Possibly may start learning- question.

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I really didn't have an interest in learning any type of signing until I found this website. I've never met anyone that signs, so it didn't seem like something I should do. But then I started thinking, and I realized I've never stuck with anything before, and THEN I realized how many people in the United States, deaf or HOH or even hearing, sign. I thought, it couldn't hurt to learn a few of the basics, right?

But here's the thing--from what I've read, I think I'd prefer PSE, to start with. I think ASL head-on is like a giant wall I have to climb with few footholds. PSE just seems easier for me, mostly because I'd be able to talk/mouth at the same time. I may decide I prefer ASL later, but, is it really so terrible to start out with PSE? I know a lot of you are super pro-ASL, and I think it's great, but I also think it's too much to take on right now for me.

Yesterday I bought 2 books on sign, one dictionary and this smaller more kid-friendly book, so I'll be looking at those probably. I've also got a few websites (aslbrowser and aslpro) to cross reference.

Here comes the question that's gonna make you all roll your eyes:

I understand that SEE is signed exact english.
I understand that PSE is pidgin sighed english, or contact signing.
and I understand what ASL is.

If I were to sign "he not go to school today(because?) he was sick." actually signing "to," that would be SEE, right?
If I signed, "he not go school today(because?) he was/were sick" is that more PSE-y?
and ASL "today he not go school. why? he sick."

Do I even remotely have the gist here?

BTW: this is mainly just a hobby thing. Later on I might find some place to do video chats or look for a class somewhere. This is just to pass the time while I look for jobs and such so I don't feel lazy. And I can learn something at the same time hehheh.
 
Hey, sorry, can someone delete this? My browser freaked out and posted twice. Thank you!
 
Try today - school - he - go not - sick.
 
Do many people use PSE though? :S if you're just learning it for the sake of it, sure go ahead lol but if you want to use it to communicate, I've never even heard of it, just had to google it XD
 
First of all you may need to better understand the difference between PSE and ASL - I am no expert but I will take a stab at it. From what I understand, very, very few people are 100% ASL, even the "natives".

And there is no such thing as 100% PSE, PSE is sort of a conglomeration of languages and not an actual language itself, which is basically the definition of "pidgin" - combining elements of 2 or more languages and using them all at once to get your point across. Pidgin is never really an actual language itself, be it spoken or signed.

ASL *is* an actual full language.

So PSE is basically a combination of ASL and English, that can be used and understood by both English natives and ASL natives. It's not a question of ASL vs PSE, you can't choose between one or the other. PSE is just what happens when you combine English and ASL.

As I said in the beginning of this post, someone more knowledgeable than me told me that very, very few people actually are 100% perfect ASL - the overwhelming majority of deaf people vary in "how ASL" they actually are, some are actually more PSE than ASL, and others are chameleons, changing the degree of ASL they use according to who they are conversing with.

I personally am almost all PSE, I have trouble with grasping ASL other than the signs, but I chose to learn the ASL signs because it is a more universal language here in the United States and I knew that if I could just at least learn the signs, I would be able to understand most other deaf as they would me. I am deaf, by the way. I was just forced to be oralist growing up and came to sign language late in life. PSE is the easiest for me to use right now and I am not ashamed of not being ASL - the important thing here is that PSE allows me a language that is more natural to me and easier to deal with than lipreading and speaking. Perhaps as I find my way to Deaf culture I will pick up the rest of the elements of ASL naturally. That is my hope, anyway. But even if I don't, it's OK - most ASL natives I have talked to have absolutely no problem switching to a more English word order than ASL so that I can understand them, but to be honest I often find that for most simple conversations, I don't need them to.

Don't worry so much about the ASL elitists. They aren't just ASL elitists, but Deaf elitists, and their condescending attitudes of exclusivity aren't anything you really will ever want to have anything to do with anyway. It's one thing to appreciate and advocate ASL for the beautiful language it is, same for Deaf culture - but it's another to be rude about it. You are making a huge step just by learning the ASL signs to begin with. That's all that matters right now. You can work on the rest later.
 
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