Welcome back!
Nowadays, Reba and I are reviewing and continuing to practice so that I’m more comfortable using sign language. We primarily went over using numbers in situations such as when talking about money in terms of dollars and cents. Terms and phrases such as “credit card”, “you owe me”, and “no money” were fun to learn too. Furthermore, I learned fractions! I don’t know how to sign 1 over a large number, but ½ and ¼ are fair game. Numbers are interesting in ASL; at first, I thought they were fairly easy to learn, but now I think they are one of the more difficult topics to master. Signing numbers themselves are simple, but when you put them in context such as “two months”, it is not the sign for “2” and “months, but one motion that combines both the signs. Since there are these variations in sign for numbers depending on the situation, it can be challenging when deciding on how to sign it.
This particular topic has interested me for some time. In Korean, there are two number systems and one or the other is chosen depending on the context. On the other hand, English is very simple when it comes to numbers because there is just one system that stays constant throughout.
When we were going over the seasons and holidays, Reba asked me how they compared to Korea. I told her that the seasons were the same as in America and that Korea also celebrated religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas, but not others such as St. Patrick’s Day. I also mentioned that Korea has a Parent’s Day and even a Children’s Day. When Valentine’s Day came up, Reba showed me that the sign was drawing a heart with your fingers on the left side of your chest, then the sign for “day”. I thought it would be a fun to jump in and teach Reba something too! I showed her that in Korea, many people make a small heart sign with their thumb and index finger. She didn’t really understand it at first, but her face lit up right when she realized it.
In our last session of these two weeks, Reba taught me some signs for fruit. We told each other our favorite fruits and I told her about the difference between the grapes we eat and Korean grapes. Now that I’m reflecting on these sessions, I am realizing how much we talk about and compare American and Korean cultures during our lessons.
Throughout these weeks I’ve also noticed that I’m starting to understand the jokes Reba makes. At first, I was confused to whether she was serious or not, but now I’m excited that I progressed enough for us to joke around and have fun sometimes. There was also a moment where I trying to say “no” so I shook my head side to side and had my serious face expression on, but it turned out that I had switched the sign to “yes”. Reba and I had a good moment laughing about it. Next week, we’ll be diving deeply into more food terminology. Stay tuned!
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