This is my fourth and final language learning journal entry for the semester. Looking back on the last three months, I am incredibly proud of how far I have come, from being a complete beginner who was under the misconception that ASL was somehow a universal language with signs for everything to now being able to converse freely and confidently with native deaf speakers as well as fingerspell.
Initially, the thought of having to learn so much new vocabulary felt daunting. Throughout the semester as I kept going through the many lessons outlined in our Barron’s textbook, I began to feel more and more as if I was actually accomplishing my objectives from the learning plan. Ms. Kaye remarked towards the end of our final lesson that one of her objectives was to really give us a wide range of vocabulary to be able to use in casual conversation. She said that she did not expect us to remember all of these signs but to feel confident in knowing that we have learned them and know what they mean, we just need to do some occasional revising and keep the routine of practicing either by ourselves or with a partner. One thing I pointed out in my final reflection during class was that I now feel that we possess the ability to be able to communicate with a deaf person who knows ASL through the power of modern technology.
To my knowledge, there are no mainstream platforms that do say English to ASL translations because ASL is a visual language it requires that extra step of integration into popular platforms such as Google Translate. It is simple to type in an English phrase in Google Translate and get the audio translation in Korean, the same cannot be said about ASL. Now that we understand the TNAV ASL sentence structure, I can do the rough translation in my head and look up the signs to convey. I believe this has opened up new possibilities for me in terms of the people I can now reach. One interesting thing to note however is that even ASL has regional and communal variations in its vocabulary. Often our instructor Ms. Kaye would give us several practical alternatives for signs outlined in the book based on her actual experiences communicating with deaf people. She also mentioned that Deaf people have their own unique ways of signing from hearing people who also speak ASL although these differences are often not significant enough to alter the message. This made me realize two things. The first being that I need more cultural immersion with Deaf people to get some more insights into their culture. A popular activity that helps bring the deaf and hearing community together are silent dinners where everyone must speak in sign language. I want to attend one in the near future. The second thing I realized is that despite how the mainstream media might portray deafness and Deaf people as “disabled” or “broken,” their languages and culture are just as beautiful, intricate, and unique as that of hearing people, and it has been a privilege for me to be able to learn about it.
Towards the end of the semester Dr. Soloway told us that this ASL class will be offered as a full credit course through the Arts and Science department. It will be taught by both our instructors Ms. Kaye and Ms. Reba who make a wonderful duo! We also heard from Ms. Kaye that the class filled up with mostly seniors as soon as it was offered. Susmita and I are both very happy to know this and to know that we played a small role in making that happen. This class has taught us a lot of things—humility, patience, appreciation, and gratefulness in addition to ASL. We believe that this class offers a transformative experience and one that can only benefit the young adults who are about to graduate and go out into the real world. I have signed up for the Sign Language Forum which is an online interactive community for ASL speakers. I hope to be able to continue my learning and practicing by reading posts, reaching out to community members, and trying to get invited to silent dinners.
I have also made a lot of good memories in this class working with Susmita and Ms. Kaye. As a student from the Business School, my regular classes are very different in nature and this was a breath of fresh air. Learning ASL is something Susmita has wanted to do for some time now and I am happy to have been a part of that journey as well. I am incredibly grateful to Dr. Soloway and the UofR Global Studio for making this self-directed language learning course possible and am excited to see how the department grows in the future!
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