It's up for debate, or is it?

rebeccalj said:
Not that I'm aware of. I used to hang around a few Deaf people but they moved. I'm around all hearies.
Click to expand...

Why don't you go and visit deaf communities i.e. Rochester, NY, Washington DC, Atlanta, GA, etc etc.?
 
TheWriteAlex said:
For the sake of opening up this debate, I'm going to make an assumption about the OP: even though you are deaf and, yes, you DO think differently than a normal hearing person, your native language is still English. Is this correct?

I don't see how you can't think in English given that it is your first language (you didn't mention if you ever learned ASL, btw). Certainly you wouldn't use English to think the same way that a hearing person does, but the thoughts in your mind are still based on English morphemes. For someone who's native language is ASL, their thoughts are often articulated in pictures, even by seeing the handshapes for signs. Is this how you think?

I just want to get a better idea of what you mean here. I know that deaf/hoh people think differently than hearies, and the reasons are both language-based, and neurologically-based, but there is a huge difference between using English as internal language and using ASL/visual code as an internal language, and it seems to me that your internal language is still based on English.

And as for Rambo... the guy is a complete moron.
Click to expand...

I grew up with English - ASL later. In the past 5 years I have pretty much threw out English thinking. I dont even think in words anymore.
 
rebeccalj said:
Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Click to expand...

There are lots of deaf people in the Vancouver area, and there several AD members here on this forum from that area, though they haven't been posting much lately. Look for Souggy or Missywinks. Good luck! :wave:
 
LinuxGold said:
Iambic pentameter like love making, oceanic and silky waves,

"to BE or NOT to BE..."

driving into lover's mound

*ahem*

sorry everyone, me picture too much, wow, pin *pop* mind gone

back to debate or no not debate lol
Click to expand...

Iambic pentameters makes my head hurt. :P They're the reason why I think sonnets are for masochists.
 
rebeccalj said:
Thanks! I was lurking for a bit to get a feel for the community here and finally decided to register. I'm looking forward to having lots of, "That's exactly how I feel," moments.
Click to expand...

Death and taxes. And that. :)
 
posts from hell said:
I grew up with English - ASL later. In the past 5 years I have pretty much threw out English thinking. I dont even think in words anymore.
Click to expand...

As a hearie, English was my native language. But even though I learned ASL late, I can feel the cognitive shift my brain makes when I use ASL. I no longer think in words, and I do not translate it in my head into English. I simply understand it on a visual level. In fact, I would not make a good terp, because once I feel that shift, if someone asks me to tell them what was said, I have to make an effort to return to English thinking to interpret it.

I believe the people that have difficulty learning ASL just won't let themselves make that cognitive shift. They just keep trying to translate to English in their head, as if every sign must absolutely have an English equivilent. Worse yet, they try to understand it from an English syntax, rather than conceptually. I don't really have empirical evidence for this, but knowing what I know about the different ways of processing the two languages in the brain, I think it is a pretty safe assumption.
 
TheWriteAlex said:
There are lots of deaf people in the Vancouver area, and there several AD members here on this forum from that area, though they haven't been posting much lately. Look for Souggy or Missywinks. Good luck! :wave:
Click to expand...

They would both be great people to hang with!
 
jillio said:
As a hearie, English was my native language. But even though I learned ASL late, I can feel the cognitive shift my brain makes when I use ASL. I no longer think in words, and I do not translate it in my head into English. I simply understand it on a visual level. In fact, I would not make a good terp, because once I feel that shift, if someone asks me to tell them what was said, I have to make an effort to return to English thinking to interpret it.

I believe the people that have difficulty learning ASL just won't let themselves make that cognitive shift. They just keep trying to translate to English in their head, as if every sign must absolutely have an English equivilent. Worse yet, they try to understand it from an English syntax, rather than conceptually. I don't really have empirical evidence for this, but knowing what I know about the different ways of processing the two languages in the brain, I think it is a pretty safe assumption.
Click to expand...
For the 2nd paragraph - That is what all the ASL teachers struggle teaching :)
 
That's what I was trying to say the other month, some random hypothesis, lol.

I was using the conniption that native americans were utilizing sign language as the example to prove my point.
 
Hi Jillio!

I have the exact same thing, only it took me quite a while to get my English brain out of the way to become fluent in Auslan, and to be honest, I still slip up. English is my first language, and I only started learning to sign Auslan nearly 12 years ago...I find it easier to interpret from English to Auslan, except when there are hearing jokes. I have trouble interpreting from Auslan to English.

