Dear SignWriting List,
What matters is what can be read properly...and writing systems
historically have to go through this simplification process to get
something that is easy to use on a daily basis....and of course it is
confusing for the first generation of writers...
When I read this yesterday and with all the other messages on the list about
spelling, I began to realized that I was not the only one who worried about
writing signs wrong. I was also confused by the different spellings of words.
I
knew the sign and could read it but I thought that I would be writing them
differently then how I saw them. I also thought that I could have been wrong in
my understanding of how to write SW. Now I know that I'm not alone. What's
even
more exciting is that SW is just like learning ASL. When I first learned ASL,
every time I saw someone signing slightly differently than I was taught I asked
"new sign?" Of course the signer would say no I'm just lazy or it was a
regional
difference. So once I knew that I relaxed and assumed that any sign that came
close to the one I knew would be right until it did not make sense. Then I
would
ask for clarification. So it is with SW. If the sign is readily understood and
readable, that's all that matters. I find this a real relief and now I can just
relax and enjoy the learning experience. It's so fun to see the students get so
excited about it too. Deb Holden
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