It so easy to me because I am Deaf but I really don’t think it is hard but lot of hearing people said it is hard …. because they kept using theirs ears all their life?
I would like to hear from you.
TY!
To Princess of Smithville: You sound like Chiliswoman.
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I have known several that could. Like anything else practice makes perfect and most hearing people don’t get the opportunity to interact with the deaf. like any language its easiest when you are around others using it.
Part of the problem is that ASL and standard american english have different syntax and sentence construction. Plus there are a lot of smaller words that can be implied in the context of ASL that need to be spoken in vocal english in order for the speaker to make sense. Plus, after age 12 learning a language and retaining what youve learned become markedly harder. Hearing people who sign usually learned it from childhood from a deaf parent or sibling. It can be done, But you have to stick with it and use it on a daily basis to make it stick in your head.
My husband is deaf and he can’t sign at all, he lip reads. We have tried
to learn and our kids caught on faster than we could so we quit.
I do feel left out though because our kids and grand kids speak to him without using
their voices and I am always asking “what are they talking about?”
In a very odd way I am the one that doesn’t “hear” what is going on.
I am hearing but I am learning sign language. I have a special friend that is deaf and he is teaching me sign language. I am learning a little each day and picking up words. when I will be with my friend more, I will be using sign language more and more until I get better at it and I can not wait. just because someone can hear does not give the person the right to be rude to a deaf person
Why can’t you learn grammar? Same thing.
It is hard to learn a second or third language for most people. It is just plain hard and you need to be understanding of this. I’m a native German and English speaker who also speaks a Scandinavian language daily and Spanish on vacation. I forget words all the time. It is getting harder as I get older to maintain the four languages. In my languages I need help all the time with grammar and vocabulary words. Just understand that most people, even when they can sign or speak another language well, there will always usually be mistakes no matter how long they have been speaking the second or third or fourth language. No one is perfect. 🙂 Give us some slack, please.
It takes time to learn any language as a second language. Also, there’s a lot of misconceptions about sign language and it’s tough for hearing people to get accurate information about it. I’ve met many who accidentally end up learning SEE just because they were told that was ASL.
There are hearing people who sign very well, especially CODAs (for those who don’t know what that is – Children of Deaf Adults). Other hearing people learn a variety of ways, and it really depends on their exposure and how much they interact with the deaf community.
I’m hearing and started learning basic signs around the age of 5 or 6 from my aunt who is an interpreter. There were always some amount of sign language books at my house and I had some amount of exposure, but not much. I didn’t actually start interacting with the deaf community until I was around 14 or so, although I had met some Deaf children and adults before then.
I’m now at Gallaudet – I did my undergrad there and I’m now going into graduate school. All my friends now are Deaf and I’m majoring in bilingual-bicultural Deaf ed. I know some hearing people here who sign very well, and others who don’t sign much at all. I’ve never joined the hearing “cliques” that sometimes form on campus.
I can sign (I am not deaf) I learned because I wanted to be able to communicate with deaf people. I have to admit though I do find it hard to read the signing back to me. Also I dont live with having to use it everyday like you do. Like everything, if you use something everyday you get pretty good at using it. I am assuming you have been deaf from birth also, this would also mean that signing will come as second nature. It is always more difficult to learn something once you are older.
Hope this answers your question 🙂
Its all about motivation—if yu immerse yurslef you can do it–but when you can still hear–you are not movated–
i had a college roommate who wanted to become fluent in spanish–she stopped using English and learned quickly
its not that they can’t–its about the motivation
Not enough incentive.
Because its an insult to the deaf to not take the language seriously when learning it. You can only learn the language if you take it seriously.
As for rapid .. there is no such thing. You can’t cram 6 years of signing (ASl 1-6) into 1 week. Sign is a very complex language nothing like English.
Same reason it takes most people years to become proficient in any language other than their native one. For most people learning any new language is difficult, sign language is no exception. You’re good at it because you’ve likely been using it for years. Also sign language is a physical/visible language, it’s an entirely different concept that hearing people are familiar and in most cases comfortable with.