I also find, there are times where I'll be talking in voice to someone hearing, and I forget an English word, so I end up signing it bse I suddenly start thinking in Auslan...it's quite funny when that happens, and my friends find it really interesting...sometimes i wish I lived i America...I hear there is much more help and services and more Deaf there than inAustralia...I have lots of Deaf friends who lived there for years and sign ASL fluently. I'm jealous! LOL!!

AuslanGirl :)
 
jillio said:
As a hearie, English was my native language. But even though I learned ASL late, I can feel the cognitive shift my brain makes when I use ASL. I no longer think in words, and I do not translate it in my head into English. I simply understand it on a visual level. In fact, I would not make a good terp, because once I feel that shift, if someone asks me to tell them what was said, I have to make an effort to return to English thinking to interpret it.

I believe the people that have difficulty learning ASL just won't let themselves make that cognitive shift. They just keep trying to translate to English in their head, as if every sign must absolutely have an English equivilent. Worse yet, they try to understand it from an English syntax, rather than conceptually. I don't really have empirical evidence for this, but knowing what I know about the different ways of processing the two languages in the brain, I think it is a pretty safe assumption.
Click to expand...

That is *SO* true! My big shift is from deafie to English and I find that most people don't understand what I mean when I say that. I always, always have a shift, in my mind, my head, when translating. I often wonder what life would be like if I never had to interpret again.:roll:
 
AuslanGirl said:
Hi Jillio!

I have the exact same thing, only it took me quite a while to get my English brain out of the way to become fluent in Auslan, and to be honest, I still slip up. English is my first language, and I only started learning to sign Auslan nearly 12 years ago...I find it easier to interpret from English to Auslan, except when there are hearing jokes. I have trouble interpreting from Auslan to English.

I also find, there are times where I'll be talking in voice to someone hearing, and I forget an English word, so I end up signing it bse I suddenly start thinking in Auslan...it's quite funny when that happens, and my friends find it really interesting...sometimes i wish I lived i America...I hear there is much more help and services and more Deaf there than inAustralia...I have lots of Deaf friends who lived there for years and sign ASL fluently. I'm jealous! LOL!!

AuslanGirl :)
Click to expand...

There is a joke with my friends and I about red wine. As soon as I get into it I start signing...:giggle:
 
Ha ha! If I get into ANY alcohol, I start signing...and if I don't drink too much, my signing is better than when I don't drink...how on earth does THAT work??? LOL!!

AuslanGirl :)
 
jillio said:
As a hearie, English was my native language. But even though I learned ASL late, I can feel the cognitive shift my brain makes when I use ASL. I no longer think in words, and I do not translate it in my head into English. I simply understand it on a visual level. In fact, I would not make a good terp, because once I feel that shift, if someone asks me to tell them what was said, I have to make an effort to return to English thinking to interpret it.
Click to expand...

Can you expound the procedure of "cognitive shift" that your brain made when you used ASL? Can you try and analyze step by step from original thought to the final sentence, dissect them and present them in ordered list? Tell us what your mind looked like, how your "processor" section analyze while compiling a sentence and verified that it accurately depicts your original thought?
 
AuslanGirl said:
Ha ha! If I get into ANY alcohol, I start signing...and if I don't drink too much, my signing is better than when I don't drink...how on earth does THAT work??? LOL!!

AuslanGirl :)
Click to expand...

If I had alcohol, my mind has gone wax poetic. Words start to float inside my mind so free and true. Rhythmic engine started on its own, IN TOX IC ATED, oh, IN TOX IC ATED, swirling around and around, down in the soul, like milk to coffee swirling...
 
AuslanGirl said:
Hi Jillio!

I have the exact same thing, only it took me quite a while to get my English brain out of the way to become fluent in Auslan, and to be honest, I still slip up. English is my first language, and I only started learning to sign Auslan nearly 12 years ago...I find it easier to interpret from English to Auslan, except when there are hearing jokes. I have trouble interpreting from Auslan to English.

I also find, there are times where I'll be talking in voice to someone hearing, and I forget an English word, so I end up signing it bse I suddenly start thinking in Auslan...it's quite funny when that happens, and my friends find it really interesting...sometimes i wish I lived i America...I hear there is much more help and services and more Deaf there than inAustralia...I have lots of Deaf friends who lived there for years and sign ASL fluently. I'm jealous! LOL!!

AuslanGirl :)
Click to expand...

Since ASL was the communication I used with my son when he was little, I find myself automatically signing to small children about the same age he was when we started signing. I have had a couple of little ones give me very strange looks!:giggle:
 
Back
Top