I am currently learning a "foreign" language...

[Gil]

My lovely wife, my oldest son and I, have followed in the footsteps of my 2nd son and enrolled in a class to learn sign language.

Yes, it is considered a "foreign" language.

Our teacher started on the first night with a "total immersion" format of sign language, and instead of teaching a list of words, she is teaching us to communicate on a basic level.

For those of you that don't know, ASL is a "full body" language. You communicate with your hands, body and facial expression.

I figure that I want to learn to sign because I've had patients with deaf family members and I'm tired of being just another "stupid hearing person".

I will tell you that learning to sign is intense. It calls for your total attention to the person you are communicating with. However, unlike learning a spoken language, you can "think" and respond in your native language. So the learning is faster.

It has opened my eyes to the number of people I see every day that have learned a little bit of sign language.

After some of the statistics I heard in class last evening, I'd encourage everyone to learn to communicate using sign language.

The Deaf are isolated because they can't hear and participate in the groups that are around them.

In families with a deaf child, usually only the mother will learn to sign. Some only learn "commands", not how to actually communicate.

Most deaf people CANNOT read lips. They may smile and nod, but they don't neccesarily understand. Oh, and talking louder and more slowly doesn't help. It just takes a failure to communicate, and makes the deaf person feel even more isolated, beacuse now with your hollering, you've managed to draw the attention of every other person in the place.

For a more graphic understanding, I also encourage everyone to buy, rent, borrow the movie "Children of a Lesser God" with William Hurt and Marlee Maitlin.
It's from 1986 and won the beautiful and very deaf Marlee Maitlin an Oscar. The first by someone as young as her at that time.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Good on you 👍 You're actually learning a dying language, as the improvements in technology (cochlea impants etc) are allowing more and more to lead hearing lives.

On my mums side of the family it is quite common as my mum and aunties are all teachers, 1 of which, along with my mum, teach special needs children (Mostly those with hearing and sight problems.). My cousin is also aiming to be an Educational psychologist and is learning it aswell. And my sis and cousins have dabbled in it over the years.

Though I find your lip reading comment abit odd, as most deaf people I've come across can, but you have to make your mouth movements clear, but natural.

 

[Loon]

In 9th grade my English teacher's helper was a deaf woman, every friday she taught us sign language. I don't remember much except my name and how to say thank you and sorry.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

We did baby signing with our first child. Our second picked up a little, but we didn't really do it with him. It's really important, because a child's capacity to communicate develops before their ability to speak. If you sign with them, they quickly learn signs that help you to help them.

 

[Joey D]

I was on a FIRST Robotics team back in high school and one of our advisers was deaf, although he could read lips we tried to sign to him as much as we could. Great guy and really funny too. I only a little bit and if I meet someone deaf I can sort of stumble my way through signing, I really want to take a class though and learn it better though.

It's good your are taking the initiative to do this though, a lot of people would rather just belittle those who can't hear which always makes me scratch my head and wonder why.

 

[Solid Lifters]

I was taught sign language in elementary school. Had a teacher with a deaf child. I've never used any of it in my life, though.

However, I do use "screw off" quite often in traffic.

I can see if being useful in a medical situation, so it's a great thing to keep all your bases covered in case it's ever needed. Good for you, Gil. 👍

 

[Omnis]

Does written language not work for conversation? All of the deaf people I knew used text messaging for a good part of their communication. All of them also had cochlear implants, so I suppose they had it at least a little bit better than those without who are profoundly deaf.

 

[exigeracer]

What's with the Comic Sans?!?!?

Good on ya for a new form of communication, but I stand firmly:

http://bancomicsans.com/

 

[YSSMAN]

Do they still have that show on PBS that teaches sign language? I learned a lot while watching it for a few days while I was sick. I still know how to make the signs for certain foods and colors, but it isn't enough to do anything worthwhile...

 

[Pupik]

What's with the Comic Sans?!?!?[/url]

You can safely delete the font from your computer, if it annoys you so much.
Run → C:\windows\fonts → find/delete.

My wife learned ASL in high school, but after an initial craze to learn it while dating, we only use it in a few situations (when family's around) nowadays. I can finger spell, and that's about it.

From what I've read in the past, sign language has its roots in French and Spanish...so it is foreign-based.

 

[Wolfe]

My mother took ASL classes to communicate with deaf children in her preschool classes. I haven't learned it myself, but pretty much all of the customers I've met with hearing problems had a device in their ear, as ExigeEvan brought up. Either way, I treat them with the utmost courtesy and make sure I'm communicating to them one way or another, even if it involves a pen and paper.

What's with the Comic Sans?!?!?

What's with typography buffs?!?!?