Interesting source for receptive fingerspelling practice

tuatara

tuatara

pro-water
Premium Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2012
Messages
1,267
Reaction score
0
Ok, so a friend of mine asked me to interpret for him in his church. Nothing major, just sitting sideways in the pew in front of him and a couple of his friends, doing my best to sign what I hear. And I'm not at interpreter skill level at this point to be clear: this is as much for my practice as anything, but as I get better at it I think they're getting something out of it at least, that they weren't getting before.

Anyway, I didn't grow up in the church at all, so almost everything was unfamiliar to me. I went to some religious online dictionaries to learn some of the signs (and look up the meanings in English) in preparation, plus I borrowed the book they use for their services and studied the texts and songs, which helped alot. Plus my friend helps me, letting me know if I sign something wrong or awkward or whatever.

But then the priest starts to do that week's sermon, and he's making reference to Bible stories I have no context for. So I started looking around and found that the Bible is online in asl for free. I've started watching the videos, and I noticed something.

If you're like me, with *no* religious background, and you're looking for some receptive fingerspelling practice, the first book of Matthew is fantastic. One name after another spelled out clearly at a reasonable pace, and they're weird names, so you really have to catch every letter. Plus, it's always this-guy-begot-that-guy-and-then-that-guy-begot-another-guy etc., so he generally spells each name twice, so you get a second time through.

It's a nice change from the receptive fingerspelling practice programs out there, which just give you a series of images, one for each letter. This is a real person signing, so you see all the movement of his hands between letters.

jw.org :: DOWNLOADS :: SIGN LANGUAGE
 
LoveBlue said:
I just found this today but don't have plans to get it, yet.


Fingerspelled Word Recognition through Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP)


Fingerspelled Word Recognition through Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP)
Click to expand...

I saw that one, never thought much of it. The words "Rapid Serial Visual Presentation" sounds like a description of what the online tools do: show you a series of images, rapidly if you use a fast setting. Anyone know if there's really anything to this?
 
amylynne:

I just want to point out that you linked to a Jehovah's Witness text which could very well differ from the Bible used in the church you visit (especially if it's an orthodox Christian denomination like Baptist).
 
Mountain Man said:
amylynne:

I just want to point out that you linked to a Jehovah's Witness text which could very well differ from the Bible used in the church you visit (especially if it's an orthodox Christian denomination like Baptist).
Click to expand...

Thanks Mountain Man.

The church my friend goes to is Byzantine Catholic. I'm not 100% depending on the JW videos. I'm looking at written versions from different sources (actually mainly that for the stories themselves, but I thought it was great that there was an ASL version online for free. And that there was so much good fingerspelling receptive practice in the first book of Matthew:)

I'm not trying to become a serious student of the Bible. Just to start to get a general sense of the stories, so that when the priest references one of them and I can't pick up everything he's saying (the room has horrible acoustics and some other problems) I can pull things together a little better from context and background knowledge.

Out of curiosity, what sorts of things differ from one Bible to another? (I know sometimes some books are included or excluded, but other than that?)
 
The differences tend to center around core doctrinal issues and aren't always readily apparent without some study. For instance, John 1:1 in the JW text says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was a god" while a Christian Bible will say, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God". It might seem like a minor difference, but it actually has huge theological ramifications concerning the nature of Jesus and the message of salvation.
 
Thanks again Mountain Man! What you're saying makes sense, and I think that for now I'll be fine - since I'm just trying to get a basic sense of what happens in the stories. Once I've done that (which will take a while!) if I want to go back and get a deeper sense of things, I'll have to pay closer attention to my choice of sources. I appreciate the heads up:)
 
Back
Top