December 6, 2008
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A learning break through
You all know I'm learning ASL- American Sign Language.
I get a little frustrated sometimes because the girls have to do a lot of finger spelling for me.
That wouldn't be so bad if I weren't so slow at it. I have to go through each letter in my head and then put the letters together for the word, it's been taking FOREVER...
Today I had a revelation... I have been mentally saying the letters in my head, not SEEING the letters in my head. ASL is a visual language not a vocal one!
So now I have been practicing the alphabet in my head and instead of just "hearing" the letter, mentally I form a picture of it.
At first it was hard, but it's getting easier. It made me wonder if J and J mentally "HEAR" things when they are doing their inner cogitating, or do they "SEE" them.
I'll have to ask them.
Do you run a mental dialogue in your head?
(I know, Oh! The voices, the voices!) *insert eye rolling here*
Comments (30)
My mind is like a roller coaster running down a track
Sometimes it is voices and others it is visual and yes, there is the "talkie in technocolor" occassions. I have a small vocabulary of ASL. Just enough to "yell" at my sons, especially when they were altar boys ... Sit up straight, stop talking, listen, kneel, sing, pray with us, peace, time to go, good, fine, thank-you, please, not now, and no and yes. Oh and the important one - flush. The boys always thought it was hysterical that the name sign for their aunt could be easily mistaken for 'flush'. hehehe
Dear Angie,
I don't know about "mental dialogues" but since my roommate Joel died I find I "talk to myself", which is something I never did.
Great work learing the deaf alphabet. It's good to learn something new every day.
Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
I think that was the one thing that made ASL so easy for me, my instructor related each sign to a purpose- as in the sign for this is this, as if you were doing this thing- it made it much easier to figure out. Like the sign for horse is two fingers above on the side of your head like a horse's ears. I think once you get the hang of seeing the language it makes it that much easier to learn. I wish I had continued and gotten my interpreter's certification... its a fun language.
You may remember that Ben's brother Fred was in Korea, and had a very difficult time learning the Korean language. He suffered awful stress headaches. Then he got an assignment teaching in Korean sign language. His breakthrough came when he realized that his students had never heard the Korean language either. Fred soon was not only able to use their sign language, but he was also able to read, write and speak Korean as well.
ASL sounds like it is different from the rest of the world, which is not surprising, but it is good that you can learn it. I tried to learn, but like anything, you need to persist and not get bored which I did. I am still awaiting the pic you promised me over a year ago.
Denis
How wonderful that you are learning the sign language. Yes I have mental dialogues with my husband....all the time.
yes. i pretty much have a continuous dialogue in my head. It's always nice to hear it happens to others =0p
Yes, I do those dialogues, I comment on my thoughts.
Great that you had your mental breakthrough!
coool. You have voices you can brag about. My voices sing songs all the time. Never anything as smart as translating.
YEA! I'm so glad you found a way to learn this language more easily. I'm sure you won't regret the time and effort you put into it.
Mental dialogue? Yeah, except sometimes it doesn't just stay in my head, much to the chagrin of my family...
When I was taking ASL at our School for the Deaf, the instructor told us to try to see fingerspelling not as individual letters, but as whole words. Kind of like reading, you see the word instead of the individual letters. It does take time, but you do get better at it. You start to see patterns (like letter blends, th, ing, etc.) and it gets easier. Keep it up.
@rubymay1029 - Thank you!
I learned the ASL alphabet when I was in high school, always intending to take it a step further and learn the word signs - but just never made the time. I love watching an ASL translator- they can take an otherwise boring speech and turn it into something artistic. And yep, I carry on conversations in my head sometimes.
Why are you learning ASL? I didn't realise that ASL is different from the other types. I first saw it on Sesame Street and I'd wonder how come no one else did the same.
I very much do have a running dialogue
@Gringottsbank - I work with a profaoundly deaf woman and a hard of hearing woman... and they have been teaching me, it's really great having an oppurtunity to take what I knew a step farther.
That's really fantastic that you're trying to learn ASL in the first place. A lot of people wouldn't even try. To me, many times trying is half the battle. Keep it up!
I have a deaf uncle, so I know just enough sign language to be dangerous. LOL
Mornin Glorie....I have the same problem with ASL spelling....I have to write down the letters the deaf spell for me...it's very frustrating for them and me....I'm going to try your technique....sign language is like any other language....the more you use it the easier it gets....Ice Cream is still my favorite sigh.....
...ilym
My voices never shut up!!!
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Morse code and semaphore work the same way. You have to practice recognizing it for what it is, not thinking about it.
good luck with that!
Maybe it's like reading; if you learn it young enough you don't even translate, you just think it. A friend of mine who majored in speech pathology used to sign the lyrics of Jackson Browne songs for practice. His ballads are often slow and repetitious enough to provide a good lesson. Learning a second language as an adult is difficult but I suspect well worth the effort. You have my admiration.
I have a constant inner dialogue. It's kinda weird.
I'm glad you had a breakthrough, sweetie. Keep at it!
Oh, and my other voice says, "good luck!"
About 10 years ago I was on the Board of Directors for a private preschool for deaf children and siblings of deaf children. We were required to sign and voice during the Board meetings and finger spelling was really tough for me for some reason. I could sign fairly well, but actually was better at "reading" the signs of others. It was really amazing to watch the kids sign and finger spell. They could pick it up really fast.
I talk more with the voices in my head than with real people! I sometimes wish I had a way of getting those thoughts on to paper without having to stop what I am doing to actually write them down.
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