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From:
Cheryl Zapien Date: Thu Nov 5, 1998 3:33 pm Subject: Re: A general ASL question | |
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Proof positive that signwriting improves grammar, vocabulary and sign formation for the beginning student! *smile* Thanks Valerie. Cheryl Valerie Sutton wrote: > November 4, 1998 > All languages have several different ways to say the same thing...not only > does every language have synonyms, but there are also different sentence > structures one can use correctly within each language. For me, moving to > Denmark and learning to speak Danish by living with Danes had a profound > effect on my understanding of learning languages. I "experienced" language > with the natives. A terrific experience I wholeheartedly recommend if you > truly want to become fluent in a language. > > But fluency takes years, even under those circumstances. There are several > layers of fluency. I noticed that in the beginning I was insecure and > therefore memorized certain phrases and I clung to those phrases like a > person who feels they are drowning...clinging to a life preserver. I became > rigid in my thinking. One day, a Dane corrected a mistake I made, and I > argued with them! And suddenly I realized what I was doing - I was arguing > with a native speaker and of course I was wrong! So I learned to become > flexible and accept the fact that I would never be native and that was OK > and to expect surprises when I spoke with Danes and assume that I did not > know everything. My fluency went way up when I became flexible. > > So my suggestion to all those new to learning ASL or any signed > language...take your children and your family to Deaf events and Deaf > gatherings and start conversing with the natives...and absorb everything > Deaf people teach you. And every time you bump into a synonym you did not > know, just accept it as one more step towards fluency. > > But now...on to SignWriting. Today I received a question about a sign > written in one of our documents on our web site. The sign was the sign for > "recently", which is at the beginning of this page on the web: > > Fond Memories by Paulette Sottak > https://www.SignWriting.org/fond01.html > > Paulette is Deaf and native to ASL. Her sign for "recently" is not the > standard one that beginning students learn in ASL class. In other words, > Paulette used a "synonym". The sign she wrote was tapping on her shoulder - > I remember back when Paulette wrote the article ...I commented to Paulette > that she had taught me a new sign for "recently". No question it is not the > "standard" sign, but it is most definitely correct ASL. > > Sometimes students of SignWriting think that there is only one way to write > something and they ask me why something is written that way - when actually > it has nothing to do with SignWriting. It was the author's choice of > vocabulary :-) > > Valerie :-) > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Valerie Sutton at the DAC > Deaf Action Committee for SW > > SignWriting > > https://www.SignWriting.org > > Center For Sutton Movement Writing > an educational nonprofit organization > Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038-0517, USA > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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