Starting ASL 3 with little understanding of grammar?

[Medic18]

So I am just finishing up ASL 2 this semester and I have learned a tons of new signs. But my instructor did not enforce ASL grammar at all and/or expand our knowledge of it. During class on day, we were practicing signing to other students about our jobs. I turned to ask my instructor, do you sign, “where work” or “work where” using ASL grammar. The instructor told me that they were both correct. I doubted this information and went to my ASL professor and she told me the subject should go first, which is your “work”, and then followed by the question or statement about the subject. So “work where’, is correct in this case.

Throughout this semester, I feel like we have been using sign language (not true ASL) but in the English grammar. No, we are not using SEE (in my personal opinion), because we where not using “and”, “is”, “-ed”, “the”, and/or “are”, but the order of the signs in which we were using did not fill right. For example, in my ASL 1 I learned to translate from English “put the cup on top of the table” to ASL “table cup on top”.

Now that I am finishing up in ASL 2 with high marks, I am questioning if I am ready for ASL 3 because of my lake in my grammar skills. Am I just over thinking this and putting to much pressure on myself? Is the grammar for ASL slowly changing to English grammar (no disrespect, I understand that ASL is a growing language that is changing just like English)? Or am I in a world of pain and set up for failure?

I am starting to research on ASL Grammar books and/or DVD now just in case. But if my gut feeling is correct, is there any material or multimedia that you can recommend? Or a Valium to chill myself out and stop over thinking this (the Valium is just a joke)

Thank you for your input and/or feedback

 

[dereksbicycles]

Don't worry too much about grammar. As long as you aren't fingerspelling, you'll be fine.

 

[deafgam]

Medic18...first let me say thank you for being willing to learn my Deaf language. I am thrilled. You seem highly motivated and willing to learn. Relax. Keep yourself as a student and always willing to learn. Your heart in right place. You have many years before you to polish sign skills off. No one stops learning ASL skills not even Deaf ourselves. You need be felexable. Some Deaf have more education than others. With some Deaf you will need lower your sign skill to very basic sign ....very low key...with others you will find English word order with ASL signs work fine. Some Deaf are pure ASL....so just learning one way to sign wont work with Deaf. Keep an open mind with signing. Relax. Keep it very simple. Keep thinking in pictures and sign that way as much as possible. Hard to explain via text. Dont put more pressure on yourself. Hats off to you sir for wanting to learn. Than you ツ