HearingSwede
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2007
- Messages
- 14
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Wow, where do I start!? I've already posted in other threads twice, but felt that a formal introduction might be in order. I'm a 29-year-old hearing Swedish girl (I'm a brunette though, and I don't have big breasts...) who's been interested in signed languages and Deaf culture for at least fourteen or fifteen years.
The fact that I'm hearing has always prevented me from participating at forums like this one, out of respect. This might be a typically Swedish thing too, as we are sometimes overly worried about doing anything that might be considered offensive. Americans are often more happy-go-lucky, which is a trait I kind of like, so I decided to just go for it and see if I might be able to make some new friends.
My first "deaf/sign language experience" came when I was around five and the news in Swedish Sign Language (I'll stick to the official abbreviation of TSP from now on...) was on TV. I was just blown away and thought it was about the coolest thing I'd ever seen. I asked my mom what the man on TV was doing and she joked with me, saying that he had "dropped his voice" (actually a Swedish euphemism for when someone temporarily loses their voice due to a cold or laryngitis). My mom kind of liked to joke around with me, even told me that eating too many eggs would turn me into a chicken. Anyway, the image stuck with me and the interest kept brewing in the back of my mind for many years. When I was in my mid-teens I started reading a lot of books about linguistics. One of them, The Encyclopedia of Language, by David Crystal, had a really interesting spread about the visual grammar of signed languages, with a special focus on ASL. I was hooked for the second time, and this time my interest didn't fall to the back of my head. I started looking up different ASL resources and reading about Deaf culture. While I was a foreign exchange student at the University of Rochester in 2000/2001, I finally went ahead and took ASL 101 and 102. If it weren't for the fact that I had to go back home, I would have kept on going.
My decision to try to learn ASL was always based in part on the idea that I might someday move to the U.S., which I did in the spring of 2004. I was so overcome with homesickness, however, that I ended up going back to Sweden after about a year, and that is a decision I have never regretted. Nor have I regretted taking ASL, despite the fact that I live in Sweden now. First of all, it is the most thoroughly researched sign language in the world, and I enjoy reading books and scientific articles about ASL linguistics (I may, in fact be the only hearing Swede to have actually read Ben Bahan's doctoral thesis from start to finish
). I am quite the ASL geek! Secondly, I still consider the U.S., particularly Seattle, to be a second home and I go overseas at least once a year, and just might bump into a Deaf American on my next visit. Who knows!?
Well, this message is getting a little long-winded so I'll hurry up and get to the end. Anyway, back home in Sweden, I've started taking TSP (Swedish Sign Language, actually an abbreviation of teckenspråk which literally means "sign language"). I am in my third semester right now. The course I'm taking is offered at the Stockholm Deaf Club and classes meet once a week. The pace is really slow compared to the college level classes I took at the University of Rochester, so my ASL skills are probably still five times better than my TSP skills, but I'm getting there. I'm even thinking about getting a tutor for the summer to speed things up. I'd love to maintain and improve on my ASL skills as well so when time permits I might just come back looking for an ASL video pal or something (God, I love the Internet!
).
I'll see you around!
The fact that I'm hearing has always prevented me from participating at forums like this one, out of respect. This might be a typically Swedish thing too, as we are sometimes overly worried about doing anything that might be considered offensive. Americans are often more happy-go-lucky, which is a trait I kind of like, so I decided to just go for it and see if I might be able to make some new friends.
My first "deaf/sign language experience" came when I was around five and the news in Swedish Sign Language (I'll stick to the official abbreviation of TSP from now on...) was on TV. I was just blown away and thought it was about the coolest thing I'd ever seen. I asked my mom what the man on TV was doing and she joked with me, saying that he had "dropped his voice" (actually a Swedish euphemism for when someone temporarily loses their voice due to a cold or laryngitis). My mom kind of liked to joke around with me, even told me that eating too many eggs would turn me into a chicken. Anyway, the image stuck with me and the interest kept brewing in the back of my mind for many years. When I was in my mid-teens I started reading a lot of books about linguistics. One of them, The Encyclopedia of Language, by David Crystal, had a really interesting spread about the visual grammar of signed languages, with a special focus on ASL. I was hooked for the second time, and this time my interest didn't fall to the back of my head. I started looking up different ASL resources and reading about Deaf culture. While I was a foreign exchange student at the University of Rochester in 2000/2001, I finally went ahead and took ASL 101 and 102. If it weren't for the fact that I had to go back home, I would have kept on going.
My decision to try to learn ASL was always based in part on the idea that I might someday move to the U.S., which I did in the spring of 2004. I was so overcome with homesickness, however, that I ended up going back to Sweden after about a year, and that is a decision I have never regretted. Nor have I regretted taking ASL, despite the fact that I live in Sweden now. First of all, it is the most thoroughly researched sign language in the world, and I enjoy reading books and scientific articles about ASL linguistics (I may, in fact be the only hearing Swede to have actually read Ben Bahan's doctoral thesis from start to finish
). I am quite the ASL geek! Secondly, I still consider the U.S., particularly Seattle, to be a second home and I go overseas at least once a year, and just might bump into a Deaf American on my next visit. Who knows!?Well, this message is getting a little long-winded so I'll hurry up and get to the end. Anyway, back home in Sweden, I've started taking TSP (Swedish Sign Language, actually an abbreviation of teckenspråk which literally means "sign language"). I am in my third semester right now. The course I'm taking is offered at the Stockholm Deaf Club and classes meet once a week. The pace is really slow compared to the college level classes I took at the University of Rochester, so my ASL skills are probably still five times better than my TSP skills, but I'm getting there. I'm even thinking about getting a tutor for the summer to speed things up. I'd love to maintain and improve on my ASL skills as well so when time permits I might just come back looking for an ASL video pal or something (God, I love the Internet!
).I'll see you around!
welcome to AD HearingSwede -- enjoy ur stay! 
here and enjoy AD! 
