deaf accent!

Glad to see this! For me regarding where I'm from due to my Deaf accent in order of course:
1) England
2) New York
3) Russia

As a kid I used to go to Ryan's the all you can eat buffet and met a man there from sweden who heard me ask where the cheese was. I could not find it they had moved the buffet around and with my accent Cheese is hard for me to say as well as Chair. The damn CH and SH...
he quipped up all excited asking me " where are you from? I'm from sweden are you? you sound like me!"

heh...I wish.
 
Daredevel7 said:
"Where are you from?"
"I'm from Miami."
"No where were you born?"
"I was born in Miami. Are you referring to my accent?"
"Yes."
"I am deaf."
"Come on. Where are you really from?"
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I've had the SAME exact line of questioning even down to the come on where are you really from?

I have to take out my hearing aids to show them I'm Deaf. The reaction then is one of confusion. I'm then asked how do you speak? How did you learn to speak?

ugh.
 
I've been told that I do not have a deaf accent. However, what I find interesting, I have always picked up the regional accents wherever we lived. You know, like Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Missouri and so on. Well, I was living in Missouri when I went total deaf. Since being back in Florida now 2 years, my family says I have my Florida accent back again.

My daughter with her mild hearing loss, but also having speech & language problems, she had and accent that put her into Boston. She was never there. Now, my family says she sounds like she's from Tennessee. She's also never been there.
 
Bottesini said:
I strongly agree with Bebonang. I don't talk in public if I can help it![/COLOR]
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Me too. It's one of the reasons I'm so quiet at work. It's just embarrassing when no one understands me and it's a struggle to speak. Especially when I have to speak louder with my accent and repeat myself FIVE TIMES IN A ROW due to it.

:roll:
 
Thanks to inspiration from a certain PFH I no longer speak outside my job. The accent thing is now not so often. I am late deaf but people have always asked where I am from. I have never sounded to others like I was from their particular area. I sounded odd no matter where I was.
Now, when I do talk at work, my customers sometimes raise an eyebrow. "Did I get that right?" I ask them, then sometimes another muppet -err- customer says - "Didn't you know she's deaf?" So.... guess I am either reading wrong or have an accent?? I did speak at church today. Everyone raised eyebrows! Some actually leaned back with open wide eyes. I did have a very good reason though. Even our terp turned to look. I dunno if I was too loud or sounded odd to them - maybe both given the situation. lol
 
I am told I tend to slur my words when I speak. Sometimes I get so aggravated that I just want to go totally voice off. I've finally come to the point now that at age 27, my speech is as good as it will ever get. I'm not as conscious of it as I used to be, but then again I don't talk as much as I used to.
 
Dixie, seriously, my life is much less complicated VO. (voice off)
 
LDNanna said:
Dixie, seriously, my life is much less complicated VO. (voice off)
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Seriously? I grew up all oral and there are no deafies in my family. I'm the only one. I've always communicated by speaking. I'm thinking if I went voice off, I would get a lot of flack from my family. I get enough criticism from them to start with.
 
Dixie said:
Seriously? I grew up all oral and there are no deafies in my family. I'm the only one. I've always communicated by speaking. I'm thinking if I went voice off, I would get a lot of flack from my family. I get enough criticism from them to start with.
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I told my family I was thinking of going voice off and they all agreed it might be best. Now, they are all hearing. Son has a moderate/severe loss and daughter has a mild loss, but still everyone is oral in the house. They agreed that it would be good for THEM specifically to know what I go through. I get to start tomorrow. With MIL, I will use pen and paper. She actually agreed to this. Will wonders never cease?!
 
Pfflt. Its a two way street. If you are oral only, where is their part in this relationship? Not to make waves, or even imply that you should do this, of course. Just saying what has worked for me. Worked very well. Shopping, meetings, cafes are all sooo much easier.
You and your family have your own dynamics.
I did challenge myself after a particularly frustrating day. Being late deaf it is easy to give innapropriate answers because I dont geddit. (get it) I dont understand them. They assume that I speak so therefore I can hear. Wrong!!
Try it a few times at a shop or with a close friend. No ha's if you wear them, and remember to keep upbeat for your relaxing experience. It helps me tremendously to use facial expressions that are not exagerated but expressive, simple asl or normal hearing type signs. The universal -huh - face quizzical, 5 hand palm up, shake a bit is a good one. Compliment a dress - wide eyes, nod, point to dress - WOW with 5 hand relaxed, palm in, move up and down a bit... you got it? Pretty baby - pinch own cheeks point to baby. Wheres tomatoes in can? Gently pat shoulder or forearm of sales staff, mouth tomatoes, make can sign, look around store, sign where?? They DO get it. If you find a person who knows even rudimentary ASL, they are more than happy to show off their skills, and often you will find a fluent one. You will still find a clunker, but not nearly so many with voice on. It works for me. One step at a time. From one excursion to a whole day, to weeks....... it is awesome!
 
