is to practise with people better than yourself, clearly I've got a bit of a problem here.  I haven't yet found anyone here that can sing in ASL, let alone is better than me.  But in saying that, having looked at the Web Site thread in the Group I've found some great links.  One I've not seen there though is www.aslpro.com, which has a good (for me) quiz section, which gives me the chance to see signs and work out what they are.  Now if I can just find a site that throws sentences and paragraphs at me, I'll be laughing.

Anyway, I hope to be able to pick up much more info here and look forward to learning a great deal more ASL in the very near future.

Martin

 We will all be interested to learn more about BSL, for it is a truly different language than the ASL/LSF/LSQ family.  We have regional dialects in North America, as I am guessing that France would as well (anyone, anyone??) just by the nature of how language seems to develop and how colloquialisms grow and flourish.

 The websites you posted look quite interesting upon first glance, I’ll need to spend some more time doing some homework, LOL.

 Now, if I remember correctly, in British Sign Language, the manual alphabet is generally using both hands per letter – is that right?  It will be interesting to do some comparisons between the languages, and perhaps we should open a whole new discussion for linguistic differences and similarities between different signed languages…

Scott!

We are glad you happened upon us, and that you have the joys of fatherhood in your life.  It is great that you and your family are being proactive and learning multiple modes of communication to facilitate language learning in this important stage in your daughter’s life…  Language is the ‘structure’ upon which speech is built, so you are very much to be congratulated on your approach to enriching the linguistic environment in which your daughter can grow.  It is far easier to see the gross motor movements of the ASL signs as they are on the hands, than to see the fine motor movements of the tongue for speech (especially if there is a hearing loss compounding the equation). 

The structure of ASL grammar is quite different than the structure of spoken language (for instance, English – is extremely redundant).  ASL incorporates many of the redundant parts of the spoken word into the method of signing a particular sign.  Other words or things that are important for English may be either dropped, if redundant – or assumed or incorporated into the way a sign is completed.  So, signing while THINKING in English is very very difficult, for the languages do not flow in the same way.  ASL is not English Signed on the Hands.  I’ll try to look some things up for you, and start a new thread with some pertinent information…  I’ll give you one oddball tip – American Sign Language is based on The French Signed Language (Langue de Signe Française).  I actually think in French when I sign, and I think that the signs end up sticking together in a more linguistically pleasing format for a person who speaks ASL.  It is a personal observation of how I noticed I sign, and how the languages seem to fit together, not anything I have had a chance to research or follow up on…

Hi Auricle,

Thanks very much for the nice welcome.

To be honest with you, I know very little about BSL, other than it is apparently a completely different language to ASL (not sure why though).  Best I can tell, you're right that BSL uses both hands for the manual alphabet.  One of the major reasons I went straight for ASL.  It just struck me that I should get used to the co-ordination in a more gentle way.

I'm not sure how true this is, but BSL seems to me to be more of an interpretation of spoken English, rather than ASL having it's own rules on Grammar and syntax.  If I'm wrong and I've just insulted a bunch of BSL users, sorry and please feel free to correct me

Now, I'm way more keen on learning ASL since apart from not wanting to confuse myself too much, I'm finding it totally engrossing.

Just a quick boost for BSL though, in Britain, we do have a number of programs that are signed, such as the News on some Cable channels and various discussion programs (the British equivelant of Rikki, Jerry Srpinger, Oprah, that sort of thing), although they tend to be repeats of the show shown during the day and are shown sometimes at crazy times of the night.  Don't ask me how I know this, it's a really boring story!

