I am learning sign language because my boyfriend and I have made friends with a Deaf couple. The man has a hearing aid that allows him to communicate with the hearing fairly well. However, the wife is completely Deaf. She is a sweetheart, so I'm learning how to speak to her.
What I'm asking is, do you think it's appropriate to ask her to help me learn? I read something that said if you want a Deaf person to have patience with teaching you, then you should pay them to be your tutor. I figure this is a win win deal though, she gets someone who can speak with her, and I learn a new skill.
What are your opinions?
I would ask her
I am sure she would love to help
My blind friend in the unit started teaching me braille and
I learnt just enough to make a braille birthday card
hope it works out =)
You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.
I'm sure she'd like that you're interesting in communicating with her more fully, I think that goes without saying and it's lovely that you're thinking about this.
The only thing I would say to consider when thinking about learning from her is that as a deaf person she isn't neccessarily suited to teaching you Sign Language. Like just because someone speaks English doesn't particularly mean they be good at teaching the language to a non-native speaker. I don't mean she can't/won't but she might not know the best way to explain/teach you if you know what I mean.
If you really want to gain a good level of competancy I'd say you should look into the availability of a Sign Language course at a local college/night school.
I'm currently qualified as Level 3 in British Sign Language and have found it a very rewarding language to study (but then I'm a bit of a language geek anyway). If you just wanted to pick up occasional words/politesse etc then I'd say she'd be a great help, otherwise you could speak with her as practice to build on a course if you were to undertake one.
In regards to payinng her... good friend's wouldn't ask for money in return for their help, and you shouldn't put her on the stop by asking her to accept money. Maybe tell her(them) that you're interested in learning, and see how they react
Well if something happens that might happen I am going to learn Makaton and then eventually sign language. Not yet though, not until the summer and I have to learn Makaton first which will take me a while :)
At work a few years ago I met a Deaf girl who I kind of had to teach to ride/ some horse care. The communication issue was difficult but we both quickly learnt how to communicate with each other. Some of it was via me learning a bit of BSL (British Sign Language); either off her or from the net. Others were just from little signs we'd made up/ notes that I wrote to her on more complex stuff/ stuff I couldn't easily demonstrate there and then. She was very patient and happy to help and, most people, if they want to get on well with someone they will work hard to find ways for you to be able to communicate with them so hopefully they'll be able to teach you a bit of ASL (american Sign Language) and that would really help.
There are, here at least anyway, college courses/ evening courses you can go to where you can learn sign language that can lead to qualifications if you want to. They can be quite expensive (though your employer might put some money towards it) but also, I imagine, quite rewarding and may end up very useful. So, it may be worth you going on one of them to learn the basics
I think it will depend on the person, I don't think there is a 'rule' about paying a deaf person to be a tutor.
Personally, if I were to teach someone a language I knew I would be happy to tutor them for free if I saw they were making an effort outside of our sessions to learn.
I wouldn't assume anything, and I would ask her and go from there.
I know quite a bit of ASL, and I find this fairly helpful. The only issue that I have run into is that some of the signs shown are older versions of a sign, but I think that either way people will be able to figure out what you are saying.
Well it breaks my heart to see you this way,
The beauty in life, where's it gone?
And somebody told me you were doing okay,
Somehow I guess they were wrong.
i have a lot of cothemmunication with deaf people due to having hearing problems myself. The people i know would be happy if you asked them. maybe you could start by learning basic stuff like the alphbet to begin with. an just bring it into conversation.
In high school we are forced to take a second language for two years so I decided to take ASL (American Sign Language) little did I know that my teacher WAS deaf herself. And this was my first year so we all went into class knowing nothing about signing or how to, but I have to say I learned so much. As she was deaf herself and we had to communicate some how so its either learn or be screwed. My second year of ASL I had a hearing teacher and I dropped out because from the year before I learned everything my hearing teacher was teaching me and it fact I was teaching the hearing teacher and well lets say she didnt like that very much. Any way my point is that I think its a great idea. If I were to ever take ASL again I would not want my teacher to be hearing because having someone who speaks a language fluently and its the only language they can speak you learn so much more. And they have insight that the those of the hearing would not. Try it and you might be surprised. It DEFIANTLY worth it. ♥
She and her husband had previously asked me if I wanted to learn. I think she brought it up to him. He used to be a tutor at a local college for ASL. So, that probably will help me in asking their assistance in this. I have been doing online lessons and am now equipped to ask and answer "how are you" to say random things about my cat and to say I need to use the bathroom. In fact, I learned two little stories in sign. It was in fact pretty dang cool.
ASL is awesome once you start getting the hang of it. I still "speak" a bit of it, but I understand more than I can sign.
When I was working at a clinic in my town we had a couple of Deaf patients, and one of them came in one day because of some problems with her prescriptions, so I ended up "speaking" with her in the waiting room to get it sorted out.
We spoke for a couple of minutes, and I had my back to the room, once we got it sorted I turned around and the ENTIRE waiting room was staring at me, including the front desk people. Apparently they were all quite impressed.
Where did you find the online lessons? I would love to brush up on my ASL.
Good luck with your learning
Well it breaks my heart to see you this way,
The beauty in life, where's it gone?
And somebody told me you were doing okay,
Somehow I guess they were wrong.
i think she will really want to help. in my school we have a special program for the deaf and i love all the students, they like to teach us stuff....=D
and this has got me wondering how different BSL and ASL are....? *ponders*
Leave out all the Rest:
[Dreamer&Believer and netsirkylime are my bubbly amigos]
[shakespeare's strumpet is my big sis]
<3[absi is my girlfriend]<3
A lot different. American sign language was derived from French sign language, which makes it quite distinct from BSL. In fact, if two people tried to have a conversation with one using ASL and the other BSL they wouldn't be able to understand each other.
There is an international sign language, but I don't think its very common except at certain international deaf events and the like.
Well it breaks my heart to see you this way,
The beauty in life, where's it gone?
And somebody told me you were doing okay,
Somehow I guess they were wrong.
*snaps finger* dang kim beat me to the explanation. I remember having to read about the history of ASL and BSL all the time in class and let me tell you it was interesting at first but after you hear it over and read it over and over.. it gets annoying!
Well it breaks my heart to see you this way,
The beauty in life, where's it gone?
And somebody told me you were doing okay,
Somehow I guess they were wrong.
My cousin is Caymanian but goes to college at Notre Dame and he took ASL and I tried to get him to teach me some sign language and even the alphabet is totally backwards to our BSL. One language would be awesome :)
