Learning sign languages is a real challenge for me

because some of my regular study habits just don’t work.

Let me explain.

Lots of people think that those who are good in learning foreign languages are just talented in it and it comes easily to them. Not so true. First, language has many components, and being good in some of them may come along with being terrible at others. For example, I am very good at understanding and remembering grammar. I am exceptionally good at reading and guessing words from context. I am reasonably good at pronunciation. But I am terrible at learning words: it takes me huge time to learn new words, and without practice I forget them very soon. Of course, also everything that I just said works for spoken languages, signs are a different story for me.

So, how do I handle learning vocabulary? I compensate for my limited abilities with good learning strategies. Mostly, for me that means using Anki. So far it has been the most effective way to learn lots of new words AND keep them in my memory.

Sign languages are a challenge for me in many ways. My hands are not flexible enough to make perfect handshapes (there goes “pronunciation”), there are no proper grammar books for RSL (which I am mostly studying now), so I can’t yet learn grammar rules just by reading them, and there is not enough exposure to pick the rules from practice. Also, the problem is that in videos or even in talking to hearing people Deaf people often use simplified or altered versions of their language in order to make them closer to spoken languages and easier for us, hearing people, to understand.  So, all this make learning pretty hard.

But the situation with vocabulary is even harder. First, dictionaries for RSL are just not good. They don’t have many signs, some of them do not have a slower video option, mostly there are no explanations, and often in three different dictionaries you’ll find three different signs for one word. I encountered this today, for example, looking for the verb “to learn”. My ideal dictionary would have a video that you could watch normally and in slowmo, a drawing of the sign, that would help better see the handshape, and a verbal description of the sign and the examples of usage. Also, I’d love to read about etimology, but that’s just too cocky of me. So, if I want to learn a specific sign, I first need to find it in dictionaries, and it’s not always possible. But one look at the sign would not help me. I need to see and make it a lot in order to recognize it. And going to different dictionaries every time I forget a word is just too much work. I tried adding videos to Anki, so that I would be able to learn signs as I learn words. For some reasons, it did not work, but even if I find a way, it still means first looking for words, getting videos of them and somehow downloading these videos, which is a huge amount of work. There are no ready-made desks of RSL (or any other sign languages except for ASL) for Anki and for ASL I found two desks featuring fingerspelling alphabet and one small desk with photos of basic signs. That’s it. So, I really don’t know how I’ll manage memorizing signs. So far, I’ve been worse at it than at memorizing words and I can’t find a way around it.

On Sign languages or how "Switched at Birth" show changed me

I was wondering how many hearing people started learning sign languages after watching “Switched at Birth”. I mean, it couldn’t have been just me, right?

I think “Switched at Birth” is a great tv show, but it is also a great educational toll telling hearing people about Deaf people and disproving some misconceptions.

Take me, for example. I was very ignorant about Deaf before this show. And it’s ridiculous, actually, considering the opportunities I had. Most of my life I lived a block away from the local residential school for the deaf and hard-of-hearing people. My neighbor had a Deaf grandson. I went to the school’s stadium all the time to run or ride my bike. My childhood best friend’s mother was hard-of-hearing, an alumna of another residential school. Couple of times I even went to local residential schools with the club I was part of to do charity work. It never occurred to me at the time, though, to try learning Russian sign language or communicate with local Deaf people. We lived in separate worlds, even though they existed in the same physical space.

Then I moved to Israel and started my MA in English language and literature at the University of Haifa. In case you don’t know, Haifa University has a Sign Language research lab, one of the leading labs in the field. And the director of this lab, Wendy Sandler, is a professor at my department. In my very first semester I even took a course with her on morphology and absolutely loved it. However, when I looked at the info about her other course, the one on sign languages, I was like “What? Who in the world would be interested in sign languages?” And yes, at the time I thought that sign languages are not real languages, that they are sort of pantomime or a manual version of the local spoken language. Such ignorance is a shame, but I was never taught otherwise, so how could I know better?

In my second year of MA I was browsing the language courses offered in my Uni, because I needed to take a year of foreign language as a requirement for my degree. There was Israeli Sign language. It even fit into my schedule. But I smirked at it and took Spanish. I guess, I was one of many students who thought the same thoughts (“Sign language? No, I’d like to study some real language, please”), and the course is not offered any more. I wanted to take it this year, so I know.

And then the “Switched at Birth” show came on air. It was a revelation to me. I learned that sign languages are real languages. That Deaf people are not dumb and that they are not disabled. That they can drive, get higher education, and work. I know for some of you it might seem very ignorant, but believe me, many hearing people still are in ignorance about Deaf people. I started reading on the topic. I read histories of Deaf people and sign languages, many biographies and all sorts of studies. And I started learning – first ASL, then some ISL, and now Russian Sign language.

I don’t think that many people would become SO interested in Deaf culture after watching the series, but they for sure would learn a lot about Deaf.

Recently an Israeli channel started a show with a Deaf character in it. I haven’t watched it yet, but I hope it’s good and that it also educates people about deafness.

Now, to sign languages. I guess, as with other less-frequently learned languages, it’s pretty hard to find study materials and classes. For example, there are no classes of ASL or RSL in Israel. Which is understandable – how many people would be interested in attending such classes? But it’s pretty unfortunate for me. With ISL it’s a bit better – there are regular classes of different levels in Tel-Aviv. However, I live in Haifa. Since the classes in Haifa U were discontinued, my options are pretty limited. There was an intensive class for social workers, but I couldn’t fit it in my schedule. The only other option was a class at local deaf society, with a very nice Deaf teacher, but the course had little structure and every time there were new people in class, so we had to start over and never moved further than “Hi! How are you? My name is”. I was disappointed and dropped out. Now I’m thinking about attending a class in Tel-Aviv, but it is very hard for me to commute.

So, if I can’t attend ISL classes at the moment, it doesn’t mean I’m giving up. I started looking for Skype teachers for RSL. I would be interested in ASL as well, of course, but I’m not sure I can afford it right now. RSL lessons are not cheap either, but much more affordable, since Russia has lower prices than US or Israel. First lesson went pretty well. The teacher is hearing, but I suppose that for the beginning it should be more effective. After some time (when I will be able at least to hold a simple conversation on topics other than my name and where I live) I plan to look for a Deaf teacher. Also, next week, since I will be in Moscow for work, I am going to see a play in RSL. Although, I hope there will be translation, because for now I can only watch RLS with subtitles or voiceover.

I will keep you posted about my journey with RSL.

Strangely, sometimes I read memoirs of famous people whose work I don't generally like.
For example, Stephen King. I can't read his books, they're too scary and give me nightmares, but his "On writing" memoir is one of my favorite books and I read it like ten times or so.
Right now, I can put down Mindy Kaling's "Is everyone hanging out without me?". I found The Mindy Project super boring and managed to watch only two episodes, but the book is absolutely great. Why couldn't her show be more like the book, huh?

2013 Reading Challenge

Cherity has completed her goal of reading 100 books in 2013!

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106 of 100 (100%)

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Cherity's books

Reading Lolita in Tehran

by Azar Nafisi

Hogfather

by Terry Pratchett

Bad Girls

by Jacqueline Wilson

The Cat Mummy

by Jacqueline Wilson

Changing Places

by David Lodge

Well, last year's challenge did not work out quite as I expected. I ended up finishing 106 books instead of planned 200. While it's still a lot more than most people read in a year, I wanted to read even more and my "to-read" pile is getting bigger. This year I will try to read 200 books, and to hold myself accountable I will write about the process regularly.