forum SignWriting List Forum
  Message 1467  |  Previous | Next  [ Up Thread ] Message Index
From:  Valerie Sutton
Date:  Tue Jun 15, 1999  2:02 am
Subject:  ASL Video Transcriptions


June 14, 1999

Dear SW List -

If you or your group are considering doing translation work from English to
ASL... I would like to share with you the way we do it.....for what it is
worth...

We have found that we write the best ASL grammer when a team of Deaf native
signers does the signing...so.... You might consider videotaping the ASL,
and then ask the signers themselves to transcribe their own signing from
videotape later.

The first thing is to get the team of native ASL signers. The second thing
is to do the videotape, which is not as easy as you might think. For
example, we learned that it is important to ask all hearing people to leave
the room during the taping. With only Deaf people present, the Deaf signer
is signing to a Deaf audience, and the ASL becomes stronger. Oftentimes, if
a hearing person is present, without even realizing it, the grammar changes
to a PSE or to English, to accomodate the hearing person in the room.

Later when the signers transcribe the ASL from the video into SignWriting,
they will see that their ASL grammar was very different than what they
expected. Most signers do not realize the facial expressions they use while
they sign.

Those are some of my thoughts - and now I must return to the SignWriter 5.0
design work, which is an enormous job - but a very creative one!

Have a great evening, and many thanks for everyone's help -

Valerie :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Valerie Sutton

SignWriting

https://www.SignWriting.org

The DAC, Deaf Action Committee for SW
Center For Sutton Movement Writing
an educational nonprofit organization
Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038-0517, USA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Message 1467  |  Previous | Next  [ Up Thread ] Message Index