Do you think in sign or sound? Has that changed?

appleeater

appleeater

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I'm interested in whether those who learnt sign later started thinking/dreaming in sign and whether those who learnt to orally communicate later began to think in sound.

I've been wondering how other people's experiences of this have been; I was brought up orally but later became fluent Sign Supported English (and was pretty good at BSL too) while at a school with a unit for deaf and HoH. Dissuse has made my signing skills deteriorate.

In this time I began to think in both sign and speech which later turned into just sign for some things (e.g., when I was thinking about things I'd done while mostly signing) and sometimes random things. Now I rarely get thoughts in sign.

How has this been for other people? I wonder because I learnt a bit of German and French but I don't think I've had thoughts in those languages.
 
Neither sign nor sound. I think in pictures.
 
I think in pictures too, also in movie format and sometimes I dream in sign!
 
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I think in concepts, only pictures or otherwise if I am doing it deliberately or concentrating.

I sometimes have dreams where I am communicating in ASL.
 
Bottesini said:
Neither sign nor sound. I think in pictures.
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That's pretty interesting and cool. I've heard of people thinking in pictures before so I probably should have thought about that.

I don't often think in pictures/see pictures in my mind. Do you guys also think like a movie real?
 
It would make sense that some of you think in sign I sometimes dream of people talking and sometimes with signing except these days they only sign a word or too. It's quite odd. And often leads me to realise I'm dreaming.
 
appleeater said:
That's pretty interesting and cool. I've heard of people thinking in pictures before so I probably should have thought about that.

I don't often think in pictures/see pictures in my mind. Do you guys also think like a movie real?
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It's not just "you guys" (the Deaf). I'm hearing and I also think in pictures when it's something that I will be physically doing. That doesn't mean that I see myself doing every single step like a movie reel. Instead I picture/visualize the key steps that will get me to the end goal; no English. For concepts not easily visualized I do think in English.

Overall, I happen to have a visual sensory preference. Most everyone has one and there are a couple of quick "tests" to see what sensory preference people have.

One involves saying a common noun, "grass" for example to someone and getting their very first impression. Some people will visualize it, others will remember how it feels, smells, maybe even associate a taste with it. That first impression can give clues to what that person's sensory preference is.

Similarly common "catch phrases" can also give clues. "See what I'm saying', "know what I mean", "I feel ya", "I hear you", etc.

Anyway, back to my main point. I'm not surprised that many Deaf people have a sensory preference for vision, but it also happens in the general population too.
 
Ryssie, Bott, caz, I do the same. I used to think everybody did. I remember one time when I was in elementary school, I was about 11 - the teacher asked us - what does "recede" mean? Not sure what was the context of that originally, but I remember the question. No one else answered and I was shy to because I was bullied a lot, but then the picture came to me in my head, of a stream and the water going up on the shore, then going back down. It was in color, like I was there. There wasn't any sound in it then and there's isn't now when I see it. So then, those years ago, I knew. I remember struggling to figure how to say what I saw and using my hands when I tried. It really sticks out in my memory because of the clarity and the sudden-ness of the picture, and how I hoped someone else would know.

Sometimes I see the sign w/the picture, or the sign itself. But almost always in pictures regardless of anything else.

Sometimes the pic like a movie. Other times more like photos or just - how I would see it if I was there.
 
No nightmares yet-dreaming in Fingerspelling since I became bilateral DEAF December 20, 2006.
Of course it is possible-don't remember- hard to be "alert" while sleeping.
 
Gobae said:
It's not just "you guys" (the Deaf). I'm hearing and I also think in pictures when it's something that I will be physically doing. That doesn't mean that I see myself doing every single step like a movie reel. Instead I picture/visualize the key steps that will get me to the end goal; no English. For concepts not easily visualized I do think in English.
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Oh, I know. Actually, I'd heard about visually thinking in context of people who weren't deaf. I used "you guys" to mean the people who'd replied saying that and anyone else who may have the same experience.
 
I'm recently deaf, but continue to think in terms of sound. I guess it's just a byproduct of having perfect hearing for the vast majority of my life!
 
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