Has anyone finished?

CaptainGimpy

CaptainGimpy

Has anyone finished who'd be willing to talk about their experience? How did you deal with inaccuracies? I have taken two semesters of ASL thus far and have found a few issues with signs being either older signs or just altogether unverifiable via other sources.  Am I alone?
EmmaM55

EmmaM55

No, you're not alone. However, it's not altogether wrong either. I've been in the Deaf community for going on a decade now. I learned (almost two decades ago) in Texas, then on the East Coast, I have learned more from deaf individuals from Utah, and then from the East Coast itself. They all have their preferences (usually geographic) as to what the handshape is on a certain sign. Some are up to date and will show you several signs for one word/concept -- much like how Bill Vicars does with his students (you can find him on YouTube). A lot of the times for this class, with the inconsistencies, it's more of a "oh, that's an interesting way they signed that" moment for me rather than "they are totally wrong now." It goes back to knowing your audience, their preferred signing, and their "accent," so to speak. Every Deaf/deaf person has an accent, just like every individual in spoken language.

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