Hi fellow bloggers! My name is Alyssa and I have decided to take on the challenge of learning ASL (American Sign Language). I thought this would be a fun and interesting thing to learn, and very useful as well. I love to talk. Whether it's to my friends, my parents, or my siblings, I feel like I say over ten thousand sentences per day, and the truth is, I probably do. I speak English, and I have, everyday of the 15 years I have been alive. I see people who are bilingual, and think it's actually really interesting. It would be pretty cool to know how to speak more than one.
Originally I was just going to teach myself another spoken language, but then sign language crossed my mind. I thought it was really unique and different. I then discovered, from research, that sign language is the 5th most spoken language in the US. So why don't I ever see anyone that knows how to sign?
So far, learning sign language has been... interesting. Just as I thought it would be. I have learned the entire alphabet so far, and learned that there is a way of speaking sign language where you only use letters. This is called finger spelling. Although the alphabet was pretty easy to learn, I watched a video about finger spelling, which also showed people performing it, and realized that it is NOT easy at all. Finger spelling is much faster than I expected, and you have to be able to read letters, and sign them at a pace which I am not even close to being capable of.
I've learned a few words and phrases, and also learned that speaking sign language is backwards compared to speaking English. Many of the phrases I have learned how to sign are questions. When asking a question in sign language, the question word (what, who, where, why etc.) are the last part of the compilation of signs. Not necessarily is it the last sign of the sequence, but it is usually one of the last. One of my favorite signs so far is the word, "awkward". It's when you take both of your hands, make threes, and then lift them up and down oppositely. It's kind of a weird sign but it's good because it's easy to remember.
I really hope signing becomes easier. FOLLOW ME! (:
I really hope signing becomes easier. FOLLOW ME! (:
Alyssa: GOOD LUCK. Last January, I tried to learn sign language... for about three weeks. It was added to my long list of failed projects. It started with the thought, "What if people who talked with their hands did it in sign language?" Apparently that thought was not enough to keep me going. It really is a cool language, though, and I hope you have more success than I did. What is your ultimate goal? You could sign a song or something like that.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I think the sign for airplane is pretty cool, although I've seen a few different variations.
Alyssa, I think that this would be a great thing to learn! I remember in fourth grade our teacher taught the whole grade sign language to the song "What a Wonderful World." Maybe it would be cool if you learned how to sign along with a song! I've tried to learn sign language before because of a relative who had trouble hearing. But I didn't stick with it very long. I hope you have more success than I did and I can't wait to see what you've learned!
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