LDNanna said:
Pfflt. Its a two way street. If you are oral only, where is their part in this relationship? Not to make waves, or even imply that you should do this, of course. Just saying what has worked for me. Worked very well. Shopping, meetings, cafes are all sooo much easier.
You and your family have your own dynamics.
I did challenge myself after a particularly frustrating day. Being late deaf it is easy to give innapropriate answers because I dont geddit. (get it) I dont understand them. They assume that I speak so therefore I can hear. Wrong!!
Try it a few times at a shop or with a close friend. No ha's if you wear them, and remember to keep upbeat for your relaxing experience. It helps me tremendously to use facial expressions that are not exagerated but expressive, simple asl or normal hearing type signs. The universal -huh - face quizzical, 5 hand palm up, shake a bit is a good one. Compliment a dress - wide eyes, nod, point to dress - WOW with 5 hand relaxed, palm in, move up and down a bit... you got it? Pretty baby - pinch own cheeks point to baby. Wheres tomatoes in can? Gently pat shoulder or forearm of sales staff, mouth tomatoes, make can sign, look around store, sign where?? They DO get it. If you find a person who knows even rudimentary ASL, they are more than happy to show off their skills, and often you will find a fluent one. You will still find a clunker, but not nearly so many with voice on. It works for me. One step at a time. From one excursion to a whole day, to weeks....... it is awesome!
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Hmmm, I may start trying this one trip out at a time. If I run into a fluent ASL user, I guess I will just have to sign that I'm d/hh and raised orally.
 
Dixie said:
I am told I tend to slur my words when I speak. Sometimes I get so aggravated that I just want to go totally voice off. I've finally come to the point now that at age 27, my speech is as good as it will ever get. I'm not as conscious of it as I used to be, but then again I don't talk as much as I used to.
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I was told by a speech therapist that I have a nasally voice and this made me feel uncomfortable talking! It really was not helpful telling me something I can't help!
 
@ Dixie - Yep. I took paper and pen (the Beclak Step method) the first few trips. I verrry rarely need it now. When i do, it isnt normally for the English hearies, but the nonenglish ones.
Keep us posted of your adventures and impressions? It would be very interesting I think.

Course, if this is successful, what might that say about the many hours of your oral classes? (I have no experience in this as I grew up hearing) I just know that it is truely easier to be VO and wish you the very best in your new adventures. Do read some of PFH's posts regarding this if you need real inspiration.
 
Hey quick question. I am a second-year ASL student and LOVe the Deaf community and ASL. For a final project in my ASL class I combined my two greatest passions (ASL and film) and wrote a screenplay about a Deaf boy who is mainstreamed into a public school. I have been involved with theatre and acting ang have a knack for picking up accents but I cannot get the Deaf accent right. I need something that can be easily understood because the film will be viewed by hearing audiences but something that is accurate with the Deaf character. I was thinking of something like how Sean Frobes talks. Can anyone help me on how to do this?
 
Eh. This almost feels offensive.

Are you doing the acting and want to portray a deaf accent? Just know, it is different for EVERYONE. Why not just use sign?
 
that1hearingguy said:
Hey quick question. I am a second-year ASL student and LOVe the Deaf community and ASL. For a final project in my ASL class I combined my two greatest passions (ASL and film) and wrote a screenplay about a Deaf boy who is mainstreamed into a public school. I have been involved with theatre and acting ang have a knack for picking up accents but I cannot get the Deaf accent right. I need something that can be easily understood because the film will be viewed by hearing audiences but something that is accurate with the Deaf character. I was thinking of something like how Sean Frobes talks. Can anyone help me on how to do this?
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AlleyCat said:
Eh. This almost feels offensive.

Are you doing the acting and want to portray a deaf accent? Just know, it is different for EVERYONE. Why not just use sign?
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that1hearingguy, sorry I am not sure how much help I can be. On one occasion in college, my sister and I were eating some crackers or something while trying to talk to each other (I know we're bad: talking with food in our mouths) and we noticed that our voices sounded similar to some of my deaf college friends (we just noticed the similiarity, we didn't mock them in any way). I think it was because of the way the food was suppressing our tongues, so we weren't pronouncing some of the sounds. They were some of the same sounds that are lost first when a person has hearing loss, depending on their type of hearing loss (if a person, especially prelingually, does not hear a sound, they most of the time can't learn to replicate it). I am not sure if it would "work" for you, as the food in our mouths were a dead giveaway that the "accent" wasn't natural :giggle:. Although, if the "trick" works for you, maybe you can use it to identify how the accent sounds and how your mouth forms.

AlleyCat, good idea about the ASL. Although, I could be wrong, but maybe that1hearingguy is trying to portray a deaf boy that is mainstreamed and doesn't know ASL. :hmm: I have noticed how easily it is for deafness to be "invisible" unless a person notices the "accent" or spots a HA or CI or ASL :D. I don't think they are meaning to use the "accent" to make fun of the deaf character and therefore deaf in general, but rather as one way that the audience can identify the character as deaf without needing to come out and explain everything to the audience. Depending on how it is done, I think it is the same as British actors faking American accents when playing an American character for a show for example (ie House M.D. :lol:).
 
Alleycat: I will use ASL in the film, but I also need to use my voice since not everyone in the school signs, I would need to speak. And please know I am in no way trying to offend anyone. I understand a lot about Deaf culture and was very careful when writing the script to make sure that I wasn't being offensive. I just need to know the accent to make the character more believable.

DeafRaptor: Your suggestion is funny, though I think I might use something else besides crackers (Marlon Brando put marbles in his mouth for "Godfather") so I might try something like that. Anywho I am trying to represent the Deaf community as best I can, and again not trying to offend anyone.
 
I feel more like AlleyCat feels.

Kristina like your daughter, I have had speech and language issues and have always had an accent. Speech is often not smooth and easy for me.
 
I want my deaf accent to be mistaken for a Swedish accent! :naughty:

Maybe Jaspheth can teach me??? :D
 
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