Signed music videos on youtube -- offensive or not?

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jaggedstone

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I am a hearing student in ASL 2. I watch ASL videos on youtube of people signing...and recently I've come across a lot of videos of people who sign (though it's mostly in PSE i think) music.

I was talking to the teaching assistant of my class and a friend of mine who knows ASL fluently and I told them that the music videos help me a lot with understanding signs and expanding my vocabulary. They told me that many Deaf people find signed music videos offensive since many use PSE anyway and not ASL.

I always see a lot of comments from Deaf/HOH on the videos saying "thank you for doing this!" etc...so I was just wondering, do you find those videos offensive? :hmm:
 
I think it is a matter of opinion and what they call the video. I think some Deaf people call it offensive if someone says "Let it be by the Beatles in ASL" when they are just signing in plain English. But there are some people who sign very well in ASL to songs and I enjoy them a great deal. Allyballybabe on youtube is one of them and another one is Ktloveland. I do feel bad for some of the comments some of them get from some people because they are really trying to learn something great.

But they need to be respectful and call it what it is or learn it properly before they label it one thing...

I love watching songs being signed =)
 
They're offended because PSE was used, not ASL.

However, I would rather PSE be used since it helps make the song make sense in a poetic way.

I've seen songs sung in ASL and I couldn't follow it as well as I could when it was in PSE.
 
Honestly, signing with the music always put me to sleep! I don't think they are that pretty to watch.
 
My son was a member of his Deaf school's signing choir when he was in high school. None of the Deaf parents or teachers at the school were offended by it. In fact, they all showed up at their performances to watch and applaud.
 
I'm totally blind and can't see these videos, but I don't think there's anything wrong with people signing to music because in some cases, it's what draws hearing people to ASL and possibly becoming a terp.
 
I always take the unpopular position, but I don't hear song lyrics so I never developed an interest in it.

For me it seems boring.

I also think it's like insisting you have to draw the Mona Lisa on a blind person's skin so they won't miss out on this great work of art.
 
Bottesini said:
I always take the unpopular position, but I don't hear song lyrics so I never developed an interest in it.

For me it seems boring.

That isn't an unpopular position at all. I'm sure that there are many deaf who agree with you. Not all hearing people enjoy music, either. Many consider it to just be so much noise. I come from a very musical family, so it has always been a part of my life. I was glad that my son found a way that he could share this interest with the rest of the family. But enjoyment of music is certainly not mandatory....either for deaf or hearing.

I also think it's like insisting you have to draw the Mona Lisa on a blind person's skin so they won't miss out on this great work of art.
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LOL! As always, you have come up with an apt comparison. I have always looked at the signing of a song more as the expression of the poetry of the lyrics. For me, it really adds another perceptual element to music and makes it very kinesthetic.
 
Well, do you all think it's helpful for the videos to be posted (if the person says it's in PSE, since they usually are), at least to help ASL students learn vocabulary?

PS: thank you for all your responses so far, very interesting the different opinions :)
 
jaggedstone said:
Well, do you all think it's helpful for the videos to be posted (if the person says it's in PSE, since they usually are), at least to help ASL students learn vocabulary?

PS: thank you for all your responses so far, very interesting the different opinions :)
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Well, that is an interesting question. When the music is signed in PSE, you are liable to get ASL vocabulary used in an English context. That is not the proper model for ASL vocab, as it is often contextually innacurrate.
 
*Raising my hand*

What is PSE??

Sorry for my ignorance of the name of the different language :(
 
Adamsmomma said:
*Raising my hand*

What is PSE??

Sorry for my ignorance of the name of the different language :(
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It is not a language but rather a MCE system of ASL and signed English mixed together.
 
jaggedstone said:
Well, do you all think it's helpful for the videos to be posted (if the person says it's in PSE, since they usually are), at least to help ASL students learn vocabulary?

PS: thank you for all your responses so far, very interesting the different opinions :)
Click to expand...

The person who knows that they are signing in PSE shouldnt be making claims that they are signing in ASL. That would be fraud.

If the person doesnt know that they arent signing ASL , then they arent ready to sign songs.
 
Cane Corso said:
Honestly, signing with the music always put me to sleep! I don't think they are that pretty to watch.
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If the songs are signed in pure ASL, it can be beautiful to watch but if signed in SEE or PSE, I fall asleep.
 
I watch the signed ASL music videos. They do help me learn more (I'm in ASL1 right now). The only ones I really watch are from allyballybabe, she does good ASL and her facial expressions are very good!
 
I tend to search Youtube for ASL videos all the time. Some of them are extraordinarily good at it. One of my favorites is Vanceej. She has many people on it, but she shows up in a good few of them. Her first song was Toby Mac's Irene, in ASL.

The channel owner is the center person at the beginning of the song and is Deaf with CI.

On the flip side of things, there are people who get on and you can tell that they either put it together in one minute and didn't give themselves enough time to properly transfer the syntax changes or else have as much knowledge of ASL as I had my first semester.

Then there are people like my first sign teacher who really don't care that SEE isn't a language. They want it to be one.
 
Hear Again said:
I'm totally blind and can't see these videos, but I don't think there's anything wrong with people signing to music because in some cases, it's what draws hearing people to ASL and possibly becoming a terp.
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That's actually how I got interesterd in ASL in the first place. Now I'm getting things ready to go to college to become a terp. :h5:
 
I don't see anything wrong with signing musical videos though I can see why some would prefer it in ASL instead of PSE or SEE.
 
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