My grandson is left handed, and it just occurred to me it might be a challenge teaching him, or maybe it might be easier, since he'll mirror me as he is facing me. But my question is, how hard is it to understand sign language from someone who's dominant hand is the left one? Or is it not an issue?
Left handers
- Thread starter gwynfae
- Start date
Mart
Active Member
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2021
- Messages
- 135
- Reaction score
- 80
Can I ask how old he is & if he's learnt any signing yet?. I do not use sign language, I don't think it is an issue, he could even learn right-handed.
I am left-handed btw & like most have learnt to do many things right-handed in a predominantly right-handed world.
I am left-handed btw & like most have learnt to do many things right-handed in a predominantly right-handed world.
My brother is a left. A little something most people don't realize. I don't recall him learning any sign language in those days long ago, and if he did its not a problem. Thats one thing we don't think on or over worry about it. One exception, play fights as they were back then you needed to remember if someone opposite you was left handed. That was a small but very important detail. Less so when we took up marital arts, such as they are. You wont catch me doing that stuff now what with spare parts in the body etc at my age.
In sign language if the deaf was leftie it really did not matter in conversation etc. If it did it was smoothed over well enough. You have to really look at go aha, thats a left handed one. I act like a left handed much of time for years because thats the holding strength against the steering while you shifted with the right. Sometimes in dual sticks you reach through the wheel with both hands to jump across the box. I still do a bit of bowling and I cannot do it well with the left. The ball gets lofted and each one of those boards add up to about a 4 million dollars worth of lane. You do not want to loft balls. You could not afford the bill to fix it.
I can shoot in some situations better left than right if I don't over think it. The rounds going to go there. If I had to think about being left side it will totally ruin it.
I took some trauma at one time or another over the years in trucking and it might be 6 to 12 weeks before you get the limb or hand back to full use. You learn.
In fact the more I thought about sign language in those days the remembering that we were hauling a backpack or whatever and signed with one hand only. We all got along pretty good with that. However you needed to arleady know the langauge to replace for yourself the "Missing half" of the signs. In my avatar the tractor was a rockwell-Meritor automatic. So it was possible to stage the shot into springtime western Wyoming. I was using the right hand mirror to hold the rig where she needed to be with no one around for that little stunt. It was a constant strong wind that day prior to a outbreak that evening. We were trying to outrun it. You could stick your hand out of window at 65 mph and there is no air moving at all because the storm winds are exactly as fast as you are going. That generally kept the trailer calm. Generally.
You learned to watch the waves going across that tall grass or trees etc outwest. If a wind caught you oppositie what you were holding it can roll the whole thing and there you are out of trucking, if you survived and did not kill the family next to you. Being aware of strong wind days was the first rule. You stayed put and got some rest and eat a bit etc waiting for the storms to pass.
Today's kids in school have it lucky. Everyting goes onto the smartphone. Even Google Books etc. all go on there. No backpack needed. Or even compliant with post 9-11 terrorist jitters.
In sign language if the deaf was leftie it really did not matter in conversation etc. If it did it was smoothed over well enough. You have to really look at go aha, thats a left handed one. I act like a left handed much of time for years because thats the holding strength against the steering while you shifted with the right. Sometimes in dual sticks you reach through the wheel with both hands to jump across the box. I still do a bit of bowling and I cannot do it well with the left. The ball gets lofted and each one of those boards add up to about a 4 million dollars worth of lane. You do not want to loft balls. You could not afford the bill to fix it.
I can shoot in some situations better left than right if I don't over think it. The rounds going to go there. If I had to think about being left side it will totally ruin it.
I took some trauma at one time or another over the years in trucking and it might be 6 to 12 weeks before you get the limb or hand back to full use. You learn.
In fact the more I thought about sign language in those days the remembering that we were hauling a backpack or whatever and signed with one hand only. We all got along pretty good with that. However you needed to arleady know the langauge to replace for yourself the "Missing half" of the signs. In my avatar the tractor was a rockwell-Meritor automatic. So it was possible to stage the shot into springtime western Wyoming. I was using the right hand mirror to hold the rig where she needed to be with no one around for that little stunt. It was a constant strong wind that day prior to a outbreak that evening. We were trying to outrun it. You could stick your hand out of window at 65 mph and there is no air moving at all because the storm winds are exactly as fast as you are going. That generally kept the trailer calm. Generally.
You learned to watch the waves going across that tall grass or trees etc outwest. If a wind caught you oppositie what you were holding it can roll the whole thing and there you are out of trucking, if you survived and did not kill the family next to you. Being aware of strong wind days was the first rule. You stayed put and got some rest and eat a bit etc waiting for the storms to pass.
Today's kids in school have it lucky. Everyting goes onto the smartphone. Even Google Books etc. all go on there. No backpack needed. Or even compliant with post 9-11 terrorist jitters.
Old Analog
Active Member
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2019
- Messages
- 725
- Reaction score
- 246
I've seen a few lefties sign, not first thing I noticed, later ,oh you must be left handed
If you considered that sign language incorporates time and place around your body (Past, future etc) and here and there (Left side and right side) or.. even people.
Set up pastor so and so here, set up the next person there in the middle and then the third on the right. point your way through the various interactions while describing a converstation you with with the three of them. So easy.
If you were referring to their kids by name, you refered to them by signs knee high down below the parents. And so it goes with the grand parents above the parents in the middle. You are stacking your way through everything.
I find myself sometimes assigning time, place and who etc to just the left hand while working the more excessively complex signing the right.
IF that does not cause hearing people among us to lock up mentally for a few minutes to absorb this ....
Set up pastor so and so here, set up the next person there in the middle and then the third on the right. point your way through the various interactions while describing a converstation you with with the three of them. So easy.
If you were referring to their kids by name, you refered to them by signs knee high down below the parents. And so it goes with the grand parents above the parents in the middle. You are stacking your way through everything.
I find myself sometimes assigning time, place and who etc to just the left hand while working the more excessively complex signing the right.
IF that does not cause hearing people among us to lock up mentally for a few minutes to absorb this ....
My grandson is going to turn 3 in July. The only signs he knows is more, because we were actually watching a very popular speech show on YouTube, a very spunky lady with a orange puppet and it's labeled as preschool speech learning. A few months ago we watched it and I realized it wasn't just for hearing children, she was adding in a few signs here and there. So because she was using the sign, he just naturally did it as a mimic. There's also an Cocomelon video on YT with a long string of songs. One of them is about saying sorry, excuse me, so they're signing that as well. So more is both hands, no big deal, but then I was thinking that we know he's left handed naturally, so that's when I was wondering how to do it.
DeafDucky
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2014
- Messages
- 5,846
- Reaction score
- 1,073
Yep- just let him learn- most of the time if a person is naturally left handed they will naturally use that as the dominant hand to sign. Some might not. My father is a lefty but some things he cannot do left handed no matter how hard he tries. He actually does sign with his right hand (he's learning very very late though lol- only in the last 10 years has he really made an effort interestingly). Hmm I will have to pay attention when Mom signs- she rarely does. Nephew is the third lefty but I could never get him to do ANY signing since he was a toddler- the lil snot.