How long until proficiency?

[RisinDragon]

Again, you're thinking English, and dare I say, audist if by "proper" you mean English sentence structure. There is nothing "improper" about ASL grammar.

haha!!

You can blame this on my English Grandmother. My Grandmother was born and raised in Manchester, England. She came to America on the Queen Mary with her mother when she was around 12 years old.

When I lost my hearing at 18 months old, she and my mother both worked with me to get me to speak 'proper English'. You might call it Audism, she'll tell you otherwise. haha Never tell a Brit they are wrong in the English department, you might loose your head. hahaha

I still remember those stories she told me growing up and when I bother her she'd say 'I'll rip your arm off and beat you with a bloody stump!' with her strong English accent.

 

[AlleyCat]

You're signing in a form of SEE (Signed Exact English). It's different from ASL, so I totally understand your confusion.

 

[RisinDragon]

You're signing in a form of SEE (Signed Exact English). It's different from ASL, so I totally understand your confusion.

Never knew what SEE was. hehe Now I know. It's been over 10 years since I done ASL. I haven't had anyone to practice with. So I forgotten most of the signs. I still remember a lot of the basic words.

I have so much to learn, but trying.

 

[BrittBritt]

I have been learning and using ASL for a few years. I am late hoh and so I voice for myself, but I often use interpreters for meetings and classes. I use terps about three days a week. I am much better at understanding what is being signed than I am at signing myself. I'm sure this is because I don't often sign since I am always surrounded by hearing people. I am always the only hoh person around. I'd say it took me a good few years of daily ASL to get to the point where I understood a lot of what was being communicated. I am still not what I would call fluent at understanding, and my own sign is pretty ugly lol However, I ran into a deaf woman the other day at my daughter's class. I had a pretty good conversation with her. I can sign for myself well enough to communicate. It's just slow and choppy and I'm sure its all in the wrong order.

 

[dogmom]

<from Reba> "When you see a round rubber object that bounces, think BALL (the ASL sign), not b-a-l-l. Don't even think BALL = b-a-l-l. Just see the round rubber object in your mind."
<end quote>

I'm not fluent in ASL but this -above- is how I tend to think naturally. That last sentence - I have always thought in pictures and previously assumed that most people did that.

 

[AriannaBelle]

When I first took ASL at NTID, my ASL teacher told us it can take anywhere from 3 to 5 years to master ASL.

As I only took 1 class, and the rest I learned from other Deafs and HoHs over time.

I found that I can do the signs easy as I am doing them. My struggle is actually being able to read the signs as they were given to me by another person. I tend to be slow on that aspect.

I have this struggle too, though I admit I am just learning ASL. Since I was four years old I've been 80% deaf due to a bilateral conductive hearing loss (thanks to many ear infections not caught in time), and was recently told I am legally deaf in my right ear now. So I have to learn ASL, and want to now that I'm old enough to understand it's important, and I find it to be a beautiful language.

But catching what the other person is saying takes me more time than when I sign back. It's so odd, but then again, it happened to me when I took Spanish in high school too lol. Maybe that's just how my brain works. I'm prepared for the fact that it's going to take me quite some time.

 

[AriannaBelle]

You need to approach learning ASL as though you had no other language. Don't compare it to English. If you do, you will always have that struggle.

When you see a round rubber object that bounces, think BALL (the ASL sign), not b-a-l-l. Don't even think BALL = b-a-l-l. Just see the round rubber object in your mind.

Don't be discouraged. It takes time, and at some point, if you let it, you should arrive at a day when it hits you that you just signed and understood something signed back without making the English sentence! PAH!

That is some pretty good advice that I am keeping with me! Thinking in the eyes of a child learning their first language... so genius!