I’m talking about ASL specifically (and not signed english). I know it’s like learning any language, but i was wondering if it was more difficult or less difficult to pick up. I speak three languages already – english, french, and gaelic (completely useless, lol). Will I be able to become fluent in say, 2 or 3 years, rather than 4 or 5? Or is it like trying to learn Arabic where no one learns it quickly ever? 🙂 congrats to anyone fluent in arabic! also, would it be best to just get a bachelors degree (i already have one for another subject) or try to take lessons and get certified on my own? i’d like to be a translator and work while i get my masters degree, but not if becoming a translator is going to take me ten years 🙂
a two year interpreting program sounds wonderful, but how proficient do you need to be to start and how do i locate one? there are simply no good resources for finding these sorts of things 🙂 or at least no good resources for finding resources…
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well remembering things with you hand… idk i guess it pretty hard
I know A little.
But learning everythin
is pretty difficult
but im sure you’ll learn!
its actually kind of easy just practice
In my opinion it would probably be harder to learn because rather than vocally speaking you have to talk with your hands and memorize movements rather than sounds.
It depends on if you have a better audio memory or muscle memory.
I’m in an interpreting program that takes two years to complete. if you want a bachelors in it there are few universities that offer it, but many offer the two year program. There are many signs to learn that are picked up while in the field and every deaf person has certain prefrences.
It depends on a few things, such as how much you immerse yourself in the language and Deaf culture, and how quickly you learn languages. Knowing multiple languages will definitely help.
I’d say a few years seems appropriate, and if you take some classes, meet Deaf people, socialize with Deaf people and use the language… you’ll be fine. If you only take classes or just try to learn online or through a book… you won’t be. It depends on your effort.
Unfortunately, it’s relatively easy to get an interpreting job without being absolutely fluent. Many educational interpreters are awful… one of the reasons for the awful quality of deaf education. If you want to be certified and be a GOOD interpreter, it does take some time to achieve the level of fluency required. Please do that! 🙂