Friday, March 1, 2013
I'm Having Conversations with Myself..
So this is the third week, and by this point, I wanted to be able to speak basic words, maybe a few phrases, and definitely know structure of sentences. And awesomely enough, I did!! It's pretty exciting knowing that you're able to talk with your hands. Caroline (http://carolinelearns2sign.blogspot.com/) and I have been signing through some of our classes, and it's pretty funny to see people's reaction. Sometimes they'll stare at us trying to figure out what we're trying to say, but fail.
One of the things i hate about signing is the fact that I hardly know anyone who signs. So, for 95% of the time I sign, I'm having a full conversation- with myself. Of course, I don't mind that much, but I' hoping to find someone soon who can sign and has experience.
Things I've realized while doing this project:
Signing is hard.
It's even harder when hardly anyone you know signs.
It even harder when you are forced to have conversations with yourself.
It has gotten easier, though. I have learned some sentence structure, and have created a google doc with a list of words and phrases that I know. I cannot have a full conversation yet, but hopefully that will come later. This is the list of what I still need to accomplish:
Week 4: Adjectives. Although I know some colors and common adjectives, I'd like to learn a few more of them, just so it'd be easier to describe the nouns I can say.
Week 5: Pronouns. Like in any other language, pronouns are a huge part of your sentence structure. Without them, the sentence doesn't make much sense. I'd like to learn if the pronouns in sign language are placed differently in the sentence, or how to refer to someone. Also in this category are names. Fluent signers tend to name other people based on their personality. They come up with a sign that means their name. I could be able to name people in sign language based on their personality and their likes/dislikes.
Week 6: Conversations with Caroline. I would hope to be able to have a conversation about school or something by this point. Obviously, I won't know the entire dictionary but having a conversation could be fun.
Week 7: Reading/Speaking? This is a long shot. I would hope to be able to have a conversation about my day or something like that, and be able to figure out what the other person is saying. This will be hard because I've been in Spanish for 4 years, and I still can barely get out of the typical school and weather conversations.
Throughout my process, I have discovered a really useful video website that has given me all the signs I have needed to know. It's called: http://lifeprint.com/asl101. This website shows me signs, and has a guy who just shows me every sign I could ever possibly need to know in my life. It's a great resource!
I have achieved my goal for this week, and that was to be able to know some sentence structure. I know that question words come after the sentence, and nouns usually come first. It's very different from english which is annoying, but it'll be worth learning at the end. I hope.
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I found it interesting that you believe one of the most difficult parts of signing is that you have no one to sign with. Maybe during your presentation you can teach the audience some signs? Also after reading this post I actually have become inspired myself to learn how to sign, especially reading that you have accomplished your goals so far shows that it is possible as long as your put your mind towards it! Good luck with the rest of the project!!
ReplyDeleteJust as a side note, time expressions come first (before nouns).
ReplyDeleteI think you're making good progress in sign language, and I hope you succeed! It sounds like fun to sign to somebody else in class (hopefully not while the teacher is teaching) and watch everybody else be like "wow they're so cool". (Biggest bonus of this project wooo). Even though I'm not sure who you are besides the fact that you're in the afternoon block, you seem to be a cool person and ready to continue on this challenging path of learning sign language on your own.
Thanks so much! Do you sign?? Or are you learning to sign?
DeleteAlyssa! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS BLOG TEMPLATE! If I wasn't so terrible at using technology I'd fix mine, alas it seems to be impossible. Anyway, your project seems to be going very well, especially since the biggest problem you have is talking to yourself. I can help you if you want, but I mean, I only know a few select words that may not be of any use. If there is any OTHER way I can help, let me know! Keep up the hard work, can't wait to see what happens! :)
ReplyDeleteAs another struggling person in the language category (computer language counts!) I can relate to your struggles in learning sign language, which as I imagine must be very hard. Still, I think it is great that you have learned the basics of sign language with sentence structure and a few phrases. It is also great that you have been able to stay on the path that you have created to match up with your expectations. Also, like Brianna said above, I think it would be cool to teach some sign language to audience when you present your topic. Maybe you will be able to sign some of the questions in Chem when we actually have a CUBA or test :). Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really cool idea. I remember my cousin tried to teach me some signs years ago but of course over time I forgot them. The only ones I remember are frog and ice cream. It is very difficult to speak fluently in any language and having someone to use that language helps a lot. I think it would be really awesome if perhaps you taught others how to sign. It would make cheating on tests so easy. I think this is a really cool project and I can't wait to see how it turns out.
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