Anyway, I'll try to find out a bit more on BSL (whilst trying not to confuse myself too much) and let the group know anything I can find - presumign it's either relevant, or interesting, of course

Hi everyone,

I am new to this group...I am glad to find this group...I grew up with a hearing problem...when I was 6 yrs old in first grade...the first six months the teacher told my parents I was not responding to them when they talked to me so my parents had to take me out of school to go to doctors and specialists to find out what was wrong with me...they found out that I had a hearing problem...I lost so much hearing in my right ear...it was corrected with a hearing aid...during my teenage yrs I noticed I was loosing hearing in my left ear too so it got corrected with a hearing aid too...I learned ABC sign language in Girl Scouts...when I was in Jr. High School, a friend of mine was talk in sign language some times and I had found it fascinated but never really got into doing sign lanuage...in my adult life I had try to do sign language from the Joy of Signs book and was confused...Maybe this group can help me learn about sign langauge because the more I get older the more my hearing is getting lost and I am scare to a point that I might not hear at all one day and not know how to sign...this has happened to one of my case workers I had yrs ago.

Tomorrow I am going to check out the websites that is on here but right now I am going to get off this computer for the night before my head hits the keyboard.

Genie

Hi,

Melissa I am hard of hearing. No one is exactly sure how I lost it, but we're certain it is related with me being born early.

I first learned sign language (SEE) in the 4th grade, I recently found out my parents were told they had no choice to transfer me because the speech therapist was retiring. No one in my family knows sign language, and it was never really encouraged.

I learned ASL off and on between then and taking a full class when I started college.

I am currently in college(again) trying to complete some things I've been meaning to complete. I do not associate with deaf culture, but at the same time I can't associate with the hearing culture.  I say this because I have the similar story as many I have met do. 

My majors are Cultural anthropology, minor in nutrition and deaf studies. My goal honestly is to continue to cater and help plan weddings. And possibly go into teaching about food and cultures behind food dishes. I have found that I've yet to meet any deaf or HoH folks in the culinary field here on the west coast and that is a tad discouraging.

Genie and Melissa!! It is great to have you on board!! Sorry that it took so long to say hello, but the two introduction threads is confusing, lol.  Which one should we close??? Introduction?  or IntroductionS?  group vote...

We all look forward to learning more about you, and sharing our stories too...  Feel free to open threads as you come up with ideas you would like to discuss...

*auricle

Molly, I have NO idea... perhaps a Christian signing book would have Christian specific signs in it that are not in the run of the mill signing books??  Anyone else know??

Hello, everyone.

Not sure which introduction thread I should post to, so I will try this one

I am hearing but have been interested in ASL for a few years now. I took a college course and a summer immersion week-long course. I haven't been able to afford the time/money to take any more courses since the summer, but hopefully I can again soon.

I really enjoy the expressiveness of sign. It allows me to let out my 'silly' side.

I am looking forward to meeting people here and learning more about deaf culture.

Alison

Alison, it's so nice to meet you!  You have my middle name except I spell it with two "l"s.  Anyhow, it's wonderful that you're learning sign.  Isn't it so expressive?!  If you'd like, feel free to check out some of the websites listed to assist you in your signing.  They have really neat animated "quizzes". 

If there's anything else we can help you with or inform you about, please don't hesitate to ask.  We look forward to getting to know you.

Sandra

I have always wanted to learn to sign since I was young boy.

Recently I was given a sign name by a man that I was helping with his drug addiction problem; we talked with an interpreter for hours over several days. The biggest problem is that I am Sicilian and had to remember not to use my hands because it kept confusing things --

I would like to learn because; I want to be better at communicating with all people

I feel much honored to have been given a name in the sign culture.

Hello ... I am new to the ASL&DC group and am BLAZING AWAY!  Thank you so much for this splendid group. And, Auricle, you seem to be one of the best facilitators on all of Care2 ... I like your nurturing here, on all of the threads!

So I was going to start a TOPIC ... something like ASL&DC for DUMB HEARING PEOPLE LIKE ME! ... or something like that. But, being a pretty hopeless case  as a non-music-language Communicator, I just FLASHED on the fact that I should get on with my work here ... so I am starting a MUSIC GROUP! Yes ... I am starting the topic for discussion about music making named "SAMSARA Meditation Ensemble of ASL&DC/Care2" ... and hope that we can all get ready for the "SAMSARA Meditation Ensemble of Planet Earth" World Tour, someday!

Peace, Love, Harmony, Kindliness & Health,

Sapan Rinpoche  -  Lone Hawk Watcher